Thinking about getting a log cabin in the forest, but don’t know what to consider? Maybe it could be better to get a mobile home rather than a log cabin, or something entirely different. If you want to take your family someplace away from it all, here are some advantages and disadvantages to consider in regards to mobile home in the forest.
Firstly, mobile homes are an environmentally friendly option. Trees are renewable, you can find and reuse wood, and you can find out where the lumber comes from to see if it is made sustainably. Wood is durable and can handle the weather, especially if you get something made from cedar or redwood. Some of the log cabins in Europe date back to the 1200s, and in Russia some log cabins have been around for 100 years. That is pretty good right there, a considerable advantage – Maintain your log cabin and have it forever.
There’s a certain allure to the beauty and craftsmanship of a mobile home, a sense and a feeling of being close to nature and away from everything. If you like to relax, unwind and have your piece of land in the middle of nowhere, then a log cabin in the forest is an advantage. Log cabins are often smaller but can be designed in innovative and unique ways.
Research has been done about what living in a wooden home does to a person, and living in somewhere like a mobile home is right for your physical and psychological health. Makes sense that being close to a natural material would make you feel good. Moreover, physically, the right wood can insulate your home, making it comfortable temperatures for most of the year.
The time to put up a mobile home now days is quick. Do you have a week holiday? Then you have enough time to put up a mobile home. Are you planning a vacation soon? Then you have time to get a professional to install the cabin for you.
If you like to be loud, are planning gatherings or don’t want to disturb the animals outside, wood is a natural sound insulator. The outside noise will not get in, and the inside noise will not get out, as long as it is not too loud.
You can build a mobile home taking the land and nature in mind. Put the bedroom under the tree for shade, put large windows here to let in the sun, design the cabin to work in the area that surrounds it and become a part of nature. Let the environment and land help you out.
Now, for some disadvantages. To start with, there’s termites and wood eating insects. You have already heard of termites, no doubt. They have mentioned on numerous TV shows and movies and can cause immense structural damage to your cabin. This means maintenance and being smart with the wood choice, to begin with. You can avoid getting termites and insects, but you need to plan for this from the beginning.
The logs can shrink and expand depending on the humidity, causing cracks and issues with the integrity of the wood. You can put caulking between them when the wood shrinks, and this means watching out for any signs of wood shrinking regularly. More maintenance that you have to be bothered to do.
As is being mentioned a lot, one of the most significant parts of owning a cabin is maintenance. You have to stain/seal the wood every three to five years, and that is not a cheap task to do. Stain/sealant is expensive and doing the work is time-consuming.
It states above that durability, and the ability to be in the weather is an advantage, but not all mobile homes are the same. Some of them are not made well, aren’t maintained or just flat out got unlucky and became weather damaged. Especially if you are in a forest that has regular bushfires. There’s not much you can do it mother nature or a different force decides to open the flames in your area.
Let’s talk about insurance now we have mentioned fire and mobile homes. Insurance is more expensive on log cabins compared to other dwellings due to being in a remote location, susceptible to fire damage, weather damage or destruction from a different natural event. That is if you can get insurance, as many companies will not even bother giving you an offer.
Another disadvantage for some people would be the extra cost of having someone else install it. Yes, many mobile homes come in kits, but that does not mean it is easy to put together. Mobile homes come already made, so perhaps that is a consideration for you. Kits can also remove any creativity and limit your ability to make the cabin yours truly. Other kits contain dodgy materials that aren’t up to a decent quality, and it can be difficult to know this before it is too late.
If you want to sell, it can be challenging to find a buyer. Making sure you have maintained the place well; you should be able to find a buyer if you are patient. However, if you are in a hurry to sell you may have to wait.
When the wood is new, it might crack and pop. This is unhelpful and needs to be fixed quickly. Water damage and wood rot are things to look out for, as they can destroy your cabin. If you want electricity, this could be an issue as well. It is hard to wire mobile homes with power and keep them safe.
Take into consideration these things when going to get a log cabin in the forest. If you want a getaway, somewhere to take the family, anywhere, you will maintain and keep for your children, maybe visit at Christmas and during the summer, get a mobile home in the woods.
