Armstrong Log Home Restoration: 35 Years On, Back to Bare Wood

This Armstrong, BC log home hadn’t been stained in 35 years — and when the owner decided it was finally time to change that, she didn’t leave the choice to chance. She called around the log home world asking who would do the job right, and the companies she spoke to pointed her to Frontier. Three and a half decades of weather meant there was real work ahead. Here’s how the project came together.

The Project: A Referral-Won Log Home in Armstrong, BC

This home sits in Armstrong, in the North Okanagan. What stood out wasn’t just the work — it was how the job came to us. The owner asked around the log home world for the company that would treat her home right, and the people she spoke to sent her our way. A referral from inside the trade is about the best endorsement there is, and it’s why every one of these jobs gets treated like our reputation is riding on it. Because it is.

The Problem: 35 Years Without a Fresh Finish

The story here was simple: the home had gone 35 years without being stained. That’s a long time to ask any finish to hold — by that point, there isn’t really a finish left to touch up. Exposed logs slowly surrender their colour and their protection to the sun and weather, which is exactly why a log home eventually has to be taken all the way back and started fresh rather than just re-coated. That was the plan here: strip the logs back to bare wood and rebuild the finish from the ground up.

Protecting the Property First

Before any blasting began, the crew took the time to protect everything that needed to stay clean. That meant masking the home itself and — because this is where people live — carefully shielding the homeowner’s garden, blackberry and raspberry bushes included. Media blasting is a big, dusty job, and part of doing it right is making sure the yard, the plants, and everything around the work area come through untouched.

Media Blasting Back to Bare Wood

With everything protected, the crew set to work stripping the logs back to bare wood. Frontier does that with media blasting rather than chemical strippers or sanding the whole home down.

Our media blasting uses crushed-glass media — recycled glass that’s 100% silica-free. It cuts through 35 years of old, weathered finish without the toxic runoff of chemical stripping, and the spent media simply dissipates back into the soil. Every log on the home came back to clean, raw wood, ready to take a fresh finish.

A Borate Treatment, Then Four Coats of Sansin SDF in Autumn Gold

Bare wood doesn’t stay bare for long on our jobs. With the logs stripped clean, the crew sprayed them with a borate insecticide and fungicide treatment — a standard step in our process that stops insects from boring into the wood and guards against fungal growth before any finish goes on.

From there, it was time to rebuild. The crew applied four coats of Sansin SDF in the Autumn Gold colour. Sansin SDF is an eco-friendly, UV-resistant finish that penetrates into the wood rather than forming a film on top — so it stands up to the very sun exposure that wears these homes down, and it lets the logs breathe instead of trapping moisture and peeling. Four coats build that protection up with real depth. And the Autumn Gold is where it all pays off: it brings the logs back to a warm, rich amber and gives the whole home its character back.

Why This Approach Lasts

The logic is the same on every log home we restore, whether it’s been 5 years or 35: strip it back to bare wood, prep it properly, protect it, and rebuild the finish with materials made for logs. A penetrating, UV-resistant finish like Sansin stands up to the sun and weather that wore the wood down in the first place — and that’s what keeps a home looking its best for years, not months. It’s slower and more thorough than a quick re-coat, but on a home that waited 35 years for this, doing it right was the only way.

Have a Log Home That’s Overdue for a Refresh?

Whether your log home is in the Okanagan, elsewhere in British Columbia, or across the country, Frontier travels to you. We’ve spent 25+ years bringing log homes back from bare wood up — media blasting, preservative treatment, and staining, all in-house.

If your logs have been waiting years for attention, get a free quote — and we’ll walk you through exactly what your home needs.