MeadeandMoll
05-23-2010, 08:10 AM
Hello,
My name is Linda, and my fiance and I just bought a log home built by someone else. We bought the home despite knowing it had many, many, MANY challenges, because we loved the look and feel of the house in general, and also love the location (about 150 yards from a private lake). The home is about 1100 square feet total, with a great room (kitchen/dining) and living room on the first floor, a small loft upstairs, and the bedroom and bathroom in the basement. This was built as a seasonal/vacation home, and we are planning to remodel much of it to convert it to a permanent home. Neither of us are spring chickens (I'm 48, he's 52); I work full-time and he is only with me about 50% of the time, as he spends the other half of the time with his teenage son.
We are starting the remodeling - we are hiring contractors due to the time constraints I noted above - with the exterior. As another member previously noted, the person who built this home built the roof with essentially no overhang and absolutely no gutters. As a result, after only 8 years, the corner logs were in terrible shape. On one corner, multiple logs also had extensive carpenter ant damage. The owner replaced all the logs on two corners per our request, so now those logs stick out like a sore thumb in contrast to the others. In addition, we want to make sure the new logs, and the ones that weren't yet rotted, don't go the way of their peers! So one of our first projects, obviously, will be to extend the roof overhang and add gutters.
We also want to powerwash the existing logs, then seal and/or stain all the logs so they match - not exactly match, since natural variation does appeal to us, but enough so the difference between new and old is not so blatant.
Neither of us have any experience with carpentry. Our contractor for the exterior (who will also be replacing the deck) built another cabin (with cedar siding) for my fiance and did a wonderful job, so we feel pretty confident in his skills - but we need some product recommendations for the sealant and/or stain. Any suggestions you can provide, if you've made it through this long message, would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
My name is Linda, and my fiance and I just bought a log home built by someone else. We bought the home despite knowing it had many, many, MANY challenges, because we loved the look and feel of the house in general, and also love the location (about 150 yards from a private lake). The home is about 1100 square feet total, with a great room (kitchen/dining) and living room on the first floor, a small loft upstairs, and the bedroom and bathroom in the basement. This was built as a seasonal/vacation home, and we are planning to remodel much of it to convert it to a permanent home. Neither of us are spring chickens (I'm 48, he's 52); I work full-time and he is only with me about 50% of the time, as he spends the other half of the time with his teenage son.
We are starting the remodeling - we are hiring contractors due to the time constraints I noted above - with the exterior. As another member previously noted, the person who built this home built the roof with essentially no overhang and absolutely no gutters. As a result, after only 8 years, the corner logs were in terrible shape. On one corner, multiple logs also had extensive carpenter ant damage. The owner replaced all the logs on two corners per our request, so now those logs stick out like a sore thumb in contrast to the others. In addition, we want to make sure the new logs, and the ones that weren't yet rotted, don't go the way of their peers! So one of our first projects, obviously, will be to extend the roof overhang and add gutters.
We also want to powerwash the existing logs, then seal and/or stain all the logs so they match - not exactly match, since natural variation does appeal to us, but enough so the difference between new and old is not so blatant.
Neither of us have any experience with carpentry. Our contractor for the exterior (who will also be replacing the deck) built another cabin (with cedar siding) for my fiance and did a wonderful job, so we feel pretty confident in his skills - but we need some product recommendations for the sealant and/or stain. Any suggestions you can provide, if you've made it through this long message, would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!