logcabinfromscratch

Before pressure washing

Take care of your logs and they will take care of you.  The pressure washing took care of the mold that had spread while laying on the ground over the summer.  Prepping the logs for sealing…grinding the knots flat(I used my 4″grinder with a coarse wood disk)…took maybe 20 hours.  Left jagged the knots would be dangerous to walkers by.  Besides it made the logs look finished.  Now it was time to seal the weather out.  There are many choices on the market for sealing logs/wood.  I went with Jack’s experience and choose Sikkens Prolux Cetol Log/Siding Sealer.  $350-$400 per 5gallons.  Quite a bit to spend until you think about all that you have into your log structure both time and money…and you consider the frequency of re-application later.  Spend it.  It took 10 gallons to cover one coat over our 24×30 garage.  I am in the process of adding a second coat.  That should protect the logs for four years.  Remember, the eaves and gable ends do the most protecting.  FYI-you can buy Behrs sealer for $130 for 5 gallons.  Go with experience…Sikkens.  For the 2x6TG eaves and gable ends we decided to use an exterior paint instead of the Sikkens.  That should keep things protected for 10 years.  You loose the wood grain but we thought it was worth the extra protection and less effort overall.  We choose a ‘light cream’ color to match the yellow 2×6 wood.  Kim and Chris came out to help us many times over the two years.  Tom and Yvonne spent close to a week pitching in doing anything from concrete work to painting and sealing.  Thanks guys!  Sure it helps bunches to have friends come and help…but it is wonderful to spend time with friends side by side talking, laughing, sometimes struggling and campfires at night.  This log cabin will have so very many memories ‘built in’ by the time we get done.  Priceless.  Kim and Chris have spent hours and hours on our multiple trails down to the river.  We hope in the future to build a treehouse closer to the river down one of those trails.