Staining and Caulking Started

This week saw the arrival of Butch, the painter, to the site to start the long process of staining and sealing the house. After all the joints are caulked, the exterior logs will be stained with two coats of a Sikkens product, with a color called Dark Oak. The interior rafters, beams, and trim will be given two coats of another Sikkens product made for interior use, low VOCs and all that other good stuff. That work has started and you can see some of the pictures. The interior log walls will have two coats of a Permachink product to seal the wood and leave a satin finish- no stain so will have a nice contrast between the darker stain and the walls.

There is a lot of scaffolding needed to reach the high points in the house and a lot of climbing up and down! I'm going to help with this work for the next few weeks so anticipate some aches and pains.

You can see the caulking on the exterior dovetail joint after it was applied in one picture. Also notice the 2x12 planks that are set across the highest cross beams in one picture. These are to use as a "perch" reached by the scaffolding so stain can be applied to the highest points in the house. The planks will be moved along the cross ties down the length of the house.

It was quite a week on the weather front, we had some warm days but early in the week, it was quite cold in the early mornings, definitely used some more of the firewood that has been generated. I did get a bit more work completed on the paths but probably won't get a lot done in that area for a few weeks as I try to be useful and help with the staining work.