Log cabin caulking technology - which is better with your own hands or order, price analysis. Caulking a house from a log house with your own hands: tasks, stages, working tools and materials Caulk a log house collected on moss

A log bath is a tradition that has not lost its relevance even after several hundred years. The tree has the most high level thermal insulation among building materials, while the weight of the log structure does not go beyond the permissible limit. The only conditional disadvantage of this technology is the presence of gaps between the stacked logs.

When laying and fitting logs between separate elements inevitably there will be horizontal through cavities around the entire perimeter of the bath and before its operation it is necessary to caulk them.

To learn how to properly caulk a bath, you need to understand all the intricacies of this case. The process of caulking cracks in itself does not contain any difficulties, however, there are several special points that must be taken into account.

This article will describe step-by-step instruction and the main points on the topic - “how to caulk a bathhouse with your own hands”. In addition to describing the technology, it will also provide detailed information about how the bath is caulked, since in this case right choice material plays a decisive role in the success of the whole process.

A selection of material

Forest moss is the most traditional material, which was used for caulking a log house by our great-great-grandfathers. This is the most environmentally friendly material of all analogues used, since it has natural origin, hand-assembled and not treated with chemicals. It has bioactive properties - moths and mold do not start in it.

Moss is especially valued for its antiseptic properties - it does not rot even under the influence of high humidity. At the same time, moss caulking is not only not subject to decay, but also protects nearby areas from damage, which is especially important.

Also, the use of moss as a material for caulking can significantly save on the purchase of material, since it can be collected in a nearby forest with your own hands. Even if this is not possible, its price in stores is quite affordable. Natural moss is the most rational solution the question is, what is the best way to caulk a bath?

The most common material for caulking is a log house due to its cost, but at the same time linen has the lowest quality characteristics. Before caulking a bath with flax, it should be taken into account that there are practically no natural antiseptics in its composition - in connection with which, putrefactive bacteria, which wet wood contains in excess, will quickly destroy the formed seam, after which nearby areas will undergo degradation.

It quickly collapses under the influence of high humidity - its service life is from 1 to 3 years, after which the seam begins to crumble. Insects love it - moths, beetles, in the raw state, mold and fungus start up quite quickly. Without chemical treatment for the next season of operation, you can find a large number of insect larvae in it.

Note!
Some of the disadvantages of this material can be leveled by chemical impregnation, however, this will negatively affect the atmosphere of the bath.

Of all the analogues used, flax can be called the most undesirable solution to the question: how to caulk a bath?

V Lately opinion of experts on the issue, what is the best way to caulk a log cabin of a bath? - Increasingly leans in favor of jute fiber, which has recently appeared on the domestic market.

And this is not without meaning - natural jute is a durable material containing a large amount of natural lingin, which gives it water-repellent properties. Also, jute is much less damaged by insects than flax.

Note!
Not to be confused with jute felt, which contains a certain proportion of flax, and, accordingly, all its negative qualities are present.
To distinguish them from each other is quite simple - 100% jute has a gray color.

Caulker

In this process, there is practically nothing difficult - the main thing is to choose the right material for sealing the seams. You will need a mallet ( wooden hammer) and a set of caulks. There are two technologies by which caulking of seams is made - stretched and set.

Stretching

The insulation is pushed into the cavity with fibers across, this is done either by hand or with a caulk, depending on the width of the cavity. The material is hammered inward until about 4–5 cm of the edge of the insulation remains outside;
Then, a roller of the appropriate diameter is made from the insulation, which is wrapped in the remaining edge, after which it is driven into the cavity with a caulking chisel;

In set

For this method the insulation must be twisted into strands like a rope, the diameter of which is selected based on the size of the cavity between the frame;
The finished strands are pushed into the slot by means of a caulking chisel - first the upper part is pushed through, and then the lower one. To align the seam, a road builder is used;

During the caulking of cracks, the log house rises slightly, and therefore, it is necessary to clog each crack along the entire perimeter and only after that move on to the next level, otherwise the bathhouse may “skew”;
If it is necessary to release it, so that the structure that has risen due to caulking does not damage the masonry.
To do this, it is enough to free up space by a few centimeters;

Outcome

Caulking a log house in a bath is one of the simplest building processes

Proper selection of material and our helpful tips will help you carry out these manipulations without any difficulty. You can learn more clearly about the process of caulking a bath by watching the video in this article.

