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Maintaining Your Log Home

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Log Home Inspection

What is the key to log home maintenance? Inspection! You want to know every aspect of your home and identify areas that are more troublesome than others. Your goal is to discover why a problem may be occurring so that you can correct it and not just treat the symptom.

Make it a practice to walk around your home, at least every fall and spring, to check on the condition of your logs. During your biannual inspections, use the following check list as you do your walk around. Note the areas needing attention and schedule log home maintenance for optimum weather conditions.

Log Home Maintenance

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Mold/Mildew

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
Moisture! Search for moisture source:
1. Sprinklers wetting the logs	1. Adjust, or move sprinkler heads
2. Lack of gutters or gutters leaking	2. Install or repair gutters to eliminate water from cascading down the logs.
3. Spigots dripping/spraying water on the logs	3. Repair and Install Cobra Rods
4. Splashback via downspouts	4. Direct away from your home
5. Geographic - area of the country with high humidity	5. Periodically clean your logs with CPR mixed at the cleaning strength. When a maintenance coat of stain is needed, add a milddewcide to your stain for added protection. Check with stain manufacturer for compatible products.

Bushes/trees too close to the home holding water and creating a humid environment	Cut back trees and bushes/consider the "drip line" of a mature tree. Trim bushes back from the home at least 18 inches.

Growth on the stain surface caused by an accumulation of dirt and pollen has created a food source for the fungi	Clean the logs with CPR mixed at the cleaning strength. For detailed instructions refer to the CPR Information Sheet

Growing on uncoated logs	This requires more aggressive cleaning. Mix CPR at the brightener strength (Refer to the CPR Information Sheet) and the stain with High Sierra Log Stain or the Sashco's Capture Log Stain and Cascade staining system. If your home is in a high humidity environment, add a mildewcide to the stain before applying it (check with the stain manufacturer for compatible products).

Fading Stain

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
UV Degradation	Clean the logs with CPR and then apply a refresher coat of compatible stain. Also, consider protective measures - shade trees, porches, wide roof overhangs.

Discoloration between top & bottom of log

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
UV degradation intensified by curvature of round logs	Clean logs with CPR and then apply a heavy coat of stain to the upper curvature of logs feathering it onto the lower curvature. Then apply one light coat to further even out the color.

Peeling Stain

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
Substrate not clean prior to staining resulting in peeling stain	If the entire structure was not properly cleaned prior to staining, then there is a great likelihood that the entire coating will fail. You can either repair the areas of failure as they occur or remove the coating and start over. Repair entails thoroughly cleaning the area and removing all of the coating that is not firmly adhering to the log surfaces. Apply stain by brush to the bare wood, and feather into the surrounding "good" stain. Additional coats may be necessary to achieve a similar color to the surrounding logs.
Water entering checks, especially areas w/many tiny checks	Often, this is where you will see flaking, peeling stain. Water enters the logs through these tiny checks, seeps under the coating and pushes it off as it becomes a vapor. Repair is the same as above. Once any of these checks become large enough to accept 1/4" backer rod, caulk them following the directions on the Log Builder Information Sheet.
Too many coats of stain-not allowing the logs to "breath" or Use of a film building stain that isn't breathable	If moisture cannot pass through the stain, it will become a vapor and with intense pressure blister the coating until it breaks and starts to peel. The solution is the same as the section above as for unclean substrate.

Log Home Chinking/Caulking Pulling Away

Possible Causes

Corrective Measures

1. Applied to an incompatible stain surface
2. Substrate not cleaned prior to application
3. Applied at too high a surface log temp
4. Applied at too low a surface log temp
5. Not tooled properly
6. High % of log shrinkage/movement usually due to high moisture content of logs
7. No backer rod or bond breaker installed

Log Home Chinking that has been applied to an incompatible stain will eventually lose adhesion, it may take as long as a year or two, but it will happen. You can either repair the areas as they fail, or remove all the chinking and redo the entire structure at once. Repair consists of removing the chinking, cleaning down the logs, and if the stain is in good shape, priming the logs where the chinking will adhere with a stain that is compatible to both the chinking and the existing stain. If no bond breaker was installed during the first application, install backer rod prior to applying the chinking.

