Honest Abe Monthly, February 2011

Honest Abe Monthly

February, 2011

One Woman’s Determination - A Lesson For All Ages All of our customers are important to Honest Abe. Yet, every now and then a special relationship is built with a customer that pulls at your heart strings, and all you can do is just stand back and say “Wow!” Such is the case with Mrs. Kay Mooney.

Mrs. Mooney and her husband, Tom, had lived in Florida for several years.

When Hurricane Charlie destroyed their home in 2004 they made the decision to rebuild. They started looking for a more permanent place to live outside of Florida, somewhere to get away from the hurricanes. Tragically, Tom died while they were rebuilding their Florida home, but Mrs. Kay finished the home by herself and moved in alone by the end of 2005.

After Mrs. Kay moved in, her friends began asking her if she planned to stay in Florida, and she knew she would only stay for a while. She wanted to move closer to family in Pennsylvania, and to family and friends in Tennessee.

When a couple of friends moved to Tennessee and built log homes, she just knew that Tennessee and a log home were the right fit for her. So in 2006 Mrs. Kay, in her mid 60’s and on her own, started exploring the State of Tennessee for land, and doing her research for a log home of her own. Her many trips to Ten-

nessee took her to Pigeon Forge, Johnson City, and then to Crossville and Jamestown. Finally, a landfinding trip in May of 2009 resulted in locating a perfect place in a country development in the central part of the state just south of Cookeville.

The land even had a pond and fencing already around the property. When she saw the property it took her exactly 15 minutes to make up her mind to put down a deposit!

She knew she had found exactly what she wanted.

Mrs. Kay first started communicating with me in 2006 as she was looking for land, and we first met when she came to a log home show in Florida in November of 2008. As we starting planning her home after she purchased her property, her heart kept coming back to a plan she had seen in an old Honest Abe plan book called the Stoneybrook (very similar to the current Appalachian floor plan). With a few modifications, plus adding a garage, an extended utility room, and front and back screened-in porches, we put the finishing touches on the project in the fall of 2009.

While getting to know Mrs. Kay, I soon discovered we had two main things in common – love of animals and Christmas. Part of the design

“It’s What You’ve Always Wanted” www.honestabe.com

of the windows, utility room, and the screened-in porches were all to accommodate her beloved cats, Smokey and Gizmo. The pond on the property was very appealing to her because she plans to adopt a dog that will enjoy it, too. Also, she loves decorating for Christmas – in fact, as we planned the placement of windows and the fireplace, all decisions were based around the position of the main Christmas tree.

Living in Florida and at the same time building in Tennessee is not an easy task for one person. But Mrs.

Kay made the decision to build in spite of having to stay in Florida to sell her home there. Ground was broken in May of 2010. Cooperation between Honest Abe (and the Honest Abe crew headed by Joe Isenberg) and the general contractor (Tom Lyles of Reliable Builders of Cookeville), and the fact that Mrs. Kay knew exactly what she wanted in her home, made it possible about eight months after breaking ground for her to move into her new log

Honest Abe Monthly

February, 2011

home the last weekend of January this year. In the mean time, she had sold her Florida home, too!

Mrs. Kay also plans to do volunteer work at the local hospital.

Mrs. Kay will adjust quickly to her new Tennessee life-style. She loves snow, and plans to purchase a fourwheel drive vehicle to be able to get around. Because of Mrs. Kay’s love of animals she remains active with DART (Disaster Animal Response Team), and she will be on call to assist where there is a need. After she gets settled in her new home.

Mrs. Kay should be a hero to every woman, especially a woman over the age of 60, to every woman who is on her own for one reason or another, and to everyone who has a dream in their heart to fulfill.

Article by: Sharron Bilbrey, Sales Representative of Honest Abe Log Homes

Why Douglas Fir Beams?

Over eleven years ago, Honest Abe Log Homes made a major change in our package contents. The company switched from using Yellow Pine as the primary wood species for its Heavy Timber systems to Douglas Fir, also known as Doug Fir for short.

