Sand, Cob and Glass Blasting - Why Do It?
We have been blasting buildings for over 25 years.
In that time, we have successfully restored over 500 buildings using this method. Sand and cob (and more recently - glass) blasting has become an important part of the overall maintenance plan for many log buildings. If your log home or cabin needs to be blasted for any of the following reasons, we can do it!
Contact us about having an assessment of the exterior finish on your log building.
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about sand, cob and glass blasting.
Blasting becomes necessary for a number of reasons:
1. The most common reason that a log home or cabin needs to be sandblasted is to remove a faded stain that is beyond its workable life. When a stain becomes faded, grayed or blackened, it is no longer doing what it was meant to do. When stains have deteriorated to this point, they cannot be recoated because the base that the new stain needs to adhere to is unstable.
2. The buildup of finishes after years of reapplication have left the logs unable to breathe. This breathing, or ability to dry out, is important because logs start to rot when the moisture content of the wood gets to a certain level (See “Why Do Logs Rot”) It is important to remove the current buildup of finish and get the logs back to a point where a quality stain can be applied and maintained.
3. The current finish on the logs is pealing off. Whether it be layers of old paint or a failing stain, pealing finishes can be a telltale sign that something is wrong. These pealing finishes need to be removed and a new finish applied that will protect the logs from water from the outside (rain) and still allow the logs to breathe.
4. No finish was ever applied at all. For various reasons, log buildings and cabins are not stained at all for many years. This will cause the logs to gray or blacken and will eventually allow rot to take hold. In this example, the goal of the blasting process is to remove a layer of wood in order to expose new fibers that will accept a stain and protect the logs.
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 Cob blasting - notice the dry, darkened logs. |
 Cob blasting, borate treatment, and two coats of stain. |
On certain jobs, we apply the stain after we have blasted the building. Most of the time, we do the blasting and apply a borate preservative in order to get the building ready for stain. We specialize in blasting only log homes and can say with confidence that we can asses what a given log building needs to bring it back to a point where the exterior of the log home or cabin can be maintained and is protected against rot.
Contact us about having an assessment of the exterior finish on your log building.