cjansa

Hmmm....the lack of response can't be good. I did my best with what I had, good thing I don't do this for a living or I'd starve. I have a deck situation that needs to be dealt with next spring that I would like some advice on. That is if I haven't exceeded my quota of neglegent homeowner questions. :)

Well here it is. And none too soon with the first snowfall here already! I'm a bit disappointed with the discoloration. Next year we will have to look into cob blasting and do this job right.

Ok, I just ordered the Makita polisher and a couple 6" square Osborn brushes on the suggestion of Jon Fife. The folks at www.aloghomestore.com were very helpful and assure me they will be here Thursday so I can head back up and finish this job properly. I will post some pics of the finished product next week. Hopefully you all won't be so shy with feedback once it's all done : )

Unfortunatley gutters are not an option. The snow and ice will just rip them off while the house sits vacant over the winter. The roof line was a very poor design for the decks and stairs. The rot you mention is being repaired on another of the decks in the back of the house. I have a feeling this is going to be a never ending problem.

Testing testing......is this thing on? Did I screw it up so bad no one wants to comment?

Finally, here is a view from the underside that shows the valley of the roofline which is causing all the trouble. The 3rd pic here is a closeup of the raised grain. How will this look if I stain over the top of it. Time is not on my side here, it never got above 45 deg this weekend and I'm afraid I will run out of time if I have to de-fur the whole thing.

This log on the house gets a lot of splash off the staircase.

From underneath.............

The other side........

As promised here are some of the pics I took during the cleaning process. Hope they retain the detail after resizing. CJ

More photo's will be on the way this weekend. I will be bringing my laptop with me so I can send them from the house. With only having dial up for a connection it may take all night but I'll do my best!

Beth you wern't kidding about some excellent wood care folks hanging out here. I want to give a shout out to Mr Jon Fife from Heartland Log Home services. Not only has he been a wealth of information regarding the staircase, but he is actually going to open a facility just 40 miles from the house!! We will certainly be recommending him to the more than 100 log home owners on the ranch!! Did I really just say "give a shout out" ?? I've been hanging out with my teenager too much! lol

Thank you very much David. Inspite of all the work it requires there is no where else on earth I would rather be. I have been searching the posts and you are right, there are some very knowledgeable folks here. And the site itself is much more user friendly than many forums I belong to.

I'd like to run something by you guys and see what you think. I have to get this staircase done fast before the weather turns and I thought I might do the following: Use a 1:3 mixture of household bleach and work from the bottom up 5 steps + railings at a time. Allow to sit for 15 min or so, scrub then rinse with p/w. If we get lucky and have good weather for 2 more weekends I can spot sand when dry and finish with the SuperDeck Log Home Finish we have on hand. The whole house was done with that product 8 years ago and has held up remarkably well except for the areas that get constant runoff from the roof namely this pesky staircase and the other two decks off the side and back. Am I on the right track with this plan? Or is there some better way to remove the mildew and brighten the greying with a product I can find redily at a homecenter? Or should I just leave it alone until next year when we have the time to do it right? Sorry to be a bother but I sure would like to get this done. Cindy

When my Dad designed it he failed to mention how much maintenance it would require and that we would need 4 levels of scaffolding just to wash the darn windows! I just pray we never have to do anything on the roof. YIKES! Cindy