Log Home Restoration in Gainesville, FL

We cover Gainesville and the surrounding Alachua County communities regularly.

Log Home Services in Gainesville

We provide log home chinking and caulking, staining and refinishing, rot repair and wood replacement, termite and wood-boring insect damage repair, media blasting, inspections, and maintenance plans for homeowners in and around Gainesville. We've been doing this for 42 years — family-operated, with the same crew on every job, no subcontractors.

Serving Gainesville & Surrounding Counties

Gainesville is the seat of Alachua County. We also serve Bradford, Levy, Gilchrist, Putnam, and Marion counties — including Newberry, High Springs, Alachua, Archer, and Hawthorne — along with rural areas throughout the region.

Log Homes in Gainesville and Alachua County

Alachua County was created in 1824 and once stretched from the Georgia line to Tampa Bay. Its earliest farm families built with what the land gave them. At what is now Dudley Farm Historic State Park near Newberry, the Dudley family's first home, built before the Civil War, was a double-pen dogtrot log house. Only its limestone foundation survives. The farmhouse that replaced it in the 1880s was built from heart pine cut on the property, and the farm is open to visitors today.

Pine drove the local economy for decades. Florida led the nation in turpentine production from 1909 to 1923, and Fairbanks, north of Gainesville, was a turpentine still town. The county still marks "Turpentine Recognition Day." The log homes we restore today in Gainesville, Newberry, Hawthorne and High Springs are built from the same kind of wood — and deal with the same heat, rain and heavy tree cover.

What Gainesville's Climate Does to a Log Home

Summer rain. Gainesville averages about 48 inches of rain a year, and more than half of it falls June through September.
Heat. About 90 days a year reach 90°F or more; July highs average 91°F.
Freezes. Roughly 15 nights a year drop to freezing — enough to open up checks where water has soaked in.
Storms and falling trees. Irma (2017) brought major and record river flooding to Alachua and neighboring counties. Idalia (2023) brought down more than 30 trees in Gainesville, and Hurricane Debby (2024) dropped more than 10 inches of rain near Newberry and put trees on homes in Gainesville, High Springs, Newberry and Alachua.
Shade and oaks. Many local log homes sit under heavy live-oak canopy. On a recent job near Hawthorne, years of mildew under the oaks had turned the finish black. Oak pollen peaks February through May, and the film it leaves on the logs gives mildew more to grow on.
Termites. Florida's native subterranean termites are active here, swarming from winter into spring, and they go for wood that stays damp.

What That Means for Your Log Home

Under shade, mildew is the enemy. An annual log wash with soft brushes and low pressure — no pressure washer — clears mildew and pollen before they eat into the finish, and a UV protective coat every third year keeps the stain doing its job on the sunny sides. Trim limbs back from the roof and walls, keep gutters clear, and keep the bottom logs dry. If an oak comes down in a storm, have the logs it hit checked for cracks and water entry.

Related services: Maintenance Plans · Media Blasting & Log Cleaning · Staining & Refinishing

Climate figures: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Gainesville Regional Airport. Storm details: NWS Jacksonville, National Hurricane Center. History: Florida State Parks.