Everyone is well aware that the grooves formed between the logs of the log house should be caulked. The essence of such work is to seal the gaps remaining between the logs and in the corners of the log house with moss, tow or any other sealing material. The instructions on how to properly caulk a log house indicate that the seal should protrude from the grooves by 3-4 mm on both sides of the wall, which will protect future home from blowing and will reduce heat loss in the frosty period by 5-6%.

The process of caulking (caulking) a log house is as follows:

An evenly distributed fibrous material should be applied across the gap and, using special device(the so-called "caulking"), hammer it into the existing grooves with strong blows. In order for the walls to keep heat better, they need to be caulked both from the inside and from the outside of the log house.
When organizing these works, it should be taken into account that uneven caulking of the walls can cause the log house to skew. That is why caulking work is carried out immediately around the entire perimeter of the felled building; while the crowns are processed sequentially, starting with the lowest.
The caulking of the inner surfaces of the walls is transferred immediately after the completion of the processing of the outer walls.

In construction, two methods of warming log cabins are used, which are called caulking in stretching and caulking in a set.

Caulking in stretching

This method is recommended to be used for caulking the grooves and slots in the log house. small size. When sealing the gap, a strand of tow is applied to it and pressed inward with the help of a sealing blade (“caulking”) until the entire space in the groove is filled with material. Thereafter upper layer tow is carefully compacted by means of a special type-setting "caulking". Then a dense roller is twisted from the tow, which is placed in the groove between the crowns so that it adheres to the fibers protruding from the groove and is driven in with force.

The roller must be captured by adjacent strands hanging from the grooves, because. otherwise, it may simply fall out of the groove.

This method of warming a log house is usually used when it is necessary to seal large cracks and wide slots. When it is implemented, small strands are prepared from hemp or tow, which are then collected into a ball to form (set) a loop, which is hammered into the grooves as a sealant. It is quite natural that the thickness of the typed loop depends on the size of the existing groove. The resulting layer of tow is compacted first along the upper cut of the gap, and only then - along the lower one. All these works are carried out using a special caulk - "road builder".

Required Tools

Earlier it was already noted that log cabins are caulked with the help of special tools, the so-called "caulks", made of metal. The main tool for carrying out sealing work is the so-called type-setting "caulk", which is a flat blade with a blade about 100 mm wide and about 5-6 mm thick. In addition to it, when carrying out work of this class, the following tool can be used:

curve "caulking" with a blade width of about 50-60 mm and a thickness of the working part of the order of 5 mm (used for caulking log corners);
caulk-"road worker" with a blade up to 170 mm wide and about 8-15 mm thick with a groove along the length of the blade up to 10 mm deep (used to form rollers from twisted tow strands). There are three types of "road builder", which are used to work with wide, medium and narrow seams;
breaking wedge up to 30-35 mm wide; used for breaking (cutting) too narrow grooves, facilitating the driving of tow into them.

The blade of the tool used must be smooth and slightly blunt, otherwise it will simply cut through the sealing material. To drive the tow with metal "caulks", you can use any hammer that is suitable for weight.

The following tips will provide you with additional assistance in resolving the issue of “how to properly caulk a log house”:

If you use moss as a sealant, then you must first moisten it in a special solution prepared from 200 grams of soap and 500 grams of oil dissolved in one bucket of water. Tow before use, it is desirable to soak in any potent disinfectant, which will protect it from pests.

If the roller, twisted from fibers, is not voluminous and dense enough, it is necessary to add strands from stocks to it. insulation material. The spare strand is hooked on the ends of the tow hanging from the wall and hammered between the logs.
When driving insulation into the slots, the crowns can be slightly raised. At the same time, the insulation, designed in the form of a roller, is hammered into the gap formed with the help of a mallet hammer.

