Any wooden building requires certain post-construction work, and chopped sauna- not an exception.
When creating a bathhouse project, it is necessary to remember that despite all the positive qualities that wood has, this material is hygroscopic, changing its appearance over time and susceptible to the influence of microorganisms and fungi.
To log wooden structure retained heat well, did not collapse and always had an attractive appearance, it is necessary to regularly carry out a number of preventive works, such as:
Even if the log house of the bathhouse is made of rounded logs, after a year it will need to be caulked. Caulking is the sealing of cracks in places where logs come into contact with each other, despite the fact that during assembly a sealant is laid between the crowns.
Reasons for the appearance of a gap between logs:
Due to the loss of natural moisture, the log on average becomes 1 cm smaller in diameter. A gap of 0.5 cm is formed between the crowns, which is eliminated with caulk.
It is absolutely not necessary to sand a rounded log. Its surface is quite smooth after rounding, but in some cases, when it is necessary to give the wall surface an ideal decorative look, the owner decides on this rather complex, painstaking and expensive type of finishing.
Some useful tips:
Wood is subject to the influence of many external factors that can deteriorate its mechanical and decorative qualities.
These factors include:
Ways to protect a log house from harmful effects destructive factors:
Despite the variety of modern building materials, wooden buildings do not lose their popularity. A log house is a wooden structure made from several crowns of timber or logs, which are fastened together in the form of a quadrangle without a roof or floor covering. Gorodnya, povalusha, four-walled, five-walled, six-walled, eight-walled, “in the oblo”, “in the bowl”, “in the paw”, “in the dovetail” - what kind of log houses there are! This is a kind of blank, a frame for your future wooden house. In Rus', craftsmen managed to make log houses by connecting logs together without a single nail.
When the house is “assembled”, you can begin one of the most important stages of finishing – sanding. Logs with bark residues from which the log house is assembled look unattractive, and are also susceptible to rotting and exposure to bark beetles.
Why grind:
A tool for grinding a log frame should have sufficient power, but not be heavy. The optimal solution is a parquet belt sander with built-in bags for collecting sawdust and dust. Unfortunately, if the house is made of semicircular logs, such a device will not cope with sanding. When processing grooves and end sections, the owner can use an angle grinder, popularly known as an angle grinder. Grinding is carried out using attachments of different grain sizes. Fine abrasive and coarse abrasive grinding wheels Apply alternately to obtain a perfectly flat surface.
Stages of polishing a log frame:
Before choosing a tool, you need to decide on the timing of the grinding work. Grinding precedes everything else Finishing work: it is carried out before applying antiseptics, fire retardants, impregnations and paints and varnishes.
According to the rules, it is carried out one year after the construction of the structure. During this time, the process of shrinkage occurs - a natural reduction in the volume of the log due to the drying of the wood and the achievement of a moisture balance between the wood fibers and environment. Over the course of a year, under the influence of atmospheric phenomena, the log house darkens, and polishing is a necessary stage of its processing before further finishing.
Work on grinding a log frame is carried out only after the wood has completely dried. Wet wood will not allow sanding to make the surface perfectly smooth: the fibers will rise and be torn off unevenly by the machine.
It is better to sand the log house in warm, dry weather. The optimal time is late spring and summer. Abundance sunlight and high temperatures with minimal humidity help dry out the logs before sanding. If the time has come for prolonged rains, and the log house is not sanded, and, of course, there is no opportunity for it to dry, it is worth covering the logs with polyethylene or other covering films (for example, roofing felt) and wait until the dry weather settles. As we wrote above, moisture interferes with the operation of the grinding apparatus, the fibers swell and rise. Hired workers may insist on carrying out work at any time of the year and in any weather, as they are driven by time constraints. However, remember: after grinding they will leave, and you will live in the house and admire the consequences of grinding. True professionals will definitely warn you about the disadvantages of sanding in wet weather and will not begin the process even at the expense of their time.
