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Log home built in late fall

My wife and I are having our log home built in Sept and will not be done until mid November. Will the new logs be ok until the weather gets warm enough to stain in the spring?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Piatz on August 10, 2012 at 7:14pm

Hi Gregg,

Most folks don't get around to staining and sealing right away and that's okay. Your wood can't change that much in a few months. There will however be some prep work invloved when you do get around to it. If you want to you can send me an email at kevin@permachink.com with your name, address, and phone number and I can send you a homeowner package that includes some instructions on what to do to take care of a newly constructed home.

Good luck and congrats on the new home!

-Kevin, Perma-Chink Systems - Redmond, WA

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Permalink Reply by Gregg & Robin Farley on August 12, 2012 at 6:57am

Kevin

Thanks for the reply I was just concerned because the winters can be a little rough in Upstate NY.

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Permalink Reply by Gregg & Robin Farley on August 16, 2012 at 7:52am

Kevin
Thank you for all the wood care samples. The literature is very informative. You have made the decision making alot easier. It looks like I will have alot of work to do next spring.

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Permalink Reply by Terry Tadysak on August 13, 2012 at 12:35pm

Send me your e-mail address and I will forward you my 'how to do' prepping and staining interior and exterior log homes. I can also give you a few important suggestions on construction choices if you have not yet started. ( overhangs 30 inches or more, algea resistant shingles, keeping the first row of logs up off the ground by at least 1 to 1 1/2 feet, steel facia, aluminum soffet, rain gutters are a must, clear coating one side of the 2x6 tongue and groved end matched sub floor for the loft floor so when down your 1st floor ceiling is DONE, and other simple but very important design issues to dave time, money and KEEPING the logs DRY.)

ttadysak@habush.com

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Permalink Reply by Gregg & Robin Farley on August 13, 2012 at 3:12pm

Terry

Thank you for the reply I just emailed you with my information.

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Permalink Reply by Gregg & Robin Farley on August 15, 2012 at 11:50am

Terry

You can reach me at Greggfarley@comcast.net

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Permalink Reply by Michael Whalen on September 25, 2012 at 2:19pm

Gregg-

Lovitt's makes a great wood cleaner & brightener that comes in a packaged kit and covers 1000 sf for only 40 bucks, that would work great in the spring to clean, brighten, and prepare your wood for your wood stain. We recommend using Lovitt's Emerald Gold wood finish, it is a very durable penetrating log home finish that is easy to maintain over the life of your log home.

Everyone is going to say that their products are the best, that is their job at whatever respective coatings company they work for, right? But you need to dig deeper than just the literature you receive and do your due diligence to research what product works good in your neck of the woods.

Also, consider the long term maintenance procedures you will have to endure to keep your home protected and looking great year after year.

Our company has experience with every finish made, we run and operate the west coasts' largest and most experienced log home restoration company and service hundreds of customers yearly. We have had the best experience with Lovitt's coatings, their premium wood stains are deep penetrating and last a long time, but best of all they are easy to clean and re-coat after 3-4 years. They never peel, the finish wears very well and re-coats are a simple procedure, just a light wash and put on a new coat!

The water base form-filming finishes are a nightmare to maintain, they become blotchy, they peel, the clear coat systems some offer make it very difficult to come back and do maintenance. They claim the clear can be washed and re-coated, but what really happens when you do that is the color coats below come off in some areas, making the cleaned surface patchy? Then when you try to put on a color coat, it cannot penetrate the clear coat still on some areas? (we have references to attest to this)

The results is always having to remove the entire coating and starting over, this seems to anger our clients who use these types of products and the cost of re-coating is usually 3-4 times the cost of a re-coat with Lovitt's products!

To us, this is a no brainer! The bottom line is this, the long term cost of using acrylic coatings and clear coats on your log home is tremendously more than using penetrating stains like Lovitt's Emerald Gold or Natural Gold oil base. WE have proven this for the last 15 years of doing maintenance on log and cedar sided homes on the west coast, and through the experience of other professional log home restoration contractors across the country like Ray Wengard of Town & Country Log Homes in Ohio, the Lovitt's coatings look better, last longer, and are way easier to maintain over time.

So when choosing your stain, you need to look past the "new formula's" that some suppliers come out with every year or so as the new good stuff, forget the old formulas, this new one is the ticket! Be aware of being sold via expensive brochures and advertising, that just jacks up the cost of their coatings and leaves their customers with large restoration bills a few years down the road.

Visit our website at www.woodspecialist.com and click on the section that shows our restoration projects, this is a place where YOU could end up by choosing the wrong path for the long term care of your log home......

It's hard for me to say don't use these other brands, it keeps our service crews very busy blasting off those finishes,and there are plenty of those projects out there to do.

One thing we can honestly say is that we have never blasted Lovitt's Coatings off any home we've applied their coatings to, now that's saying something.....

You can contact Lovitts at www.lovittscoatings.com and request some information and samples.