l in a loghome as a traditional structure.Almost all log homes are built with at least one fireplace.Initially, we thought that our beautiful soapstone woodstovewould heat the whole house, and we would use our forced-airpropane heat as a backup. Alas, we were all wrong. Because wehave a cathedral ceiling with a big loft, the heat from thestove goes directly upstairs, requiring two ceiling fans torecirculate the warm air. We expected this, but we also thoughtthe heat would expand sideways into the rest of the open floorspace (dining room and kitchen). Not on your life! Even sittingon the couch about 15 feet from the stove, I need a coverlet.I'm uncomfortably chilly in the kitchen. I think that if we hada regular ceiling, the heat might have gone where we expectedit, but the volume of the cathedral ceiling threw off ourcalculations. Also, the soapstone stove is designed...

... to be run24/7, and because we both work for a living, the stove doesn'tget fired up until the evening. This woodstove needs to beheated up slowly at the risk of cracking the stone, so by thetime it's really cooking we're ready for bed.Old-fashioned fireplaces traditionally sucked all the warm airout of the room, but modern designs are more efficient atrecirculating the heat. The most energy-efficient fireplace isbuilt in the center of the house, so the stack heat is not lostto the outside. Outside stacks can create back drafts if thefire is extinguished, making a new fire more difficult to light.If you are planning multiple fireplaces, putting two of themback-to-back (facing adjoining rooms) will give you theopportunity to build one chimney with two flues. Or you couldput a fireplace above your furnace, again allowing two flues inthe same chimney. A direct-vent fireplace will eliminate thechimney, but you'll have to figure out how to hide the vent onthe outside wall. Or, if you use a wood-stove, you could run thepipe through the wall and straight up the outside, building abox around the pipe to simulate a chimney. Depending on the lookyou want, you may want to leave the pipe inside the room andsend it through the roof. This will give more heat.It's a good idea to consider your heating and air-conditioningneeds early in the design phase. Although log homes arenaturally energy-efficient, it's not wise to skimp on yoursystem. You may be able to heat your whole house with a hugefireplace or wood stove, but the township will probably haveminimum standards to meet before they issue a building permit.Also, you need to consider resale value. I know of one personwho tried to sell a million-dollar handcrafted log home withouta furnace, and as you might suspect, the buyer never came along.The house was listed as unfinished, and installing the heatingsystem after the fact was too daunting a task. A similar problemexists if you try to get away without central air conditioning.Yes, log homes do stay cooler in the summer, but those "dogdays" of August can give you a perfectly miserable night'ssleep, and a potential buyer will probably not be as tolerant asthe original owner. Indeed, our mortgage company would notconsider granting a construction loan if we didn't includecentral air conditioning.If you want to preserve ductwork space, you can use forced airheat, with the same ductwork serving the air conditioner.Propane or oil are usually the fuels of choice in rural areas.If your interior wall space is limited, there are companies thatspecialize in very small, high-pressure duct systems that fitinto tight angles; these systems usually require a much higherinitial installation cost. When using traditional ductwork, youwant to keep the angles at a minimum, so it helps to designfirst floor walls that will conveniently carry the air straightup to the second floor. An open floor plan offers a challenge,because you must bear in mind that the upstairs rooms need to beheated somehow, and you will need both supply and return ventsto create an efficient air flow. If you want to use full loginterior walls, you'll have to find another way to run theductwork, electric, and plumbing. We made that mistake, andthere are not enough return vents in our bedroom. The air isstuffy in the summer time, even with the windows open.Where do the vents go? Since all our exterior walls are fulllog, many of our vents were placed in the floor. If yourinterior walls are sheetrock or tongue-and-groove, you can putthe vents where they normally go. One thing I wish we had donewas go over the plan with the HVAC contractor, because he putthe vents in places I found most inconvenient. Some times it canbe helped, and some times it can't.If you are energy-minded and prefer to leave your thermostat ata minimum, you will find that the southern-facing side of thelog home tends to be warmer than the northern exposure. Becausethe sun tends to sink closer to the horizon on a winterafternoon, it's advantageous to arrange your large windowsfacing south; during the summer, the sun will cross over theroof, so it won't overheat your house. However, you may findthat the northern side of your house - which won't get directsun at all - could be noticeably cooler. The best solution is toinstall radiant-floor heating (if you can afford it). Althoughthis system requires a boiler instead of a furnace, the in-floorheating spreads the warmth evenly throughout your home,eliminating the northern-facing blues. With radiant-floorheating, you need to keep the thermostat steady all the time;the system is not designed to be turned down when you go towork. Additionally, you can use the boiler to heat your hotwater as well, eliminating the need for a hot-water heater. Onthe other hand, you will still need to install ductwork for theair conditioning.Overall, the same considerations apply as in regularconstruction. We thought we could get by with only one zone ofheating and cooling, but in retrospect, two zones would havesolved a lot of problems. In the long run, it's cheaper to do itcorrectly in the first place. Retrofitting a log home is notgoing to be a breeze!...