Here is a great email from Andy.

Bought some property 3 years ago in Southeast Texas. On it, a log cabin actually built in the 50’s with telephone poles. (Pine) Insert Air Conditioning plus poor design causes some pretty extensive damage though more facial, in some cases, half way through. After determining the damage, I formulated a plan to re-brace the wall at bottom (open), remove the rotted portions, buy treated logs (pine) which are actually used for corner bracing for large fence areas, split and replace rotted area’s. I thought (think) the best way to brace each replacement to the remaining log was to I bolt with curved metal brace. Not sure it will be that aesthetically pleasing but then….Im a rookie. Large nails? Screws? Your thoughts.

Read more about log face replacement

Replacing a rotten log on a log home is no easy task. However it is an unfortunate task that sometimes may have to be tackled. Luckily there have been only a couple of logs that have needed to be replaced on this 100+ year old structure.

Here at the lodge a base log was in great need of repair. Being that the logs are all American Chestnut - which no longer grows to any size here in the U.S. since the blight that wiped them out in the 1920s and 30s - a suitable replacement has to be located.

I choose Ash as a replacement. It has a similar grain as Chestnut and blends well. Ash also takes stain much the same and once stained its difficult to differ between the two. It provides very straight logs and is a nice hard wood with that I can easily obtain. Suffice it to say that I love getting my hands on a fine piece of Ash.

The log in question is a base log. A base log is the first log in contact with the foundation.

Read more on replacing a rotted log

As you know in my last post I had to remove a log that was rotten beyond repair.

I contacted my local arborist this morning and was able to get my hands on an 8″ diameter 24″ Ash log. Perfect.

I trimmed the log to fit and beveled the ends as in the rest of the logs. The cut, being fresh and as of yet unstained appears a little larger than the bevels of other logs however they match perfectly.

After trimming and beveling the log I wedged it in place and drove spikes down through the log into the log below as well as spiked it from the top. In addition I drove in spikes from the sides thereby securing the log and wall completely.

Read more about replacing a rotted log

In this step I will apply a two part bonding agent that will strengthen any deteriorated wood.

I use a product called Liquid Wood. This stuff is quite familiar to those doing architectural restoration work as it is the best stuff out there. I have used it on a multitude of projects from stabilizing and preserving unique wood work to stabilizing and strengthening critical members.

read more on stregthening rotted wood