Re-caulking should be carried out 2 years after the manufacture of the log house, after the latter shrinks and gaps form again between the logs. It is usually performed in the "set-up" way.

Video

We invite you to watch the process of caulking a log house on the video.

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V modern world the meaning of the expression - my house is my fortress - takes on slightly different shades and is not limited only to the fortress of the walls and the reliability of the castle. Increasingly, in order to increase productivity and reduce the cost of material, manufacturers are going to dubious schemes, adding various fillers to their construction products, which emit harmful substances during their decomposition.

This factor, together with the unfavorable environmental situation of the current world, makes its negative contribution, and can pose a real danger to human health.

To protect yourself and your loved ones, as well as to exclude the possibility harmful effects, it is necessary to use proven and reliable materials that will help in the construction of your housing and various outbuildings. Wood is not only an environmentally friendly product of nature, but its use will contribute to the long stay of any building among the list of fashionable and modern objects. The reason for this factor is that, despite the centuries-old experience of using wood, this material is a classic, and has long deserved its place of honor, which neither alternative opinions nor fashion trends can influence.

In addition to the environmental and external component, one of the main advantages of wood is its thermal conductivity. Houses made of this material are distinguished by the warmth of the premises and internal comfort. But in order to achieve such indicators, it is necessary to perform a certain type of work, especially this must be done when the construction of a log house is carried out with the help of logs, since the cracks and various holes are a constant companion of such walls.

Despite the fact that most experts try to exclude this issue in the process of building a log house, it still remains relevant. for a long time. The reason for this phenomenon is the fact that insulation layer, laid between the elements of the tree, in the process of shrinking the house loses its properties and original advantages. For this reason, it is necessary to additionally caulk the entire building. It is better to carry out this process in 3 stages, which fit into the following time frames:
immediately after construction;
1-2 years after its completion;
4-6 years after the construction of the house.

The need for multiple actions lies in the tendency of wood to change its physical parameters under the action of external influence. A tree can change its configuration not only due to the pressure during shrinkage, but also due to changes in moisture content, leading to the formation of cracks.

Among the many materials that can be used in these matters, the most commonly used and with a sufficient number of advantages is tow. Therefore, the question is: How to properly caulk a log house with tow? - quite often found in people who dream of their own housing made of wood.

In order to successfully solve this issue and do everything efficiently and reliably, it is necessary to take into account several rules leading to the achievement of the desired result.
You need to caulk around the entire perimeter, starting from the lower levels. Strengthening the process in one direction can lead to a displacement of the log house and aggravate the situation.
It's best to caulk before final finishing buildings, because this process may slightly raise its overall level. This approach will allow more rational use finishing material, and eliminate the risk of having to rework such work.
After insulating the outer perimeter of the building, it is imperative to switch to inside which will reinforce the overall positive picture.

These moments in most cases are the main guarantee of a qualitative result and the solution of the question: How to properly caulk a log house with tow.

Apart from general rules it is worth familiarizing yourself with the technology of warming with the help of tow. Caulking with this material can be done in 2 ways - in stretching and in a set.

In the first case, a strand is made from tow, which is applied to the problem area. The strand is driven into the slot with the help of special tool called a caulk. A chisel-caulk, as this product can also be called, really has the shape of a chisel with hallmark in the form of a wide and flat end. The tow should be clogged as tightly and deeply as possible, without the possibility of self-extraction. The edges of the insulation should protrude from the wall at a distance of 5-6 cm, as they will serve as a link for the next formation, the edges of which will need to be twisted and driven into the gap.

Insulation in a set is used in cases where the dimensions of the cracks are large enough, and the use of a strand does not lead to a positive result, as a result of which it is impractical. In this case, the tow is divided into separate strands, from which a roller is subsequently formed. This roller is driven into the slot, and it is necessary to start this process from its upper part, and lower part send into the depth of the gap last. Thanks to this technique, a tow seal will be formed on the surface of the wood, which will be difficult to remove, as well as to act on it mechanically.