It is interesting that the optimal time for assembling a log house is winter, and grinding work is recommended to be carried out a year after construction - it turns out that this is also in winter. But we wrote above that the best time is summer period. In addition, after grinding it is necessary to treat the surface with antiseptics, which only work at above-zero temperatures. So what to do if there is no way to postpone polishing until warmer times?
In winter, concentrated in upper layers the moisture freezes, forming an ice crust. Ice does not allow deep penetration of the antiseptic, which is applied after grinding. Therefore, all protective impregnations lose their effectiveness. In addition, wood fibers expand, deforming and forming cracks. On the other hand, in winter all natural processes slow down, mold and mildew cease to pose a particular danger to wood, so work on treating with an antiseptic can be postponed until spring. But there is another problem: a sanded log house without applying protective impregnations, even with weak but still significant exposure to UV rays, can turn yellow, which will lead to the need to re-sand the log house in the spring.
So, if there is no way out and you have to start grinding winter period, special technology must be followed. It is extremely difficult to sand a log house on your own in winter; moreover, even the most savvy amateur is not immune from mistakes, which over time will reduce all the work to nothing. It is better to entrust winter sanding to specialists.
At sub-zero temperatures, sanding in the open air is prohibited, so a kind of sarcophagus is built around the structure - scaffolding installed around the perimeter, covered with polyethylene or other covering material. However, the problem of ice crust on the surface of the wood is still relevant, so the inside of the sarcophagus is let in with the help of heat guns. hot air until reaching desired temperature. Only after these procedures is polishing performed with professional equipment.
Concerning polishing the log frame in rainy weather , it is still better to avoid dampness during wood processing. Wet fibers swell and rise, cutting unevenly grinder. If grinding is unavoidable in the rain, the same technology is followed as during winter work: preliminary construction of a thermal sarcophagus.
Important! Do not leave the sanded surface untreated. It is recommended to maintain a time interval of no more than 48 hours between sanding and applying primer and antiseptics, otherwise the log house will require re-treatment.
Sanding is a time-consuming and demanding process, however, if you ignore it now, you will lose much more time and money in the future, trying to restore a once beautiful wooden building that has darkened due to untimely processing.
The first heating season for many log house owners becomes full of surprises and unpleasant surprises. For some, the logs begin to twist, and the walls, which looked smooth during the finishing of the house, acquire curves that disfigure them. For others, it is blowing so much from the corners and from under the floor that the worried owners are urgently going to open the floors and insulate them additionally. Concern for your home forces others to resort to the help of specialists from companies involved in construction expertise. As a rule, the conclusion of experts comes down to one thing: the reason for the “diseases” of a log house lies in a violation of the technology of its assembly. On the eve of the new construction season, we decided to talk about the rules and mistakes of building log houses
The topic of our article will mainly be of interest to two categories of readers: those who are just planning to build log house, and those who already have it. Well, with the first ones everything is clear: they want to avoid any mistakes during construction, and therefore any information on this topic is useful to them. Here's what you might be interested in: this material second? And for them, most likely, our conversation will not be superfluous. Owners of newly installed log cabins can check whether construction technologies have been violated, as well as diagnose the condition of the building. Sometimes timely prevention helps prevent serious “diseases” at home.
Alexander Isakovsky,
expert engineer, LLC "CONSTRUCTION EXAMINATION LABORATORY":
“Remember that a log house takes much longer to build than a brick house of the same size. You must be prepared for the fact that you will be able to move into it only 1.5-2 years after its installation on the foundation. And the promises of some builders that they will build a log house for you in 45 days and you can immediately live in it are a myth. The first mistakes can be made already at the time of designing a house. One of the most common is non-compliance with the principle of “summer” and “winter” parts of the building. For example, a warm room is located above the porch on the second floor. It turns out that in this room part of the floor faces the street. As a result, its insulation becomes an extremely difficult task. The thermal insulation of the house is compromised. What to do in this case? It is necessary either to make the porch external or to design “cold” rooms above it: a balcony, veranda, etc. Very often, in order to improve the architectural appearance of the building, chopped bay windows are designed. High-quality execution of such elements in a log house is very problematic. If you don’t want to give them up, then it is preferable to make them using frame technology, but it is still advisable to avoid bay windows and other elements that complicate the architecture. The simpler the log house, the warmer it is. It is no less difficult to perform high-quality interfacing and insulation of the roof with the walls when installing chopped pediments in attic floor. Round logs do not fit well with the roof. Very often, heat loss occurs at the junction of the rafters and the wall. It’s better to make two full floors and cold attic“It’s much easier to insulate a flat ceiling than an attic roof.”
