walsh (5)

Comment

Comment by Chris Woody on July 31, 2012 at 11:49am

I'm glad to see so many comments on the photos we've posted. I need to post more. I try to keep our web site up to date so if anyone would like to see more of what we have going on please feel free to look at the photos I post on www.woodywoodchinking.com

Thanks so much,

Chris Woody

Comment by Otis Farm Log Homes on July 30, 2012 at 1:31pm

Love the scafolding.. we will do anything to fix a house.That home will be beautiful when done!

Comment by Denny Johnson on July 10, 2012 at 10:24am

Wow! That's some serious chinking you got goin' on there. How old is the house?

Comment by Stacy Reeves on July 9, 2012 at 10:18pm

Hi Chris,

Well, it's been two years and we have finally been able to do some renovations to mom's home.  Don't know if you are able to read the blog I posted, but I put some pics there.  I'm sure the renovations will not be a hit with everyone, but they are what Mom would have loved:)  Hope you are having luck with your projects!

Comment by Chris Woody on December 29, 2010 at 10:14am

Stacy,

This house is part of whats left of an old plantation in Amherst County VA, as you can see there were a few rotten logs that had to be delt with. With these old Chesnut logs bugs arent usually the bigger threat but rather water. But just the same its still a good idea to treat the house for insects. I cant emphasize enough how important it is to keep water off off your logs. 90% of my business in the past year has been due to a lack of maintance and severe water infiltration generally caused by a failed gutter. Splash back is also a very important thing to look for, from a deck or anything, we had to replace several logs in a home due to water splashing back off of the heat pump onto the logs causing them to rot. A good sealant is going to be one of your best defences, something to turn that water away. Keep those gutters clean and keep a good sealant on the exterior of the home.

   When dealing with historical homes we have to make a decision on how historicaly correct to be with repairs and maintance. There are a lot of good synthetic products on the market such as Perma-Chink, and checkmate, and energyseal. There is nothing historically correct about these products but if you want to seal the home as best as possible these types of product are my suggestion. In the private sector this may be the route you want to go. When we deal with historical society's or museums and things of that nature we cant use these product unless its inside a wall hidden from view. In these situations we have to take an original piece of chinking and do a chemical analysis to find out how to reconstruct the chinking rite down to the hog or horse hair that was used as the structural fibers in the chinking or rather dobbing to be correct about it. Also to be historicaly correct do you replace an entire rotten log or do you save as much of the original log as possible and rebuild the rotten part with epoxy's. There are several thoughts on this some preservationist wouldnt touch these synthetic products while others will tell you that there fine. We use both with great success.

   Checks can be a problem with these old homes as they have had hundreds of years to shrink and swell and do their seasonal movement. Yes these old timbers are still moving. Ive cut in to two hundred year old logs and watched the sap run out. So upward facing checks need to be adressed. Any void or cavatiy capable of holding or collecting water is a threat that should be delt with sooner than later. If a check is downward facing or self draining it is not going to be as critical.

   Basically all wood is vulnerable to the weather and should be treated as such no matter of its age. Lots of people will argue that these cabins have been standing for hundreds of years without a sealant and this is true. Pine and Popular are going to be more vulnerable than chesnut or oak but these cabins were protected by something be it a good overhanging roof, or clapboard, or just a good white wash something protected them.

Comment by Stacy Reeves on December 28, 2010 at 10:58pm

Chris,

I received a message from you.  I see you are in VA, we are also, but the log home we have is in PA.  This house looks a lot like our PA house mom is living in.  It's very old and we haven't the first idea what care needs to be done for it to protect it.

Comment by CJ from Va. on December 28, 2010 at 5:24pm

Chris, is this you?  If so, you look busy.  I'm loving the cabin.  How old?  CJ from VA.