Power Washing
Log Home Rescue offers both media blasting and pressure washing because in some instances pressure washing may be more affordable than media blasting, and the better route to take. The unparalleled experience and expertise of our crew is the deciding factor on what the finish results will look like. Other companies could leave you with pressure washer marks all over your logs from using a high psi and incorrect technique. We guarantee you will have a like new appearance. Our knowledgeable staff will help you decide if is pressure washing is a better option for your particular home. In cases where well water might be a deciding factor, we are able to offer water tanks to put less stress on your well and give you piece of mind.
The proper prep work needs to go into stripping a log home, including removing all lights, covering all doors and windows and applying plastic on the inside furniture. Water will come into your home during our cleaning process, but our staff will be prepared for it! Log Home Rescue works with a crew member inside your home to shadow the person pressure washing on the exterior. Any water that penetrates through the logs, our crew is there to clean up. In our many years of restoring log homes, we see 9 out of 10 jobs have some sort of leaks of water or dust that enters through the logs during our process. This is why we also recommend caulking your log home. When you see water coming in, you know you have heat and air conditioning going out, so caulking can be a huge energy savings.
You should never try to remove a log finish with water alone. Although it might appear that you are removing a finish or the graying in the logs, you are certainly not removing mold and mildew with water alone. If you want to properly remove all finishes, taking the logs down to bare wood free of any mold and mildew, then you need to select the proper wood strippers and brighteners. The strippers and brighteners in our industry can be referred as chemicals, which can sound harsh and toxic. The strippers and brighteners we use at Log Home Rescue are wood safe and will not affect the environment. We also have an advantage over our competitors. We have developed our own line of wood strippers, cleaners, and brighteners that work far better than any other material that you can buy on the market. We have been using these proven products since 1999.
If you are going to pressure wash your log home using strippers and cleaners you need to understand the pH scale (0-14). Your neutral point is 6.5 to 7.5 and before you apply any stain to your log home you want to make sure your pH is at this neutral level. When you apply a wood stripper or alkaline to your log home you are raising the pH of the wood which can raise the pH level to between 7-14. Applying an acidic or wood brightener will cause the pH to be between 0-7. Therefore, if you are going to apply an alkaline to the wood, you must apply an acidic to neutralize it. After brightening and neutralizing, the logs should be rinsed with water and the pH should be back to a neutral point before staining.