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Building a home one log at a time

A new log home is taking shape in Neebing with the help of some Timber Kings.

THUNDER BAY - A Neebing family watched their new home take shape right before their eyes on Monday, one log at a time, with help from some professional, and unique contractors who see log homes as works of art.

“The logs, it’s a beautiful thing, the wood talks to you,” said Peter Arnold, a contractor with Pioneer Log Homes. “All you have to do is listen with your eyes. In any form, we are just the privileged ones who are allowed to work with it. The art form is given. It’s the log.”

Arnold, a log home builder from British Columbia and one of the hosts of HGTV’s reality series, Timber Kings, is in Thunder Bay working with Erickson Contracting to construct a log home for Linda and Rick of Neebing.

“They lost their house a year and a half a go, so we are the lucky ones who can put it back up for them and look like a hero,” Arnold said. “We come here with two trucks and by the end of the day, they have a home again.”

The home is constructed using approximately 80 western red cedar logs from the West Coast that fit snuggly together without the use of fasteners or adhesives.

According to Arnold, these log homes are incredibly energy efficient because of the type of wood used.

“It is really light wood,” he said. “Because it is so light, in the fiber we have air, and that air in a combined space is insulation. You are looking at a 25 to 30 percent better heating costs than a regular home.”

Before coming to Thunder Bay, Arnold and the Timber King crew were working on a log home in Kenora with Erickson Contracting.

Mark Erickson, owner of Erickson Contracting, said working with Arnold and his team has been a huge learning experience.

“We are learning tons from them,” he said. “Peter is very good at teaching us every step along the way. My crew is learning tons from him and all around it’s a good experience.”

Erickson said building log homes is like playing with blocks, massive, heavy blocks, which is a dream come true for the contractor.

“These homes are the most fun things I’ve ever built in my entire life,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to be able to build log homes. It’s like a dream come true. We’re building people’s dreams. Seeing Linda’s face first thing this morning was priceless.”

The crews got to work on the log home early Monday morning and it usually takes 10 to 12 hours to put up the frame. Erickson expects the home to be completely ready for move-in day by the end of May. 

And while it may feel like putting together blocks for Erickson, for Arnold, who said he is also living the dream building log homes around the world, it’s all about listening to the wood.

“Every log is different, just like every person is different,” he said. “Some give you more trouble than others.”



Doug Diaczuk

About the Author: Doug Diaczuk

Doug Diaczuk is a reporter and award-winning author from Thunder Bay. He has a master’s degree in English from Lakehead University
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