[type of log processing]
For the construction of a log house, three types of logs are used: round (round timber), hewn to one edge with inside(half-carriage) or hewn into two edges on two opposite sides (carriage). The latter are usually traditional material for the construction wooden buildings in the Scandinavian countries. Many experts recommend choosing a semi-carriage, since in an unhewn log house interior lining walls with clapboard or other materials is partially lost effective area. Moreover, hewn walls (depending on the style of the interior) may not be finished with anything at all. However, it should be borne in mind that processing a log on one edge is a labor-intensive procedure that requires the skill of a carpenter and increases the cost of the house frame by 35-50%.
Experts say with one voice: “Never start building a house without a carefully developed project!” Even in times of crisis. But project is different from project. Sometimes the customer may be given a “project” on 4-5 sheets. At best, it describes only the crown timbers of the house, but does not indicate the size of the crown gaps and gaps in the cups, the material on which the frame is assembled, etc. In practice, this is a small sketch with the dimensions of the future building. The project must contain at least 30-35 sheets. Remember that the architect from whom you will order the project must specialize in the design of log houses. Knowing the requirements of SNiPs regulating the construction of log cabins, he will carefully calculate the structure of the building, taking into account the distribution of loads on load-bearing elements, will take into account the shrinkage of logs, etc. Before ordering a project, you need to select the material for the house (see “Specialist’s comment,” p. 110).
Our reader may ask: isn’t it better to buy a ready-made log house? Not better. Firstly, it can be made without any design. Secondly, you still strive to create housing for yourself. There are often cases when people “successfully” buy a ready-made log house, and then begin to supplement it with balconies, verandas, and extensions. Sometimes these new elements weaken the supporting structures of the building, due to improperly made connections, “cold bridges” appear, etc.
It is especially dangerous to buy a “settled” house. Of course, it is tempting to buy a log house that has stood for a year, finish it and immediately move into it. But what is behind the word “settled”? It happens like this. Workers assemble the first five crowns of the frame and place them on some supports (these five crowns are called a foot). Then the top crown is removed and, using it as a template, the next five crowns are cut. In total, three or four stops go to the house. Time passes, no one buys the log house, and the logs continue to be piled up. Moisture, penetrating into them from below and above, has negative impact on wood, and after a year half of the frame is close to rotting. In this case, company managers who care about their reputation use such a log house for the production of boards. Others try to sell substandard goods to an unscrupulous client. After assembly, the log house should dry on your site (and not anywhere else), standing on the foundation and under a temporary roof.
The second option is as follows. In the contract with the construction company, be sure to write down the requirement to show the log house during its manufacture. As soon as the first foot is cut down, you should be informed about this so that you can come and carefully inspect everything. In this case, you won’t have to buy a pig in a poke.
Sergei Zelensky,
Director of INDEPENDENT EXPERTISE OF CONSTRUCTION QUALITY LLC (STROYEKSPERTIZA LLC):
“One of the most common mistakes in log houses is incorrectly performed floor insulation. For Moscow and the Moscow region, the thickness of the insulation in this part of the house must be at least 150 mm, otherwise the heat will go underground. In practice, they put no more than 100 mm, as a result the floor becomes cold. Proper floor design means good vapor barrier. The vapor barrier panels are stapled to the beams from below (from the subfloor side), laying them across the beams. The overlap of the panels should be at least 10 cm. Then boards are nailed to the beams (again from below) (they can be placed staggered), which serve as support for thermal insulation. On the side of the room, insulation is placed on the vapor barrier. Between the insulation and the subfloor located on top of it should be left air gap- 5 cm. Do not forget to install waterproofing over this gap to protect against possible accidental pouring and subsequent wetting of the insulation.
