We’re here to help you choose the best maintenance plan for your log home.
Everyone knows that a $30 oil change two or three times a year beats a $2,000 mechanic’s bill or a $5,000 new engine (eek!). Similarly, creating a proper routine maintenance plan for your log home will keep it looking beautiful and help prevent unnecessary and costly repairs. In this month’s Here to Help!, we’ll walk you through a proper maintenance plan you can implement this month before the warm days of summer slip away.
Living the Dream: How I Turned My Childhood Fantasy into a Beautiful Lake Log Home.
Ever since I was a young girl, I dreamed of having a place on a lake. I had fallen in love with water skiing at the age of nine when I got up on my first attempt. Before we “jumped in with two feet” and took the plunge to buy a place, we tested the waters by buying a condominium to see if we would really make use of a vacation home. After three short years in that condo, we had our answer! My childhood dream became a reality in 2007 when our family built our custom lake house.
An adventure sparked by a childhood memories led to the purchase of a historic miner’s cabin.
The best years of my life have been in the mountains of southern California. A world away in just a couple of hours. Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the city, you’re among the trees, animals, blue sky, and fresh air. I got this love of the outdoors from my dad. He had an old cabin right by Lake Arrowhead on the edge of the national forest.
As a teenager, my dad would let us go exploring for hours on end, bringing back the prize snake to scare mom. For my dad’s birthday (it was the last one before he passed), we took him back up to the lake. My dad was in heaven. I pictured myself in a log cabin with a Chesapeake Bay retriever, listening to country music and reading a good book.
1940 Miner’s Cabin
I cashed in every last cent of my savings and bought an 800 square foot rundown 1940 miner’s cabin which sat on a perfectly located lakefront lot. I loved that cabin for 9 years but squeezing 4 daughters and my wife into that little place wasn’t going to last long. So build we did. Throughout the building process, it gets a little crazy with all the decisions and details that crop up.
Surprisingly, choosing a stain brand and color seemed to be one of the hardest decisions. We did loads of research, really valuing the opinion of those whose business was staining log cabins. It seems we kept hearing, “Sashco is the best” but now we couldn’t decide between Transformation Stain® and Capture® and Cascade®.
The person I hired to do the staining was really pushing us hard to use Transformation Stain®. He told us that he loved the way it looked and lasted. Others told us the virtues of Capture® and Cascade®. I ‘threw a dart’ and went against the sub’s preference.
A trip to the southwest and the beauty of the Rocky Mountains were the catalysts for our log home «love affair.» We knew we would not be happy until we had one! Having a construction background, I decided to build our dream log home. That was thirty-three years ago, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Love for Log Homes
Log homes are such unique structures that working on them brings us a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction. Nothing is more gratifying than the praise and thanks received from satisfied customers. Walking into a log home is like receiving a big warm hug from someone you love and we feel privileged to work on them, as well as live in the one we built.
Most people understand the importance of applying good skin care products that include sunscreen to help minimize sun damage, reduce skin discoloration, and keep skin protected and moisturized. Do you know that applying a UV-protected wood stain or maintenance coat of stain on your home does the same. Here’s an easy comparison for you to follow:
Listen, you may be a master of your trade, but are you rocking your marketing? If not, taking your business to the next level can be challenging. Your marketing is the “face” of your business, so it’s important! Sashco has tracked down some of the very best low-cost and free marketing resources available to help take your business to the next level.
There are extreme elements, and then there is Alaska. Nowhere do high-performance products face such harsh conditions as in Alaska. Discover why Manfred Nolywaika, owner of Northwood Enterprises in Fairbanks, calls Sashco products «Alaska-tough.»
In the Beginning
Shortly after my wife and I married in 1989, we attended a log building school in Canada (kind of a different honeymoon). Six weeks later, in the dead of winter with all our possessions in the back of a pickup truck, we arrived in Alaska and established a business constructing custom handcrafted log furniture. Towards the end of the eight year life of that business, I was installing a log handrail for a customer. He asked me if I could refinish two walls of his log house. That was 1997 and my first experience refinishing logs. It was also the birth of our log home refinishing and chinking business.
The Family Business
Here I am, 17 years later. The whole family has been involved with the family business in one way or another. Running a family-operated business has allowed me to earn a living while spending time with my family, a privilege few enjoy. In fact, my oldest son, Hans, works full time with me. Hans, like his older sister before him, started out in log restoration as a little guy, pulling plastic and tape from windows, vacuuming decks, cleaning windows, etc. Since most of our work season occurs during the summer months, our kids have helped me on the job since they were very young. (Olivia actually started out in a pack on my wife’s back during our log furniture days, and has since moved on to other things.) Hans started working with me full time when he was fifteen, finally strong enough to operate a disc grinder safely. Now barely twenty, he is fully capable of handling by himself any restoration project we might take on. At a time when good help is hard to find, it’s great to have a co-worker like Hans who has the same standard of quality as I do.
