We have now got the posts, handrails and spindles in place on the first balcony. We have used surplus Western Red Cedar for the spindles, and iroko for the rails and post. With the iroko posts fixing into the Western Red Cedar logs of the main house at the ends of each balcony, stainless steel coach screws were used of course to avoid the staining that occurs with normal plated steel fixings with this wood over time.

 Then the Western Red Cedar Fascia boards are fitted to wooden blocks fixed to the steel sub frames of the log house balconies.

 At last our wood burning stove has arrived. With a log house there are lots of wood off cuts to be disposed of, so a wood burning stove was a no brainer. Also with underfloor heating, a system to respond to sudden changes in temperature (which underfloor heating is not good at responding to) was required.

This is a HWAM Monet stove, with a “pizza oven” at the top, which made the unit quite tall and createf further installation problems down the line which we will update you on soon! If you want more details on these stoves go to www.euroheat.co.uk

The unit has thermostatic regulation via a bimetallic strip which controls the airflow (and hence rate of burn).

Here is our lovely 6 way light switch, with the 6th switch being the control for the lounge uplighters on a dimmer. It is in the middle of the Lounge-Diner-Kitchen area, and we have two way switching in the lounge and kitchen for the lights at each end.

This was a one off special made for us by Hamiltons, and their web site is at www.hamilton–litestat.com

 Apologies for the break in the blog, we have got very close to finishing the house, so time has been sparse for blogging. We have a load of pictures on the camera to download and update you all with about progress with our log house which is creating increasing amounts of interest from many of you.

Here is a small tip but it might save you wasting a door on a kitchen cupboard or similar. When marking the holes for a door handle with two holes, just put the handle alongside after marking out with a rule and pencil to check you have the holes in the right place. It can save considerable embarassment later, especially if you have lots of differing handle sizes in places. We certainly found this useful.