To organize ventilation of the subfloor, vents are made in the basement, the area of which should be 1/500 of the area of the subfloor. The ventilation system must be designed so that the underground rooms are ventilated from all four sides. Common mistake- lack of vents in the base strip running under the partitions. Builders are doing outside ventilation holes, but from the inside they forget. As a result, “dead zones” are formed that are not ventilated. There is an opinion that vents should be closed during the winter. This is a serious mistake. It is necessary to create vortex flows underground. If the vents are closed and there is insufficient thermal insulation, the floor beams may begin to rot. The more products, the better. Naturally, with good thermal insulation of the floor.”
If we touched before general issues building a log house, now you have to delve into the basics of carpentry. The log house is assembled twice. The first time is during its manufacture at the work site (in this case, insulation is not placed between the logs). After assembly, the logs are numbered, the log house is dismantled and delivered disassembled to the customer’s site. Here it is assembled for the second time, already on the foundation. Insulation (moss, tow, etc.) is laid between the crowns and in the corner joints. How is a log house made? It begins with tying - placing and cutting through the first crown, for which the thickest logs are taken (they, firstly, bear the greatest load, and secondly, they are closest to the surface of the foundation and, therefore, are more susceptible to atmospheric moisture ). To connect parallel logs, a groove is cut out in the upper one, repeating the shape of the upper part of the lower log. The saw makes two longitudinal cuts and several transverse ones, after which the groove is carefully selected with an ax. Connect logs at the corners of the building. Proper execution corner joints are the main task in the construction of a log house. This is important both from the point of view of thermal insulation of the building (a log house freezes in the corners, not along the walls), and from the point of view of structural strength.
There are two main ways of cutting a corner: “into the paw” (without residue, when the ends of the logs do not extend beyond the outer plane of the wall) and “into the corner” (with residue). What are their advantages and disadvantages? Cutting “in the corner” makes the connections more reliable than cutting “in the paw”, and the corners of the building are protected from rain and wind by protruding parts of the logs. It is believed that a log house made “in a corner” is more stable and warmer. But with the same area, a house in which the connections are made “toe-to-toe” is significantly cheaper (0.6 m of logs are used for releases when cutting with the remainder). In addition, when felled “in the paw”, the house can be sheathed on the outside if desired or necessary, but chopped “in the corner” - not.
Each of corner connections There are some modifications. Thus, cutting “into the corner” is divided into cutting “into the cup”, “into the edge”, “into the hook”. In the first method, a cup (a semicircular recess) is made in the upper part of the log. The marking of cups is carried out in two stages - rough and clean. Using a special tool, a line is drawn in the lower log, repeating the profile of the upper transverse log. A rough cup is cut along this line. After fitting and finishing marking, the recess is accurately adjusted with an ax. This is the simplest, but not the most effective method of corner joints from the point of view of thermal protection. IN in this case the heat will be maintained only by tow placed between the logs. That’s why they call this type of cup “household”, suitable only for outbuildings, but not for a residential building, for which it is better to make a cup with a pre-seal. Preseka creates reliable lock connection, and heat from the room does not escape outside.
More complex is the connection “in the oblo”. In this case, the cup is “tipped over”, that is, a recess is made from the bottom of the log, which eliminates the retention of moisture in the joint. As in the previous method, the connection “to the block” must be with a stop.
Ivan Alekseev,
General Director of LLC "RUSDOM":
“When a wooden house is built, the main emphasis is on the fact that it is wooden. Just wooden, that's all. But different types of wood are used for construction. What material is best to use as a wall? People said about pine: “A pine hut is a healthy heart.” Its wood is soft and easy to process. Pine can be either combat (ore) or non-combatant (mind). Ore pine is the most preferred material for log houses. It grows in sandy soil, usually on a hillock and (ideally) surrounded by fir trees planted later. They choke the lower branches of the pine tree and force it to stretch upward. For such a tree, the trunk slope does not exceed 0.8 cm per 1 m. The age of pine for the construction of a log house should be no older than 150 years (otherwise it will be overripe trees, the core of which begins to collapse), but also no younger than 80 years (until this time is still the nucleus is not fully formed). Mande pine (sawlog) grows on moister soil, has less resinous wood, and its trunk slope exceeds 0.8 cm per 1 m, but it can also be used for building walls of a house.
