Log/Cedar sided house?

I am currently in the process of looking at moving and have found a really great location in SE MN with a hand hewn 1890 log house that was reconstructed on the location about 20 years ago. They then added 2 wings off of each side with cedar boards on the outside. My question or concern is the that house was never treated on the outside with anything. When I asked I was told that you do not want to do anything to the outside as far as staining or sealing goes. Is this true? Or what do you have to do to make sure it will last and not rot away? Everything seems solid and not currently rotting or anything and I want to keep the natural look.

I have attached a photo of the house. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hunt4dx

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Lots of good info online. Perm-Chink in Little Falls is a good source of both info and products.
Various Log home publications have pretty in depth guides for inspecting the logs, bugs can be your worst enemy.
We did a few years of research when we built up north but the two log home builders we would have felt comfortable hiring were just too expensive for us and we ended up with flat, hand hewn log siding that was stained and sealed in a controlled environment.
I guess I’d pick the brains of some pros.
Cool looking place!

I don’t know a whole lot about the care and maintenance of hand-hewn logs, but this would be the only time I’ve ever heard that you should not treat, at least in some way or another, a natural wood product that is exposed, especially in our environment. It may be hard to tell this time of year, with any moisture that may be present being frozen. I would make the seller pay for a home inspection to ensure you are not getting into a big mess down the road. The connection points where the additions were added would be a concern and also, the exterior as a whole, if it has never been treated before.

Good luck, it does appear to be a sweet looking place and a nice location as well.

If you want to keep the grey weathered look you don’t want to stain or varnish the wood. If built properly so that the cedar is not exposed to constant moisture it will resist rot for many many years. I think periodic treatment for bugs and pests is about all you need.

i am not trying to scare you here, but last month, i went to my first log home fire. it looked very similer to the one in the photo. original log home with 2 rooms added on. it appeared to me that the fire started in the crawl space and extended into the logs and the interior of the home. the fire traveled in the air space between the logs. there was no way to get water/foam in there to extinguish the fire. we cut 3 door size openings in the logs in different areas of the home to try to get at it. what i found was, some of the logs were rotting out and in a few more years would cause structure integrety problems. the other problem had to do with not being able to get water/foam on the smoldering logs, by morning there was only one wall standing, the home was a total loss. i am a 20+ year fireman with hundreds of house fires under my belt, from small little one room fires to full on 4 alarm, burn the whole block down. this log home had me take a step back and look the different stratigy of attacking a true log home fire. what i am getting at is, check the logs over good and make sure that they are still in good shape. and check with your insurance agent and see if there are any cost increases due to the facts that i just described.

No treatment, what about insects,carpenter bees,post beetles
I would think long and hard about purchasing a log cabin

I have previously had 2 log houses so I am not new to the log factor. Just never had anything that wasn’t stained or treated. I never had any issues with insects in the houses. You just need to make sure that you treat it every couple of years with borate.
I guess I was more curious on having it not treated for weather conditions. I have been finding out from experts is that non treated cedar will outlast you lifetime. The only reason people treat the wood is because they do not like the grey color that it turns. I personally like it.

So I guess we will see.
Thanks for the comments.
Hunt4dx

I have owned a cedar sided house and I always treated it with a coat of stain periodically. I often see cedar siding on homes that get one treatment and then the owners do not maintain, and mold forms. You can see the mold when the wood is wet.

I now own a log sided house and when I bought it I knew the owner did not treat the wood correctly. He put one coat of stain, no UV clear coat and quit. I had to remove the old finish and start over. I chose to sandblast all the mold and old finish off the wood. It was a lot of work, and it still is. Log/siding is a labor of love.

For an old building like that you can certainly refinish it, and there are options to consider. You will need to talk to a pro of some kind for options on that old building.

Schroeder Log Home Supply in Grand Rapids, MN was (and still is) a great help for advise, instructions and all the products I needed. loghelp.com

I have a friend that re-built a late 1800’s cabin many years ago similar to that one and it has never been treated with anything. It’s a hunting shack..

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My cousin has what’s called a short log home. The small logs are laid in the opposite direction from a regular log home. The ends are the only exposed part and they have a cement mixture layered in between the logs. The logs are 2ft long which gives a nice thick wall.

The only thing that they did was soak the short logs in hot borax treated water before constructing the walls, to keep out bugs. It has been up for 10 years with no issues.