When I first built my small cabin I stained it for color then applied teak oil.

 

After the teak oil, I mixed 50 50 paint thinner and exterior varnish. The thought was varnish would be thin enough to do a good soaking into the wood grain and not cause a pealing flaking problem in the future, requiring the need for excessive work on sanding and refinishing10 years down the road.

 

However, after talking with a log home inspector, he told me that if he finds a log home that has been varnished that he would turn down the entire sale of the property and should never, ever varnish a log home. That moisture gets under the varnish and starts rotting the logs with mold.

 

Well 20 years has gone by and as I started using his recommended oils, not varnish this time around, I find the oil seams to eventually dry out and allow a raw wood look that starts to mold on the surface like an untreated deck. I say this with the information that my original 50 50 varnish mix did not ever peal nor get mold underneath the finish. It just sort of weathered away and never ever pealed nor crystallized like some varnishes when they age. I'll say it again.... It just weathered away with never a mold or pealing problem.

 

I want to go back to the 50 50 mix again because it lasted at least 10 yrs and made the home look great.

 

What are your folks experience? Have you ever finished exterior wood with success?

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

Well you seen my wood deck. We've been using boil linseed oil and mineral spirits. Over time the wood has blackened but not rotting.

My hat's wood color like to stay with that Mikey, my husky liners are close but, not black. he he

JAG1 i'm a professional painter, i specialize in log home's. This is however here in Arizona.

i've seen the effects of the 50/50 mix, it does look good for a while but i'm not sure it's providing any real UV protection. Messmers Timberflex makes a great log home oil finish. i mix a gallon of thinner to a 5 of their finish, it's will tend to build up in the none weathered areas of the house. like under the eaves, or the bottom side of the logs.

Superdeck/DucksBack also has a decent log oil finish as well. it hold up about the best with no real build up of a finish per say.

 

are the logs fuzzy? are the top halfs darker and look like a good media blasting or sanding is needed to bring back the classic log home look.?

 

Permachink is a water based breathable finish that really holds up here in AZ. (northern arizona) they have stains and then a clear that goes on top.

 

remember anytime you add oil to old weathered wood it's going to darken it.

 

Does your house have chinking? or is it the loghome siding?

 

Make sure you do NOT use bleach to try and clean and brighten your log home. the bleach makes things worse. get a good wood brightener, from Flood or Permachink.

 

If you have any questions just ask.,

A buddy of mine introduced me to 50/50 linseed oil / turp.  He soaks hand made wood bows in it to keep them flexible.  It soaks in & keeps the wood supple.  I have used it on all sorts of wood projects with great results.  Because it is in the wood, it never peels like a surface treatment.  It can be redone as needed. 

I wish I'd done it on my cedar siding instead of stain. 

Killer tha's great advice. I'm familiar with Messmers siding stains. Didn't know they made a log home oil.

 

Interesting someone from a sunny area responded as my logs do sunburn and darken on the upper sides.

 

There is no chinking HR, they have a foam tape in between the logs as they were stacked. It is a kit home which is fine with me as hand crafted cost 2 times as much back in 96.

 

Are you saying bleach will hurt the wood grain or does it play havoc with wood color? Wasn't planning on bleach, but good to know about such things anyway.

 

Good that you specialize in log homes.... you get to work more out in rural areas that way...... room to park.... not lock your truck etc.  I specialize in getting jobs out in the countryside

to help with them darkening, pressure wash your house every 6 mo. helps keep the dirt form grinding it's way in. don't get to close with the tip as to not fuzz the wood. i did one log home in Washington. i think i had rain delay more then work getting done.

the boiled linseed oil and turp mix is ok. for wood that isn't exposed to lots of sun or weather. like a coffee table or inside wood work, not windows seals though, and no UV protection so after a few years it'll turn black or very dark.

 

as for the closed cell foam between logs.

look into permachinks energy seal when you start to get big checks or cracks in the wood.,

http://www.permachink.com/log-sealants/energy-seal

 

not a fan of Messmers oil stain, but the timberflex is great stuff..

http://www.messmers.com/messmers-timberflex

  On 4/20/2015 at 12:48 AM, Killer223 said:

to help with them darkening, pressure wash your house every 6 mo. helps keep the dirt form grinding it's way in. don't get to close with the tip as to not fuzz the wood. i did one log home in Washington. i think i had rain delay more then work getting done.

the boiled linseed oil and turp mix is ok. for wood that isn't exposed to lots of sun or weather. like a coffee table or inside wood work, not windows seals though, and no UV protection so after a few years it'll turn black or very dark.

 

as for the closed cell foam between logs.

look into permachinks energy seal when you start to get big checks or cracks in the wood.,

http://www.permachink.com/log-sealants/energy-seal

 

not a fan of Messmers oil stain, but the timberflex is great stuff..

http://www.messmers.com/messmers-timberflex

 

I will validate that... It does turn the wood dark or black in color.

Best is to have ample overhangs keeping rain off of logs. If i ever build another log home, it'll have like 6' overhangs and ample prows covering decks. What about 2 cycle oil? Works wonders on cummins rigs

Joe, my wife works in an office where there are lots of people coming and going. She just heard about some folks using trans oil. It's too red at first but then reddish brown after about a month. They all have said it looks great and really lasts.

I don't think I'll be doing anything like that. I can just imagine my home becoming a big fire hazard after doing something like that. Plus it's been my experience that petro oil can eventually break down the softer portions of wood grain.

I am going back to the thinned varnish again as that has been the greatest result. However, I think a thin stain color, (very translucent) applied first, probably water a base stain with a mildicide, will add a comparable color but different enough to add slight variation from original will add character to the look.

  On 5/23/2015 at 4:09 PM, JAG1 said:

I am going back to the thinned varnish again as that has been the greatest result. However, I think a thin stain color, (very translucent) applied first, probably water a base stain with a mildicide, will add a comparable color but different enough to add slight variation from original will add character to the look.

 

please don't apply a water based stain then try an go over the top with an oil varnish. the results will not be eye pleasing.

there are plenty of oil stains us a light natural or slightly tint your varnish.

 

what part of the country is this house?

  On 5/24/2015 at 5:13 AM, Killer223 said:

please don't apply a water based stain then try an go over the top with an oil varnish. the results will not be eye pleasing.

there are plenty of oil stains us a light natural or slightly tint your varnish.

 

what part of the country is this house?

 

Oh my gawd... I've been down that path too. When EPA started pushing for water based paints we done that too. What a mess...

I know the advantage of good oil based stains having no lap marks with an even spread but what does the water based stain do after is dry and varnish coats/ goes over the top?

 

Latest development..... is I'm looking into using pine tar thinned with terpintine. It's a natural varnish from what I gather and acts like mildew police to stop any bacterial growth. It's pure tree sap as is how varnish used to be originally made. It's a lot cheaper, for some unknown reason, which may be a clue to just go ahead with the man made oil based varnishes.

Worked on the old wooden ships. Why not a home?

That's what my thinking is and is still used today on antique boats. I can show you tree damage where there is raw exposed wood that mildews but, where the tree sap (pine tar) bleeds out there is no mildew under the bleed.

As in I am in the process of doing deck maintenance, this is a timely topic. For all the top rails and handrails I am using abatron epoxy wood preservative. for the  deck just using Olympic Clear sealer. The prep is where I spent many hours, sanding and resetting screws. Of course the helpful folks and work suggesting the plastic deck coating. If I wanted plastic wood I would have installed trex. I like the look and feel of real wood