If the surface of the logs wasn't properly cleaned prior to installation of the chinking, the dirt, pollen, etc., can adversely affect adhesion. You may get lucky and not have widespread failure, so you can repair as needed. Remove the chinking where it has lost adhesion, clean the log surfaces, and reapply new chinking. If no bond breaker was installed during the first application, install backer rod prior to applying the chinking.

Chinking that was installed when the surface temperature of the logs was either too hot or too cold can also lose adhesion. Repair is the same as above.

If you used green logs in construction, expect areas of chinking "failure". If the type of "failure" is lose of adhesion, then repair is the same as above. If the "failure" is center tearing, then clean the chink line, apply more chinking, and tool to blend the new chinking into the old.

If no backer rod or bond breaker was installed, expect areas of either type of "failure"-- lose of adhesion or center tearing. If the moisture content of the logs was high and no backer rod was installed, you should anticipate more widespread "failure". Repair by removing the old chinking, installing backer rod, cleaning the log surfaces, and apply new chinking.

Chinking/Caulking Blistering

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
There are several causes for blistering, all of which are covered in the Sashco Savvy Technical Bulletin: Preventing Blisters in Chinking Material	Please refer to Sashco Savvy Technical Bulletin: Preventing Blisters in Chinking Material

Cracks & Checks

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
Natural phenomenon as logs lose internal moisture	Caulk the checks on the upper curvature of the logs, or spiral checks that lead into your home (See detailed instructions on the Log Builder Information Sheet)

Insects

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
Depends on the type of insect. Some are nesting & some are feeding	Feeding type insects, i.e., carpenter are nesting ants, termites, post powder beetles, can be treated with borate products IF there is no coating on the logs. Refer to the PeneTreat Information Sheet for details. Nesting insects that don't ingest the wood are more difficult to deal with. Insecticide additives that are compatible with your stain can be used to help ward off nesting insects.

Air/Water Infiltration

Possible Causes	Corrective Measures
Logs have shrunk in diameter as their internal moisture content lowers creating larger gaps between the log courses.	You may need to caulk each log course or locate the specific areas of infiltration and caulk only those areas. Refer to the instructions on the Log Builder Information Sheet.

Other Maintenance Concerns

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Re-staining Compatibility

If you don't know what stain is currently on your home, then the only sure way of not encountering compatibility problems is to remove it down to raw wood and start over. If you do know the product that is currently on the structure but would like to switch to another product, call the manufacturer of the new stain product that you are considering and ask them for technical assistance. They most likely will need a sample of the current stain so that they can do some testing. Your other option is to just stay with the current product.

Cleaning Logs Before Maintenance

Would you wax your Lamborghini before you washed it? The same principle applies when you are getting ready to seal your logs. They must be clean of dust, dirt, pollen, etc. If you don't clean the log surfaces, then there's a high likelihood that the adhesion of the new coat of stain will be adversely affected.

Chinking/Caulking Over Existing Chinking or Caulking

This is another one of those compatibility issues. In most cases you can apply Log Jam chinking or Log Builder Sealant over existing caulking or chinking. Of greater concern, is whether or not the stains that have been previously applied are compatible with the chinking and caulking. Call us for assistance. You will need to know the brand name of the stain on your home.

Chinking Over Mortar

You can apply Log Jam over mortar. Refer to the Log Jam Information Sheet for complete instructions.

What is Okum and can Log Jam and Log Builder be applied over it?

Okum is jute that has been treated with bitumen, and bitumen is basically asphalt. If the Okum is old and brittle, Log Jam and Log Builder will adhere to the Okum. If the Okum is still fairly tacky and "loose," Log Jam and Log Builder will not adhere to it.

What about Motor Oil?

If your log structure has been treated with motor oil, our stain products will not adhere to it, nor will any other stain. Motor oil never cures, so adhesion of new coatings is impossible.

For more information about Maintaining Your Log Home
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