Business owner Paul Murray is helping to make log cabin dreams come true for clients of M&H Wood Specialties.
Murray has more than 30 years of experience constructing custom log homes, along with restoring and refinishing log structures worldwide.
His small business inside the ProNorth Industrial Park in St. Albert serves clients across Alberta and abroad, with homes built from Inuvik all the way to New Mexico, Murray said. All the lumber used is Alberta wood, including spruce and pine.
“What we build is handcrafted,” he said. “The wood is left in its natural state, with just the bark removed.”
Since launching their website and expanding their social media presence, the phone is ringing off the hook most days from people interested in building their own custom log cabin, Murray said.
“I’ve got two builds going in the yard right now, and we haven’t seen that in at least five years,” he said, noting it could be a result of pent up demand as people seem to be growing more confident in the economy.
What makes a log home different?
Whether it’s exterior refinishing, structural and aesthetic restoration, or building a log home from scratch, Murray said incorporating natural wood helps to create a more holistic environment to live in — not to mention its durability and energy savings potential.
“We’ve seen all ends of the spectrum to where this was a first time home for people, or in some cases, older groups of people who want to downsize,” he said.
“Country residential with a log cabin? That’s paradise for the rest of your life, and hopefully a multi-generational home.”
Wood buildings meet, and in some cases exceed, new building code requirements, Murray said. The company had done energy audits on the homes they’ve built, and participated in a research program around energy efficiency before the building codes changed in Alberta.
“Higher insulation values required triple glazed windows, the styrofoam form foundations — we’ve been doing most of that stuff for a number of years,” he said.
Wood-frame buildings are inherently more efficient than other common construction materials, largely because of reduced thermal bridging through the wood structural elements, which act more like insulation instead, according to the Canadian Wood Council.
They can also last for years if treated and built properly.
M&H has also helped restore four of St. Albert’s own historic buildings, including three of the buildings at the Grain Elevator Park, log and roof structural work on the 130-year old La Maison Chevigny, along with general carpentry and special timbers to the Cunningham House.
Knowing he’s helping to build something that will last for generations is one of the most rewarding parts of the job, Murray said.
“We do have customers that we have done repeat business with now for 15 years, building additions, maintenance, perhaps a whole new building,” he said. “What I’m doing straddles the past, the present and the future, in a major way — that’s one of the things that keeps drawing me back.”
