The easiest, fastest, and lowest-cost way to coat the exterior of your log home is to paint it! After all, it doesn’t matter what the wood looks like underneath — the paint will still look nice on top!
BUT THERE IS A MASSIVE PROBLEM WITH THAT! Painting your log home will cause the wood to rot and rot really fast.
There are three things that must be present for wood to rot: air, heat, and water.
Why doesn’t your kitchen table rot? There is no water!
Why doesn’t the tree at the bottom of the river rot? There is no air!
On a log home, the only factor we can try to control is water. The best way to do this is to build your house under a canopy! Obviously, that isn’t realistic. The second-best solution is wrap-around porches. But, it may be too late for that.
That leaves us with our best solution: to preserve the house with a penetrating, breathable finish that keeps most moisture out, and whatever moisture gets in can escape in a gaseous form.
It is imperative that wood be able to breathe. And when you paint the logs, the coating won’t allow the moisture to escape fast enough, and that leads to rot.
You might have heard, “Well, if I caulk all of the cracks, then NO moisture will ever get in!” I wish it worked that way! And that is what most people think.
We want to help you have an amazing experience as a log home owner! Remember, we are on your team and will do anything we can to help you.
