Perma-Chink Systems offers wood preservatives designed to protect your home from insects and wood rot. Below are our Tech Tips for our preservatives, along with some general product knowledge on storing procedures.
Perma-Chink Systems namesake product, Perma-Chink, is the leading sealant for log homes. We've extended the same performance and quality of Perma-Chink in our other sealants, Energy Seal and Woodsman.
Below are our Tech Tips for all our sealants, including our Chink Paint, which provides an excellent solution to refresh old, but sealed, chinking.
Repairing Perma-Chink | Download PDF
Protecting Uncured Chinking | Download PDF
How to Apply Energy Seal And Woodsman | Download PDF
Sealing with Log Gap Caps and Energy Seal | Download PDF
Sealing Log Siding | Download PDF
The Color of Check Mate 2 | Download PDF
How to Seal Checks In Logs & Siding | Download PDF
Chink Paint Versus Chinking | Download PDF
Chink Paint (Textured & Smooth) | Download PDF
Calculating Linear Feet | Download PDF
Calculating Square Footage | Download PDF
Application Temperatures | Download PDF
Hot Weather Applications | Download PDF
Why Use Backing Materials | Download PDF
Drying and Curing Times | Download PDF
Removing Old Caulk | Download PDF
About Bulk Loading Guns | Download PDF
The Thermal Efficiency of Chink Joints | Download PDF
Perma-Chink Systems have the best stains for log and timber homes. While we tend to call our stains "finishes," most consumers are used to the phrasing of "wood stain." Why the difference? The quick answer is that stains permeate the wood, while finishes form a film over the surface, protecting the wood. If you want to know more about the difference, our tips below can answer your questions.
The Tech Tips are grouped below by how our system works. Like most things in life, success is determined by a strong foundation. So the first section contains information on getting your log or timber home ready for the finish of your choosing. Following the surface prep section, we've consolidated information about our finishes for both exterior and interior. The final section is dedicated to known issues with log and timber homes that all homeowners have to deal with, regardless of which finish they choose.
TECH TIP |
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TECH TIP |
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How to Apply Lifeline Interior | ![]() |
Applying Sure Shine | ![]() |
Interior Color Coats & Topcoats | ![]() |
Finishing Floors | ![]() |
TECH TIP |
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TECH TIP |
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What is Mill Glaze? | ![]() |
About Water Stains | ![]() |
About pH | ![]() |
About Moisture Content | ![]() |
About Moisture Meters | ![]() |
About Mold & Mildew | ![]() |
About Resin Bleed | ![]() |
Preventing Mold Growth | ![]() |
Perma-Chink Systems has a full line of wood cleaners designed to clean, restore, and prepare your home for maintenance. We cover the basic cleaning, as well as how to handle known wood issues like resin bleed.
In today's economy energy efficiency is a subject that most people are aware of including log home owners and those people contemplating the purchase of a log home. With this in mind we occasionally get asked about the R-value of our chinking and/or backing materials since many people assume that they provide some insulation value to the exterior walls. In point of fact, neither the Perma-Chink nor the backing material contributes any significant insulation value to a wall. What they do is eliminate outside air infiltration into the home. This has a much greater impact on the overall energy efficiency of a home than adding a minor amount of insulation to a wall.
Although there is some controversy regarding its cause, the most commonly held theory about the formation of mill glaze is that it is created on logs, siding and trim by heat and mechanical compression generated during a high speed milling process. The combination of compressed wood fibers and high temperatures that melt the sugars, cellulose, and other water-soluble extractives present in the wood end up forming a surface glaze.
Over the past several years we have discovered many things about cleaning wood and existing finishes.First and foremost is that chlorine bleach is not a good product to use. In addition to its potential for damaging the finish and bare wood fibers, its use and misuse contributes to a number of problems including the loss of film adhesion, discolorations due to tannin extraction, and the formation of iron tannates, streaks, blotches and premature failures of the finish system. We have also discovered that a number of wood and deck cleaners available at paint and hardware stores, home improvement centers and Do-It-Yourself outlets contain components that interfere with the proper performance of our finish systems.
With this in mind we have decided that the ONLY cleaning products approved for use with our finishes are those products supplied or recommended by Perma-Chink Systems, Inc. We are not doing this to increase our sales of cleaning products. It is simply because we have tested our cleaning products with our finish systems and have confidence that when properly used and applied, their use will result in the best possible appearance and performance of the final Lifeline™ finish. We cannot say the same about the use of other types and brands of wood cleaners and strongly discourage their use with any of our Lifeline stains.
Lifeline™ finishes bring your log homes appearance to life. All Lifeline products are waterborne, breathable, flexible, durable wood finishes which also highlight the natural beauty of your log home. There are Lifeline products available for both interior and exterior walls.
What are the benefits of applying an exterior finish?
There is no secret in retaining the beauty of your log home. A little care and maintenance along with the use of quality products designed specifically for log homes will not only keep your home looking great, but will also preserve the integrity of the logs and help prevent costly repairs. You can do no better than selecting any of Perma-Chink Systems Family of Log Home Products.
Since 1981, Perma-Chink Systems' log home sealants have proven themselves on thousands of chinked and chinkless style log homes to become the most widely applied log home sealants in the world and simply the best by every measure: