The Log house Project begins........

[Iplayfarmer]

That is a NICE garage door.

The rest of the project is looking nice, too. Homemade is one thing, but home that looks professional is another. Your homemade log home fits into the second category.

 

[MotorSeven]

Thanks, when we were ordering doors and windows, HD had a sale. We looked at the garden variety doors and their high cost, we decided to go with a quality insulated door since we are heating from the basement. It's a Clopay and has foam sandwiched between sheets of Al. The color and the iron hardware was a little extra but we thought it would match the house better. If we had them install it we didn't have to pay tax on it, so the install was basically free.


Since the basement is almost enclosed(need to put the walk in door up), I have been looking at stove pipe for the Hearthstone. SS double wall 8" pipe from basement to roof is going to run about $2,300. I have been cruising C-list and found a good deal on like new used 18' of pipe, a T, a Cap and tie downs. They should be arriving next week. Now I just need the ceiling boxes and the roof flange & maybe a few more feet of pipe to get the wood burning.

 

[tnmike]

That basement door looks very nice indeed. What are your plans for facing the block walls? Homemade brick perhaps? :thumbsup:

I bet you will be sad to see your FIL leave. Hopefully the rough in will be finished when he does.

 

[MotorSeven]

The rough-in is already finished, so we knocked off early today.

I am thinking stucco in an adobe color/texture...tan..or terra cotta?

 

[tnmike]

Just so you know I was kidding about the homemade brick. Ive seen some great deals on manufactured stone. It looks good too.

 

[MotorSeven]

Mike when you say "homemade" I listen intently...i have seen your work:thumbsup:

Negative on manufactured stone...it never looks right to me. Stucco for the surface, then some big flat rocks off the property fitted on top of the curved stepped wall will look pretty good.

 

[tnmike]

If you are interested I've got a book on how to make brick here.

 

[MotorSeven]

Here is an example of TNMikes's "homemade" :

He has finished all three front door straps...these are 32" long...massive:thumbsup:.


I have half of the inside pressure washed from ceiling to floor...110 more gallons should complete the inside. Another 110 will finish the exterior. I went with Natures Edge Natural color sealer Nature's Edge.
I have to say that LogFinish.com has been outstanding. They shipped out the sample stains overnight, then followed up with an email from their Rep. I placed my order today at about 1100hrs and it's already on a truck enroute.......excellent customer service, and very refreshing in this day & age.

 

[MotorSeven]

I finished pressure washing inside and out yesterday evening, it took about 330 gallons of water. There was no way to keep it out of my eyes that feel like I swam in a pool that was just shocked. I put a big fan inside to help dry things out. The Big Brown Truck dropped off 20 gallons of interior and exterior sealant, a case of 30oz log caulking & a gallon of dark walnut interior stain for the Missus's master bathroom. We have a warm window of 40+ to 70 degrees, so I will be spraying sealant. I have also started closing in the East gable...pic's to follow.

 

[EddieWalker]

I finished pressure washing inside and out yesterday evening, it took about 330 gallons of water. There was no way to keep it out of my eyes that feel like I swam in a pool that was just shocked. I put a big fan inside to help dry things out. The Big Brown Truck dropped off 20 gallons of interior and exterior sealant, a case of 30oz log caulking & a gallon of dark walnut interior stain for the Missus's master bathroom. We have a warm window of 40+ to 70 degrees, so I will be spraying sealant. I have also started closing in the East gable...pic's to follow.

While watching the TV show This Old House, they did a demonstration of why you should NEVER pressure wash a house. While caulking and morter damage are not a concern for your home at this stage, it was amazing at how much damage a pressure washer did to an existing house.

The other thing that they showed was how far into the wood the water goes. Huge amounts of water goes into every joint between the wood, and the wood itself absorbs huge amounts of water.

Then went back and checked the moisture level on a weekly basis and it was several months over the summer until it was dry enough for them to be able to paint the wood. Even then, they opened up the wall cavities and found moisture still remaining in places.

This was an older home that they where not working on, but using for a demonstration. It has both brick and wood, but not a log house like yours.

