Round wooden houses

Many wooden houses are made in Romania and many of them for export. Romanian builders have become very well known in Europe and there is no shortage of orders, and the variety is great. There are manufacturers who buildprefabricated wall houses, made almost entirely in the factory and assembled at the customer's premises, but also manufacturers of round wood houses. Today I'll tell you about two of those who build roundwood houses.

I wanted to find out from the roundwood house manufacturers how they came to make such houses, if they have orders, from where, how their work is appreciated outside, how they make the houses, how much they make in the factory and how much at the customer. Especially since this kind of houses is not specific to our country. I'm not saying that round wood houses have not been built, but it is not specific.

Roundwood houses are typical of Canada and the northern United States, where there are forests that you walk through for days and don't get halfway through the forest. For those who settled the place, it was easiest to cut down the trees and quickly assemble them into houses, then go out to pan for gold. A few trees there were not to be seen in the vastness of the forest.

In our country the houses were made of a wooden structure reinforced with clay-fixed roofing tiles. This is how the walls were formed. The planks that made the "face" of the wall were nailed to them.

Extended visit from Log Home

But let's come back to the present day. As I said I was in the area precisely to learn more about roundwood houses. I knew that this type of houses were built here and I wanted to find out more directly from the manufacturers. So I came to Vatra Dornei to meet the owner of the company Log Home.

When we arrived at the meeting, the man was negotiating with a family to build a gazebo and a well. By the time I had a good idea of what was going on I was also invited, rather taken aback, to join the group for a few viewings of Log Home-built homes in the area. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it. It was really quite educational, just a bit unplanned. That's how I ended up being late for meetings I had with other manufacturers. Some, sadly, I didn't even get to meet. After seeing an inn, a dwelling house and a budding restaurant, I went to the factory where I saw how they were building two houses for foreign customers.

He told me that if I write something, he doesn't want to stand out. He insisted that it's not him that's important, it's the team. "They build them. They're the ones you have to write about." That's how I met the engineer Claudiu Cozan, the main craftsman Irimescu Mihăilă, the secondary craftsman Mateiu Alin and the wood-peeler Elisabeta Vornicu. They have been making roundwood houses for over 15 years and are well known in the area.

From them I learned that they make round wooden houses with a diameter of more than 30 cm. Assembly is done by cherting, without metal fittings. I had first heard of cherting, that process of machining wood so that two elements can be joined together. In this case, the logs are machined at the ends to fit together perfectly. Thermal insulation is laid in the joint area to make the house perfectly insulated. At least that's my understanding.

Logs are stripped of their bark by hydraulic processing, not by chipping. This keeps the wood smooth and scratch-free. Once the house has been built, the wood does not need any further processing and can be left as it is, smooth on the outside and inside.

Although I had proposed to leave Vatra Dornei before noon, I hardly managed to leave at 17. And not before eating a soup with my host. I couldn't refuse. And even if I refused, I don't know if it mattered. It was the kind of invitation that seemed hard to refuse without the risk of offending the host. After all, we had been "working" together all day. 🙂 Now it was time for dinner. We parted reluctantly, not before I promised to stop by again. Incidentally, I called him today to ask him another question. What do you think he asked me? When I'm coming back to Vatra Dornei.

House factory in Poiana Stampei

And that's how I ended up calling Cristian Chiforescu at 5pm. I was on my way to Gherla. In the morning, we had agreed to meet around noon. The job was taking so long in Vatra Dornei, I didn't keep my word. I admit I didn't expect him to answer. Not only did he reply, but he was waiting for me at the company's office in Poiana Stampei, even though I was late. I admit I was glad.

Cristian's signature, Poiana Construct House, is based in Poiana Stampei, right on the national road that connects Vatra Dornei to Bistrita, on the Bârgăului hills, an area that I consider the most beautiful in Romania.

As soon as I arrived, Cristian invited me into the showroom. What does this showroom look like? Well, I would have stayed overnight in the showroom and I'm dead serious. It's a house built of round wood where, when I entered, the fireplace was burning, it smelled of wood and there was a warm, very pleasant atmosphere. I jokingly said to Cristian that it was like sitting down to sleep on the bench next to the fireplace. Take my word for it, and if you have a way around, come in and have a wee. The people are very OK and if you hurry, you might even catch the fire in the fireplace. 🙂

Unfortunately we didn't have time to talk for long. But he still told me about advantages of wooden housesespecially the roundwood ones, about the fact that we should not only think about the price but about what you get for the money and how and how quickly the investment pays for itself. He has been making houses since 2005 and has built for both domestic and foreign clients.

For their constructions, the design is free of charge. The houses are built and subdivided according to the clients' needs. The overall design and architecture is agreed with the client and, of course, according to budget. They also use natural insulation, making the house environmentally friendly.

On the cost side, he told me that because the beneficiaries want to keep the wood visible on the outside and inside, it saves on finishing. No more drywall, plaster, paint and other such materials. And so you discover lower costs when building round timber houses compared to masonry.

Although it was late, light was scarce, people were in the process of charging a house to the customer. About how the process of making a log house goes, I can tell you that they build the house, timber by timber, beam by beam, then number (mark) each beam. Then it is dismantled, loaded log by log into the car/trailer, transported to the customer and put in place.

It was late and I had to go on my way and they had to go on theirs. Cristian and I agreed to come back another time to talk more over a glass of wine. The wine suggestion came from him and it scored the decisive point.