ABOUT US
Meet Your Log Home Experts
Started in 1999, under the name Total Deck Care® our company has demonstrated that we are the east coast’s foremost wood and log home restoration specialists. Operating as Total Deck Care, we have provided countless exceptional services in the North East, and have expanded down the East Coast.
In 2020, we revamped our business and changed our name to Log Home Rescue in order to more accurately align with our specialty, log home repair and restoration. We still offer all of the same excellent services that we did as Total Deck Care, but we also expanded our skill set developing a new path.
The owner, Jason, became a licensed real estate agent and he has been focusing on the unique market of log home real estate sales. With his superior knowledge of log homes and the potential problems and pitfalls or extraordinary luxury that they offer, becoming a real estate agent focusing on work for log home clients was a natural step forward to enhance the business and its offerings.
OUR PROMISE
Committed to Quality
At Log Home Rescue, we continue our desire to build and maintain long-term, trusting relationships with our customers, by combining attentive and responsive service with superior work completed by qualified and skilled professionals. If your log home needs restoration, repair or maintenance, send us your town and a few photos.
OUR PEOPLE
Meet the Team
Jason Thibodeau
President and CEO
Jason started his business, with his brother, in 1999, at 16 years old. They began operation as a seasonal company, working in the summers in order to pay for future college plans. The brothers’ initial success sparked a lot of interest in the company. Jason eventually decided to leave college, and his plans to become an architect, to focus solely on growing his wood restoration business full time. He has spent countless hours not only educating himself on the uniqueness of the wood restoration process, but he has also written manuals and developed his superior process of restoring wood.
In 2004, Jason was able to advance the business even further by selling franchise territories. The restoration business remained franchised from 2004 through 2007. Jason has had continued success in the industry to this day, despite varying economic change. This is because of his unparalleled work ethic and upfront honest approach to business and client interactions. Jason loves to share his over 20 years of knowledge with his clients, in order for you to make the best decision regarding your log home. He strives to deliver quality work and maintain an excellent reputation.
When Jason isn’t putting his sweat and energy into his work, he can be found with his wife, son, and two daughters enjoying time at their own log home on the Saco River or out on his boat with friends fishing for tuna.
Paul Drury
COO
Paul lives in Salem, New Hampshire with his wife Marie for the past 30 years. He is a former Army Officer who brings his management and administrative skills to the Log home Rescue team. He has over twenty years experience with the company in both sales and operations. As COO of the company he prides himself on providing exceptional customer service in completing projects to Log Home Rescue’s high standards while exceeding customer expectations.
Matt Martin
Field Project Manager
Matt joined our team in 2023 to help support our operations and to assist Jason and Paul in providing an exceptional experience for our customers and our crews in the field. Matt has previously worked in the construction field for over 20 years, specializing in project management and team leadership. His experience makes him an excellent addition to our management team!
Xenia Sanchez
Office Manager
Xenia Sanchez joined our team as the Office Manager in 2022, with experience in customer service in the retail market. She quickly took on the role of organizing the team and has spent the last year streamlining our processes behind the scenes to better serve communication between our clients, crew, and managers. She is responsible for client relations, invoicing, and scheduling, as well as educating other employees on using progressive systems and applications. Xenia is a breath of fresh air in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and energy to set the team up for success. Xenia is inspired daily by her faith, friends, and family. In her free time, she loves to travel and enjoys time with friends.
What we do
Log Home Rescue is about one thing: caring for the outside of log homes. We restore, repair and maintain them, and that is all we do.
A full restoration takes a home back to bare wood and builds the protection up again. The work includes:
- Media blasting or washing to remove failed stain
- Sanding the logs to clean, smooth wood
- Repairing or replacing rotted and damaged logs
- Treating bare wood with borate
- Chinking and caulking joints, checks and gaps
- Staining, brushed on by hand
Not every home needs all of it. Some need a cleaning and a maintenance coat. Others need repairs in a few places and nothing more. We look at the home first and recommend only the work it needs.
One crew is responsible for the whole job, so nothing falls between trades. You can read about each step on our services page.
If you want to know more about any of these services, or about which ones your home needs, ask us. We are happy to talk it through.
How we work
People often ask about what it is like to have this work done. Here is what to expect.
Every project starts with an evaluation. We look at the finish, the joints and the wood, and we talk about what you want for the home. Then we give you a written estimate that explains what is included and why.
Before work begins, we protect windows, doors, decks and plantings. During the job we keep you updated, especially if opening an area shows more damage than was visible at the start. We can only quote for what we can see or hear in the logs, and we are upfront about that.
We brush stain by hand and do not use sprayers. Brushing works the finish into the wood and into the checks, and it means someone looks closely at every log.
At the end, we walk around the home with you and explain how to look after the new finish.
Most questions people ask us about the process come down to timing, mess and communication. We try to answer all three before the work starts.
Where we work
We are based at 53 Newton Road in Plaistow, New Hampshire, and we work on log homes across New England.
Most of our projects are in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts. In New Hampshire, much of our work is in the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, where log homes and camps are a big part of the landscape.
