Niska Homes is a division of Niska North that specializes in making log home kits and log home siding products. Niska Home products are manufactured using the proven Chisum Log Mill system. The equipment used in our home products have been manufacturing homes since 1977, and have been sent all across north America.
We have a variety of plans that you can choose from, but many customers provide us with their own plans and ideas as a starting point. Then our draft and design team will work with the client until a final plan is realized, at which time logs will be selected to start the manufacture process. Once the logs are milled, they are packaged up for transport delivery.
Materials
Quality Cedar and Pine logs are manufactured using a superior joinery system. All of our log homes begin with a plan and the best trees available. We use hand selected logs that are valued for their strength and appearance. Finished logs are available in 8”, 10” and 12” diameters. All Niska North logs are double tonged and grooved, saddled notched in the corners and have keyways cut in the butts for secure joints and proper installation of doors and windows.
Unique Construction Features
Milled round log system
Double T & G Joinery
Saddle notch corner system
8” (203mm), 10” (254mm), and 12” (305mm) finished log diameters
Precut to plan, each log is numbered for quick assembly
Two strips of Emseal interlog sealant tape for weather tightness
Saddle gaskets in corner joints
Lag bolt fasterners are easier to install than through bolts and do not require adjusting during the top settling period.
Door and window openings are precut and have keyways for proper installation procedure.
Custom designs… we turn your rough sketch or idea into detailed blueprints that are required for accurate cost estimates, building permits and mortgage lenders.
Wide based dealer-builder network
Expert advice for do-it-yourselfters
An installation manual is provided to ensure proper installation procedures
Log siding products are available for dormers, gables or renovation projects on frame buildings
Design Hints
When designing your home or cottage there are some basic things to keep in mind. By following the suggestions below, your final plan will conform to your personal requirements and be functional as well. Before drawing your final floor plan on graph paper, start by making several rough sketches until you feel you have it just the way that you want it.
1. Establish a realistic budget. Consider how much you can affort in mortgage payments, then plan your home accordingly.
2. Consider your lot; its dimensions, driveway access, slope, view, etc… Make your house fit the lot.
3. Try to orient your home so that most of the window area faces south, in order to maximize the benefits of solar heat gain.
4. Consider your present and future needs. Don’t over build or under build.
5. Start with the kitchen. It is the most used and the most expensive room in any house, and it deserves careful planning.
6. Try to imagine yourself living in the house you have planned. Can you move from room to room in a logical way? Will your furniture and appliances fit where you want them?
7. What kind of foundation is best suited to your needs and to the ground conditions of your lot?
8. Eliminate unnecessary corners, a rectangular building is easier and cheaper to build than a L or a T shaped one.
9. Concentrate plumbing fixtures in one part of the house, if possible, try to line up bathrooms one above the other on each floor to eliminate long runs of water supply and drains.
10. Choose and position your windows for lighting, view, ventilation and heat loss or gain.
11. Plan your entrances. Do you want to receive visitors directly into your living room or into a foyer?
12. Decide on a heating system now. If you require chimneys for oil, gas or wood, make sure you allow space for them to pass through each floor.
13. Will the furnishing of your choice fit into the rooms they are intended for?
14. Allow for plenty of storage space. You can never have enough.
15. Plan your roof style to suite the rest of the house. You can get pre-engineered trusses that allow you to have lofts, dormers, cathedral ceilings and gambrel roofs.
Show wall lengths from center of log to center of log in increments of 6 inches.
Show approximate sizes of windows for each room and indicate whether you want casements, double hung or slider windows.
No wall openings wider than 10 feet. If you require a wider opening such as a garage doors, a header is used.
Initial rough drafts don’t have to be perfect, our expert drafting and design team may offer changes and adjustments to improve your design.
No two Niska Homes are the same. Each customer has their own unique requirements as determined by their personal preferences, budget, building site and future plans. You probably have a mental image of your future home design. Your rough sketches and notes are usually the starting point for our draftsmen to begin work on the blueprints. Firstly, a preliminary plan is drawn and sent to you for your approval or modification before the final drawings are made. Our designers will make recommendations that might make your log home more practical, easier and less costly to build. Once the blueprints are completed, then accurate costs for all material and labour can be determined. The cost of custom plans is typically only 1/100th of the cost of the completed home… a small price to ensure the satisfaction that only comes from this personalized service.
