How Often Should You Re-stain Your Log Home in Columbia City, Indiana?

If you own a log home in Columbia City, Warsaw, Leesburg, Winona Lake or other surrounding Indiana areas, you probably understand the importance of a well-maintained exterior stain. An intact stain on your exterior home is the first line of defense against harsh weather elements and insect invasion.

Many homeowners understand the importance of hiring paint contractors like Matthews’ Painting for regular exterior stain update. But how often should you have your log home re-stained? To help you come up with the best schedule, let’s take a quick look at what affects the stain’s durability

1. Type of stain

There’re generally three types of stains based on their levels of opacity; solid stains, transparent stains, and semi-transparent stains.

· Transparent stains –they have no color pigments and seep into the wood grains without forming a coat on the surface. They tend to offer a lower level of surface protection and hence, will need more regular updates. In extreme weather, you might need touch-ups every 1-2 years. The best part is they allow the natural beauty of wood to show through.

· Semi-transparent stains –these are a compromise between transparent and solid stains. They provide a higher level of surface protection than the transparent stains and allow some of the wood grains and knots to show through. They are the most popular choices for many log homes. Semi-transparent stains may require updating once every in 2-3 years.

· Solid stains –these types of stains form a solid coat on the surface of the wood and don’t allow the grains, knots, and surface imperfections to show through. They offer a superior level of surface protection than both transparent and semi-transparent stains. If you have this type of stain on your log home, you may need to re-stain after every 3-4 years.

2. Product Quality
The quality of stain used by your previous contractor has a significant bearing on the durability of your exterior finish. Wood stains are generally made of a solvent, a resin, and a pigment. The solvent evenly distributes the resin and the pigments over the surface of the wood. The resin, on the other hand, binds pigments on to the surface.

Logs often twist, settle, shrink, check (crack), and continue to adjust to local humidity levels once they have been installed. The best type of stain should have high amounts of resins that can flex along as the log adjusts to keep the pigments and sealants in place. Cheaper, low-quality finishes tend to crack and fade much faster hence requiring more regular updates.
Environment

The stain on your home’s exterior is often subjected to harsh weather elements from one season to another. Pounding rains, scorching sunlight, frost, constant temperature fluctuations, and flying debris can cause the stain to fade, check, or peel much faster. While you can’t control the weather, having covered porches, proper water drainage systems, and large surrounding trees can stretch the durability of your log home stain.

Surface preparation

Proper surface preparation is key to the penetration, adherence, and durability of the stain. Ideally, any surface dirt, existing finishes, and damages should be removed before the stain can be applied. Power washing is most suitable for removing surface dirt during staining and light maintenance.

Getting rid of existing coatings might require media blasting, sanding, grinding, or brushing with various available tools. Staining over dirty, damaged or uneven surfaces often leads to premature stain failure and hence to need to re-stain more often than anticipated.

The Bottom Line

How often you should res-stain your log home depends on the type of stain used, surface preparation, product quality, surrounding environment, among other things. One of the best ways to ensure extended stain durability and a high level of surface protection on your log home is to hire a professional. They will also help you to come up with the best re-staining and maintenance schedule.

If you need professional help re-staining your log home, Matthews’ Painting can assist. We have over 20 years of residential painting serving the areas of Warsaw, Syracuse, Leesburg, Lake Tippecanoe area, Goshen, Winona Lake area, Columbia City, Indiana, and surrounding Indiana cities.

To give us a try, book a FREE estimate below or call us today on (574) 834-3575 for more details.