By Mark McCulloch
The Science of Log Home Protection and Beautification
When it comes to protecting and beautifying your log home, choosing the right finish is crucial! It’s about understanding the science of wood protection and selecting a finish that withstands the elements while preserving the natural beauty of your logs. To understand why LOG*1 COAT is a superior choice, let’s first examine the limitations of traditional log stains.
The Problem with Organic Drying Oils
Traditional log stains often utilize straight-up and/or alkyd resins derived from organic saturated drying oils like linseed oil and tung oil in different blends. Popular brands like Sashco’s Transformation Log Stain Sealer, PPG Sikkens Cetol SRD, WeatherSeal by Continental, Cabot Gold and Austrian Timber Oil, Benjamin Moore Woodluxe, and Penofin all rely on these types of oils. While they offer some protection, they come with drawbacks:
- Multiple Coats & Messy Application: Organic oils usually require two coats to achieve adequate coverage and tend to drip and run, often leaving a blotchy, slow-drying, tacky finish.
- Fuel for Mold: Organic oils are notorious for fueling mold and fungus growth.
- “Wet to Wet” Application Required: Organic oils often require a “wet on wet” application to prevent lap marks.
- Yellowing & UV Damage: Many organic oils tend to yellow with age, altering the wood’s natural color. They form from oxidation to hardened films that are also vulnerable to degradation from UV exposure, which can lead to cracking, peeling, flaking, and/or patchy leftovers over time. To restore the finish, they typically need to be chemically stripped, sanded, and/or media blasted for reapplication.
- Higher Solvent Content = Higher VOCs: Organic oil-based stains often require higher percentages of solvents (some of which are hazardous to your health, such as benzene derivatives) to achieve adequate penetration into the wood. They can also emit strong odors, harm the environment, and impact indoor air quality.
The LOG*1 COAT Advantage: Long-oil Alkyd Resins blended with Non-Drying Oils afford our stain sealer a higher solids-to-lower solvent content.
LOG*1 COAT provides enhanced wood protection through its unique formulation. Our product utilizes alkyd resins derived from semi-drying oils, which are combined with non-drying oils, resulting in a low-solvent, high-solids content that provides outstanding UV protection, superior penetration, and enhanced weather resistance. This penetrating oil formula creates a durable log stain sealer that replenishes, fills, and strengthens wood fibers and lignin in a single application. Instead of forming a surface film that can crack and peel, requiring difficult removal, LOG1 COAT promotes internal dimensional stability.
Enhanced Durability With Just One Coat: Our formulation provides superior resistance to UV damage, weathering, and other environmental factors, ensuring a longer-lasting finish with just one application, surpassing that of our competitors. You can expect it to last up to 5-6 years in direct sunlight and 7-8 years in shade.
- Even Finish and Timely Drying: Our blend dries at the perfect pace, allowing plenty of time to apply and distribute a uniform, even finish without the worry of applying it “wet on wet.” It typically dries within a day without the risk of being tacky, collecting dust, or debris affecting the finish.
- No Yellowing: Our formulation will stay true to its original color with no yellowing, preserving the wood’s natural beauty for years to come.
- Lower VOCs: No need for high-content VOC-creating solvents. LOG*1 COAT boasts extremely low amounts of solvents, enabling a lower VOC (<100), making it a more environmentally friendly choice while meeting all US VOC regulations.
The Unique LOG*1 COAT Blend: Long-oil Alkyd Resins, Non-Drying Oils, Nano-Colorants, and Mold Fungicides
LOG*1 COAT’s unique, proprietary wood oil blend goes beyond simple alkyd resins. It combines proprietary semi-drying oil-derived alkyd resins, which contribute to extended durability, with fine-tuned viscosity non-drying oils for deep penetration, thereby reducing the need for high solvent content. We do not use organic drying oils, such as linseed and or tung oil, which feed and contribute to black mold while also creating a polymerizing, soon-to-fail topside blotchy film barrier. Instead, our unique blend penetrates, fills, and bulks up the porous wood’s fibers, repelling water from the inside-out, not the outside-in. It strengthens the wood’s structure (lignin), repelling water and preventing moisture absorptionโthe primary cause of wood damage.
By combining more substantive long-oil alkyd resins with proportionate non-drying oils, enhanced nano-colorants, and effective mold fungicides, LOG*1 COAT delivers the best Log Stain Sealer on the market today! It is both beautiful and incredibly durable! It offers superior protection against the elements, resists yellowing, and dries quickly for a smooth, flawless application without the expensive maintenance headaches!