Random DIY Tip About Staining Log Homes from Jack
Jack sez: Do not stain HOT log walls and decks. Work on those hot sides in the cool shady times of the day.
Generally when painting, we “trim” over and around the corners, windows and ceiling with our brushes. Then we come back and fill in the unpainted sections with rollers. Ditto pipes and other metal and plastic features.
That is exactly the WRONG thing to do with stain. Why is that?
Well, stain is usually not as thick as paint. Think water and you will get the right idea. Unlike paint, we are usually applying stain to logs, wood siding, T&G [tongue and groove] and other wood products, not sheetrock, metal, plastics or glass.
By the way, we do have a semi-transparent stain product that will go over wood, metal, plastic, glass, stone and cement. It will also go over oil based stains. It is called ENS and was developed by Sansin.com. Available from LogHomesByJack. End of commercial.
In working with stain there are some rules.
1. Do not even think about staining wood that is hot.
2. Do not edge. Absolutely do not trim around the corners, windows and doors.
3. Begin staining log homes from the bottom and go up 1-2-3 rows at a time.
4. Do not stain five to nine vertical feet at a time and work you way up the wall. Then move over to the next five to ten foot section. WRONG.
5. Why Not? Do not overlap dry stain with wet stain. This happens when trimming as noted in No 2, 3 and 4. This overlap creates two layers of stain while the newest stain is just one layer thick. The overlap shows when dry.
6. Stain can drip from brushes as it is applied. When working from the bottom rows upward, drips can be brushed out to avoid overlap drop marks.
About Bug Juice?
If you add this product to your top coat of Sansin stains, you have 3 hours to apply that stain. Do not add an 8 oz bottle of Bug Juice to a five gallon pail of paint or stain - unless you have enough helpers to use up one five gallon pail of stain in one hours.
You are welcome . . . jack
