A customer sent me in a whole series of photo's detailing the work that he carried out in the restoration of his log home.  The photo on the top left shows the obvious signs of wood deterioration. Large cracks developed, then complete pieces fell off.  As with most wood decay in logs the outside appears somewhat solid however the inside is where all the decay has taken place.  By the time this type of rot has made its way to the outside were it becomes real obvious, extensive damage to the structure of the log has taken place.

The First step is to determine how much damage is done and what can be salvaged.  These photo's illustrate  how the outer "skin" of the log can be salvaged.  Either using a skill saw or chain saw , the rotten area is cut away.  In this case some of the wood was salvaged and the owner chose to replace any wood that had signs of rot.  The outer "skin" was heavily saturated with CPES and then later, it will be bonded using our Layup and Laminating Resin mixed with fine sawdust.

These four photo's show techniques used to clean the area of rotten wood.  It is not necessary to use mechanical means to remove the deteriorated wood however in this case I assume it was done to make the  installation of the replacment wood easier.  The photo on your immediate right illustrates how much wood was removed.  Even though some of the outer wood can be salvaged some NEW wood will have to be employed to give the log its shape back

The NEW wood has been shaped and installed.  Once you are at this stage the final cosmetic shaping can be done.  It is best to take you time with this aspect of the restoration as the more percise your replacment wood, the less product you will require.  As you can see a job well done.

If you go back to the begining of the repair, the importance of your evaluation really plays an important roll here.  Those strips that you saved and saturated with CPES are now secured back in place which makes for a fantastic looking repair.  Layup & Lamination epoxy is mixed with sawdust till a thick paste is formed, this is then smeared into all the cracks and crevises. 

The final step involves placing clear plastic over the whole repair then using tools, or your hand, contour the repaired area to blend into the other areas of the log.  When you are satisified with this let the epoxy cure [do NOT remove the plastic till everything is cured]  When curing is complete peel the plastic off and admire your work.