When building a house, it is very important to lay the timber correctly. Everything here is quite simple, you just need to carefully follow a certain technology.

When building a log house, it is very important to lay the timber correctly and evenly, so that in the future the walls of the house will be perfectly smooth.

You also need to accurately carry out calculations with the help of which the walls will be perfectly smooth, and, of course, purchase all the materials and tools necessary for laying the beams.

Quality materials to get the job done

To lay the timber you will need:

• bars;
• roofing felt;
• stekloizol;
• metal dowels;
• nails;
• staples;
• rule;
• bitumen mastic;
• hydraulic level;
• antiseptic;
• polyurethane foam.

Before laying the timber, be sure to lay 2-3 layers of waterproofing, then a lining. After this, you will need to lay 1 more layer of waterproofing.

First you must waterproof the base.

To do this, you will need to lay roofing material 2 times and glass insulation 1 time. Just keep in mind that the width of the laid layers should be 20 cm greater than the width of the foundation.

To waterproof the base of the log house, use glass insulation.

When you lay the beams, make sure that they touch tightly. Also, don't leave any voids in the walls. As a rule, the bars are fastened together with metal dowels. And with the help of a mallet they are finished off. If the bend on the block is very small, then it must be laid down with an even part.

Please note that sometimes additional staples or nails are required to connect the bottom beams. Place them every two items.

Before installing waterproofing on a roofing felt base, check that its upper plane is horizontal. To properly check levelness, you will need a hydraulic level. The differences should not be more than 1 cm throughout the entire base. If the differences are large, then you will need to level the plane using a solution.

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Checking the design for durability

Before installing the log house, check whether the structure is durable. Next, lay out the material, the thickness of which is 12-14 cm. Just apply an antiseptic to them in advance. After this, place the beams on the exposed slats. Thanks to the slats, the base will not come into contact with the crown. This is how you can increase the lifespan of wood. And the gap between the timber and the base will need to be filled with polyurethane foam.

After this, you can check the evenness of the surfaces. You need to understand that if the first crown is uneven, the walls will turn out crooked. Once you have eliminated all the unevenness, move on to the next step - fill the gap with foam.

When you take the tools to the site, prepare the bars. Worth buying high quality products, without darkening and with a minimum number of knots. When choosing timber, pay attention to the cut of annual rings: purchase products that have a high density of rings. Using this method, laying the timber will be of better quality.

Be sure to apply to the purchased tree bitumen mastic and working out. This is how the mixture is well absorbed into the bars. This needs to be done a couple of times. The ends do not need to be processed; with their help, moisture will be removed from the wood. If you treat the log house with high quality, it will last as long as possible.

In addition, in certain situations the first crown is not attached to the base - the building will turn out to be very heavy and will stand well on the base without anchors.

Due to the growing popularity wood construction sealing seams between logs is becoming an urgent repair task. The methods for solving it are quite diverse; both historical methods of sealing and the use of new insulating materials deserve attention.

Renaissance of wooden architecture in modern construction

Throughout the 20th century, the architecture of private houses rapidly mastered various Construction Materials to return to the time-tested traditional tree in the new millennium. Houses made of solid timber, buildings made of solid logs and rounded beams are not a tribute to fashion - they have solid operational advantages:

• Wood is a natural and “warm” material. In terms of environmental qualities, in terms of beneficial effects on the well-being of all residents, wooden houses there are simply no competitors. It is pleasant and comfortable to be inside such a building, especially if the house is built from softwood logs;
• Impeccable aesthetics and durability. A well-built log frame will last no less than a permanent stone structure, but will look unique and recognizable, unlike standard brick and concrete “boxes”;
• During the construction of wooden houses, the external and interior decoration are laid immediately, even at the stage of wall construction. This allows you to save significant money and effort on subsequent repairs.. You don't have to perform finishing a house with metal siding from the outside, wallpaper it from the inside and plaster the facade;
• The naturalness of the wood contributes to the elasticity of the joints; the mandatory sealing of cracks between the beams should not violate this quality. A certain elasticity of the logs and joints themselves allows the entire house to withstand strong temperature changes and ground fluctuations - buildings made of bricks and stone are more likely to develop cracks;
• IN cosmetic repairs a wooden house needs less than others. Maintaining it in an attractive condition can hardly be called repair. Most big problem May be sealing cracks in logs– but they occur rarely and can be completely eliminated on your own. Investments in laying tiles, construction suspended ceilings, decorating the premises with plasterboard and other expensive repair “pleasures” does not require a house made of logs;
• Wooden walls, even if they are made from the most massive beams, will be thinner than brick and stone ones with comparable durability and strength. This ensures a gain in the internal living space, of which there is never too much.

