Log Home Prevent Finish Failure Design Tips
There are a number of simple design and construction steps that you can incorporate into your log home to keep your wood finish in tip top shape.
In general, water is the enemy and to prevent finish failure and eventual rot you have to control it. Here are our design tips:
1. Always install gutters on your log home. The single biggest cause of finish failure and rot is water that runs off your roof, lands on a deck, patio or the ground and bounces back up onto your wood. Install gutters and you will control the water flow and divert it away from your exposed wood. To make sure that your gutters do the job all the time, spend the extra dollars for gutter protection products such as Gutter Helmut or Gutter Guard that keep your gutters clean and free flowing year round.
2. Maximize roof overhangs and install all around covered porches to the full extend that your budget will allow. In tandem with gutters, this keeps water off your logs and preserves the finish.
3. Never let your logs get any closer than two feet from decks, patios and ground areas that are exposed. If water bounces back up onto your foundation there is not much problem. When water bounces back onto the wood, this is where finish failure and rot begins. The simple answer is to make your foundation a little higher off the ground. Finish your foundation and floor system with stucco and/or cultured stone. In areas with high snow accumulations, extend stone and stucco up to the point of typical maximum snow depth. Logs are not designed to be buried in snow for weeks or months at a time.
By using these tips you will prolong the life of your log home finish and virtually eliminate the opportunity for log rot to begin.
Avalon Log Homes expert team provides the finest quality log products and design & planning services to make your dream log home become a reality all over the USA & Canada. Visit us at http://www.avalonloghomes.com or email us at logs@cableone.net
