Log Home Maintenance - Staining Your Logs

Stain, the last and most visible step in restoring your home. Two critical issues here when selecting your stain, compatibility and color selection, neglect doing your homework on either of these and you will be one unhappy camper.

We offer a total water-based system, Sashco's Sashco's Capture Log Stain/Cascade system or a VOC complaint oil-based stain Transformation. We strongly recommend Transformation Stain for structures where the previous stain used is unknown.

Different stain technologies have slightly different application techniques but there are some commonalities:

Always start with clean wood
Moisture content should be no greater than 20%
Wood temperature should be moderate, between 45-90° F
Vigorous back brushing is recommended
Work one wall at a time, starting at the top, and work horizontally to natural breaks in the wall, i.e., windows, doors, butt joints
If you have different batch numbers on the pails of stain, blend them together. This is called "boxing."
If it looks like you won't have enough stain, plan to finish an entire wall with the product you have on hand. This will eliminate any possible slight color variations that might occur between batches on a wall.
Protect newly stained wood from rain until the coating is firmly set. Most stains can tolerate a light rain after 24 hours.
Carefully read and follow the stain manufacturers' instructions.

Compatibility

Compatibility is important! All of the finishing products used on a log home must be compatible with each other. Compatibility means that the wood preservatives, coatings (stain or clear coat) and sealants (caulk and chinking) work well with each other without causing performance issues. The most common performance issue encountered is when the stain or clear coat used is not compatible with the chinking and/or caulking used. Some stains and clear coats contain paraffins (like motor oil), waxes, silicones, etc. that make it impossible for most chinking or caulking products to adhere to them. Since the chinking and caulking can't adhere to the incompatible stain or clear coat, the home is left unsealed and exposed to moisture, wind and insect infiltration.

All of Sashco's products are formulated to be 100% compatible with each other. When applied according to Sashco's directions, Sashco's chinking and caulking products have very strong adhesion to our stains - and typically, it's so strong that, if extreme movement occurs between logs and failure of the chinking or caulking is inevitable, the product actually tears (cohesive failure - the easiest type of failure to fix) before pulling away from the stain and logs.

Since a log home relies heavily on caulking and chinking to make it air-tight, you can understand why it is imperative that the products chosen to finish the home be compatible with one another. By ensuring product compatibility, you help ensure the best possible results.

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.

Color Selection

Here is a list of "must-dos" for assurance that you achieve the correct color on your home:

Order a liquid sample of the color you have targeted, plus one that is a little lighter and one that is a little darker. You never know how color will come out on your logs, ordering these three may save you some time.
Apply the stain to a sample log from your home, use the exact application method that you are going to use when you apply the stain to your home; so, if you are going to spray and then brush, that's how you need to do your sample log.
Make certain that the sample log has been prepped in the same method as your home. If you are power washing your home before staining, your sample log has to be powered washed too. You want the sample log to be as close as possible in surface texture as the logs on your home. Let's say that you do power wash your home, but not the sample log, that means that the sample log will have tighter grain and won't absorb as much stain, so the likelihood is that the power washed logs of your home will take on more stain and your home will come out darker than the sample log.
Use the same number of coats on the sample log as you are going to apply to your home; follow the manufacturer's recommended number of coats.
Allow the sample to dry at least 24 hours for full color development.
Don't allow the contractor to stain until you have thoroughly discussed and demonstrated the look you want. Give him the sample to match.
Don't spray the entire home before you verify that you're achieving the look you want. Stop if there is a discrepancy in color and call the stain manufacturer for guidance.

Sashco's Capture Log Stain and Cascade System

Sashco's Capture Log Stain and Cascade are a two-part, water-based staining system: An extremely effective, grain enhancing stain, Sashco's Capture Log Stain, followed by a protective, weather repellent topcoat, Cascade. This system is an excellent choice for chink-style homes because maintenance coats using the clear topcoat, Cascade, won't discolor chinking.


Applying Sashco's Capture Log Stain	Vigorously brushing into the logs


After the Sashco's Capture Log Stain has dried, Cascade is being sprayed over the Capture Log Stain as a protective top-coat that also enhances the grain	Brushing Cascade evenly over the Sashco's Capture Log Stain stained log	Although Cascade goes on milky it dries to a clear soft sheen. Finished Capture Log Stain / Cascade wall

Transformation Stain

Transformation Stain is an alkyd oil-based stain. It is a two-coat, easy to apply stain for those of you who prefer oil-based technology. It is available in two formulas in order to comply with VOC regulations across the nation.


Spray enough Transformation until it is running.	Back brush Transformation, forcing it into all the small checks and crevices. Notice the angle of the brush bristles.

Repeat these two steps for the second coat.

	Finished, refurbished wall with two coats of Transformation Stain