Naturally, buildings made of wood have their drawbacks, otherwise they would have long ago displaced all other building materials into the dustbin of history. Firstly, log houses have a significant cost. We can say that savings on subsequent repairs are included in the estimate capital construction. Secondly, you cannot build such a house on your own - you need a proven company with a qualified staff of designers and craftsmen. Thirdly, radically change the design interior spaces And exterior finishing it won’t work, it will still have a “woody” orientation.

In addition, any wooden houses need sealing of cracks. Without such a procedure, drafts will appear in them, residents will begin to get sick, bills for the use of thermal energy will reach sky-high heights, comfort and coziness will collapse from the heavenly horizons below a narrow baseboard. How and with what to seal the seams between logs depends on the requirements for reliability, durability and the desired aesthetics of the joints between logs and beams.

Sealing seams between logs - traditional sealing options

Oddly enough, the time-tested methods of sealing joints in wooden houses remain optimal in our time. Our ancestors did not face the question of how to seal the cracks in a log house, because the correct answer grew in most forests and copses. This answer is called "natural moss". It perfectly protects joints and seams not only from wind penetration, but also from dampness. Another thing is that finding a sufficient amount of natural moss is not easy, and the sealing itself will be labor-intensive. When using natural natural materials To seal the gaps between the timber and the logs, a very high packing density is required.

It is checked with a sharp shoe awl - this tool should enter compressed moss or tow with almost the same force as into a massive log.

Tow for insulating joints in wood can be purchased at a hardware store. The purchase must be made in large quantities at once, because... even a narrow gap can “absorb” a large number of tow. Natural moss does not need additional means of reinforcement - tow can be soaked in a liquid, flowing solution of cement or gypsum. Natural hemp provides high-quality protection for the joints between logs, and it looks attractive in appearance.

However, the cost of this material is quite high, especially considering the amount of work involved in the joint finishing of an entire wooden structure. Natural caulk for wood is optimal without additional impregnation. In this case, it can be supplemented with the following layers in a month or a year or two. Tow soaked in plaster or cement often crumbles and falls out of the cracks, and the work has to be redone. Tow, hemp and moss are hammered into the seams using a set of long chisels with varying blade widths and sharpnesses. The deeper the installation, the sharper and thinner the chisel blade used.

How to seal cracks in a log house - the possibilities of modern sealants

The main benefit of sealing joints in wood using modern sealing compounds is the speed of work. With the help of spray nozzles, the entire process can be completed in a few hours, while with tow or moss you will have to work for several days. Required condition the use of synthetic sealants is a complete shrinkage of the house - and this occurs only 8-12 months after the completion of capital construction.

Whatever sealing compound you choose, it will fly out of the new cracks within a month or two. It turns out that synthetic sealing is only possible if the house is uninhabited - you won’t endure drafts and frost inside it for a whole year, right? Sealing seams between logs is categorically incompatible with polyurethane foam and silicone and polyurethane sealants. They are destroyed by exposure to sunlight and do not prevent wood from rotting.

Combining them with natural moss, hemp and tow is also prohibited; such a “hybrid” compound has unacceptably low strength. Synthetic sealant for joints and cracks between logs should be elastic, similar in consistency to glass putty. It is better to select the right brand according to the type of wood and according to the recommendations of the company that built your house. If builders recommend natural caulk, alas, you will have to come to terms with this and engage in the labor-intensive procedure of protecting your home.

If you manage to find the optimal synthetic sealant for wooden buildings, then you must use it complete with mounting tape. By gluing the logs/beams on the sides of the gap, you can effectively protect the wood from unnecessary sealing. Excess applied sealant is removed immediately with a rag, without waiting for it to harden into monolithic beads.

30.09.2008, 13:37

For the second floor we plan everything with timber.
External walls and partitions 100*150.
Outside it’s still a 100mm mini-plate and wet facade.
How Basic structure Is 150 enough?
It’s just not easy to pull 150*150 up.

Well, and most importantly...
Instead of moss or tow - polyurethane foam.
Those. The beams are laid on top of each other, stitched with 150 nails, between the beams there is a 100 mm long spacer, 1 cm thick, approximately every two meters.
After laying 3-4 pieces of timber, the resulting cracks are simply foamed with foam. after it expands, the gasket is knocked out - it foams or simply foams.
The beam will not rise - checked, the foam will fall out of the grooves, cut off with a simple knife.
In fact, I made a bathhouse and hesitated to break through and still the birds are dragging the dogs.

