The Log Cabin Conundrum: Our Personal Retrofit Journey

I’ll set the picture. It’s late 2019, my wife Beth and I had decided to move from our home in Wagga Wagga NSW. We loved our little permaculture garden and being close to family - but were quickly finding ourselves wanting to grow in our careers. Being in a regional area, more complex architecture opportunities were somewhat limited. Likewise, Beth was finding being a Veterinarian in a rural area meant she didn’t have much room to be challenged. As we looked toward starting a family, we wanted a change. We had a moderate house deposit (thanks largely to family), and perhaps optimistically, wanted to make the move to the Canberra region.

Notably, the median house price in Canberra at the time was $693,500 (ABS, Residential Property Prices Index, Dec 2019). Our deposit wasn’t going to get us there, that much was certain. Besides, we still wanted that rural lifestyle we were used to. We were both wanting career growth, so being within 30-40 mins of the city was important. Home ownership seemed like a pipedream, after being stuck in the rental game for so long. Finally, we’d settled on Bungendore NSW. It was close enough to the city that we had plenty of opportunities for career growth - but far enough away so that we still have our gardens and space for us to grow into with a young family. We’d found a modest three-bedroom, one-bathroom log cabin—a “doer-upper” (an understatement to say the least!) on a big block, exactly what we’d always dreamed of. It wasn’t perfect, but it was ours. We envisioned a place where our future kids could grow up, surrounded by space and opportunity, and were excited to bring our vision to life.

Our log cabin, and a new start in Bungendore

Black Summer Bushfires and Covid-19

What happened next, we just couldn’t have predicted. The 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires hit, devestating much of eastern NSW and Victoria.

Our excitement was soon met with the reality of climate change. On New Year’s Eve 2019, during what should have been a celebratory housewarming with family and friends, we were hit by the Black Summer bushfires. Smoke billowed through the village from the nearby Tallaganda National Park. Our log cabin, with its air-leaky construction, couldn’t keep the smoke out, no matter what we tried. The summer’s intense heat waves only made things worse. We couldn’t open windows or doors, and had only had a few $10 pedestal fans from Bunnings to keep us cool. While we were incredibly grateful that our home wasn’t directly threatened by the fires, the experience left us questioning what it really meant for a home to be safe, comfortable, and resilient.

As we considered starting a family, these questions took on even greater importance. Would our home protect us from smoke in the winter, when woodfires would be burning throughout the neigbourhood? How would we manage the extreme heat of summer and the freezing winters Bungendore is known for? We quickly realized that our cabin wasn’t built for the climate of today, let alone the challenges the future might bring.

But how on earth were we going to fix it? There were gaps in the logs you could easily fit your hand through. The plaster was fixed direct to the logs, so there was no room to insulate. You could feel a breeze sweeping through the ventilated timber ceilings, particularly in the midst of winter. We had beautiful exposed timber beams inside, but this meant we also had very little ceiling insulation. The only heating we had was a small woodfire and a gas heater that was always on the fritz. 

As Covid-19 hit, we struggled to push through with a new mortgage and only one of us working. We pulled together what we had and just survived as best we could. The first winters in Bungendore were rough, having come from a much warmer climate. When it was -5 degrees outside, it was nearly the same temperature inside. It was just too draughty. The ceiling leaked in most rooms, and a leaky shower screen had caused mould to build up unseen. We found ourselves getting sick more often and finding it hard to combat the constant illnesses. Our own home was working against us. 

Ontop of this, our energy bills were through the roof. Easily upward of $6k / year for electricity, $800++ for gas, and over $1000 for firewood each season. It just wasn’t sustainable.

Despite this, we welcomed our beautiful daughter into the world in early 2022. Having started our family, it was more important now than ever to make this house comfortable and healthy again. We had a plan, save our butts off for the next 5 years - before undertaking what was bound to be a whopper retrofit and renovation. 

The challenges

As we moved forward with our renovation plans, we began to list the issues that had plagued our cabin from the start. While it had a ‘unique’ charm, the design was far from energy-efficient or comfortable.

Gaps between the logs
The charming log construction came with a major drawback: large gaps between the logs. While these gaps added rustic character, they allowed all our heating to escape in winter and allowed the warm outside air in during summer. This made it nearly impossible to regulate the cabin’s temperature, leading to significant energy inefficiencies and discomfort. Addressing these gaps was critical to making our house comfortable. Not to mention stopping mice and rats invading, which was far from healthy!

