Fireside Log Homes understands that the concerns most often expressed by perspective log home customers are shrinkage, decay and wood destroying insects.  In 1992, Fireside Log Homes after many years of research and development gave birth to a revolutionary wood treatment system which was patented and named "Process 2000".  Process 2000 is the merging of modern technology along with environmentally safe products that when used correctly will greatly enhance the stability of your log home and will minimize long term maintenance costs, thus adding significant value to your log home.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Understanding How It Works

There is a natural process that occurs in logs which takes place over the course of several years.  As wood dries and ages, some of its wood cells will collapse which causes shrinkage.  As the wood shrinks, stresses are set up and those stresses are relieved by a process known as checking. A reinforcement of the wood cells is integral to minimizing the shrinkage and checking of logs.  If the cells are not reinforced, they will be more likely to collapse as nature takes it's course and the wood seeks the equilibrium point by its surrounding atmospheric moisture. Our patented wood treatment system minimizes both shrinkage and checking by reinforcing the walls of the wood cells so they are no longer a concern for the customer.

Wood Cells Before	Wood Cells After

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Process

To put it simply, we extract nature's liquids and replace it with an environmentally safe agent called polyethleneglycol, also known as PEG.   The agent, polyethleneglycol is pressure injected into the heart of the log which reinforces the wood cells.  By pressure injecting we ensure that your log is protected from inside to out unlike many processes on the market today which only protect the logs surface. To complete the protection of your log home, borate, and biocides are added, (completely safe to humans) which help in preventing attacks by wood boring insects and fight decay caused by fungi and mildew growth.  The following is an outline of how it all works.

Fresh cants arrive at the mill where they are immediately off-loaded and air stacked to keep them from discoloring.  The cants remain in the yard for approximately two weeks at which time they are placed in our Process 2000 Treatment Chamber where they begin a six (6) stage process.

Process Completion, Stages four, five and six are repeated in sequence a total of three times, resulting in a total of three hours of treatment cycles. The material is allowed to drain of excess solution and is ready to be removed from the treatment chamber.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of Benefits

•	Minimal Shrinkage
•	Minimal Checking
•	No Settling System Required

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you know that the idea of our patented wood treatment system came from a wooden bowl? Read On...

The Bowl

Fireside Log Homes has experienced many growth steps and improvements over the years and they have all been collaborative efforts with much input, from both customers and builders. The most significant improvement, however, had its roots in the form of a revelation as I stood in front of a friend’s bookcase observing a large turned wooden bowl. To me it was more than just a beautiful form exposing the sheer beauty of natural wood grain. The fact that it was turned as it was and was still intact set me on a course of exploration to see just how it was created and what unseen forces allowed it to stay as it was created.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Innovative Idea!

This revelation led to a phone call and the phone call led to the new term called PEG, more explicitly, polyethleneglycol. The discussion with the creator of the bowl and his process opened up windows of possibility in my mind, since the experiences we were having were less than satisfactory for me and there was a gnawing in my soul that there was a better way to do what we’re doing to get a better end result for our customers. However with my limited thinking, research and industrial investigation, there seemed to be no way to take advantage of the properties of PEG for our products because it was just too slow and too expensive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Research & Development

Enter a phone call from a Chinese chemist/physicist who had visited one of our homes in south Georgia. He indicated that he had an idea that he felt would improve our product. I asked him to explain. His idea included using PEG, which intrigued me, but, because of my research, I was very negative about the possibility. He, however, persisted in his phone calls. He followed his belief so much so that I began to again be open to the possibility. It was from this that we entered into a research and development that eventually led to Fireside’s Process 2000.

The rest of the story is that at some point, it was obvious to me that we would likely have the highest manufactured cost in the industry because of this process, so the question became “IS IT WORTH IT”? After much prayerful consideration, the decision was made to forge ahead with development and the investment in an operating plant. All of this was based on what this could mean to our customers in their enjoyment of their homes, and how it would elevate us from the mainstream in the industry. We further believed that it could have an impact on the entire wood processing industry.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Birth of Process 2000

Continuing the rest of the story, there were many shocks in the outset of using this process that rocked our boat almost to the point of capsizing it. All of the things that we imagined would be part of the process did not occur and these were the industry wide items. Due to this we had to begin tweaking immediately and rode the learning curve very hard. The bottom line is that after almost being knocked into submission, we followed our belief about the benefit to our customers and continued to develop and tweak. It is very significant and very real now with years of history to back it up. A test is currently underway to substantiate the improvements over the last few years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fireside produces the most stable log in the industry that is protected as no other log is, to our knowledge, and our customers are the benefactors. Long live happy customers!!!

This story was written as related by Don Mahaffey