And again, there will be no moisture there on the second floor. There will be only 2.2 m of timber, then a slanting roof and a half-attic ceiling. and breaking through twice at the level of the second floor is simply not realistic - you’ll be tortured to install the scaffolding...
And so the consumption of foam - if it’s a professional tool - then it goes away a little.
I made floors - foamed the gaps between the boards for 40 m2 (8*5) - one cylinder was used.
Who will say what? Bullshit or does it make sense.
Inside it is planned to cover the entire second floor with clapboards, and outside there will be a wet facade on mineral slabs.
The first floor has brick walls, floor slabs and also a wet facade, but made of foam plastic.

30.09.2008, 13:47

30.09.2008, 15:35

I just installed wooden windows 4 years ago - I don’t seem to see any problems now.

30.09.2008, 17:25

I saw a review somewhere... it's like it's cool, but after a while serious problems appear... I don't remember exactly.
It was, it was... I also don’t remember where... Of the main troubles there, in my opinion, they wrote that sooner or later (in 5-10 years) the foam from the seams may simply crumble. Then there was something about the strength of the wall. Then harmful discharge from the frozen foam on the cuts...

Andrey teacher

30.09.2008, 18:03

30.09.2008, 19:09

I’m thinking differently - was such a powerful caulk needed? Is there insulation from the outer walls + wet facade?

01.10.2008, 02:01

I’m thinking differently - was such a powerful caulk needed? Is there insulation from the outer walls + wet façade? own experience I'll say it's not needed. Even harmful. Because the wind protection on top of the insulation itself creates sufficient protection from blowing through the wall, and the leaks between the beams help maintain moderate air exchange between the room and the atmosphere with minimal heat losses for this component of the overall ventilation. And this part is pretty decent. In any case, with completely sealed windows, closed stove valves and closed ventilation risers in the kitchen, no stuffiness is felt in the house in winter. A wall made of timber on a liner of flax, insulation, wind protection and cladding on the outside with a blockhouse.
I also came across statements on the Internet that “If the wall “breathes”, like a wall made of timber or logs 15–20 cm thick, then heat returns. This allows you to reduce heat losses by 30%, therefore, the value of the thermal resistance of the wall obtained in the calculation should be multiplied by 1.3 (or heat loss should be reduced accordingly)." See [Links are available to registered users only]

01.10.2008, 06:34

And so the consumption of foam - if it’s a professional tool - then it goes away a little.
According to my calculations, if the perimeter is say 8x8, the volume of cavities to be sealed will be 1m3 and it will take about 20 cylinders. 3500 rub. But that's not the main thing.
It is VERY good to foam a seam 15 cm deep and 1 cm thick! difficult. And because of the curvature of the beam, your seam will not be 1 cm everywhere, but somewhere around half a cm, somewhere around 3 cm. You’ll have a hard time with the spacers. And you can’t knock them out. The foam will be crushed over time (not immediately, but over 10 years) and the shrinkage at the seams alone will be 10 cm + the shrinkage of the timber itself.
IMHO the idea is not good.

There was an opinion that polyurethane foam destroys wood.

Polyurethane foam

Good afternoon.

I live in Tomsk, and recently German restorers of wooden architecture came to visit us. When checking several houses restored by our specialists, they found a lot of errors. And, in particular, when installing plastic windows in wooden houses, polyurethane foam was used for installation and thermal insulation. Their verdict is that wooden wall(wood) with this combination of materials will collapse quite quickly. Since I myself am planning to install plastic windows in wooden house from timber in the same way, I would like to know your opinion on this issue. And if they are right, how can this be prevented or replaced. Thanks in advance for your answer.

Sincerely, Alexander

The question is serious. I thought for a long time before answering. In addition, I myself installed in my wooden house plastic windows and put them on foam too.

You shouldn't have let these Germans go. They should have explained this to you. I honestly don’t know of a more neutral material than polyurethane. As far as I understand, all polyurethane foam is polyurethane. The only thing that can be assumed is that the foam somehow accumulates moisture, which does not dry out and causes accelerated rotting of the wood, but even here I very much doubt it, since the foam dries well due to its porous structure.

And one last thing. One of my neighbors in the village picked up a few years ago somewhere at a construction site of old wooden doors with boxes, apparently someone did some repairs and replaced them. These doors were installed on foam and are still lying around in his barn. So I specifically went to him and looked at what happened to these boxes under the foam. NOTHING! Full order.

Thus, if your house rots in a hundred years, not a single expert will tell you why it happened. From foam, or from old age. Personally, I'm not going to give up foam. Maybe you just fed your Germans poorly, and they decided to take revenge on you?

I hope that among the readers of this site there will be foam experts who will express their strong opinions!