Selecting the wood for a log cabin comes down to a few decisions that a buyer can actually make: the species, solid log or glulam, the wall profile and the finish. This article goes through them as they apply to a Eurodita kit, and explains what a timber grade does and does not tell a buyer.
Softwood and Hardwood
Eurodita uses spruce and pine. Both are softwoods, the wood of coniferous trees. The questions in this article are therefore softwood questions: the species, the moisture content, a solid or a glued-laminated section, and the finish. The article makes no comparison with hardwoods.
Spruce and Pine
Eurodita uses both species; the range is not spruce-only and not pine-only. The species for a given product or order is confirmed in the specification. A buyer for whom the species matters states it in the enquiry.
Nordic and Northern European Timber
The timber is Nordic and Northern European timber. That wording names the region. It is not a grade and it is not a certificate.
Eurodita buys timber and materials from suppliers and holds no FSC or PEFC chain-of-custody certificate of its own. Sourcing documentation is discussed only from the actual supplier and order paperwork of a specific project, and the documentation that can accompany an order is confirmed at quotation. The boundaries are set out on what Eurodita does not do.
Strength Grading and the Timber in a Eurodita Wall Log
A timber grade can describe the appearance of a piece, or it can place structural timber in a strength class that an engineer uses in a calculation. Neither kind is a statement about a finished building.
A Eurodita wall log is specified by its profile, which is a manufacturing dimension: six solid profiles, from 19x100 to 70x130 mm, and five glulam profiles, from 70x130 to 220x260 mm. A profile establishes no thermal, fire, structural or certification performance on its own, and Eurodita publishes no strength class for its wall timber. Where a project needs structural calculations, they are carried out by external specialists, and the approval route stays with the local team of the buyer.
If a client, an insurer or a tender asks for a stated strength class or for sourcing evidence, put that in the enquiry. Eurodita makes no blanket CE or UKCA claim, and the documentation that can accompany a specific order is confirmed at quotation, not assumed.
Moisture Content
The manufacturing moisture target for wall timber is approximately 12 to 14%. Drying is done in-house in Nardi kilns, which run on electricity. The target is the working production range. It is not a warranty for every piece and not a regulatory claim.
Incoming timber inspection and moisture checks are two of the recurring factory checks, together with checks of dimensions, CNC and profiling accuracy, joints and fit, windows and doors, completeness and packaging, and a final inspection before dispatch. This is an operational quality-control routine, not a certification.
Solid Log or Glulam
A solid wall profile is a single machined log. A glulam wall profile is a glued-laminated log; Eurodita glues, profiles and machines its glulam itself, on one site. The solid profiles are 19x100, 28x100, 34x100, 44x130, 58x130 and 70x130 mm, and the glulam profiles are 70x130, 88x260, 135x260, 180x260 and 220x260 mm. Profiles are written with thickness first and log height second.
Two differences are worth knowing before the choice is made. Seasoning checks occur less frequently in glulam than in sawn timber (APA Technical Note EWS R475E); checks can still occur. And glulam walls do settle, but only minimally: in use the settlement is neither felt nor seen.
A third wall family, twin-skin, is two equal solid log skins with a cavity between them for insulation that is sourced locally; its availability is confirmed per order. Every profile and build-up is on wall profiles, and the glulam range is on glulam homes.
Treatment and Finish
Wall logs are supplied untreated by default. Floor bearers are impregnated as standard. Factory painting is an option with limited capacity and is never the standard finish.
Choosing the Wall
Choose the wall by the intended use and the local approval route, not by species lore. Any approved profile can be specified on any model, so the thickness shown on a catalogue listing is the standard or featured profile and not the only one. What a thickness does and does not tell you is explained on the wall profiles page.
What to Put in the Enquiry
- The species, if the project requires one.
- The wall family and the profile written in full, for example solid 44x130 mm or glulam 135x260 mm.
- Any strength class or sourcing evidence that a client, an insurer or a tender requires.
- The finish: untreated by default, or factory painting requested as an option.
- The destination country and the intended use, so that the documentation can be confirmed for that order.
Send these points through the contact page. What a kit is made of is described on what is in a Eurodita kit.