Macon, GA on Mar 28, 2011

Don't ever use chlorine bleach to clean wood.

It is highly alkaline and will raise the pH of the wood to a point where you cannot rinse it out. The higher pH will cause any stain or paint to fail prematurely, leaving you with a huge mess. There are cleaners available that will clean with an oxygenated bleach (instead of chlorinated) and will not ruin the wood. Wood ReNew from Perma-Chink is the best I've ever used. If someone has used bleach on your wood, you can reduce the pH and make the wood suitable for staining or painting again by applying oxalic acid to the wood.

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Log / TimberFrame Hybrid home in NC.

14 Comments

James A Roswell, GA

Perfect little cabin, view good size nice lookiing.

on Mar 30, 2011 · Like 0
Classic Design Associates Woodstock, GA

That's a beautiful timberframe! What do you recommend to clean mildew from new wood before staining or sealing?

on Mar 30, 2011 · Like 0
Classic Design Associates Woodstock, GA

Got it. Wood ReNew. Sorry I hadn't opened the whole thread to see that part.

on Mar 30, 2011 · Like 0
Yamini M Duluth, GA

Love the rustic look of the cabin, What wood was used in the construction?

on Mar 30, 2011 · Like 0
John Macon, GA

Boxed-heart of Eastern White Pine was used to build both the log home and the timberframe wing. The logs and the timbers are hand-hewn and have a waterborne acrylic stain (Perma Chink's Lifeline) in the Stone Gray color with a waterborne acrylic clear top coat to protect the stain.

on Mar 30, 2011 · Like 0
Chris W Dallas, GA

This is very true,do not use chlorine bleach.I would suggest Behr products for cleaning wood,then use Behr Premium weatherproofing wood stain.I have used Behr products on all the decks that I have built and painted,especially using the solid colors,too.

on Jul 12, 2011 · Like 0
John Macon, GA

After seeing exterior wood maintenance products evolve over the past 35 years, I'm not very comfortable with Behr. Here's why: They are, first and foremost, a paint company. Their website does not even have visible links to stains and materials that are primarily for exterior wood care. Their cleaners are not formulated specifically for wood, they are clearly a "one size fits all" for masonry, vinyl siding, aluminum siding, and, oh yeah, wood. I do not want to use a ...»
masonry/aluminum/vinyl cleaner on wood. If you go to the Behr site and click on a link to the MSDS safety sheets for their cleaners, it will not take you there so that you can actually see what's in the product.
Thanks, but I'll stick to materials that are designed with all of the characteristics necessary for cleaning and protecting wood construction. A firm that manufactures and promotes (by their own website) mostly for everything except exterior wood and is interested in selling huge quantities to a store that caters to do-it-yourselfers tells me one thing. They are primarily concerned with promotion, volume, and frequency of use and application. The only advantage that I can see is that you can go to any store and pick the material up. The real question is: Who benefits from that?
on Jul 13, 2011 · Like 1
KMS Woodworks Nederland, CO

I agree with John that the Behr line of deck stain etc. are not the best available. Their biggest seller is a water based product...in my experience exterior stains, sealer, oil should be solvent based...I have been using the line of products from Penofin for over 15 years and have been very happy with the results.
I used their cleaner on my deck a few years back, then oiled it again with the same product I ...»
have been using all along. It looked brand new.
John, that is a sweet timber frame porch!!!
on Jul 14, 2011 · Like 1
John Macon, GA

Actually, that's an authentic, hand-hewn Appalachian style log porch. While there are a few oil-based exterior stains that are formulated with quality components, the vast majority use very poor ingredients (linseed oil, cottonseed oil, coconut oil, etc) that encourage mold & mildew. They actually provide a food source for the growth of the bad stuff. Oil-based and solvent-based technology reached it's limit many years ago,......... and that's why 99% of what I use is the advanced ...»
technology of waterborne acrylics. Using these, you can adjust the UV inhibitor level and the fungicide level to allow for local conditions and geographic location. You cannot do this with oil or solvent. Also, oils & solvents quickly dry out, leaving only the pigment on the surface. This fools the client into thinking they still have protection, when, in fact, there is absolutely nothing on the wood to prevent water absorption.
Like I said earlier: There are a few good quality oil-based & solvent-based products available. You just won't find them at a big-box store because, at their price level, homeowners shopping in those stores would never purchase them and it takes a professional to correctly prep the wood and apply them. The expense of maintenance is always in the labor, never in the materials. So, if you use the right materials, you can easily cut the ongoing expense by 75% as compared to the cost of cleaning the surface and reapplying the mass-manufactured stuff every 2 or 3 years.
Now, here's a timberframe porch I built at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Georgia.
on Jul 14, 2011 · Like 1
Paul M Fairburn, GA

If you did make a mistake with bleach you can always rectify your problem by neutralizing a base with a mild acid, like vinegar. Once the base is neutralized you can pressure wash the item, as long as it is in good shape, and then repaint or re-stain it. If you are concerned about adhesion or other exposure issues use a good primer sealer, like Kilz oil based primer, give it time to set for better than 24 hours, and then you can paint it with anything you like and there should not be any problems.

on Jul 14, 2011 · Like 0
Trisha D Glen Ellyn, IL

John, do you have any more information about this house? Id love to see inside. After seeing it, I went on a rampage to find building plans, the closest I found was from http://naturalelementhomes.com

on Apr 22, 2012 · Like 0
John Macon, GA

Sure, go to my website: www.hearthstonegeorgia.com and fill out the information request form. Look for "How to Proceed" and that will take you to the page. Please note that you want information on the "log/timberframe hybrid as shown on the Hometalk page" because I have hundreds of projects and need the description to be able to look for it when the request comes in.

on Apr 22, 2012 · Like 0
Kim Montcalm, WV

john, I am very interested in the design of this house. Do you know who the manufacturer is? Or where I could find house plans?

on Jul 19, 2012 · Like 0
John Macon, GA

The manufacturer (Hearthstone) is the nation's oldest and largest handcrafter of authentic log homes (and we've also built timberframe homes for the past 30 years). This home is a "hybrid", meaning one area is a log structure and the other area is a timberframe structure which have been "married" to create a unique home. We have plans available. To get started, visit my website and fill out the "Information Request" form at: www.hearthstonegeorgia.com ...»
to get started. (As noted in the post above) Mention "Kaiser" in the notes/comments so I'll know which home you are interested in when the e-mail gets transferred to my office. I just built a hybrid east of Grafton, WV last month........ it's a timberframe in the great room and conventional construction in the bedroom wing.
on Jul 20, 2012 · Like 0