Preservation of log cabin bath building to a large extent depends on the choice of what and how to caulk the bath, the ability to correctly identify future problems with the crowns, and the skills to work with the tool. First of all, you need to know which interventional insulation to choose for the bath. You can, of course, give up and seal the joints with silicone, but this will only aggravate the situation. It’s better to do a full-fledged caulking of the bath with your own hands.

Why you need to caulk a bathhouse

Masters usually answer such a question simply - so that the log house does not rot and fall apart. Without a sealant, a log box becomes a cold, eternally creaking hut. If you do not caulk the bath and close the seams hermetically, then the supporting surfaces of the crowns will rot in a year or two and the log house will simply “sit down” or fall on its side to the north.

In addition to choosing how to caulk a log bath, it is important to do the job correctly, so we will try to understand the tools used, the tool and the rules for caulking a bath.

For high-quality sealing of seams you will need:

Investment jute, proven over the years, linen tow or any other version of the fiber structure seal;
A set of tools - a wooden hammer, a stuffed spatula, a wedge knife and a hook for stripping a seam or an electric strobe;
Brush with hard bristles;
Joiner's measure.

Advice! There are few tools, but all of them will be required for work. The first time they can be rented. After the first practical experience appears, it will become clear how to properly caulk the bath, then you can buy good set or make it yourself.

If there is a desire to close the seams with a sealant, since quite a lot of different brands and types are sold for the needs of the bath, then in this case there is no tool other than a nozzle gun for a tube with liquid polymer, is not required at all. It is possible and necessary to seal the joints with sealant for the log cabin in one day, the technology requires laying the pasty mass in two passes with a difference of no more than four hours. Any violation of the process can lead to peeling of the sealant, while it is possible to caulk the log cabin of the bath in a couple of days with interruptions.

Choosing a stuffing material

Traditionally, seams and joints between wooden parts are sealed with a moisture-resistant, durable and necessarily easily deformable material. Interventional insulation for a bath can be made from:

Synthetic fibers of polypropylene, for example, in the form of a tape of woven and non-woven structures;
Organic fibers, primarily jute cords and linen tow;
Natural plant fibers from certain types of moss for the bath.

For your information! Sometimes there is a problem of choosing what is better than moss or jute for a bath or trying to determine before starting work what is better to caulk with synthetics or organics. You need to choose based on the degree of shrinkage of the log cabin of the bath and the size of the seam between the crowns.

What is better moss or tow for a bath

Today, both materials are recognized as the most durable and reliable of all traditional fiber seals. In both cases, the decisive factor is not even the appearance, but the quality of the preparation of the material.

Moss is recognized by all masters as a universal tool for sealing crowns. Most often they try to caulk the bath with red or white moss. Plant bundles are harvested 2-3 weeks before the start of work. Before caulking the bath, remove debris and dry the moss under a canopy, periodically turning over and shaking the layers.

The organic mass should remain slightly moist. After drying, the fibers turn into a springy and strong structure, like a wire.

Caulking walls with moss is not difficult, you just need to correctly measure the amount of material and the force of hitting the blade with a hammer. The easiest way is to caulk the seams immediately on a new log house, after assembling the walls of the bath. After shrinkage, after a year and a half, the procedure will have to be repeated with the same material.

For your information! Often, the masters who undertook to caulk the walls of the bath tell stories about the bactericidal properties of mosses, the ability of the plant to germinate and completely fill the gap between the crowns.

In fact, the compactor can bloom and turn green only if the birds dragged seeds and grass in the spring. If you caulk with organic matter, then the sealant can easily become a source of problems, from the appearance of fungus to green sprouts. Therefore, moss for a bath still needs to be able to prepare for caulking. Overdried - the material becomes brittle and does not hold well in the gap, too wet moss is very difficult to caulk into the seam.

