A log home isn't a paint job, and the surest way to wreck one is to treat it like one. How the logs weather over the years comes down to the finish that goes on them and whether the people brushing it on know what they're doing.
Nice painters. Nice paint job.
Twice nationally awarded · 400+ foothill homes
You got here about thirty seconds ago, so there's no reason to take our word for any of this yet.
Before you call anyone
Will the finish actually protect the logs? Is the price fair? How much do you hand a stranger up front, and what happens if you spot something you don’t like halfway through the job? We answer all four right here, in writing.
Logs have to breathe. The wrong coating traps moisture against the wood and does more damage than the weather ever would. We match the finish to your logs and to whatever's on them now, film-forming or penetrating, water-based or oil.
Why the finish mattersApplying the wrong product over an existing finish can create adhesion and appearance problems. We identify what's on your logs, evaluate how it's holding up, and recommend a compatible system rather than covering it with whatever stain is convenient.
The products we useYou shouldn’t need three bids to figure out whether a price is fair. Ours are published for anyone to read before we ever meet, and every proposal you get from us is a fixed price in writing.
Read our pricing guidesIf something catches your eye mid-job, you shouldn’t have to work up the nerve to say something. Ask on day two, ask on day six, whenever you notice it. The job isn’t finished until you and your crew leader have walked the whole thing together.
How that works on siteThe part that decides it
On a log home, the finish matters more than almost anything. Put paint or the wrong stain on the wood and you seal moisture in, and moisture trapped in a log is what rots it. The right finish keeps water out while it still lets the logs breathe.
We work with the whole range. Film-forming finishes build a protective skin on the surface. Penetrating finishes soak in and wear down over time without peeling. Both come in water-based and oil-based systems, and we match the product to your logs, how exposed they are, and whatever finish is on them already.
We maintain homes coated with Sikkens, Perma-Chink, and other common stain brands. Recoat a log home on the right schedule with a compatible product and it never gets to the point of needing a full restoration.
Your project is assigned to a Michael Hines Painting crew, not a rotating collection of whoever is available that morning. Every painter on your project is our employee, and an experienced crew leader stays with the job from beginning to end.
They know what you asked for, what has already been done, and what comes next. They’re also the person you talk to each day. You never have to find out who’s in charge.
Brian
Chad
Kaden
Matthew
Sam
Fewer than 1%
of completed projects have required a callback for touch-up work after the final walkthrough.
Awards do not paint houses. People do.
Still, winning that kind of recognition year after year tells you what the people doing the work are held to. It's the same bar we work to on every home we paint in Elk Grove.
Staying ahead of the weather
A log home keeps asking for attention long after the crew packs up.
The trick is staying on a maintenance schedule with the right product. Recoat a log home on time and it never has to be stripped back and restored from scratch. Fall behind by too many years and that’s exactly the job you’re in for. Keeping foothill homes on that schedule is a lot of what we do.
It’s rarely only the logs. Decks, railings, trim, the outbuildings out back, if it’s wood and it needs stain, we take care of it in the same visit.
Your kitchen table, tonight
It's nine at night, and three bids are spread across your kitchen table: seven, eleven and sixteen thousand dollars. Now you have to figure out why.
The gap is rarely about the stain itself. It's usually buried in the details one bid spells out and another leaves vague: how much washing, sanding, and repair happens before anyone opens a can, which surfaces are actually included, how many coats go on, and whether the crew is part of the company team or random subcontractors they've found to work that week.
None of that shows up while you're just comparing prices. It starts to matter once the work begins, when something you assumed was included turns out to cost extra, or the prep gets trimmed to hold the number, or the finished job doesn't hold up the way you hoped.
That's why our pricing is online. The pricing pages lay out what a job like yours might cost, and what moves the number, before we ever meet.
From there, your written proposal spells out the job: which surfaces, which products, how many coats, and what prep comes first. If something needs to change once we've started, you sign off on it in writing before anything changes.
Read before we ever meet
Read the actual numbers before we ever ring your doorbell. You don’t hand over your name or email just to see them.
See our painting cost guidesNo guessing after your written proposal
We're rarely the cheapest bid, and I'd rather you hear that from us now than feel blindsided by it later. Sometimes it goes the other direction. A job might not need everything we bring, and if yours doesn’t, we'll tell you that while we're standing in it.
Book Your Estimate OnlineAfter you tap the button
Six steps, and you can see every one of them coming.
You book online: pick a real time on a real calendar, about ninety seconds.
The visit: we come measure, and you walk us through whatever’s been on your mind.
A written proposal: the scope and the price, fixed.
Your crew arrives: the logs get cleaned and prepped, and everything around them gets covered before any staining starts.
Every day after: a crew leader on site, with an update going to our office and to you.
The final walkthrough: we walk the whole job together before anyone calls it done.
Pick a real appointment time on a real calendar, whenever works for you. If you decide to hire us afterward, 10% holds your project dates, never more than $1,000.
Day four, on your job
It's day four, and it looks like there's a spot of missed stain on the logs by the back door. You've noticed it every time you've walked past since yesterday, and you're rehearsing how to mention it without sounding difficult.
On our jobs you never have to wonder about it in silence. Your crew leader is right there to ask, and a question raised early, while the work is still moving, is how a finish comes out right. The crew sends our office an update every day, and you get one too.
Anybody can type the word care onto a website. On your property it means the plants and the windows and the ground around the logs all covered before the staining starts, the site left orderly at the end of each day, and cleanup good enough that people bring it up in their reviews before we ever ask.
By the time we get to the final walkthrough, you've had the whole job to speak up. We walk it together at the end as one last check that nothing slipped past either of us before we call it done.
These are screenshots straight off Google, so what you're reading is what these homeowners actually typed. Zoom in on them, then go read the rest at the source.
The founder answers to his own name in every review.
Read them all on GoogleStraight answers
Answered here the same way we answer them standing in your driveway.
Stained, almost always. Paint and other film-forming coatings can seal moisture into the logs, and moisture with nowhere to go is what causes rot. A stain matched to your logs keeps the weather off while it still lets them breathe.
We work with Sikkens, Perma-Chink, and other common stain brands, across both film-forming and penetrating finishes in water-based and oil-based systems. We match the product to your logs and to whatever is already on them, because laying an incompatible finish over an existing one is a common mistake and an expensive one to undo.
A log home needs upkeep on a schedule rather than one coat that lasts forever. How often depends on the finish, how exposed the walls are, and the product on them, and we'll give you the realistic timeline for your home so small maintenance never grows into a full restoration.
We focus on cleaning and staining, which is what most log homes need most of the time. If yours needs chinking or repair beyond staining, we'll flag it when we come out to look.
No. Every painter on your project is a Michael Hines Painting employee.
Whatever brought you here
See our Elk Grove painting company page. Log home staining nearby: Wilton · Galt · or see everywhere we work.
The 90 second step
Reach us however suits you, by the form here or a call or a text. Whichever you pick, we come out and look at the home, then a written, fixed price. Nothing is due until you decide to hire us.
Michael Hines Painting · Ione, CA 95640 · (209) 256-4587