Log home move. Weather happens. A good caulking job has to handle both. Learn how to do it the right way.
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When it comes to caulking a log home, the product is only part of the equation. Joint design, prep, backer rod, application and tooling all matter. In our Caulking 101 series, we’re breaking it all down.
Ready to stain? Don’t guess! Sample. Testing stain colors on your actual logs before committing ensures that you get the exact look you want and helps prevent “oops” moments later. Snag your free samples here.
Ready to get your log home looking great and protected the right way? We’ve got everything you need to know to get started.
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Ready to stain? Don’t guess! Sample. Testing stain colors on your actual logs before committing ensures that you get the exact look you want and helps prevent “oops” moments later. Snag your free samples here.
Choosing a stain for your log home or weekend cabin can be difficult. Opinions are as many and varied as there are people! In this webinar, Sashco partnered with Log Home Living Magazine to help folks sort through the pros and cons of different stains types (oil-based, water-based, and everything in between).
What kind of prep is necessary? What will maintenance look like? What’s better for the deck vs. the log walls? You’ll get a good foundation upon which to base decisions.
Ready to stain? Don’t guess! Sample. Testing stain colors on your actual logs before committing ensures that you get the exact look you want and helps prevent “oops” moments later. Snag your free samples here.
Which job is more profitable? Not all jobs are created equal. And we’re not just talking about the size of the invoice.
A $500 job might sound like easy money. A $5,000 job might sound like the obvious winner. But before you decide which jobs are worth chasing, take a closer look at what each one actually costs your business and learn how to price your contracting jobs for profitability.
When it comes to restoring a log home, the difference between simply doing the work and truly specializing in it comes down to preparation, quality products, and a commitment to doing things the right way.
For Derek Prince, owner of Pro Property Services in Waynesville, North Carolina, log home restoration became a natural specialty. We talked with Derek about how he got started, what keeps him passionate about the work, and the recent project that brought everything together for his company.
We are proud to work alongside applicators who share our commitment to craftsmanship and quality. This month, we’re featuring218 Painting & Log Restoration LLC of Britt, Minnesota, a company that has built its reputation on comprehensive log home restoration services and a team-first approach.
Heads up, homeowners! Don’t let summer bugs move into your log home.
Summer isn’t over yet, and neither are the bugs. Before the season winds down, take a few minutes to walk around your log home to see what’s going on. You’re just looking for the little things that can give wood-loving pests an opportunity to move in. A new crack in a log. A soft spot. Wood that stays damp. A little pile of sawdust that definitely wasn’t there last time you looked. Those things are worth paying attention to.
Some log homes have a story that goes far beyond the logs themselves. This North Idaho cabin is one of those homes.
For Randy and Kelli, the story began when they were looking to purchase a home in North Idaho. Their realtor sent them pictures of a unique log cabin, and they immediately took an interest. They made an offer and purchased the home.
It wasn’t long before they met their new neighbors and discovered something remarkable about the cabin they had just purchased.
For nearly five decades, Norlog Building Systems Ltd. has been helping homeowners navigate the unique world of log homes with a combination of experience, passion, and customer-first service. Based in Ontario, Canada, the family-owned company has spent the last 47 years building a reputation rooted in education, quality products, and long-term support for log homeowners.
The story behind restoring a 130-year-old Colorado mountain cabin.
High in the mountains near Nederland, Colorado, sits a small log cabin with a long memory. Built sometime around 1890, the cabin originally belonged to a mining family named Barkeen. For decades, it stood high on the mountain while the family worked the nearby mines. Then, in 1950, the structure was moved down the mountain and rebuilt on a new site in 1953.
Seventy-five years later, time had taken its toll.
What followed wasn’t just another log home restoration job. It became a two-month effort to preserve a piece of local history and, in the process, add a new chapter to the cabin’s story.
The Barkeen Cabin Before Restoration Work.
A Cabin Built for Mining, Preserved for History
Today, the cabin belongs to a man named Rich, whose family inherited the property through generations. Although the last name in the family line no longer matches the original Barkeen name on the cabin, the property has stayed within the extended family.
Rich has approached the entire property with a simple philosophy, preserving as much of the original character as possible. Inside the cabin, artifacts from the past fill the space, everything from historical pieces hanging on the walls to a vintage wood-burning stove that still carries its original crest and dates.
