Sanding Your Log House

The job starts with looking at the insides of the log walls. There will most likely be some rough spots and minor damage to the wood resulting from earlier construction and temporary reinforcement. The wood surfaces will therefore need some sanding or rather prepping. Sanding a log house is a critical task. Care should be taken about the type of sander that one wishes to sand log houses. It is better to avoid using a belt sander as this tool is too powerful and can remove too much of the wood surface. A lightweight palm sander with 120-grit sandpaper is a much better tool to carefully remove rough spots, scratches, scuffs and marks from the wood surface. Use caution not to over sand a particular spot, as this may leave a lighter area of wood.

While sanding a log house, holes left behind by the nails should also be given due attention. Nail wood fill holes, left behind when the temporary wall braces were removed, can be filled with adhesive saw dust. Mould the filler slightly above the surface to allow for some shrinkage as it dries. Once it has hardened, the wood filler can be sanded smooth using a palm sander. Remove stray traces of joint compound with a scraper or putty knife. Carefully scrape off the heaviest concentration with the blade, and then sand away the remaining compound. Wipe away any residue using a damp sponge.

Once the job of filling holes and scraping stray traces is done, the other necessary step in sanding log houses is removing water stains. This is important, as wooden surface is highly susceptible to moisture.

In order to give finishing touches to the process of sanding log houses, one should apply oil-based finishes to the interiors of the log walls. Tung oil should be used for the living room and bedroom as it provides a hand rubbed appearance that looks best for log walls. Polyurethane varnish could be used where wood surfaces are most likely to come in contact with water, like the bathroom and laundry room. It serves to protect the wood and brings out the natural colors and grain. Before applying finish remove any dust, debris or insulation that may have settled on the wood surfaces or in the wood cracks. A soft-bristle vacuum-cleaner attachment works ideally for this. Moreover the finishes too make the logs much easier to clean. Dust and fingerprints can be wiped right off the finished surfaces.