How difficult is it to caulk the walls of the bath with tow

Tow or bundled, combed flax fibers are safer than moss or jute. Due to the soft and thin structure, working with linen material is more difficult than with any other seals. Tow is convenient to caulk the seams on the walls of the bath from cylindering. Interventional gaps on chopped buildings turn out to be too large, so the fiber has to be folded into several loops. Technologically, this does not affect the quality, but it can seriously delay the caulking process in time.

Linen tow, due to the small amount of non-drying oils remaining in the fabrics, has the best damping qualities of all possible seals, both natural and synthetic. Sauna tow is very well suited for sealing corner locks, especially hand-cut ones. When shrinking, it does not emit frightening squeaks and sounds, the process itself occurs without any complications.

The only drawback is the low durability of flax fiber. In a log house, tow caulk will last up to 5 years, in a sauna the fiber burns out in 2-3 years.

jute fiber

The stalks of Jute Tassa jute hemp treated with mechanical combing give a hard and at the same time strong fiber, which is used not only as a sealant on the walls of the bath, it perfect material for containers and technical fabrics. Jute is produced in the form of coils, ribbons, cords, which allows you to caulk cracks on the walls of the bath many times faster than when using tow and moss.

Technical jute has only two drawbacks:

High hygroscopicity;
Susceptibility to rotting with prolonged soaking.

Jute for a bath is interesting because in the process of shrinkage it ideally fills the interventional space, especially if the log house is built from chopped logs. In this case, you only need to caulk with jute fiber and a cord.

If, according to the project, the bath building is planned to be faced decorative trim, jute rope will simply rot in a couple of years. Tapes are laid to seal the crowns of a new log house, it is good to finish the open surfaces of the walls of the bath with a rope.

In fact, jute occupies an intermediate position between dense and hard moss and soft linen tow.

Synthetic materials

In addition to natural fibers, a bath can be caulked with more modern materials, for example, a composite cord, consisting of half of polypropylene threads and wool fibers. This type of caulking ensures that the seal is firmly held even when the gap expands.

Caulking with synthetics is much more difficult, in addition, polypropylene burns out and crumbles under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, so it is best to use seals made from natural materials for a bath.

Stuffing technology

The process itself looks easy. In theory, it is necessary to caulk the crowns of a successfully built bath twice, immediately after construction and upon completion of the shrinkage processes. In practice, caulking is done every three years, especially if the log has not been polished and cylindered.

First of all, before caulking the bath, you need to inspect the seams, check and release the joint line from the old burned-out sealant. If the gaps of the interventional space of the bath are supposed to be caulked with a cord or cord, then you will first need to measure the maximum drawdown of the crowns with a caliber.

This is done in order to determine the uniformity of shrinkage of the bath building. If on one side the sealant is pinched and pressed, and on the other side it fell out of the slots, then before caulking the box, it is necessary to determine the reasons for the uneven settlement of the log house. At the same time, we specify the required thickness of the rope made of jute or linen hemp.

Seal material with tape

The easiest way is to caulk the bath with a tape seal. After measuring the slots, it becomes clear what width the tape should be used in this section of the log house. One end of the roll is fixed in the gap at the corner, the sealing strip is carefully unwound along the wall without twisting, a margin of 20-25 cm is left and cut off.

The ribbon laid out on the slot is carefully tucked into the gap so that the material does not sag and is not stretched. Caulking starts from the widest edge, using a hammer and a wooden spatula with a rubber tip. The ribbon is inserted into the slot with light blows. It will be necessary to make 3-4 passes so that the sealant evenly and completely comes butt between the crowns.

It will be necessary to caulk three or four pieces of tape before the desired density of the seam can be achieved.

For your information! In this way, the gaps around the entire perimeter of the crown are sealed before it is possible to move to the next higher level.

If you caulk the entire wall at once, then one edge of the log house can rise by more than the thickness of the log, which will lead to a break in the upper rows of the bath.

