Chinking the log house question(s)

[Richard]

We are looking to sandblast, stain and chink our house this summer.

1. They (Perma-chink) are suggesting we use glass beads for the media blasting. I kind of liked the idea of the corn husks since they would biodegrade. Any opinions on having bags and bags and bags of glass beads blasted around your house and settling into the ground? (don't ask why we might want to do this.... the wife wants to change color of the house :confused2

2. Chink application. Seems you can use several methods. For several thousand dollars, you can buy a chink pump that will supply you with an endless abount of chink as long as someone is feeding the hopper. That's out of the question for me to purchase. They do not have those to rent either so renting isn't an option. They then use "Large Applicastion Bags" and or, bulk caulk guns (see link)

Log Home Tools

I'm looking at maybe getting the Albion 2.5 qt pneumatic gun (Model 200-5) as I don't really want to have to squeeze a trigger a zillion times to apply this around the house. I alredy have a compressor and hose. Might need to get another length of hose but that's no biggie.

They are recommending I get the MANUAL caulk gun (Cox gun / Portland #51002) Seems they (Permachink) do not carry the Albion 200-5 anymore even though it shows on their web page. I can get it directly from Albion if not elsewhere though.

So, my question is.... since the Albion gun IS still available, for anyone here that's done this before.... do you prefer a manual gun, pneumatic gun, is it worth getting the larger size gun (extra weight) to cut in half, the number of refil trips?

If you are going to be 3 stories up, would you rather lug a 5 lb pail to the roof up there (that you will be standing on, NOT standing on a laddar) or, would you rather have an assistant and maybe have 3 of the large application bags in rotation. As you apply current bag, your assistant is refilling the prior bag? (then, are they on the roof with you or are they on the ground?)

I've got some scaffolding that I can borrow. We had a quote for $20K to blast/stain/chink the house and spending that kind of money just so she can "change colors" isn't too high on my priority list!!! So, we'll be doing it ourselves it seems.

Looking for some guidance from someone who might have done this as to some pitfalls to avoid (like watching out for that first step off the roof )

They (Permachink) have a class on how to do these things however, the next class isn't until June 26 and we're hoping on starting some parts of this sooner than that, like sanding.

Fortunate for me that Permachink has a factory/store here in town!

 

[crusty 1]

I did my half log sided home and gotta say I,d change wives before color:laughing:just kiddin buts its alot of work to blast etc.Check out Duckback products for thier strippers and wood renew products,I only had to corn blast one smaller area.Hope this helps you out good luckDave

 

[rekees4300]

Can't recall all the details but back in the 70's renovated 2 interior rooms of a log house. It was a whole lot of work. Cleaned the popular logs with wire brushes and paint stripper. Finished the logs with Linseed oil which gave them a golden color. For the chinking recall using white sand but I don't recall the rest of the recipe. Just used cement trowels to apply the chinking.

 

[PILOON]

I renovated a 30 x 40 log cabin for a client.
We rented a 150 CFM compressor and a sandblast tank, came with a hooded vest/visor kind of 'raincoat' affair.
We used about 25 bags of silica material to do the job and had enough left over to blast my trailer.
Even as inexperienced operator I was able to do the complete exterior in one work day and found the learning curve quite easy.
Worst part was scaffolding as the cabin was on a mountainside and one face required 30 ft ladders and painters walkways.
Duct tape and cardboard was used to mask any window glass as the sand bounces off and I hand held a plywood shield to prevent stray 'side blasting'.
That cabin used old fashioned caulking on the joints and was unaffected by the blasting process as the sand media simply bounced off.
The process left the logs looking just as new as the day they were laid in place.
We refinished the exterior with a product called SEIKINS which is a 3 application process, the first being a penetrating stain and the other 2 a topcoat varnish stain finish.

On healthy wood blasting works great, but any dry rotted wood "punky stuff" the blast media simply chews in and we had to do some creative splicing and carving/shaping to reface a few places.

Years ago I built a log cabin and simply purchased a 5 gal bucket of black roofing pitch and hand loaded a caulking gun to do the job.
I'd unscrew the front end of the gun and suck in the pitch and proceed to caulk, refilling whenever needed. Caulk in tubes back then would have cost a fortune otherwise.
Larger gaps were packed using oakum, a tar based hemp product that generally was used by plumbers for cast iron drain plumbing.
That cabin still is in use today, 50 years later and looking good.
That cabin was finished using raw linseed oil diluted and brushed on, repeating the process every 3-4 years.

 

[studor]

I did my entire 1860 vintage squared pine log home (20 x 30 feet 1 1/2 stories) with Permachink inside and out a few years ago. After stripping off layers of siding, panelling, styrofoam etc. inside and out we sandblasted inside and pressure washed the outside, Then we foam insulated, then breaker barrier taped, then putty knifed in the chink from a hod. It is mind numbing work. You did not say how the big the logs are, what size a gap you are chinking etc but if it is a fairly modern log then the caulking guns etc are a good idea -- I was chinking 1 inch to six inch gaps so I either used the hod a putty knives or grout bags to apply then putty knives to spread then wet foam brushes to smooth. Read up on the use of Permachink and you will not need the course once you understand how it works.

 

[forgeblast]

what about using corn cobs as the blast media?
Maxus MXS21002 80 lb. Pressure Feed Blaster with Steel Hopper

allows you to use a ton of stuff. I heard the corn cob was great on wood, would not damage it.

 

[seca111]

we corn blasted our house, and had it chinked and re stained.

the corn was on the ground for 2 years I can only imagine how long you'd be finding glass beads everywhere.

We needed to chink the house really bad because we had drafts everywhere.
this was after our first winter in the house (the house was 4 years old when we bought it)

when they corn blasted it we had corn everywhere inside and out.

another thing to remember is to remove all the screens before they blast.
the company we used didn't and we ended up having to rescreen every one of them.

 

[forgeblast]

Ouch, that went everywhere, was it because the chinking was gone?
I figured once i corn cob blast the house ill let the chickens free range to help with the clean up. I only need it to blast some paint off our cinder block walls before i put some field stone on them.

 

[Richard]

Wow, that IS a mess!

I know we have some places where we have gaps through the walls. I am now wondering if your situation gives some credibility to perhaps hanging a tarp on the inside of the house to at least minimize the spread into the room.

yeesh.... I'm going to have to show my wife these pictures when I get home.