Log Home Maintenance: How to Treat Log Home Exteriors
Take care of your log home exterior — and it will look more gorgeous than the day it was built. Neglect to protect it — and you may end up facing a costly repair or shortening its log cabin lifespan. Simply put, knowing how to treat log home exteriors is a crucial part of owning one.
As the experienced log home builder throughout Eastern Pennsylvania, Gingrich Builders is here to help you with log home exterior maintenance. Read on to learn the five essential things you NEED to do to maintain a log home exterior — plus, learn our pick for the best log home stain on the market!
5 Log Exterior Maintenance Essentials
While Gingrich Builders has primarily earned our reputation for building beautiful custom log homes, we do more than that. Our teams of log home experts are prepared to perform all of the necessary maintenance to keep your home protected from the elements and looking fantastic.
Of course, we’re also here to provide you with the information and equipment to perform total DIY log home maintenance. These are the five main things you must do to maintain a log home exterior:
- Wash the House Annually — Keeping the vinyl siding clean on a traditional home keeps its curb appeal. On a log home, this task is a bit more important. Throughout the year, pollens, dusts, and molds from the air land on the logs of your home. If allowed to build up over time, these particles will grow into the log home finish, damaging it. Thoroughly washing the log siding is the only remedy for this.
We recommend using Sashco CPR Log Cleaner and Brightener to remove these pollutants and keep your home’s exterior in good condition. Mix the CPR powder with water and spray it on the house with a garden sprayer. You’ll need to use a ladder to get up close on the higher areas. After waiting for five to ten minutes, rinse off the CPR mixture. Since this important piece of maintenance can be time consuming, log home owners often ask us to perform this task for them.
- Touch-Up the Clear Coating — A clear coat is applied on top of the stain to all Gingrich log homes to protect them from the elements. An important defense for your log home exterior, the clear coat may need to be touched-up once a year. In order to find the spots that need more coating, look for areas that look “dull” primarily on the top half of the curved log. You’ll most often find these areas on the south side of the house since that’s where it’s exposed to the most sun.
- Apply Insect Repellent — Owning a wood home comes with ample benefits but also a few unique challenges. Insects can damage a log home’s exteriors if the proper precautions aren’t taken. At Gingrich Builders, we recommend applying insect repellent once a year during your maintenance routine.
Applying insect repellent is very similar to using the CPR Log Cleaner — it must be mixed with water and sprayed on the exterior. In the worst cases, you may need to call a licensed exterminator you trust to apply a more potent and effective treatment.
- Caulk Any Cracks You See — A key skill to learn when treating a log home exterior is caulking cracks in individual logs. If a crack is left uncaulked, water will infiltrate it and evaporate slowly. This allows mold growth to occur and the possibility of deterioration.
In order to combat this, we recommend using Sashco Conceal Caulk and Backer Rod to fill the cracks. This high-grade product will blend with the look of the logs and is resistant to cracking with temperature changes. If you do not have the time or are unfamiliar completing this important task, our experts are able to perform this for you.
- Re-Stain the Whole House — While the other four maintenance steps need to be performed on an annual basis, re-staining does not. Re-staining the exterior of your log home not only preserves the wood from deterioration but also serves as the primary line of defense against water and UV damage. We recommend re-staining your log home every 5 to 7 years — however, we’ve seen homeowners reach the 10 year mark when consistently doing the proper annual maintenance.
We recommend using the Sashco Transformation Log and Timber stain. This stain is available in 11 color options ranging from a natural look to a modern gray and dark brown hue.
Sashco: High Performance Log Home Stain and Products
At Gingrich Builders, we choose to use and sell Sashco products because of their reliability. We’ve been building and maintaining log homes for more than 45 years and we trust Sashco.
We say that Sashco makes the best log home stains on the market — see and shop their different options.
Sashco log home products are the result of extensive testing to design products that solve problems that log home owners face. For each of Sashco’s log home stains, there is a color-matched caulk available to use with it. This allows for seamless caulking repairs that perfectly match your home’s exterior color. Additionally, Sashco’s caulks bond with the log surface, creating a long lasting and beautiful finish.
We recommend Sashco products to our customers and other log home contractors. To see all the products available, visit our showroom or check our website and purchase what you need online.
Gingrich Builders to Treat Your Log Home Exterior
Now that you know how to treat your log home exterior, you’re ready to take on the job yourself. We’re more than happy to supply you with the products you need to get started. However, if you’d like to rely on us, our log home contractors are able to perform the repairs and maintenance you need. If you’re still shopping around for your own log home or doing research on ownership, we’re the ones to trust. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and to get a quote!
