Of Cakes and Cabins

My cabin in the woods of Conconully has hit a new phase, Perma-Chink. In days gone by a cold pioneer might have stuffed the spaces between his logs with almost anything. I remember my grandmother's house on Toroda Creek had concrete chink that would fall out in long pieces if we touched it, exposing newspaper insulation stuffed in the cracks.
   Today there are lots of products that give a much better result that will stand up well to the weather or tiny fingers of curiosity. So a few weeks ago I headed to the hills armed with two buckets of chink and a collection of tools for what my neighbor Elaine calls " Frosting the Cabin". The wonders of Youtube gave me a starter course in technique and Mom came along to give me lots of help and moral support.
We started off by taping above and below the groove to hopefully make cleanup a little easier. This Perma-chink goo is really messy. kind of like Elmers mixed with sand and flour. There is also tape in the groove itself to provide a backer so the chink floats freely in the groove for expansion and contraction.

Using my super sized calking gun I filled the groove with chinking.

Then came the smoothing with putty knife and fingers too while misting with water to keep the stuff from drying too fast. After carefully removing the tape without tearing the edges of the chink too much, I again mist and smooth with my finger while I sponge off any drips. The finished groove will be dry to a gentle touch in about 48 hours.

Mom was a wonder with tape and sizzors making tiny masking runs for the next phase... crack repair.

This shot was taken after the repair was complete.

 It was fun getting a visit from Reve and Brenna while I worked.

So I'm happy to say the bathroom and kitchen are finished. And as you can see the sink is about to be hooked up in the kitchen. The outside of the cabin remains to be done, another challenge because the logs are round and will require a lot more fussy work.

 I have to agree with Elaine that the process was very much like frosting, not as simple or as tasty as a cake but much more fulfilling.