Log Home Restoration & Preservation
Smith & Co's epoxy products are formulated from resins derived mostly
from wood. They penetrate further, bond better, are tougher and more flexible
then standard petroleum-based epoxy resins or any other "treatments" or
fillers you can buy. For long term restoration, "buy the best".
(CPES™) Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer is a unique product. It
is a specialized epoxy. There is no other wood restoration product on the market
that even comes close to it's performance level. For test results, see
www.woodrestoration.com. All of our epoxy products are manufactured by Smith & Co.
These epoxies are custom formulated from resins derived mostly from wood. They
are more expensive to manufacture then the standard petro-derived resins, but
the long term benefits of our products far out-weigh the difference in price.
 How you get at the wood rot and what you do after saturation of the wood with
(CPES™) will depend entirely on the extent of the wood rot and its location.
If there are large cavities to fill we recommend epoxy-soaked wood, Fill-It™,
or L & L mixed with very fine sawdust. All of those will add structural integrity
to the wood and our different epoxies will bond together at the molecular level
to help form a single, strong structure. We are always available via telephone,
fax or e-mail to discuss your log restoration needs and offer advice.
Log protection
Log homes are beautiful. They are big and there is a lot of wood which is exposed
to the weather. We are not log home builders but we know why logs rot and how
it can be prevented. If you are considering building or adding on to a log home,
give us a call and we can advise you on some ways in which you can eliminate
some future log deterioration problems. If you already own a log home and have
some wood deterioration, give us a call and find out how our Smith & Co.
products can stop the deterioration and restore the logs.
CPES™ Wood Rot Prevention
CPES™, Clear Penetrating epoxy Sealer when applied to saturate open
cracks, checks, soft wood, wood rot (when the wood becomes dry) will prevent
further damage to the treated areas. There are many products such as surface
sealers and caulking compounds on the market and featured on the log home web
sites, but none of them are penetrating epoxies! Many will not penetrate very
far and none will restore wood that is beginning to decay or decayed. Their protection,
if any, is limited. Wood soaked with CPES™ will last almost indefinitely. You
can apply whatever coating you want after the CPES™ application but it is the
CPES™ that will do the protecting.
Cracks, checks, knots & log ends.
These should be saturated
with CPES™. You can fill them later. The CPES™ which has soaked into the interior
wood will help protect the wood from rot and insects. Other wood fillers almost
always leak and they do not prevent rot or restore wood. Our Fill-It ™ or a mixed
paste of L&L ™ and very fine sawdust
makes a long lasting wood filler. Log ends should be treated with CPES™.
Apply as much as the wood will accept and coat the exterior surfaces as well.
Surface & Hollow log rot.
If you have small or large sections of surface log rot, remove the stain to
bare wood and saturate with CPES™ by brush or roller. Always determine
approximately how deep the rot has gone before restoration. You can determine
this by attaching a piece of electrical tape to your drill bit and drilling a
5/8 inch hole on a vertical downward angle. Determine the depth of drill bit
as it enters sound wood. Do not drill all the way
through the log. Slowly remove
drill bit and observe the quality of wood and if it is dry, damp or wet. For
advice call us.
How to determine if a log is hollow? By taping on the log. If the log is
hollow you will hear a distinct difference between hollow wood and sound wood.
Hollow logs usually have a check or opening running parallel on the top surface
of the log. Using a Sawzall or Saber saw cut away a section of the log face.
Save log face for replacement later. Scoop out all the loose, wet wood rot and
allow the log or logs to dry.
You may want to rent a kerosene blow-dryer of 70,000 btu or so, to speed up the
drying process. We have bulletins covering log restoration. Please
call us for log restoration advice and always determine linear length of deterioration and
approximately the dimensions of all hollow log cavities. We can then give you
the approximate quantities and product cost.
Ask for our Log Dry Rot & Restoration bulletin # B021.
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