As for spruce, it is more knotty than mand pine. The density of spruce is approximately 10-12% less than that of pine. Its wood is more susceptible to cracking when drying, and cracks, as a rule (due to the fact that spruce grows with a twist), form around it.
Larch is 30% denser and stronger than pine, more resistant to dampness and damage by putrefactive fungi. It occupies about 40% of all Russian forests, but we will not find residential buildings from it built before the early 90s. last century. Why? One of the most common answers to my question was: “Entire houses were rarely cut from larch due to the hardness of the wood - only a few lower crowns were laid from larch logs.” But then I want to ask: “What about the walls of wooden fortresses? Was the larch there softer?” The answer to the question must be sought in another area. The energy of larch is similar to the energy of aspen, so shamans of Siberia and the Far East prohibit building houses from this material, calling larch “ebony.” Cedar wood has unique properties. That is why the population of the Urals and Siberia at all times preferred Siberian cedar for finishing their homes, but they did not dare to use it on the walls. Already in ancient times, people understood that cedar forests are the lungs of the entire planet, and making walls from such material is a great sin! It is necessary to ban the felling of cedar trees high level, and we, builders, should under no circumstances undertake to build houses from the tree of life.”
It is quite rare to make a “hook” connection (a complicated version of a “hook” cut with an internal tenon), since only a very experienced carpenter can do it well. Experts warn that when cutting “into a cup” or “into a circle” you should not make the walls of the house inside hewn (smooth), but cutting “in a hook” necessarily requires hewn walls. After brief acquaintance With methods of cutting “into the corner”, we will consider the main types of joints “into the paw”. There are two of them: “in an oblique paw” (“dovetail”) and “in a straight paw with a tooth.” A claw is the end of a log, processed into five edges. Any deviations in the marking of the paws can lead to a violation of the geometry of the corners of the log house and their loss of tightness. In a dovetail joint, the foot has the shape of a trapezoid, gradually tapering towards the base of the log. Cutting corners in this way does not provide adequate thermal protection for the building, and therefore has long been used for outbuildings. But today, unfortunately, you can very often find houses whose corners are made in exactly this way. If you decide that your log house will still be made “in a claw”, it is better to use a connection “in a straight claw with a tooth”. The paw has the shape of a parallelepiped, and the tooth plays the same role as the cutting edge when cutting a corner “into a cup”. More detailed information on this topic is contained in GOST 300974-2002 “Corner connections of wooden block and log low-rise buildings”.
[For your information]
Cutting a corner “in the head” is 30% more expensive than cutting it “in a cup”, and cutting it “in a hook” is 50% more expensive.
All mistakes made during the construction of a log house can be divided into two groups: some relate to the quality of the log house, and others - to its final assembly. Errors of the first type mainly come down to poor fit of logs and the presence of large inter-crown gaps (according to SNiP 3.03.01-87 “Load-bearing and enclosing structures”, the size of the gaps between logs when joining on one side cannot exceed 1 mm), as well as poor-quality execution of corners connections. Another error involves violating the “Curvate Up” rule. The fact is that due to wind loads, any tree has curvature. According to GOST, it should be within 0.5-1.5% of the length of the log. When making a log house, logs should be laid with the curvature upward, so that the upper ones press on the lower ones and level them. Otherwise, there will be gaps and protrusions on the walls, and for aesthetic reasons the house will have to be covered with clapboard or other finishing materials. Now let's move on to the second group of errors. There are significantly more of them. This list begins with an incorrectly executed foundation. For a wooden house (relatively light) there is no need to make a monolithic one strip foundation to the freezing depth, and yet this is the most commonly practiced solution for log houses. We have already written about why this happens in previous issues, including introducing readers to the cost-effectiveness and reliability of shallow foundations (“ New house", 08/2008), optimal for wooden buildings. The most common mistake is that the foundation for houses with a working underground is not calculated taking into account thermal characteristics. In winter, the communication pipes located in it can freeze and burst. In addition, there is an unfavorable temperature and humidity regime (when the underground freezes, the humidity increases), due to which the lower crowns of the log house, beams and subfloors rot. It is no coincidence that carpenters say: a properly executed subfloor of a house is the basis of its longevity. To prevent the foundation from freezing, experts recommend insulating it from the outside with slabs of extruded polystyrene foam. A hatch must be cut into the floor to allow inspection of people passing below. engineering communications and checking the condition of the lower crowns of the log house.
