Written Transcript of Country's Best Log Homes Article:
Dream House on a Wisconsin Lake
Picture a scenic, tree-sheltered site not 80 feet from a clear Wisconsin lake and you have the ideal location for a year-round home. Especially if you're an avid fisherman, as Thomas Gelb is.
"I had a summer home for 30 years in this part of the state, and a few years ago, I began looking for a permanent place on a lake," says Tom, whose search took all of five years. "Good lake property is just hard to find."
Finally, in 1997, five acres on the shore of a lake in a small place called Conover came on the market. Tome bought the property and, at first, considered renovating an existing house. But the prospect of building a year-round home the features of his choosing won out. And the result was well worth the wait. In February, 1999, Tom moved into the three-bedroom house of Norway pine with its long deck facing the lake and a view of the water from almost every room.
In this Eagle River area of northern Wisconsin, where nature's generous sprinkling of lakes has lured thousands of summer campers and vacationers, the Gelb house sits on five acres of partly sloping land. Spreading maples, red oaks, and pine trees dot the landscape.
The whole project was the work of a Conover firm called Design/Build by Visner, an independent dealer affiliated with Hiawatha Log Homes. Its owner, Jeffrey Visner, recommended by a mutual friend, gets high praise from Tom Gelb When asked, Why a log house in the first place? Tom Gelb cites "the homes you see in magazines, and the beautiful log homes around the lake. And Jeff Visner has built some gorgeous homes. Also, they took care of carpentry, lighting, plumbing, all of it. And the workmanship is remarkable - everything lines up." As a Certified Kitchen Designer (CKD), Jeff also made optimum use of the available kitchen space.
Part of the home's aesthetic appeal is the asymmetrical placing of the spacious garage, necessitated by the hilly terrain. Built on a large scale - "I can back my 14-foot boat in there, without disengaging it from the tow," says Tom - the garage measures 1,242 square feet and accommodates two boats and two cars. A stairway conveniently leads from the garage to the basement, "so if you come in from hunting or fishing, you can go right down to the basement without tracking mud in the house."
On the main level, a garage side door opens into a laundry room and just beyond, a powder room praised by visitors. The striking combination of simple, elegant fixtures (also found by the designer-builder) and old-fashioned log walls probably accounts for its appeal.
The main level, about 1,855 square feet, features a great room, dining area, kitchen, sun room and master bedroom and bathroom, all facing the lake. There's also a triangular sauna. Running along the eastern side of the house is a wide deck, accessed by three steps from the bedroom, dining and sun room and suitably furnished with chairs and tables to take in the morning sun at leisure.
Upstairs, a comfortable loft space with a clerestory is open to the living area below. Two bedrooms and a full bathroom adjoint the loft, with one of the bedrooms equipped to double as an office.
In this custom-designed home, the logs themselves are one of its most notable features - 12 inch full round Norway pine that's smooth-milled. Hiawatha Log Homes kiln-dries the logs then pre-cuts and pre-drills pilot and counter-sink holes for spikes. A double tongue and groove configuration combined with Hiawatha's weather seal system assures a tight fit. Saddle notch corners complete the snug construction while preserving the authentic look of a historic log home.
Floors received special attention. Although they look like wood, most floors are covered with a material called Pergo that mimics wood tone and pattern (in this case, beech) but is both more durable and easier underfoot. In Tom's words, "it never scratches and goes well with the pine trim." Small rugs are strategically placed while the bedrooms have carpeting and the sunroom was laid with a more practical tile floor. The floor of the spacious garage also received an unusual treatment. Multiple layers of epoxy and sand were laid and allowed to dry, and then several additional layers of epoxy followed. "The result," says Tom, "is a floor impervious to everything, even motor oils." He adds that men visitors are particularly impressed.
Although the house has not yet experienced a full winter, the heating system is certain to come through well, even with the rigors of northern Wisconsin weather. Two furnaces in the basement function separately. One heats the main level, except for the sun room, and is used consistently in the cold months. The second furnace has three zone switches - for the upstairs, the basement, and the sunroom. Highly efficient in design, the system forces hot air through designated areas and, thanks to a recent development, uses natural gas as fuel. "Luckily," Tom relates, "we got natural gas in our locale this year so we don't need to bother with propane tanks."
Most of the furniture, lamps and paintings came from a previous home and, being traditional in style, they look right at home in their log setting.. Leather couches in the great room and ladder-back chairs around the dining table add a formal note to the great room. As for the inviting hearthside, Tom explains, "The stones I wanted were pictured in a magazine but seemed unavailable, until our builder found out from the magazine where I could get them. It's Arizona moss rock, and we had several slabs shipped in."
For landscaping, Tom turned to a local company. At one corner of the house the landscapers laid several boulders, adding ground cover for a pleasing effect.
Other local crafts-people provided ornamental touches. A woman who specializes in firing colors into tempered glass created a special window for the sauna. It gives a stained-glass effect and echoes the stained glass in the front door.
For color contrast with the interior logs, white drywall was used in one area of the great room. Drywall also appears in the full basement, with its9-foot ceiling that runs under the entire house, except for the garage. For now, the basement is mainly used for storage and a workshop but is outfitted with plumbing connections, should another bathroom be required.
The new house is, understandably, a source of pride to its owner who, in good weather, spends much of the daylight hours on the lake. Although Wisconsin law, he reports, forbids motor trolling on these lakes, a rowboat gets just as well to where the fish are. Muskie season, which lasts until the end of November, is a special draw and Tom has caught his share of big ones (they get thrown back). But when he's not fishing, or using his newly earned pilot's license, he can relax in his solidly built, welcoming log house through every season of the year.
By Loretta Novick, Country's Best Log Homes