Log Home Restoration in Fort Myers, FL

Log Homes in Fort Myers and Lee County

Fort Myers started out as a timber fort. U.S. troops set up camp on the Caloosahatchee on February 20, 1850, and General Twiggs named the post for Abraham C. Myers. The fort grew to 57 buildings, "all built with heavy yellow pine timbers" — hewn pine with cedar shingles shipped in from Pensacola and Apalachicola. After the Army left in 1865, people from Tampa and Cedar Key took much of it apart for lumber, but enough was still standing that in February 1866 Manuel A. Gonzalez and his party made their home in what was left.

The early economy ran on cattle. Ranchers drove steers to Punta Rassa, where Jake Summerlin built a causeway in 1868, and schooners carried them to Key West and Cuba. Even Thomas Edison's 1886 winter home was built from pre-milled materials shipped from Maine and put together on site. Wood has been part of how Lee County builds from the start, and log and timber homes are still found on rural acreage in east Lee County and around Southwest Florida's lakes and rivers.

What Fort Myers' Climate Does to a Log Home

• Heavy annual rain. Fort Myers (Page Field) averages about 57 inches of rain a year.
• Rain in one season. About 78% of it falls May through October. June through September each average 9 inches or more, and August is wettest at about 10½ inches.
• Long, hot summers. About 120 days a year reach 90°F or higher.
• Almost no freezes. About one freezing night every ten years. Logs here see heat and moisture, not freeze-thaw.
• Major hurricanes. Charley (2004) and Ian (2022) both made landfall on Cayo Costa in Lee County with 150 mph winds. Ian pushed 10–15 feet of storm surge onto Fort Myers Beach.
• Termites. UF/IFAS reports the Formosan subterranean termite is established in most of Florida's coastal counties, and the invasive Asian subterranean termite has been found in boats in Fort Myers.

What That Means for Your Log Home

In a climate this wet and hot, regular upkeep matters more than any single big repair. Wash the logs once a year with soft brushes and a low-pressure rinse, never a pressure washer, and put on a UV protective coat about every third year, as appropriate. Keep the bottom courses dry and off the soil: slope grade and mulch away from the walls, and clear gutters and splash zones before the summer rains. After every tropical storm or hurricane, walk around the house and look for wet or damaged logs, open chinking and debris against the walls. If you find termite damage, have a licensed pest control company treat any active infestation first; then we repair the logs and apply a Borate preventive treatment.

Related services: Maintenance Plans · Log Rot Repair · Termite & Insect Damage Repair

Climate figures: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Fort Myers Page Field. Storm details: National Hurricane Center. History: Edison & Ford Winter Estates, WGCU. Termites: UF/IFAS.