Home Expo-goers take a gander Sean and Shawn Meier talk with Josh Rickman of Master Spas about this five-person luxury spa that features a pop-up television on Sunday at the Home Expo. (Photo by Tina Gohr). Log homes, luxuries and energy-saving construction By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle People milled around the Brown County Homebuilders Association Home on Sunday to look at new trends in home-building, cabinetry, flooring and a flat screen television that can be viewed from the comfort of a spa. Among the spectators at the Expo was Tom Thornton. "We come every year just to see what's new," he said. Amidst displays of glass doors and cabinetry shelving that rolled out of its casement at the KI Convention Center was a display of log homes. According to Greg Grimes, salesman for Expedition Log Homes LLC , large, glass windows that stretch up to the eaves of their log homes are in higher demand. Log home buyers want to infuse as much of the outdoors as possible in their home, Grimes said. Log homes in dry areas that receive a lot of sun are being built with porches on all four sides of the home. The porch rooftops protect the logs from ultraviolet rays, he said. Although most of their clients prefer to build log homes on expansive, isolated plots, Grimes estimated one customer out of seven build their homes in residential areas. Across the way, a spa that seats five people displayed a flat screen television that, with the touch of a button, rises from or retracts into the spa's casing. The spa, which has a DVD player, surround stereo system and floating remote, is retailed at $18,000, according to Keith Hueffner, president of Master Spas. Within the last two years it has become popular, he said. For the home buyer interested in cutting heating costs, Bob Conant, owner of North Shores Construction and PolySteel Sales and Distribution, guarantees his product will cut energy bills in half. Concrete sandwiched between two layers of fire-resistant foam and galvanized steel helps the concrete maintain ground temperature. He said with the construction method he uses, the heating cost of a 3,000 square foot home can cost $600 a year. Conant said it is newer to the United States than it is to Europe. He estimated it has been in the U.S. for 15 years, and in Europe for 20. Approximately 6,000-8,000 people attended the four-day Expo that concluded Sunday. According to Sharon Graves, spokesperson for the Brown County Home Builders Association, 112 exhibitors were present.