Caulker joints tow

The procedure for sealing the interventional space with bundles of fibers, such as tow or linen yarn, looks a little more complicated. After cleaning the seam between the logs, the future place of laying the tow is rubbed with a mixture of formaldehyde, alcohol and linseed oil. It is possible to impregnate individual cords with a disinfectant mixture before laying them in the bath wall.

You need to caulk the wall of the bath in the same sequence as when using the tape. If the thickness of the seam is small, then the material can be laid immediately by folding cords 2-3 mm thick from the fiber. A tightly twisted roller of tow applied to the gap, without blows, is gently crushed with a spatula into the gap.

For the next pass, a thicker cord is rolled from the tow, about 3-4 mm, this time the seam must be caulked with effort. For the last pass, a thick rope is rolled up, sometimes up to 8 mm. The material is hammered into the slot so that the edge protrudes above the line of the bath crowns by no more than 3-4 mm.

If there are wide cavities between the crowns, they are caulked with additional ropes twisted from tow with a lubricant from any elastic rubber-based glue. In the same way, cracks in the logs of the walls of the bath are hammered. The repaired areas are additionally rubbed with acrylic paste.

Conclusion

Before caulking a bath, it is best to practice on small area in order to assess how correctly the embedding is performed, and at the same time measure how high the top log of the crown rises. With too much effort, the log house can rise by 10-15 cm; on a soft sealant, the walls quickly settle into place; on a hard synthetic material the shrinkage process can take several weeks.

You were told that it is not necessary to caulk a house from a bar, they say, everything is perfectly fitted there anyway? Feel free to send such “woe” specialists home and invite real professionals in construction wooden houses. Like any other, the technology of building houses from a bar has its own stages and design features, which invariably includes caulk log house, even if you are going to do external and internal finishing with insulation in the future. Do not try to save time and money so as not to overpay in the future. If you don’t want drafts to constantly walk in your house, curtains flutter even in calm weather, and over time, wet and rotten places in the wood appear, it’s better to do all the caulking work at home on time.

Do I need to caulk a log house and why

In some sources you can find information that log house you can not caulk. And the builders building your house can say the same thing. They explain this by the fact that, unlike timber in log houses shrinkage and displacement of wood is stronger and more intense, cracks and leaks appear, so it is necessary to caulk the structure. But houses built from profiled timber practically do not shrink, as the wood undergoes pre-treatment. Let's see how it actually happens when building a house from a bar with your own hands.

Bar of natural moisture- relatively cheap construction material, for which it is popular in the construction of economy-class houses, followed by insulation and siding. Even if you invite the best architect, he will not be able to build a house from such a bar without gaps between the crowns and gaps. Moreover, when the beam begins to dry out, and this is inevitable, additional gaps will appear, wider, the beam will decrease in size, it will begin to “twist”. As a result, such cracks will appear, due to which the wooden wall will lose its thermal insulation abilities. To avoid such a sad end, the walls must be caulked at least 3 times and carefully insulated.

It was invented precisely in order to reduce costs and time for construction. wooden house. It passes special treatment in production, due to which it practically does not dry out during operation, as well as its tenon-groove joints are perfectly aligned to the nearest millimeter. The beam adjoins each other as tightly as possible, and a 5 mm insulation is placed between the crowns, which is located between the engaging parts. Despite the assurances of the seller, the house made of profiled timber still shrinks, as the timber finally falls into place under the weight of the structure. In addition, the properties of wood are highly dependent on the region of growth, climatic conditions and storage conditions. No one can guarantee that absolutely all the timber that you have purchased is the same High Quality. As a result of the movement of the building, the beam may slightly shift, the insulation may be wrinkled. Even if no gaps appear after shrinkage, and this option is possible, all the same, those gaps that are in the interventional space outside and inside the house accumulate moisture, and since the place itself is very secluded and vulnerable, mold and rot can form in it.

The caulking of a log house is necessary in order to isolate wooden walls, completely filling with natural insulation and sealing the gaps and cracks between the timber and in the corner joints. This ensures tightness, no heat leakage through the walls, drafts and icing of the timber outside the building, which occurs when warm steam escapes through the cracks and settles as wet frost on the surface.

