This week I have been working on a log home in the Stevensville, Montana area. It is square log construction made from cedar. This is the fourth time this house has been stained. The original coat was applied by the contractor when it was first built, then the homeowner stained it again about 5 years later. When it came time to re-stain it the third time, the homeowner decided he would have us do it. That was about 7 years ago. I would say the stain has held up pretty well considering no maintenance was done during those 7 years. It should have had some maintenance coats to some areas before now, but sometimes it's easy for a homeowner to put off things like maintenance, and when that happens it takes a bit more work to get things looking nice.
The lack of maintenance has led to some areas needing a little more attention than just the normal wash and re-stain. You can see in the pictures, I am addressing some problem areas that had turned black from water damage and fungal growth, by sanding down to bare wood. The black mold had worked down into the wood too far for a cleaner to completely take care of it. As you can see in the pictures, much of the problem areas are where the dormers are. The water runs off the roof of the dormer and lands on the first floor roof. When water hits the first floor roof, it back splashes on the dormer walls causing the stain to break down faster than it would otherwise. This area is also prone to collecting snow during the winter months. The snow piles up against the dormer walls.
When the home was first built, the contractor used Messmers U.V. Plus and the homeowner has chosen to stay with that stain. When we re-stained 7 years ago there was quite a bit of black mold along the fascia boards and we recommended switching the fascia stain to a solid oil that would hold up longer than a semi-transparent stain. We used Cabot solid stain in Oak brown color. The homeowner was very pleased with how the color added a little contrasting color to the look of the house. It has faded a bit over those seven years, but no black mold has appeared on the fascia boards like had happened in the past with the semi-transparent stain.
I am working on this job by myself so I am brushing it on as opposed to spraying, due to the fact that the UV Plus stain is a very thin stain and it really is simpler to brush on when only one person is applying it. Messmers is much more susceptible to having runs than other stains like Sikkens, so you need to keep checking back over areas that you have stained. I really would not recommend spraying it unless you have someone to help backbrush. Since I am not spraying it on, I am saving myself the time of having to mask all the doors and windows and other areas that would normally need to be masked off. I would say Messmers is a bit tricky to work with compared to many other stains, but it has performed well on this home. I will post more in part 2 as this job progresses.