Choosing A Log Home Stain

Standard lumber stain, specialized log stain, eco-friendly stain or long lasting and potentially toxic?

After a few months of talking to people – homeowners and log home builders alike – in a variety of climates, we decided to go with a stain that was created specifically for logs and is available in a variety of colors.

One of the key considerations was to find a stain that didn’t just ’sit’ on the top of the wood. We needed a stain that partially adheres to and nourishes the wood, while protecting it from the ultraviolet rays.

I’d like to say that environmental friendliness was our top concern – but in reality it was second. The Lifeline stain we chose for our exterior finsih is a water-borne formula that forms a breathable barrier for the logs. We added a UV boost to protect the color and the wood from harmful sun rays.

Maintenance was the next concern. Log homes have a notorious past of being high-maintenance. Thankfully the Lifeline stain we chose lasts 5-10 years and can be touched up or completely reapplied without sanding, stripping, or media blasting. The thought of having to do any of those three at the age of 50+ was enough to make me shiver – now I don’t have to worry about it, just keep an eye on the condition of the logs every year.

If you read my post about being a log home snob (yesterday), then you know I didn’t want to go with the standard natural or cedar stained home. Yes I think it looks pretty – but I want something different. The Perma-Chink line of Lifeline Exterior stains offered me a variety of colors to choose from.

One dealer of Perma-Chink products exists in Canada and, wonder of wonders, that dealer happens to be within driving distance of our log home building project. We stopped in, with a sample of our log, one rainy afternoon.

Sandy, one of the staff at Perma-Chink’s Canadian dealer, chatted with us for a while, heard about our project and concerns about stain and put together a box of stain samples for interior and exterior use. The next weekend, Veronica spent a few hours creating samples on log ends we had cut and had no further use for.

We left the samples in the hot sun, on site, and took a few weeks looking at and discussing each stain color. Quite a few of our friends liked the weathered gray look (along with Eric), but we all (Eric, Veronica and myself) also liked the lighter shades – Butternut and Sandalwood. The Butternut is exquisite but the Sandalwood brought out a subtle russet grain in the wood that we hadn’t noticed before staining. That depth of color was too hard to resist. The finished piece looked like fresh pine (bleached and light) with a hint of a cedar vein running through each log at natural random.

I’ll write more about Perma-Chink and the stain we chose at another date. In the meantime, their website is a good place to start if you’re looking for eco-friendly log home stains and they will send you a full information kit and product catalog that is truly enjoyable (packed with photos of existing log homes, interior and exterior) at your request here: PermaChink.