Next important point- styling lower crown on the foundation. To prevent moisture from seeping into the logs through the foundation, it is necessary to properly waterproof it. Builders often use one instead of two or three layers of roofing material. Or they do without leveling the surface of the foundation strip using mastic. In this case, the lower log will never lie tightly on the base, gaps will inevitably form (therefore, the thermal insulation of the building will decrease).
[wood for construction]
What kind of wood is suitable for building a house? There are three varieties of it: combat, sawing and stocking. The first group is top-class forest. It grows on sandy soils and has a height of at least 24 m. From it you can get logs up to 10-12 m long and make a beautiful log house.
Sawlog is a forest up to 24 m high, characterized by big amount branches and taper. Experts do not recommend using it for building a house, since the walls will look ugly: the difference between the diameters of the butt and the top is too great. It is no coincidence that carpenters call such forests “carrots.”
Podtovarnik grows up to 15-18 m, is characterized by a small taper and has a diameter of 11-20 cm. It can also be used for construction small bathhouse, but it should be taken into account that with such a diameter of logs the heat-insulating properties of the walls will be low.
One of the controversial issues: should the first crown be laid directly on the foundation or on a backing board to protect the logs from rotting? Some experts are convinced that this is necessary, others consider this technique to be outdated. Be that as it may, the use of a backing board reduces the risk of rotting of the lower crown, and replacing it with a new board is much easier than replacing the crown itself. When ordering a log house, you should definitely clarify this point, as well as what the first crown will be made of. Best material for him - oak or larch.
If two logs of the first crown lie on the foundation, then the next two (they are called overlap logs) “hang” on them, so a significant gap remains between the overlap logs and the foundation strip. How to get rid of it? They act differently. Some builders believe that these cracks need to be sealed only after a year, since they contribute to better ventilation log house, and therefore its drying. Others close them immediately. Each opinion has its pros and cons. Much depends on what exactly the gap is being sealed with. If half-logs (the so-called Zamyatina) are used for this, then it is advisable to lay them simultaneously with the assembly of the walls, otherwise after a year the logs of the log house will shrink, and the “Zamyatin” will be made of freshly cut wood, and when it dries, cracks will inevitably form. The half-log should be placed on tarred or oiled tow.
Opponents this method They believe that moisture will still get into Zamyatina, since the wood is sawn in half. The sapwood part is completely open, and therefore such a backing element will quickly rot. It is best to fill the gap kiln brick M-150 or M-120.
The log house can be collected for moss, tow, jute and flax fiber, etc. What to prefer? There are different opinions. Some believe that moss is most suitable for primary caulking. When moisture gets on it, it not only does not rot, but also releases tannins that protect the wood. Others give examples when moss burst into flames when high temperatures, and people barely had time to jump out of the burning bathhouse. These experts say that tow or flax fiber, unlike moss, can be impregnated with fire-retardant compounds. Still others believe that there is nothing better in nature than jute. But the Finns use a special tow, made like double-sided tape and capable of shrinking from 15 to 5 mm. Using this material eliminates the need for re-caulking. In order not to feel like Buridan’s donkey, choose any of the inter-crown insulation materials. The main thing is that it performs its main function - providing thermal insulation.
