To backer rod or not to backer rod?

For its use on your Log Home a professional judgment call is required. At the risk of sending up our own flag, Pacific Log Homes has been 100% successful in making that call.

Before backer rod is used, here are some of the condsiderations.

A. What is the compression stabization of the logs used in the construction of your home?

B. What is the current condition of your home's logs?

C. What kind of craftmanship was used by the Log Home kit builder?

D. How were the logs stored and transported after cutting and milling - were they kiln dried - naturally dried - laying in a kit builders yard for years - dead on the stump before harvesting - shipped to job site staked?

E. Do we have a mixture of logs from different areas and do we have a mixture of different spring growth rings showing in the logs?

F. What has the weather been like since your Log Home was built and how long ago was it built?

G. How quickly was the roof installed and the logs stained?

Our list can go completely through the alphabet but, consider this......

Before they became logs, they were trees and were alive. They are a product of their own enviornment and adapted themselves to that enviornment. They require special consideration once you bring them to your enviornment or they will get even with you for having cut them down in the first place

.... Period ....

What is Backer Rod?

It is used in cracks, water barriers, weather stripping, filler for door frame and window openings. It reduces air infiltration and between logs and surface unions for chinking.

The bottom line: When backer rod is NOT used, chinking will fail as the logs expand and contract. When chinking fails, you are wide open to a long list of problems.