Our two oldest have been a tremendous asset to the business and we are blessed with two more, Josef and Noah, who are up and coming. I am especially thankful there are aspects of this work that our son Josef, who has Downs Syndrome, can do.
Sure, it’s nice to be recognized when you’ve done a great job. Most clients will do just that. Unfortunately, we occasionally have to deal with a difficult customer or someone who’s trying to take advantage of us. When (not if) you come up against this difficult client, it’s good to have a plan that will help you keep your cool and maintain your professional reputation. Here are a few of our top tips to help you avoid difficult clients when tricky circumstances come up.
Let’s talk about lasting wood stain. First, take a moment to think back to your childhood. What was one thing your mom told you over and over because it was THAT important? You know, the thing she belabored above all things to help keep you safe, make you successful, or train you well? Well, here’s Sashco being your log home finishing mom to belabor something you already know, but we figure is worth repeating over and over again: proper prep is the ultimate determiner of long-term performance of a stain. Without proper surface prep, even the best product in the world will fail. In fact, mastering surface prep is often the difference between you and your competition. If you do it better, your job will look better and withstand the test of time (and that means your business will too).
Log homes are special. Not just any ol’ contractor will do the trick. Now, it has never been easier to find a contractor. At Sashco, we committed to providing the best log home maintenance products. We’re also committed to elevating the log home industry by training and educating specialty log home contractors. We want you to have confidence in the products and who you hire to apply them.
Let us help put your mind at ease. Our list of log home contractors is not another list of every contractor who’s ever laid eyes on a log home. Nope. Sashco’s online Find a Contractor tool is a list of contractors who specialize in log home finishing and restoration. In fact, Sashco is so committed to making sure your restoration or maintenance job goes well, we’ll check back with you to make sure the contractors on our website follow-up with you, deliver a quality job, and leave you with a smile on your face.
Not sure you want to find your perfect match via the world wide web? No problem. Simply call us at 800-767-5656. A live human being will answer and will be happy to give you contractor names over the phone, too (we’re old-fashioned like that).
Don’t compromise at the end of a long and arduous journey by using an inferior stain not designed for logs. Capture and Cascade deliver performance worthy of the journey that got you here.
Moves with your logs and timbers
Won't hide the wood grain
Easy clear coat maintenance with Cascade(R) exterior clear coat
Backer Materials that Seal Things Right the First Time Backer Rod, Grip Strip, and Log Gap Cap all help you create the ideal joint desing for a long-lasting, durable seal
Logs are in constant dynamic motion. That's why there's Log Builder®, the sealant made for log structures. Stretches up to 500% of original size, while still maintaining tenacious adhesion to the wood.
When other chinking pulls away, Log Jam holds its seal With Log Jam chinking, you can keep the cozy feel and rustic look of a log home without compromising comfort and performance.
Easy to Use - Hard to See Keep out weather, bugs, and moisture without seeing it. Conceal disappears into the woodwork so you don't know the wood starts and the caulk begins.
It's Music to the Eyes Symphony works in harmony with the unique character of your logs and wood to reflect an atmosphere or cozy warmth and elegance while creating and scuff-resistant and durable surface that's easy to dust.
Right Color. Right Quantity. Right Now. Never run out of stain at the jobsite again. Stock exactly what you need in your truck or trailer at the jobsite.
Easy to mix
The same color, durability, and application you've come to expect from Capture Log Stain and Transformation Log & Timber
Maintenance Made Easy Now that Capture® Log Stain is applied, it’s time for Cascade® Clear Topcoat to bring out the depth and character of your unique woodgrain while protecting it against moisture, mildew, and algae. Predictable and affordable routine maintenance with Cascade throughout the years means your home stays protected and beautiful. Easy!
Keep the Color the Color Colorfast delivers the ideal canvas for stain application and leaves behind the strong foundation necessary for long-lasting color. It’s color confidence for your log home.
Rot, weather, insects, fungi all pose a serious threat to your logs. Protect your investment—treat your logs first to make them last. Tim-bor® helps protect your home from the costly damage caused by rot and insect infestation.
Bugs don't stand a chance
Easy to mix and apply
Prevents decay fungi
Costs 5 times less than glycol-based borate products
Remove Wood Felting and Raised Grain Remove wood fuzz (called felting) after power washing or media blasting, and knock down excessive raised grain with Sashco's finish sanding tools
Clean and brighten bare logs and wood, remove surface dirt, pollen, and kill mold for maintenance, and keep your logs looking fresh with CPR Log Cleaner and Brightener
