Urban environment

In areas, where wooden houses can be built, as provided by detailed plans, houses or square logs can be built in urban environment, too. Crossing corners of log houses are cut off and covered with wide corner strips. Glued log walls are stable, having an uniform structure and crack-free surface, therefore, being also an ideal material for urban houses.
Log house architecture has grown more and more contemporary over the last years. Novel and interesting solutions for those looking for unique and personal solutions, combining traditional and natural building materials, are being created in co-operation with architects.
Slab, strip or pile footing is most commonly used for building dwelling houses or summer cottages. Results, obtained by visual observations or geodetic studies, are mostly used to choose the type of footing and once the load-bearing capacities of soil have been determined, designing of a footing, suitable for that specific soil type, can be started.
In Estonia, clay, sand, moraine and limestone soil are most common. The strata and their respective thickness must be assessed separately for each soil type. Sandy soil, most commonly found along the coastline, is considered to be the best soil type for building purposes as it has excellent water and moisture drainage properties. Sandy soil can be easily relocated in course of building works; also, it’s often used as backfill material in future course of works, therefore contributing to cost efficiency of the process.
Limestone and moraine soil is the most common soil type in Estonia. Basically, limestone is a good and stable foundation for a footing. However, high ground water level may cause problems here – discharging of excess moisture may become complicates as limestone strata tend to be rather level and uniform.