One of the most controversial is the issue of using dowels (dowels) when assembling log houses - wooden rods installed vertically in logs of adjacent heights to secure them. Some experts believe that the house should be cut down so that the walls are firmly held in the corners and grooves. And there’s no need to make a colander out of a log; it doesn’t need extra holes. Others are sure that dowels are necessary so that the walls do not deviate vertically from loads and their own weight. Be that as it may, it is better to build walls longer than 3 m, as well as those in which openings for windows and doors are cut, using dowels.
A large number of mistakes are made when installing doors and windows. Because the log house shrinks in the first 6-8 years, then rigid fastenings in it are unacceptable, therefore, it is impossible to insert window and door structures directly into the openings. To do this, use the so-called casing (casing box). Unfortunately, it is performed incorrectly almost everywhere. The pigtail is an auxiliary frame consisting of four bars (to make it, take a bar with a width equal to the width of the log and a thickness of 10-12 cm). A tenon is made at the ends facing the opening of the logs, and a groove is made in the socket. Grooves are also selected from both ends of the lower part of the box - the window sill board, which is installed first, laying jute fiber under it. Next, install the side bars of the pigtail. Closes the structure top part boxes. A gap (6-7 cm) is left between it and the hem of the top log for free shrinkage of the house. This gap is filled with tow.
When building log houses, there are things that are strictly prohibited. For example, hammering nails into the joints of logs. This mistake leads to fatal consequences. Any nail in a corner or wall will rust and the wood is in danger of rotting. The log lies unevenly on the nail head, and an inter-crown gap appears. Since it is uneven, the tree immediately begins to “spin.” This can no longer be corrected. "Diagnosis" - complete disassembly log house
A lot of errors are associated with the calculation of load-bearing structures. For example, the customer wants to have walls 10-12 m long. Logs can be found for them, but if you don’t make cuts (connecting the outer wall with the inner one), the walls will quickly become barrel-shaped. The crosscuts serve as stiffening ribs and are installed on walls whose length exceeds 7.5 m.
Violations are also allowed when laying floors. For example, builders place floor and ceiling beams in parallel long wall. If you cover a seven-meter log house with a seven-meter log, it will bend even under its own weight, not to mention other loads. Often beams are cut into the crowns of the house incorrectly, so-called undercuts are made, as a result of which the beam does not fully rest on the log and can break at any moment.
Of course, in one article it is impossible to talk about all the errors encountered during the construction of a log house, but we have named the typical ones. And those who are just starting to build a log house have every opportunity to avoid them.
The editors thank the companies "RUSDOM",
LLC "INDEPENDENT EXPERTISE OF CONSTRUCTION QUALITY" (LLC "STROYEKSPERTIZA")
and CONSTRUCTION EXPERTISE LABORATORY LLC for assistance in preparing the material.
Magazine "NEW HOUSE" No. 3-4 (2009)
A wooden frame made of logs or timber, placed under the roof, must stand for at least 6 months before finishing work begins. During this period, the structure will undergo the main shrinkage, and in the future, changes in the height of the walls as a result of drying out of the wood material will not fundamentally affect the appearance and functionality of the house.
A log house that has stood for six months, a year or more should be carefully inspected. If the installation was carried out in violation of technology (for example, instead of wooden dowels the crowns were fastened with nails), large gaps may arise between the crowns. IN difficult cases It is better to disassemble the frame and reassemble it.
It is important to decide on the type of wall decoration outside and inside. The log house itself looks decorative and does not require additional finishing. If it is intended to be insulated, it is mounted outer skin with a heat-insulating layer - in this case, natural air exchange through wooden walls which provides a favorable microclimate.
Internal insulation of a wooden house is contraindicated, since it will be necessary to install hydro- and vapor barriers mineral insulation or use non-breathable thermal insulation materials made of foamed polymer. Plus, it steals space in the house.
Exterior and interior decoration may be required for a house made of old timber with unattractive appearance. The outside is usually covered with siding or blockhouse, while the inside walls are finished with clapboard or plasterboard.
