…Given their insulation abilities, wood houses have long been a staple in Scandinavia and Canada, and can easily withstand the vagaries of the Irish winter. Perhaps it’s a throwback to our colonial history, but Irish people have long been enamoured with bricks and mortar. Yet a growing number are warming to the idea of living in timber houses… Lars Petersson, owner of Scandinavian Homes in Galway, says: “The fact of the matter is that almost all planning authorities are negative to log cabin-looking houses, at least in recent times. We have built 142 timber-clad houses in Ireland since 1991 but since 2006 everyone has been more or less obliged to have a plaster finish instead. “Essentially the construction of the house is the same – a highly insulated timber frame but the cladding is different.”