My concern is that you have forced water in between your logs and there isn't any way to know how long that moisture will remain in there. Before sealing it up, I would try to figure out how to measure that moisture, and what the pros and cons are of sealing up the logs with water in between the logs.

I know that the paints and stain products that I have used on homes do not last very long if there is moisture coming from the wood they are applied to. This is the number one reason it's so hard to paint pressure treated wood. Once PT wood dries out, it paints fine, but if there is moisture in the wood, it doesn't last or it comes out looking terrible.

Eddie

 

[forgeblast]

Any way to rent a commercial sized dehumidifer, like the kind they use for flood clean up?

 

[MotorSeven]

Eddie I have a professional moisture meter and I will check the % before applying the exterior sealer. Nature's Edge cleans up with soap and water, so I do not think residual moisture will harm the finish. In a perfect world I would wait a week or two before applying, but once it's gets cold, I am done for the winter and will have to start all over again in the spring. I will be happy if I only get one or two coats on before the weather turns. At least that will protect it until spring.
Other that using a grinder on the entire house, a pressure washer is the only way I know of to get the cedar clean.....what other options are there?

FB, upstairs is already dry. I moved the fan to the basement which is still damp. With this low humidity weather, things are drying out quick...that is until rain arrives in two days.

Anyway, I was up in the loft working on the gable.....I heard a odd moan from down in the pasture. I climbed down and went out on the deck.....heard another moan. I have two heifers and one bull(the bull is on loan since Oct 2010). The bull and one heifer were looking across the pasture at the other heifer. She was standing, but something was going on, so I rode down to check on her.
Sooooo, I present to y'all the first calf born on Buckskin Flats Farm:

I guess I am a "Cattleman" now eh????

 

[EddieWalker]

I read at the website for the stain that they recomend cleaning the logs with a pressure washer set from 500 to 1,000 psi. I've never built a log house, and really just want to find the best stain for my logs on my gazebo. Pressure washers and houses scare me, they also make me a lot of money fixing the damage that is caused by them. I'm sure you are fine, but wanted to share my concerns.

Having the moisture meter really helps to know when you can work on your logs!!!!

Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

Rut Row...mine is a 3K. I did grind the butt joints inside to get them even with 80 grit before pressure washing. It made the area very smooth compared to the circle mill cuts. I actually tried to blast those spots so the grain would stand out...couldn't do it....still smooth.

 

[forgeblast]

Congrats on the little one!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Beware a mama cow, many a fine folk been killed by them.

 

[tony Cecil]

As my cabin was stained with some pretty dark stain--probably walnut--you had better go slowly and make sure you are o k with that much dark....In our case it is really a more reddish dark as it is heart pine, but we really do not enjoy more than about three week at a time staying there ---and we are on the porch an awful lot in the summer---I learned why paint was such a God send from the cabin...

The interior is wonderful at night with alot of character, but in the day it is like being in a cave...and I had planned on possibly one day re sanding and sealing with a clear coating....It would be such a pain I decided to let the next generation deal with it

Tony

 

[MotorSeven]

Thanks Tony, the walnut stain is for the bathroom only,,,she wants that with a dark slate floor in there. Clear Tung oil for the rest of the interior and a natural colored translucent stain for the exterior.

Kyle that's actually his daddy he's snuggled up against. Mama and Daddy did give me the third eye so I used the zoom lens...I'd rather not get freight trained by a "Mad Cow". I am kinda concerned about coyotes, so will have to sleep light tonight & keep the rifle handy.

 

[sparc]

what other options are there?

Could your blast the outside with something like ground up peanut shells or another soft and enviromentally friendly media as opposed to using grit?

 

[MotorSeven]

Could your blast the outside with something like ground up peanut shells or another soft and enviromentally friendly media as opposed to using grit?

I like that idea, but it would take a big air compressor and a media blaster. I have the big compressor installed in my shop 250' down and a hundred yards away, but no outlet wired yet for it at the site, and no media blaster. One of these days I will have a media blaster...great tool:thumbsup: