Maintaining Archives – Log Cabin Homes Magazine

Maintaining Your Log Cabin Home

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | Designing, How-To, Maintaining

From the design phase, through construction, and into a long, enjoyable lifetime, the maintenance of a log home is a critical element in retaining that like-new look, controlling present and future costs, protecting resale value, and preserving a significant investment. Owning and maintaining a log home presents ongoing challenges; however, an understanding of the available options during design, completion of construction, and future years facilitates informed decisions and simplifies the process. Rath…

Low-Maintenance Landscaping

by Margaret Haapoja | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Landscape, Maintaining, Planning

It’s never too soon to start planning the landscape around your log home to ensure you won’t spend every weekend on lawn and garden chores. In fact, Kent Worley, Grand Rapids, Michigan, landscape architect, emphasizes the importance of including site considerations when you begin to design the home. He asks his clients to make a list of personal preferences including types and seasons of outdoor uses, expectations of care and maintenance, storag…

A Home Away from Home

by Bridget McCrea | Jul 9, 2021 | Building, Designing, How-To, Maintaining, Planning

You’ve set your sights on your ideal second home, and it’s time to bring your dreams to fruition. You’ve picked the site, purchased the land, and decided that a log home will be the perfect fit. In your mind’s eye you see your friends and family enjoying the home for years to come, frolicking in the lake that it overlooks and exploring the wilderness that surrounds it. To make sure that vision becomes a reality, there are a few steps you’ll want to take during your second h…

Green Finishes

by By Karen Doss Bowman | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining, Planning

While all stains and finishes are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “green” stains have exploded onto the market during the past decade, offering an attractive alternative for environmentally conscious homeowners. These water-based products often perform as well as their oilbased counterparts. However, interior designer Stephanie Hintz of Wisconsin Log Homes points out that some oil-based stains also are kind to the earth. “I…

Value Added

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

Seasons come and go. The sun glares and sets. Rain, wind, and winter snow are continuing possibilities. Since the elements take their toll on any structure, consistent maintenance means good looks, savings in time and money, and fewer headaches for the log or timber homeowner. But questions persist as to the best approach. “I like to look at it as being an investment and not a cost,” observes Tony Huddleston, senior vice president of sales and operations at Per…

A Strong Finish

by Tracy M. Ruff | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

You’ve most likely spent months, if not years, planning the design of your log home and hadn’t even considered what you would use to protect its precious walls. There are many companies out there that claim they make the best finishes for the exterior of a log home. Weeding through all of these products can be a daunting task, and you may be tempted to drive down to the local hardware store and pick up a few cans of the product that’s on sale that week. Before hopping in your car, get to know what makes…

Minimizing Maintenance for Your Retirement Years

by Wyatt Myers | Jul 9, 2021 | Building, How-To, Maintaining

A beautiful log home—it’s a great dream for anybody to have for their retirement years. Now imagine if that home required zero maintenance: No painting, no toilet repair, no worries … talk about a beautiful dream! Of course, a home that doesn’t require any maintenance really is a dream. But what you can do is take steps during the planning process for your log home that will minimize maintenance in the long term. And that’s a dream that everybody can live with. To help us come up with the best planning …

Keep It Up!

by Bridget McCrea | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

With any home, maintenance plays an important role in protecting your investment from the elements and from the normal wear and tear that are inflicted on it on a daily basis. Ignore this important aspect of log home ownership and you could find yourself dealing with high repair and restoration bills, and a lot of heartache. Where log homes are different from traditional construction lies mainly in the logs themselves. While these natural wonders are strong, sturdy…

Designed for Easy Living

by Donna Peak | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

Maintaining your log home is like getting on a physical fitness regimen: to keep it performing and looking its best, you have to take care of it. And like embarking on a nutrition and exercise program for your body, your log home maintenance has to stick to a regular schedule, or the health of your home will suffer, and you’ll have to have to start over from square one—which could be much more difficult than sticking to the plan in the first place. If y…

Selecting a Log Home Cleaner

by Bridget McCrea | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

Log homes are strong, sturdy, and beautiful, but, like all homes, they are also vulnerable. Constantly under attack from the elements, pests, and other threats, these homes require regular cleaning with products that address those intrusions and preserve the beauty of the logs. Selecting the appropriate cleaner is the first step in the right direction, according to Barbara Murray, president of CTA Products Group in Southaven, Mississippi, who points out that the cleaning needn’t always be invasive, but …

Protecting Your Investment

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

For those familiar with log homes, the terms “chinking” and “sealing” are fairly familiar. At some point, most any discussion of construction and maintenance will at least touch on these topics. “In Old English, the term ‘chinking’ meant to close a fissure or gap,” explains Nadia O’Hara, advertising manager of Perma-Chink Systems. “The process of chinking involved the installation of various materials over the horizontal voids between log courses to prevent air and water from enter…

Stains, Paints, and Sealants

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

Choosing a stain, paint, or sealant for your log home may be as challenging as finding the perfect lot or settling on a specific floorplan. The choices abound, and the uses are often confusing. But there is hope in having an easier time making the right decisions. Before committing to a stain, sealant, or paint, understanding the attributes of each is a prerequisite. Knowledge of the basics makes charting the course easier. “On log homes the stain performs two basic jobs, protec…