Ventilated eaves and excessive heat loss:
Another major issue was the ventilated eaves inside the home. Where a ‘typical’ home would have plasterboard ceilings, we had large expanses of open timber ceilings. These were open to the outside air (they connect to an outside verandah) and were completely uninsulated. The lack of proper insulation and large expanse of open ceiling space meant that any heating we pumped into the home, simply escaped through the ceilings. While ventilation is essential, the absence of insulation left the cabin vulnerable to significant heat loss, contributing to higher energy consumption and increased heating costs.

Leaky shower and water damage:
The leaky shower was another persistent problem. Over time, the constant exposure to water caused significant damage to the floors, leaving them warped and deteriorated. Beyond cosmetic damage, the moisture buildup created a breeding ground for mould—an issue we couldn’t ignore, especially with a young child in the house.

Leaky roof and water damage:
Our cabin’s roof was another source of frustration. Leaks in several areas led to water damage, particularly in the ceiling and walls. During heavy rain, we had to scramble to catch the drips and prevent further damage to the interior. A badly maintained roof and several old (patched) chimney holes meant that it was beyond a simple repair (believe me, we tried!).

Minimal insulation or space for new insulation:
Another of the more critical issues was the lack of insulation in the cabin’s walls. The plaster was applied directly to the logs, leaving no cavity for insulation. This lack of insulation meant that the cabin was extremely vulnerable to temperature fluctuations, making it inefficient and uncomfortable year-round.

Whilst our ceiling had partial insulation in some areas, it was limited and likely very low in insulative value (r-value) due to the roof cavity available. The batts in the ceiling were no more than 100mm thick, and likely around R1.0. In comparison - for our area, I generally recommend a minimum of R5. Given we had exposed timber beams throughout, our ceiling space was a limiting factor. We simply couldn’t fit more insulation, even if we wanted to!

Exposed log walls inside the home

Not only were these a bit of an eyesore, they were also copper arsenic logs and quickly built up with spiders, mice, dust and webs. Not the sort of thing you want inside a family home, and particularly not something you want kids running their hands over.

Extensive glass and leaking frames

The home was fitted with a sunroom to the south and extensive single glazing infills to the east. Whilst the original intent may have been to make external spaces warmer, they were opened up to the main house. Single glazed windows and uninsulated aluminium frames in Bungendore’s cold climate are just a recipe for condensation and added to the heat loss we were experiencing. The ad hoc nature in which they were installed also meant they leaked extensively, meaning the spaces were often inundated with water.

Awkward layouts, steps throughout, and badly built infills

The homes interior layout was another challenge. Structural posts (with old external windows between) that supported the roof and ceiling were scattered throughout the living areas and bedrooms, disrupting the flow of space. These posts made the rooms feel cramped and limited our options for moving furniture around. In particular, the previously ‘infilled’ side verandah was only 1.8m deep and nearly 12m long (ultimately, it was a very inpractical space that was part of the main house - but almost unusable). Uneven floors with minor steps in every space made life even more difficult when aging relatives came to visit. The combined bathroom + laundry configuration certainly wasn’t an issue - but the rennovation carried out sometime in the 2000’s meant the laundry was a single cupboard with no tub and it in turn, created lots of space that wasn’t utilised. Our kitchen was badly laid out, with very little bench space - and oddly, two cooktops. As our family grew, it became clear that we needed a more functional and flexible layout to accommodate our changing needs.

Overall, we didn’t need much more space…but we needed the space we did have to be functional. It was currently far from it.

Orientation

Our home was positioned north to south along the block, meaning all of our windows and doors were facing east or west. A problem mostly in terms of how much natural light and heating we could get into the home…but one that we were likely going to have to work with given the construction of the original home.

Turning Challenges Into Opportunities: A Plan for a comfortable future

As we assessed these challenges, it became clear that a complete overhaul was necessary. Our cabin needed to be reimagined as a modern, energy-efficient home—one that could protect us from the elements and provide a comfortable living space for our growing family. This experience wasn’t just personal—it reshaped my purpose and supercharged my passion for making climate resilient homes accessible for everyone. 

In my next post for this series, I’ll dive into the design process we used to address these issues and transform our log cabin into a truly sustainable, high-performance home. Stay tuned to see how we took a creative and thoughtful approach to these challenges, ultimately turning our home into a comfortable modern family home.

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