Log Home Update: Part 59 Stain and Mortar

Things went a little slower than I anticipated this week, but the reasons were understandable. I mixed mortar on the ground while Don hauled it up the ladder in 1/3-filled 5-gallon buckets to apply to the chimney. We managed to get the skim coat nearly completed on Monday; finished it on Tuesday; and actually got some stone in place on Tuesday afternoon.

Even with just the skim coat in place, the chimney looked 100% better.

While Don and I did the mortar work, JP was around back staining the logs. Monday he worked using a step ladder and got all the logs on the first floor.

Here you can see the difference in color between the natural wood of the logs and the warm brown of the stain. On Tuesday, JP was able to finish the gable and the soffit (roof overhang).


To avoid overlap and prevent any dark marks on the logs, you actually stain one log at a time, from end to end. These three are the bottom rows of the west side of the house. WoodGuard isn’t noted for this particular problem, but some deck stains will be doubly dark if you overlap them and the result is not pleasant to look at.

We've taken the Fourth off and the weather is not promising for tomorrow. Don and Adam (who's been working on other jobs or for the Code Inspector's office) have a family reunion in VA this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we may not get much more done until next week.