Our Log Home Exterior Renovations

When we bought our new (old) log home about a year and a half ago, we knew it needed a massive amount of work. But we also knew it could be amazing. Here is what the house looked like when we bought it.
Because it had been empty for over two years, the most important thing was to secure the structure. The roof was the original from 1989 and was leaking. But before we got a beautiful new roof, we wanted to waterproof and add stone to the main chimney. That was a good call because many stones and chunks of mortar came sliding down the old roof during this during the process. See the top of that chimney? It's about 36 feet off the ground. I literally could not even watch the stone mason up there. Every single bump and sliding noise sent me running to the window to make sure he hadn't fallen off.


Amazingly we found a gigantic pile of the stones left over from the original construction under leaves at the edge of the woods. And that pile just kept on growing as we dug in. It turned out to be enough to finish the main chimney with plenty left over. This was one job I was so glad we did not attempt to DIY because there is no way either of us could have climbed up there and lived.
At this point we made one of the biggest changes to the house, the one that I have always been the most nervous about. We painted the shakes and trim. Before, the entire house looked to us like one big blob of grey-brown wood. The details kind of got lost. But many of the shakes and facia boards were rotten and had to be replaced and had to be repainted or re-stained anyway. We felt like it needed some color to break it all up,but it's quite non-traditional for this style of house. After pouring over hundreds of log home photos, I found very few with color on them. But we liked the idea of a color, so we did it.


After all of the painting and chimney stonework was done, it was roof time! I have always loved that romanticized scene of a log cabin with a metal roof. It just seemed perfect. But we thought it was way out of our price range. After having a parade of roofing companies giving estimates, we found one who really seemed like he knew what he was doing, came highly recommended, and was very reasonably priced. So in the end, I got my dream roof. And I have to say, the sound of rain on this roof is every bit as lovely as I imagined it would be.
After the roof was done, we had the old wooden gutters replaced because they could best be described as....ineffective.
During this whole time, the stonework scope of work began to expand. The exterior stonework had never been completed and much of the foundation was also still cinder block like the chimneys. That big pile of stone we found at the edge of the woods turned out to be enough to finish the stonework on the foundation. What a difference it made!
So now we have a structurally solid house and it's looking a lot better. Stay tuned because we are still working!
For more photos and the complete story please visit my blog linked below.
Dara The Roots of Home
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Carolyn Carolyn on Feb 20, 2017
    I've always wanted a metal roof. Does it cost about the same as a regular roof? Really pretty! Please show us the inside!
  • Davie Adam Davie Adam on Feb 20, 2017
    all I can say is, what a beautiful home,
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