Finishing a house made of natural wood includes treating the log house with protective agents that protect the wood from fire, damage by insects and fungus. If the walls are not intended to be covered, they are coated with wood varnish, transparent or tinted, or stain is used suitable color. Treatment will need to be repeated every 3-4 years.
It is important to take care of installing an electrical panel and connecting the house to the electrical network to ensure lighting and power for hand-held power tools.
Typically, a finished log house consists of wall structures, a roof covered with roofing felt, a subfloor on each floor and an attic.
At the first stage, it is necessary to cut out all window and door openings according to the project. It is important to add 6-8 cm in height for each opening for further shrinkage of the log house, which lasts 3-5 years, depending on the characteristics of the material. Grooves are cut into the sides of the openings and casing bars are inserted. If this is not done, the edges of the openings may sag.
At the top of the door and window openings casing boards are installed, the gap between this element and the upper edge of the opening should be 6-7 cm, it is subsequently filled with tow and covered with casing.
If you decide to leave external walls without covering, they are ground from the outside with an angle grinder with a power of no more than 1 kW and a “petal” emery wheel with a grain size of 36-150 units. You will have to remove it from the tool protective cover, if you have to process the curved surface of the logs. It is important to use a respirator and goggles, since a lot of dust is generated during the work.
After sanding the walls, finishing work consists of treating the log house with a fire-retardant compound and subsequent caulking. The walls are tinted (optional), coated 2-3 times with protective wood varnish. Eaves overhangs are also treated and painted.
At the same stage, they begin to decorate the outside walls with a block house or other materials, if provided for by the project.
At the next stage, window and door blocks, install cash. If the structure is wooden and needs painting, it is painted in the chosen color. Next, you should install the drain and finish the base. Make sure that all communications are carried out into the house.
If the house is built on a pile-screw foundation, the basement part should first be mounted to protect the house from freezing from below.
If you plan to install a brick stove, fireplace or powerful floor-standing boiler in your house (in a specially designated room), you need to build a separate foundation. When choosing a location, pay attention to the location of the ceiling beams and rafters so that there are no problems with installing a classic vertical chimney. To carry out the work, part of the subfloor will have to be dismantled.
Next, the internal wiring of communications is carried out and the floor of the first floor is installed with insulation along the joists. The heat insulator is laid on the subfloor between the joists on top waterproofing membrane. The insulation is covered with a vapor barrier membrane, a counter-lattice is stuffed over the joists and a flooring made of boards or plywood is installed - the base for finishing. Do it in wet rooms thin tie under tiling.
The walls inside the house are sanded and caulked, treated with a fire-retardant compound, tinted and covered with water-soluble varnish. Window trim and sills are installed on the windows and painted if necessary. Laying a twisted cord between log crowns will add aesthetics to the walls and create additional protection from blowing and freezing.
Wall covering with plasterboard, plastering, finishing with clapboard or other materials, if provided for by the project, is carried out after installing the base of the ceiling, which serves as the floor of the second floor or attic. Next, the ceiling is sheathed with clapboard or plastered. Stacked flooring.
Then mounted, processed and painted stationary ladder up. Full cycle interior work is held on the top floor. Between the floor joists, mineral wool insulation is laid, protected by hydro- and vapor barrier membranes– it serves as a sound insulator and prevents heat loss.
The roof is insulated, the gables and slopes are finished from the inside, the floor is insulated, the attic or attic flooring is installed, and baseboards are attached.
Electrical wiring in wooden houses, for safety reasons, is carried out externally. The wires are hidden in decorative cable channels, and overhead sockets are installed.
A separate stage is the arrangement of wet rooms. The interior finishing of the log house is carried out after the structure has settled, but wooden structures constantly change their geometric dimensions, absorbing and releasing moisture. If you plan to tile the walls, you need to mount a frame made of sheet material, which will be supported on vertical guides using special sliding fasteners.
The finishing of the log house after shrinkage is carried out according to the following principle: first of all, all dusty work is carried out, then finishing work, and at the last stage decorative elements are installed.