If something needs replacing, it gets replaced, but only with careful thought. Many of the people he hired to work on the cabin he describes not just as contractors, but as artists. One welder, for example, built a completely custom handrail for the flagstone path leading from the cabin to the road, something that simply couldn’t be bought in a store.
When Colorado Finish, LLC came in to restore the logs, the goal was the same: protect the structure while respecting its history. For the exterior finish, Rich chose Transformation Stain in Gold Tone Light, intentionally selecting a color that would bring the logs as close as possible to their younger appearance while still allowing the natural character of the aged wood to show through.
The goal was never to make the cabin look brand new. Instead, the aim was to honor the structure’s age while protecting it for decades to come.
Digging Out the Past, Literally
The restoration focused heavily on the cabin’s chinking, the material between the logs that seals the structure. Originally, the cabin used concrete chinking. After decades of weather and movement in the logs, much of it had begun to crack and crumble. Removing it was no small task.
The crew spent weeks carefully chiseling the old material out of the logs. In several places, they discovered something incredibly cool and unexpected, handwritten signatures embedded in the original chinking from when the cabin had been rebuilt in 1953 (Goosebumps? Us, too!).
Pat, who owns Colorado Finish, LLC, understood the resonance it carried. He told us, “I had my pick and chisel, and I was trying to shape around the signatures,” he explained. “But the concrete was so old that a lot of it just crumbled away.” Still, he managed to recover fragments. At one point, he even assembled the broken pieces on a workbench like a puzzle, so the names could still be read.
Those signatures were a small reminder of the people who had worked on the cabin decades earlier, workers whose efforts were now being revisited generations later.
Tools used to carefully work around the original signatures.
When Snow Becomes a Work Tool
The restoration happened in late fall, and the timing turned the project into a well-planned and thought-out winter adventure.
Pat and his crew finished the exterior just before the first snowfall. But when they returned the following week to begin work inside, the mountains had other plans. Two feet of snow had fallen. The cabin was buried.
The crew shoveled their way inside and got to work, but another challenge quickly appeared. They needed to remove piles of old concrete from the cabin interior. Normally, that kind of debris gets hauled away in wheelbarrows or tarps. Not this time. Instead, Pat improvised.
“We actually brought toboggan sleds,” he said. “There was so much snow outside that we were sledding loads of concrete down to the truck.” Chunk by chunk, the old material slid down the hill on sleds before being loaded into the truck and hauled away. It wasn’t the most traditional construction method, but it worked.
And it added a memorable moment to an already unusual job.
The Cabin Earns Its Place in History
After the restoration was complete, the cabin reached an important milestone; it officially received historic landmark status. For Rich, that meant the preservation effort had succeeded.
For Colorado Finish, LLC, it meant something else as well. This was the first officially registered historic landmark they had restored, a personal milestone in a career spent working on log homes.
But the most meaningful moment came when the final work was finished. When Pat discovered the signatures of the workers who rebuilt the cabin in 1953, names that had lasted for generations hidden inside the walls, he added something of his own. He added his own signature.
“I think it’s pretty cool how you can do a job like that,” he said, “where you’re trying to preserve someone’s signature from decades ago, but then you leave your own behind for the future. My signature will be on that wall for at least another 50+years to come and won’t have to be touched.”
Placed on the interior where it will remain protected, his name now joins the earlier builders as part of the cabin’s continuing story.
Some jobs are just construction projects. Others become something more. For Pat, restoring the little Barkeen family cabin wasn’t just about repairing logs and sealing gaps. It was about helping preserve a place that holds generations of memories and leaving a small mark of his own in its long history.
Ready to stain? Don’t guess! Sample. Testing stain colors on your actual logs before committing ensures that you get the exact look you want and helps prevent “oops” moments later. Snag your free samples here.
When it comes to protecting and beautifying your log home, Sashco isn’t just another stain on the market — it’s the high-performancechoice for serious log lovers. With industry-leading products like Capture, Cascade, and Transformation, Sashco combines cutting-edge technology and rugged durability to keep your logs looking stunning and standing strong year after year. Whether you’re chasing that perfect finish or just want to avoid the heartbreak of costly repairs, Sashco’s got your back. Because your log home deserves more than “good enough,” it deserves Sashco. Made for logs. Made to last. Made to make your neighbors jealous.
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
