Paints & Stains

Choose The Right Products!

We at Broomhill Garden Buildings pride ourselves on giving the best advice on looking after and maintaining your log cabin for many years of proud ownership.

We constantly talk to the country's top paint manufacturers so that we can offer the very best products that maximise your garden building investment. By using the these products, you not only save money (by using less paint over the life of the building) but the average re-painting time should normally be around 3-5 years, so saving you time as well!

Generally, the products that we recommend can be obtained from good decorators & building merchants and not from your average out-of-town DIY retailer. We recommend that the newly erected building be preserved within 1 week and finished in paint or stain within 2/3 weeks,

How Do I Protect My Building?

The process for protecting your building is a simple and straight forward one. It is a two-step procedure:

Firstly, you need to preserve the wood. We always recommend Cuprinol Trade Wood Preservative which is clear, solvent-based solution which prevents insect attack and dry/ wet rot.
Click here to download PDF data sheet.

This can be either sprayed on using a rose-sprayer or liberally applied using a brush. If you are intending on having a heat source in your building over the winter months then you need not treat the inside of the building, just the outside.

Lastly, you need to protect the wood from the damaging sun and rain. Paint or wood-stains prevent the sun’s UV light breaking down the wood’s surface whist providing a barrier against rain penetration. The type of finish required needs to cope with expansion and contraction of the building over the year so only a few types of paint are suitable. As a rule of thumb, if the tin says it’s suitable for cladding then it should be suitable, however if it says its suitable for windows & doors (and nothing else) then avoid it. Certain log cabin retailers are forcing customers to buy their own brand finishes at horrendous prices. Providing that you stick with the finishes that we recommend you will have a beautifully finished and protected cabin at a fraction of the cost.

Do I Choose Paint or Wood Stain?

The choice of finish is entirely down to you. Wood stains are very popular but lends itself to being accented with another colour on the log cabin’s’ details like facia boards etc. Paints can make the build look like a ‘proper building’. The life of either finish is generally the same although each has its advantage:

Paint

Because it provides an opaque (solid) cover, it can hide any imperfections in the look of the wood.
If you don't like the colour, it is easy to over paint it with a totally different colour.
The wide availability of colours can create a striking or subtle effect.
The colour of your cabin can usually be matched to the paint finish of your house thus creating continuity.
Paint is more sympathetic to drips and cross-grain brush strokes so if you have not a lot of patience then this finish is ideal.

From our own experience and that our of our professional painter, we recommend the following makes;

Dulux Weathershield Aquatech (for wood): The range comes in a huge range of colours, can easily be mixed at most trade merchants, very quick to dry & recoat and is water-based. Our painter prefers this paint.

Sikkens BL Opaque: this paint covers well, comes from a respected brand and is available in a wide range of colours. Again, this is water-based for easy cleaning.

Sadolin Superdec: a popular choice by our customers, the paint covers very well, a fair range of colours and is also water-based (Sadolin is part of the same group as Sikkens).

Wood Stains

Wood stains allow the natural grain of the wood to show through.
It is the traditional choice in finishing wooden buildings.
The finish requires patience as each brush stroke can potentially be seen when dried, and drips will definately be seen!
Whilst wood stains are generally thought of as light oak, mahogany etc, manufactures are now offering tinted colours which can be very effective.

We can thoroughly recommend the following wood-stains:

Sikkens Novotech: this medium build wood-stain goes on beautifully and ensures that the required thickness is maintained throughout the application. The finish leave an attractive sheen on the wood whilst allowing for the grain to show through. This is available in the traditional wood-stains and also in Sikkens’ ‘Natural Balance’ tinted colour collection. Novatech is solvent-based.

Sikkens BL21+: this water-based finish is great to apply and leaves a matt appearance. This is water-based.

Dulux Weathershield Aquatech Wood Stain: an excellent stain that goes on really well and offers excellent protection. This is water-based.

Click here to download PDF data sheet.

Best Painting Practices

When you apply your preservative and final finish, it is essential that you cover all parts of the building. This includes tops of windows and doors, sealing the joint between glass and it's frame and in the corners of the overlapped log walls. Sometimes, rain can cause staining inside the cabin through cracks in knots and in the corners. If this is the case then simply use an all-weather clear sealant in these areas (on the outside). This is particularly applicable to exposed sites where driving wind can push the rain along the tongue and groves of the exposed ends of the wall logs. Remember that any wood on windows and doors that is exposed to the rain will expand, and can cause them to not open or close properly.

Most manufacturers will offer a free sample service so that you can visually check that the finish is indeed the colour you want. Please let us know at Enjoy Your Garden and we will be more than pleased to supply you swatches and even the actual preservative, paint and wood-stains.