Traditionally handcrafted, from start to finish

Hongos is a Finnish company based in Leppävirta, that specialises in high quality log work and traditional building techniques. The founding principles of our company are to provide an uncompromisingly high quality of technical and esthetic work, created using traditional methods, while maintaining design individuality.

There Are Many good reasons to choose a traditional Finnish log building

Finland is considered as the original birth place of log building techniques. Finnish people, when emigrating to the United States and Canada, brought their log building techniques with them, introducing the tradition to the new continent. Traditional log buildings have been tested and developed for around a thousand years. In addition to mastering the old techniques, modern log craftsmen also use some new, handy tools to enhnace the precision and speed of their work. Carefully made log buildings are built to last for generations, are healthy to live in, ecological and of course strikingly beautiful.

Healthy to live in

The logs balance the air humidity, either absorbing or releasing moisture accordingly. All materials used are natural and no synthetic chemicals are used. The quality of air inside a log building is fantastic: sensitivities to indoor air problems have found to be dramatically reduced for those living in traditional log buildings.

Ecological

The materials for the building are sourced from the vicinity of the building site. All material used is natural and biodegradable and the wood is not treated with chemicals. The building is made to last for hundreds of years and if needed, can easily be repaired. When considering carbon dioxide emissions, using wood for log buildings is more carbon conserving than using it for paper production for example. We highly recommend!

Made of single logs

Straight, slowly grown, Nordic pine with tightly packed fiber cells and a reddish tinge is possibly among the world’s best types of wood for log building, showing it’s finest qualities when used in a handcrafted log building. Nature in Finland grows without a hurry: it takes over a hundred years for a big pine to grow until it is ready to be used in a log building, which is why it’s wood is hard and durable. From this perspective, the log craftman’s role in this process, that spans hundreds of years, is only in adding the finishing touches. Handcrafted log buildings are made of real wood, using singular logs, without any glued seams or industrial processes.

For the love of log building

Log buildings are indeed a way of making a living for the log craftsmen but all and all, the real motivation for the work comes from a love for log building. A tree’s journey from the forest to the wall of a finished building has many intermediate steps and phases of work. In the process, a huge heap of woodshavings is created and plenty of man power and petrol is spent. A log that fits perfectly in it’s place is the log craftsman’s most valued prize.

“‘Hongos’ is an ancient Finnish god of forests. ‘Honka’, also derived from the name, is a word for a type of large, relatively branchless, straight pine, which is the most common wood used for building in Finland. Hence, ‘Hongos’ is the spirit and protector of forests and pines.”