# Sap removal from log home



## jonathanthepainter (Jul 5, 2011)

Does anyone have any methods of removing sap from log homes?
I am currently working on a home 7 years old with allot of dried sap and weeping sap.
I have tried min spirits, wd-40 , denatured alcohol. Not much success with any of them.

I appreciate your help.


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## Tonyg (Dec 9, 2007)

here is a good article. Scroll down to Pitch

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr190/chapter_16.pdf

"The only way to prevent pitch bleed is to remove the turpentine from the wood during lumber processing."

"Pitch can be removed in several ways, depending on how fluid it is. If the pitch has not hardened (it still contains a lot of turpentine), remove it with turpentine or mineral spirits. Once it has hardened, scrape it off with a putty knife or paint scraper. However, if the pitch is still soft, such procedures smear it over the surface of wood or paint. Let it harden, and then scrape it off. After removing pitch, sand to bare wood, spot prime, and top-coat. Shellac seals extractives but not pitch. Paint will not prevent future bleeding of pitch during periods of high temperature. If pitch is a recurring problem, it may be necessary to replace the board. One should note that many paints, particularly oil-alkyds, fade as they age and repainting the spots where pitch was removed may show color differences."


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## jonathanthepainter (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks Tony very interesting article.

Hope we have better sucess today.


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