Document text
Western structure will go to Japan Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Homestead Log Homes is nearly finished with the log shell of a restaurant bound for Japan. Homestead�s owners are hoping it will open doors to more projects overseas. The building will be disassembled, packed and shipped for reconstruction in Japan. Log building ready to pack and ship for new restaurant By Shari Downhill Rogue Valley logs are heading overseas to be reconstructed into a Korean barbecue restaurant with a Scandinavian flair for a location outside Tokyo. Builders at Homestead Log Homes have just completed a log shell for the Western-style restaurant, called the Log-Tei, at Homestead�s construction yard on Crater Lake Highway in Medford. Workers will now disassemble the project and pack the components into containers that will be sent to Portland for shipment overseas. The 2,600-square-foot building will be reconstructed at a location about an hour north of Tokyo. Homestead co-founder Tom Salad� will accompany a crew to Japan in mid-January to install the building with help from a Japanese contractor. "There is a language barrier, but nothing that can�t be worked through," Salad� said. "I really think this (project) will open doors for us," said Salad�s business partner, Jim Hoffman. Homestead Log Homes built about 70 Japanese homes over an eight-year period beginning in 1984, but those have been in less visible areas, Hoffman said. The builders say sales in the Japanese market have dwindled over the past seven years as Pacific Rim economies "flattened out." Now, with "all things Western" the rage and the financial environment improving, Hoffman and Salad� anticipate more business deals like the Log-Tei Restaurant headed for Kumagaya-shi, Saitami-ken, Japan. "All the logs are hand-peeled with a two-handled draw knife," said Bill Shearin, Homestead�s sales manager. "All the joints are hand-finished with a chainsaw and the arches give it a Scandinavian look." Although workers spray the log shell with a mild anti-borer solution before it leaves the work yard, Shearin said, the components will be refumigated in the Portland shipyard and stay in port for another week before setting sail for their final destination. Homestead was awarded the project because the company was able to meet the Korean owner�s tight construction schedule, Hoffman said. An outdoor construction shelter has allowed workers to continue construction during inclement weather . "Without that building, we wouldn�t have been able to do it," Shearin said. Homestead Log Homes has constructed more than 500 log projects, both residential and commercial, since 1978. During the winter months, the company employs 16 workers, boosting crew numbers during the busy summer construction period. Although Homestead advertises in national magazines and attends log-home trade shows, Shearin said, the current project was brokered by Building Material Consolidator International in Portland. Homestead Log Homes uses about 1.3 million board feet of timber each year in about 20 to 30 projects. Logs are purchased two years in advance and allowed to dry in the company�s work yard before being incorporated into projects. "All the logs are from within about a 200-mile radius," Shearin said. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.