While Yellow Pine is widely used throughout the log home industry, we had very good reasons for the change. Time has taught us that our customers approved of the change.

benefits over Yellow Pine is that Doug Fir tends to be more stable over time. The species does not have the tendency to warp and twist as extremly as Yellow Pine. Honest Abe also takes great care in the kiln-drying process to bring the moisture content of the beams below 18%.

With our attention to preparing the beams for your home, and the added benefits of Douglas Fir, the system is much superior to what we offered years ago.

Honest Abe chose to improve our package by purchasing a high-grade of Doug Fir known in the wood industry as “#1 and Better”. This grade provides a timber that is just as strong as the Yellow Pine species it replaced. Some of the major

The Doug Fir beams are used as exposed rafters in our Heavy Timber Roof System, and serve as the second-floor joists creating exposed beams as the ceiling when standing on the first floor. The beams often have a red tint, offering a great

Become a Fan on Facebook! www.facebook.com/honestabeloghomes

contrast to the Engleman Spruce tongue-and-groove that rests on them.

Despite the fact that Douglas Fir’s cost to Honest Abe of three times that is Yellow Pine, we are consistently competitive with others in the industry who continue to use Yellow Pine. When comparing log home packages, overlooking details like this can be done very easily. I urge you to ask questions, both of our competitors and of us at Honest Abe. I’m confident you will find that we offer a superior log home product for a very reasonable price.

Article by: Jackie Cherry, Vice-President of Honest Abe Log Homes

Honest Abe Monthly

February, 2011

Under Construction: The Miller Log Home My wife Tonia and I have been Independent Dealers of Honest Abe Log Homes since 1997, and a new log home project is always a big thrill, but this one has been most rewarding. We got a phone call from a general contractor out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana while we were watching our two boys, Tanner and Tate, show their pigs at the Indiana State Fair in August of last year. After talking over the details with the project manager, we discovered they were working to replace a log home that had burnt in an electrical fire.

The Millers are a young couple that had only been married a few months, and had purchased an existing log home. One evening when Mr. Miller was at work, his wife was at home and had fallen asleep. She was soon awakened by the smell of smoke and heat from the fire. In all the confusion, she proceeded to stand up and make her way to an exit. However, when she stood up, she took the wrong path to escape. While she was able to avoid the flames directly, by standing up she had placed her upper body into an intense heat zone, causing severe 3rd degree burns to her upper arms, shoulders and face. The Miller’s are thankful that she was able to escape, but the injuries were severe enough that she was induced into a coma while her doctors worked to save her life. We are glad to report that she is recovering well, but has and will endure reconstructive surgery to repair the burn damage.

aged log home with a new Honest Abe Log Home. The contractor asked that our company, T&M Log Homes, provide the dry-in labor. We made arrangements with our builder and friend, Doug McGraw with Turn Key Builders to complete the dry-in construction.

In spite of tragedy, the Miller’s have endured, it is rewarding for us to see the new log home come together.

We know that the Miller’s will soon be able to return to the log home lifestyle they love so much.

Article by: Mike Coulter of T&M Log Homes of Albany, Indiana

After the fire.

Reconstruction of the Miller’s log home.

Honest Abe Delivers the Miller Package

We were able to meet with the general contractor, and Mr. Miller to work out the details to replace their dam-

Rebuilding the Miller’s Home

Follow Us On Twitter! www.twitter.com/honestabehomes

Heavy Timber Roof Beams in Place

Honest Abe Monthly

Home of the Month: The Ravenwood

The Ravenwood is one of Honest Abe Log Home’s new models that will appear in our upcoming floor plan catalog due out in May. The Ravenwood is 704 square feet on the first floor, and 326 on the second, giving a combined living area of 1,030 square feet.

It features a master bedroom and bath on the first floor, along with a utility space. This layout allows the Ravenwood to have all the necessities located on the first floor, while the second floor can accomodate guests with an extra bedroom, bath and loft area. Its spacious porch and deck area provides plenty of opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.

“It’s What You’ve Always Wanted” www.honestabe.com

February, 2011