Proper Wood Seasoning—the Heritage Way

Quality Takes Time

“Seasoning” refers to the process by which a log’s moisture content is stabilized. It begins the moment a tree is cut down and continues even after the milled logs are assembled at your home site.

At Heritage Log Homes, we take an all-natural approach to wood seasoning. We allow timbers to air dry in their own time, which best preserves the wood’s fiber strength and ensures a precision milling process.

Once the logs are assembled, they will continue to dry as their moisture levels adjust to your home site’s environmental conditions. During that time, settling will occur, as it does in all log homes, as the drying logs contract naturally and are compressed by the weight of the logs stacked above them.

Throughout the settling period, we maintain the strength and rigidity of your walls with our maintenance-free Thru-Bolt system. The Thru-Bolt’s self-adjusting mechanism allows logs to contract and expand naturally during settling while ensuring the tightest fit possible for the life of your home.

The Kiln-Drying Myth

Many log home dealers these days attempt to rush the seasoning process by drying their logs in kilns at extreme temperatures. They claim that kiln-drying results in a completely seasoned log that’s resistant to post-construction settling.

That’s fine in theory. However, the real-world fact is that even kiln-dried logs are susceptible to reabsorbing moisture once they leave the mill and arrive at their destination. As a result, all logs—even kiln-dried ones—must be allowed to air-dry naturally at the construction site as they reach equilibrium with ambient moisture levels. This means that settling is a natural part of the construction process, regardless of how the wood is seasoned.

However, only Heritage Log Homes offers the Thru-Bolt system and its patented self-adjusting technology to guarantee that your logs remain airtight during and after settling. In the meantime, you have the added assurance of knowing that your logs have not been structurally compromised through unnecessary heating.