Staining and Chinking a Montana Homestead
Timber Pro UV Stains and Finishes
Meadowlark's recommended stain and finish is the Timber Pro UV family of products which are long lasting, beautiful, are Natural Plant-Oil & Water Borne which provides a hard, durable finish.
Timber Pro UV Advantages:
- Designed for log homes and other wood surfaces.
- Derived mostly from natural plant ingredients, Timber Pro UV products follow Meadowlark's tradition of using clean, renewable, plant based resources, and these products fit the needs of our Customers well.
- Safe, no petroleum ingredients.
- Overspray during application is less harmful than other brands.
- Overspray will not harm grass, shrubs, pets, plants or soil.
- You and your tools clean up with soap and water! No toxic paint thinners needed for cleaning up!
- Generates LEED credits for low VOC and renewable materials.
- Hard, smooth finish, breathable and water repellent, and because it is hard, finished surface will not attract dust. Most other brands have soft petroleum oils that do not dry totally hard and will attract dust that sticks to it.
We carry Timber Pro UV products for both exterior & interior applications which are detailed below.
Exterior Stain: Log and Siding Formula
Interior Finish: Crystal Urethane
Exterior Staining and Maintenance using Log and Siding Formula:
The exterior log walls, wood porch deck floors, porch steps and railings need to be stained to preserve their color and give years and perhaps centuries of life to the home. Any clear or non- pigmented stain will not preserve exterior wood. A colored, pigmented or tinted stain must be used on the exterior for the purpose of preservation of the logs.
The staining should be done within 6 months after the logs are assembled on your site. First, the logs and wood decks should be power washed with a pressure washer to remove any dust. Log and Siding Formula absorbs well even if the logs are damp from spraying. The moisture helps the stain to penetrate into the wood.
Meadowlark stocks the four most common colors for Log and Siding Formula: Woodlands, Pinewood, Leather, and Natural Gold. The color you choose comes in a small jar that is mixed directly into the pail of clear base at the time of applying the stain. This allows us to stock just the clear base and our Customers can choose from many additional colors. If we do not stock a color, we can factory ship the the coloring pigment jars to you.
One jar of approximately a pint of color tint is mixed into a 5 gallon pail of stain. Adding one and a half jars instead of just one deepens the color slightly, provides more pigment, enhances UV protection, and extends the life between maintenance coats. NOTE: The darker your choice of stain color, the longer you can expect between coats. Darker colors have an average longer life span between coats than light colors.
Mix the color in well, and stir often during application. Use an airless paint sprayer. ALL stain must be back brushed. If it is only sprayed and not also backbrushed it may peel off. Apply 2 coats of tinted or colored stain, and topcoat it with 1 clear-coat, without color. Backbrush as needed to eliminate runs. The clear topcoat is what is then re-applied as needed. On sunny sides of the home this might be required every 5 to 7 years, and on sheltered or covered porch sides of the home, up to 20 years, depending on the severity of your weather and climate. Open deck floors and exposed railings will likely need to be recoated each 1 to 2 years. That is why we recommend covering porches with a roof when possible so the porch floors and railing have protection.
Wood Porch Deck Floors: Log and Siding Formula is also used for exterior wood deck floors, again using an airless sprayer and back brushing each coat. We recommend one heavy color coat, a lighter second color coat, then a light clear top coat.
Interior Finishing using Crystal Urethane:
After your windows and doors are installed, the interior logs should be sanded with a round sander then buffed with a power buffer to the desired smoothness. Ask Meadowlark for the 6" Nylon Buffing Wheel to fit your power sander. Thoroughly clean with a shop vac and dust with large damp cloths so the logs are very clean before applying finish.
Meadowlark's favorite interior finish is Crystal Urethane which is a plant- oil and water based finish for walls, ceilings, and wood floors. Crystal Urethane comes in Satin, Semi- Gloss and Gloss and we stock all 3 gloss choices.
Most airless sprayers will work well. Backbrush as needed to eliminate runs.
On interior walls and ceilings, apply 3 coats of Crystal Urethane and 3 coats on wood floors. Lightly sand between the second and third coat to achieve a smooth finish. Do not add color or tint to Crystal Urethane, only to Log and Siding Formula (see below). Crystal Urethane is a totally clear product and so any desired color tint must be achieved using Log and Siding as a first coat.
When properly applied according to manufacturer's instructions, Crystal Urethane is designed to last a lifetime on interiors and will never need to be re-applied.
INTERIOR COLOR TINT OPTION: If you want some color on the inside of your home rather than totally clear, on interior walls, wood floors or ceilings, first apply 1 coat of Log and Siding Formula, then apply the rest of the coats with Crystal Urethane as described above . Yes, that's correct, if so desired, the Log and Siding Formula acts as a first- coat sanding sealer so that you have the option of adding some tint to it. Do not add color tint to Crystal Urethane, only to Log and Siding Formula.
Your actual color results may vary from any color charts on this or other websites or color charts. You should test a small area before staining the entire home.
Caulking or Chinking the Logs:
Meadowlark has a tight system of sealing the flats between the logs with gaskets and screws, but we recommend that your home is also caulked at each external seam and joint with our favorite chinking product, Conceal. With its slightly grainy texture, Conceal is designed to blend into the wood rather than contrast or stand out from it, designed for sealing on the surface joints of log homes. Since Conceal is not applied during the Re-assembly of the log package, and is normally not part of that process, it can be applied later on to the exterior by the Customer or someone trained to apply it.
Harvest Wheat chinking sample:
You can choose to caulk either the exterior or interior seams and joints of your home, or both sides. We carry Conceal in Harvest Wheat color which matches our log color closely, and it comes in 5 gallon pails or 29 oz. tubes. We carry a bulk gun to apply it from the pail, and a regular large size caulking gun is used for the tubes. Apply stain and finish to the log home first, then apply Conceal. Later coats of stain can be applied over Conceal. Conceal is a permanent product and will last for decades.
