2 Bringing the outdoors in has business booming.

There is nothing like the smell, look and feel of the outdoors, especially when it can be enjoyed in the comfort of one's home. Devon Mills Ltd. achieves that experience each time it ships out a custom-built North Country Log Home package.

Chapleau resident Richard Korpela, owner of Devon Mills, known by its product's name North Country Log Homes, mills pine logs into custom-designed homes.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Korpela's love for working with wood comes honestly, as his father owned and operated three saw mills in the Chapleau area. Growing up in the business, Korpela studied forestry at Sir Sanford Fleming College, returned to the region and built a log home. It received so much attention Korpela saw the opportunity to develop a value-added business in the wood industry.

He purchased a Chisum Log Mill machine, designed to make log-home products.

"The next thing you know, I'm in the log home business," he says.

Now, 29 years later, Korpela has planned and formed log siding kits and log home packages for people all over the world.

His business remains mostly seasonal from about mid-March until the end of October, preferred peak home building months, particularly in Canada.

The log packages are manufactured with Korpela's staff of six in a small shop on his four-acre site. The kits contain all precut and numbered wood, complete with a construction manual and set of blueprints that can be easily followed by any building contractor. A water-based sealant designed for log homes is either sold with the kit or recommended.

Korpela obtains pine trees from private wood lots and native reserves in the Sudbury area. The trees, ranging from 70 to 150 years old, produce eight-, 10- or 12-inch-di-ameter logs. The raw logs are then fed through the Chisum Log Mill, which turns the log, and forms a tongue-and-groove cut along with saddle-notched corners. The logs are cut to length, numbered and piled for shipment.

The first step in the job involves getting the idea from the client's mind onto paper, so it can be built into a log home that is practical, suits the lot and remains aesthetically pleasing for the customer. This usually takes about a month.

"When we do homes, we rarely do two the same," he says. It often begins as a crude sketch. However, Korpela offers his input on the design to make it easier, less expensive, or more structurally sound. Sometimes it is about a husband and wife compromising for the sake of practicality.

"Most people are appreciative of the hints I offer," he says.

Once everyone is in agreement, the blueprints and construction drawings are made and the logs are cut and milled to size. About 30 stock plans are available, but rarely do they remain unchanged, because of different tastes and desires.

The majority of milled log homes on the market use squared timbers. However, Devon Mills Ltd. offers round logs that look handcrafted. The price is comparable to regular built homes, from $90 to $125 per square foot, according to the company's website.

The log home's ability to retain its internal temperature is comparable to conventional framed homes. With a well-insulated roof, quality doors and windows, the solid wood walls have thermal mass which acts like a heat sink. So not only do they hold the heat longer in the winter (vice versa in the summer), the temperature fluctuations are slower.

"As the walls warm up, they radiate heat back into the building," Korpela says.

Another feature of the log homes is the unique atmosphere created by the natural wood-grain look.

Although difficult to quantify, Korpela says it is a different living experience.

"It's a feeling you get in them with the wood," he says.

"The way it feels, smells, looks ... and the sound inside. There is not as much echoing, because the wood absorbs the sound better, and filters out the outdoor noise."

Dr. Rod Johnston, who set up his dentistry clinic in the fashion of a country log home, used several Devon Mills Ltd. wood products. He attributes his increase in clientele to the warm, comfortable look of the building. He used Korpela's log siding product and says it looks like an authentic log home.

The wood siding is essentially an eight-inch log split in two with the corners trimmed to appear like full ends. The advantage to the siding product is it can go on any type of siding and transform a house to look like a log home. As well, extra rigid insulation can be installed to increase the R-value of the home.

While the high Canadian dollar has slowed down his U.S. shipments, Korpela will focus on promoting his log siding products for home renovation projects.

www.northcountryloghomes.com

By ADELLE LARMOUR

Northern Ontario Business 

QUICK FACTS

Devon Mills Ltd. was founded near Chapleau by Richard Korpela in 1977. Korpela sells ready-to-assemble log home and siding kits to customers all over the world.