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