Many of the homes we look after are second homes, and their owners are not always nearby. We are used to that. Send us photos of each side of the home and close-ups of anything that concerns you, and we can talk about what we see before arranging a visit. We can schedule work while you are away and send updates as it progresses.
If you are not sure whether we cover your town, ask. The FAQ below says more about how far we travel.
Every home is different, and we will be honest about whether a job is a good fit for us.
What homeowners say about us
The best way to learn about a contractor is to hear from the people who hired them.
On Google, Log Home Rescue is rated 4.9 out of 5, based on 93 reviews. Our testimonials page shares feedback from homeowners in their own words. They talk about the advice they were given, the care the crew took with their property, the communication during the job and the finished result.
We are also happy to provide references, so you can speak with other log homeowners about the work we did for them.
When you read about any contractor, look for specifics. A review that names the work done and describes how the home looks afterward tells you more than a star rating alone.
Ask us about references if you would like to hear from a homeowner near you.
Caring for a log home over time
A restoration is the start of looking after a log home. What keeps it protected is maintenance.
Log Home Rescue has found that stain maintenance every 3 to 7 years, depending on exposure, keeps logs better protected. Sunny and weather-facing walls usually come due first, and it is common to refresh one or two sides of a home before the others.
A maintenance coat goes on over a finish that is still sound. The home is cleaned, checked and recoated. It is a much smaller job than restoration, and it is the least expensive way to protect the work that was done.
We can set up a maintenance plan so you know roughly when each side of the home will need attention. Our annual maintenance checklist lists what to look for between visits.
Many of our customers are people we see again and again. Looking after the same homes over the years is what this business is about.
Ask us about a maintenance plan when your project is finished.
Thinking about your own log home?
If you have questions about your home, start with a conversation. You do not need to know what work it needs. That is what the evaluation is for.
It helps to tell us:
- The town the home is in
- When it was last stained, and with what, if you know
- What you have noticed, such as fading, peeling, dark areas, soft wood or insects
- Whether the home is lived in year-round or seasonally
Photos help too. A wide shot of each side and close-ups of problem areas let us give you a useful first opinion.
If you have just bought a log home and know nothing about its history, that is common. The FAQ below explains how we approach it. Whatever the starting point, we will tell you honestly what we see and what we would do about it.
Then send it to us. We will get back to you about next steps.
PROJECT STORY
See the work for yourself
Our project stories explain what we found on each home, the work we did and why.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Log Home Rescue will provide you with a free, no obligation, evaluation of your log home and written estimate detailing the extents of the work that we will do. We do require that you are the current owner of the log home in order to obtain a free quote. If you are in the market for a log home and have a list of questions regarding a potential purchase or what to look for, we would be happy to assist you.
It is not uncommon for new homeowners to take possession of a log home and be uncertain which brand of stain and color was previously used or when the last time the house was maintained. If you can obtain the information on product and maintenance history from the previous owner, then we can educate you if you have a decent or superior product on your house.
If no records can be acquired, our knowledgeable staff may be able to identify the product. If the product is reputable, you won’t have to strip or take the logs down to bare wood. If Log Home Rescue finds that the products the previous owner used were inferior, we may recommend starting over so you can get a superior product and the color that you desire.
Log Home Rescue is located in Southern New Hampshire and we cover the surrounding states of Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts. We will consider traveling outside of our area if the job is the right fit. We have completed jobs in the other northeast states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
Of course our company is fully insured with workers compensation. We carry a 1 Million Each Occurrence and a 2 Million General Aggregate. Our insurance carrier is happy to send COI upon your request.
At Log Home Rescue we pride ourselves in working with our customers to provide a solution to fit everyone’s budget. We will work within your price range to provide quality work, all while maintaining your agreed to contracted budget. Our complete restoration jobs consume the most amount of time, therefore are the most expensive. But we have also performed jobs where we just strip or blast a log home for a client and they choose to finish the home themselves to maintain their financial costs.
For our complete restorations, we like to break up the work into 4 parts: stripping or blasting, sanding, caulking, and staining. Each part will take an average of 1-2 days for a total completion of 4-8 days, weather permitting. Our crews are very experienced and our company is equipped with the most efficient equipment so we can completely turn around your house in about a week’s time.
When applying a water-based stain, you will get the color you picked right away. Products that are films will slightly darken over time. The oil-based stain, that Log Home Restoration prefers to use, can take up to 2-4 weeks for the color to come to its final state. Don’t panic if you see your home after our work is completed and think we applied a darker color. The oil-based stains will also lighten and fade every year until you are ready for a maintenance coat.
Yes, we will protect every customer’s confidential information, whether you are an everyday homeowner or a celebrity. If you are satisfied with our work, we will ask if we can use you as a reference and respect your decision either way. We also may ask for customer testimonies to share on our website and social media. Our reference list is great for existing clients to share information and feedback to potential new customers.
At Log Home Rescue we would never give out customer information without permission or sell a customer client list to anyone. Our crew will also take pictures of the home from start to finish throughout the process in order to market our exceptional work on social media and our website. We will never include your home address or any identifying specifics in our photos or posts.
OUR SERVICES
Log home services we provide
Sources and further reading
Can’t find an answer? Ask Us.
Tell us about your log home and what you would like to know about restoring, repairing or maintaining it.