I’ve seen this many times before.
Here we have a gorgeous antique cabin.
Don’t we all just love that massive stone chimney?
Aren’t we all impressed with the visual impact that such a prominent feature adds to this home?
Once again, being bold has paid off.
The simple beauty of this cabin draws us in to look closer and it is upon that close inspection that we notice the messy chinking that has been applied between the logs of this vintage structure.
But for some unknown reason, this awful mess is only on one side of the door and on the logs above it. The rest of the cabin looks beautiful. The chinking has been applied correctly to the right side of the front door and around the end of the cabin, all the way to the chimney.
It’s heartbreaking to see that such poor care was given to a major part of this historic cabin. At first it’s somewhat confusing as to why half the cabin would look so bad, and yet the other half appear to have been lovingly cared for.
If I had to guess, based upon years of experience, I would say that this cabin’s owners hired someone to chink the cabin and that after a day of him working on the home he was “removed”, and then later someone who knew what they were doing… someone with skill… someone who worked with care… was brought in to finish up the rest of work.
Were there any lessons learned here by the owners? Probably… you know, the ones we all know so well, but sometimes fail to remember or to practice…
“Never hire the lowest bidder.”
“Hire the best, leave the rest.”
“You get what you pay for.”
“Good work is rarely appreciated, but bad work is always seen.”
“It’s cheaper to do it right the first time, than it is to do it twice.”
Originally posted 2015-12-14 13:48:40.
Wow.
Thats terrible.
If a person isn’t patient, and careful, they got no business chinking.
Its one of those things that a person thinks is easy, but it is not so easy when you get doing it.
We were not experienced chinkers, so we could only do so much in a given day.
I knew I had to shut down after a couple hours. I would load it in, and my wife is so particular, she would smooth it out with a slightly wet brush., to get it just the way she liked it.
We also taped off our logs (because I can be messy).
Chuck, thanks for the great feedback… all so true. Chinking is royal pain, and one of my least favorite things to do. The first person that showed me how to chink was a young gal who was meticulous. I was painfully slow and struggled getting it right for the first couple of cabins that I chinked… and then one day, it just clicked and I “got it”. When it comes time to chink I always go to the site and show the new members of the crew how to properly do it. I have them time me and challenge them to do it as fast and as a good as this old man. I’ve done it so many times that it looks effortless to those watching… and slow. But it generally takes the new guys four times as long to do the same amount of finished work. lol The biggest secret to not making a mess is in getting the cement at just the right consistency… whip cream, not gravy.