The final appearance of your new log home will be affected by the quality of finishing products used. All outdoor wood needs protection from the ultra violet rays of the sun. Quality pigmented stains and UV clearcoats will provide good protection for your investment. We can provide advice and products for maintaining or renovating any log home.
An important part of maintenance also includes common sense things like; keeping shrubs from growing against log walls, using rain gutters, shoveling snow off decks near log walls, caulking upward facing checks in the logs, ensuring that roof eaves are at least 24” to provide better shade and weather protection.
Easy to install by blind nailing to frame studs.
Tongue and groove joinery, saddle notch corner system with whole log exposure at corners.
Suitable for renovation projects or new construction. Make any house look like a new log home.
May be chinked for air tightness.
The unique look and appeal of a real log home at a fraction of the price.
The strongest, most durable siding product available. It does not dent or blow off. Adds insulation and thermal mass not possible with other siding products. Increase the value and comfort of your home.
The prices in the plan book are for pre cut logs and related sealant materials. Only these materials are shipped from the factory. All other materials are best obtained by the builder and from local suppliers to keep costs to a minimum. This ensures that materials will meet local building codes and that the customer is given a wide choice of styles and prices. Since we specialize in custom design, it only makes sense to specify and price these personal choice items after finalizing the home plans.
Our log packages are of different sizes and are shipped to places near and far, so our price list cannot include delivery. We can give you a delivered price once we know your lot location. You may also arrange your own transportation if you wish. The logs are packaged in bundles weighting about 2200 lbs (1000 kg) each, so a fork lift or other suitable machine should be available for unloading.
Yes, All wood shrinks as it dries, and in a log home this means that allowances must be made for settling. Doors, windows, interior frame partitions and utility services to a second floor are all installed in such a manner to allow settling to occur un hindered. Three inches of settling over a four year drying period is not unusual, and proper moisture content, they will absorb some moisture during humid summer months and release it during the dry winter months.
You can use virtually any standard foundation system (including basements) that is capable of supporting the imposed loads. Most log structures need no additional requirements above that of conventional construction. A roof sytem can be designed to suit nearly any taste. Pre-engineered trusses are convenient and readily available in most areas, or open beam cathedral ceilings might be more what you have in mind. See our lumber section for custom timber products.
Some models feature interior walls in the main living area or where required for roof support, but is not practical to have inner log walls throughout the house. Our planners will advise you regarding this matter.
Niska Homes recommends only proven high quality stains for finishing and protection of log homes. The finish on your new home is the most visible part of the overall project, and it is no place for experiments with odd concoctions or cheap stains available on the marketplace. The proper finish for exterior and interior woodwork may be ordered with the log package.
Niska Homes can supply a log package for almost any design. You may modify one of our stock plans or create your own unique design. We invite you to submit your custom floor plan to use for a free estimate of the log cost and finished cost.
Custom plans are best drawn up on a sheet of ¼ inch graph paper showing all wall dimensions with door and window sizes. From your initial sketch we can work from preliminary floor plan to complete construction blue prints. Engineer approved designs are available, if required.
Yes. Our log system makes very unique and attractive commercial structures such as restaurants, shops, lodges, churches etc. We also cut half log siding suitable for may commercial applications, such as storefront renovations. Feel welcome to present any ideas to us.
Many Niska Home customers have achieved the self-satisfaction of doing some or all of the work themselves. If you have the skills and are so incline, you have the option with the approval of your mortgage lender and building permit authority. Complete blueprints and construction manuals provide clear instructions to new homebuilders.
First you should decide on the model you want, or if you are designing your own home, you should layout the plan on graph paper showing as much detail as possible. Next, arrange a meeting with your Niska Home representative to discuss your plans. The dealer will require specific information such as: type of foundation, roof style, windows, doors, interior details, heating system, water and sewage, etc. After consulting with your dealer you will be able to calculate the cost that you want to know. The plans are finalized and the logs are scheduled to be delivered about the same time as the subfloor is completed. The logs go up quickly and the next thing you know you are moving into your new Niska Home.
