Maintaining a log house should be a biannual activity, specifically during the spring and fall. Regular maintenance of your log cabin reduces damage from UV rays, water, insects and air infiltration. Depending on where you live, you are more likely to face certain log house maintenance issues than others. The Forest Service notes that wood decomposes faster in the southeast and northwest coast than elsewhere due to high rainfall and hot, humid weather.
But all log houses eventually show signs of the elements and age. To renew the log stain in your cabin, you must first prepare the wood. Clean with a hose to remove dirt and cobwebs and gently scrub any stained areas or mold patches. Once it has completely dried and the cracks and cracks have been caulked, you can start dyeing.
A little prevention goes a long way. Performing an annual inspection of your log cabin and following a regular maintenance routine will keep your home looking the same as it did when it was first finished. It is also necessary to maintain the integrity of the registry structure. Taking steps such as washing the house, re-staining and grinding, and fixing minor problems that arise can prevent major headaches in the long term.
However, the amount of maintenance your log house will need depends on factors such as the location, design, and finish of your home. Whatever you do, never use a pressure washer on cabin walls. Almost all cabins are made of soft wood. It is very easy to damage the surface of the wood or accidentally drive water between the logs.
Scrubbing with a soft brush and water from a garden hose cleans better than a pressure washer and is much safer for wood. Download the inspection checklist in PDF here. Over the past few years, we've discovered a lot about cleaning wood and existing finishes. First of all, chlorine bleach is not a good product to use.
In addition to its potential to damage the finish and bare wood fibers, its use and misuse contributes to a number of problems including loss of film adhesion, discolorations due to tannin extraction and the formation of iron tannates, streaks, stains and premature failure of the finishing system. We have also discovered that several wood and deck cleaners available at paint and hardware stores, home improvement centers and do-it-yourself retail outlets contain components that interfere with the proper performance of our finishing systems. On a phone? Send LOGEXPERT to 22828. So what type of maintenance is required on a log cabin? To ensure your cabin is well maintained, you'll need to be constantly on the lookout for insects, mold, and gaps between caulking. One thing that will need to be done at least once every two years is to re-save the records.
You can apply this type of putty or sealant, which comes in a range of colors, around door and window openings, says The Log Home Store. Long-horned beetles, woodpecker bees, and termites love log houses, but bed bugs, flies, borers, spiders, squirrels, squirrels, and even woodpeckers can also leave their mark. But log houses have a couple of issues that need to be addressed differently than a stick-framed house. One thing I like to do at least once in winter is to travel to my cabin and knock my snow feet off the roof.
Scandinavian settlers built the first log houses during the 17th century, and today these houses dot the landscape from New England to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. If you already have gutters, make sure they stay clean so that rain doesn't overflow and splash back on your logs. For the first few years, caulking can be a regular part of the log cabin maintenance routine, as the logs sit in a moisture balance. You can solve the problem by not covering them in the first place, keeping vegetation cut off your walls and, if necessary, using spider treatments such as Miss Muffle's Revenge sprayed on the logs.
Mulch should also maintain its distance from the cabin to ensure that the logs do not absorb any excess moisture. Log home owners have many queries and doubts about the maintenance and care needed for their home. During the first or second year, as they reach equilibrium with local humidity and variation throughout the seasons, the logs will swell, contract and become. For maximum long-term performance, log houses require specialized dyes that contain additives not usually found in average wood stains and sealants.
Termites love wood, but with a log house it's easier to detect them, since they are not hidden in a wall cavity. A good log house dye is formulated to prevent moisture from entering the fiber of your logs and has the right amount of pigment to prevent sun damage. . .
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