As you might have read in my last post, there is a shortage of shingles in the USA and Canada.

Since we’re short on time we needed to choose a shingle that is readily available (not backordered for the next month) and located close to home. Thankfully our Bancroft Rona team came to our aid.

We ended up choosing a BP shingle from the Everest collection. Here’s what BP has to say about Everest shingles:

The new Everest shingle, like its namesake, is oversized and at the peak of perfection. This double-layer laminate shingle features a large nailing zone for easier installations and larger tabs for a bolder appearance.

With a choice of eleven stunning colors plus a 40-year warranty and added wind warranty up to 160 km/h (as per special application instructions), Everest takes home beautification and protection to serious new heights.

Sounds great to me! Oversized shingles mean it will go up faster and these dimensional shingles from the Architectural line of BP look stunning on any of the roofs I’ve seen so far.

They are reminiscent of weathered and stained cedar shakes - in some of the color selections.

Finding Roof Shingles in Our Area

For a few days, as our Rona Sales Rep made calls and hunted down various other stores and his supplier it looked like we had two options in color. Autumn Brown or Driftwood.

I personally loved the Autumn Brown and crossed my fingers for them.

Eric preferred the Driftwood.

Veronica said, “Um, hello? It’s a roof. Who cares what color it is?”

This is the least passionate and opinionated statement we’ve heard from Veronica since we started building! I’m not sure if she’s sick of making decisions or if she is just smart enough to know that we spend far more time indoors enjoying our home than standing outdoors revelling in the roof color!

Either way, here are the color samples…

Autumn Brown, Everest, Architectural Roof Shingle

Driftwood, Everest, Architectural Roof Shingle

Turns out, Eric gets his way. The only shingle we can get enough of, nearby and quickly, is Driftwood. Looking at them both now, I think this might have been the best match after all. The house is showy enough, and the roof if already busy with all it’s dormers, slopes and angles - a more tone-on-tone such as the Driftwood will probably look much nicer!

It will soon be ‘that’ time. The time in building the log home that requires roofing work.

If you don’t already know, I am not looking forward to this part of the build. Since Day 1, when people have asked when and if we’ll need help building this home, my first question has always been, “How are you with heights?”

The slope of our roof is 12/12 which I find reminiscent of an old, rural church. It must have been God-fearing men that shingled a roof back then - and lived to tell the tale!

I’m certainly not great with heights, having been incredibly proud of myself the first time I made it to ladder rung 3, but a girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do - and we need this roof on before the snow starts flying!

Today I want to talk about the shingle shortage however…

The roofing decision began as “steel or shingle?”

We had steel on the old house (before the fire) and I loved listening to the rain pitter-pat over my head when I slept at night. The roofing conversation ended however, as a matter of finances, not romantic notions.

$6,700 to roof our home in steel. $3,000 for shingles.

Now here’s the interesting thing about shingles - apparently they are in short supply! The reason for this is due to all the hurricanes and wind storms down south - in the USA. We are in Canada, no tornados or hurricanes here - so why are we short on shingles and why are we paying higher premiums as a result?

Because we are. Here’s more news about roof shingles - the price just jumped this week an $8-$10 increase per roll! Anyone want to add $700-1200 to your roofing budget just because you had the bad luck of ordering two days after the unjustified, inflated, price hike?

Not to mention the price increase includes all in-stock product at the Rona store in Bancroft. This I do not understand. I mean, they didn’t pay any extra for it when they ordered it, and any returns on unused product from previous buyers wouldn’t net them a larger return. So what’s the deal?

Store ethics aside, I was told that I would likely need to order my shingles and they would take at least 3 weeks to arrive. This wasn’t going to work for us, so we went to task and our Rona Sales Rep went over and above the call to help us out. (I’ll boast about Paul McCluskey of Bancroft’s Rona later - definitely a ‘customer comes first’ kinda guy!)

The shingles we eventually chose and the reasons why we chose them will be written about in a future post. I know you’ll love the color, style and look of these for a log home!

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.

If you’re building a log home and it is wearing you down in the process, read this:

If, when you tell people you’re building a log home, they look at you like you’re a spoiled woman who always gets her own way, and their opinion of you worsens when you start making comments like:

“I don’t want that in my home…”, or
“…our house has to be different than any other log house around here…”, and
“I will not live in a standard cedar stained box and call it a log home…”

Don’t sweat it. You’re a log home snob.

I’ve made many of these snobby, self-righteous, comments in the last few months. Your real friends will understand and forgive you for them. I know, because mine have forgiven me - or at least I think they have!

Yes, I’ve heard myself say these things and I’ve seen the reactions, but I’m pretty sure I have a right to say them nonetheless.

I have a right, because I’m not some spoiled goddess whose husband does all the work.

I have a right, because this is my time, my blood, sweat and tears, in and on this project.

I put the time and muscle in. I researched the product lines. I made the calls to get the best prices. I surfed the sites online. I talked to countless tradespeople, about countless home building topics. I took the frustration of being a woman in a small town asking questions that seemed only suitable for men to be asking…

Damn skippy I want our home to look different, have only the best products going into it, and be worth more in the end! It just isn’t worth it to me to do any less or expect any less - because building this log home is stretching me beyond current capabilities and skillsets while it sucks the life force right out of me!

Can You Be A Log Home Snob Too?

You bet you can! Every educated decision you make, every ounce of sweat you spill, every night you lie awake in agony over pulled muscles and aching limbs - is your right of passage to be a snob.

If you need a certificate to prove to others that you have a right to be a snob, tell me about your log home build in a comment below with your address and I’ll create one just for you!

My certificate states that a 45 year old woman, who has been called upon to help lift and hoist one end of 300 pound logs, over and over again until the walls are built, has a right.

The number of plywood sheets I have heaved over my head to get them from the ground to the first floor. And then do it all over again to get it on the second floor.

The windows and doors and lumber siding - carried, stained, moved, and moved again. And, on the same note, the hospital visits and stitches received as a result of moving doors in inappropriate footwear.

Nails hammered until arm muscles burn and you want to cry.

The heights that would certainly kill or break you badly if you fell.

Lifting, levering, and sliding 20 foot long 2×12s from the ground to the roof - 35 feet away…plus much more.

So go ahead, share your log home building stories below. I’m ready to share the crown of snobbery with you!