How to caulk a log house

To summarize, the material that can be used to caulk a house must meet the following requirements:

Have low thermal conductivity.
Be immune to temperature and humidity fluctuations, as well as easily withstand the wind.
So that insects and pathogenic fungi (mold) do not start in it.
To be absolutely environmentally friendly material, otherwise the whole point in building a wooden house is lost.
Be relatively durable (do not lose properties for at least 20 years).
Be breathable.
Be hygroscopic, i.e. when it is necessary to absorb moisture, when it is necessary - to give.
And most importantly - to be similar in properties to wood.

Due to the fact that our ancestors caulked their houses for hundreds of generations on their own, materials that have been tested and tested by thousands of years of successful practice have come down to our days. They can be called traditional materials.

Moss- most best material even today for caulking wooden buildings. This is sphagnum moss - a swamp plant that can be red, white or brown. Subsequently, peat is formed from it. Neither of modern materials can not be compared with moss, it is so durable and environmentally friendly. You can drive around the old abandoned villages, look at the houses: the logs are already almost rotted, and the moss is still in excellent condition. As an interventional sealant, moss is simply indispensable: it has antiseptic, antibacterial and healing properties. Clamped between wood, it inhibits the development of putrefactive bacteria and mold fungi, due to which the wood lasts longer. Moss easily passes air through it, which, passing through it, is saturated with healing vapors, so the atmosphere inside the house becomes healing. Moss is hygroscopic, which means it smooths out moisture fluctuations. In general, moss has no drawbacks, except for one thing - it’s not so easy for them to caulk, otherwise no one would invent or look for anything new.

Linen tow it is used as a sealant and sealant everywhere, but for caulking - mainly in the regions where flax grows and where there are no swamps where you could stock up on moss. No one produces tow on purpose, it is waste from the production of ropes, ropes and linen, or waste and tow after cleaning flax fibers. Tow has some antiseptic and bactericidal properties, but to a lesser extent than moss. Therefore, in some cases, tow is treated with resins to increase resistance to high humidity. These resins may be natural, ie. tree resins, then this material can still be called environmentally friendly, but oil products are also used for impregnation, then tow no longer has anything to do with natural materials. Tow contains a large amount of fire, which will shake out during the first years of operation of the house, so the caulking will need to be repeated several times.

It is very similar to tow, only its fibers are coarser, so they are sometimes confused. Hemp is not afraid of temperature changes and high humidity, so it can be used even in very humid regions. Such properties are due to the high content of the lignin polymer, which is also found in any wood for bonding cellulose fibers. Hemp does not lose its properties even after getting wet, therefore it is resistant to decay.

Among the modern materials for caulking, the following can be distinguished:

A foreign product, it is imported to us from China, India, Egypt and other countries with a tropical climate or heavy rainfall. Produced from the shoots of the jute plant of the Malvaceae family. Jute fiber is very strong, it is not affected by mold, putrefactive bacteria, it is not interesting for insects and birds, it is hygroscopic, i.e. easily accumulates and releases moisture, passes air. Jute contains about the same amount of lignin as wood, so their properties are similar and together they are a perfect match.

Jute is available in both fibers and ribbons in various widths. Tape jute insulation it is very convenient to use for laying between the crowns of a timber house. In addition, pure jute compacts evenly. These advantages more than cover the price of this material.

In addition to materials made of fibers for caulking, felt heaters (interventional felt) are also used:

Jute interventional insulation 90% jute and 10% linen. But it is better to follow this ratio, since jute felt is found, consisting of 70% jute and 30% flax, which significantly worsens its properties.

Linen felt also called eurolen or lnovatin. It is a needle-punched material made from highly refined linen.

Flax jute felt consists of jute and flax in the ratio 1:1.

Full jute modern heaters are considered the best, as they ideally interact with wood and evenly shrink, and other materials with the addition of flax worsen the properties of the insulation. The more flax, the worse the properties.

When to caulk a log house

Caulking at home is carried out in several stages, this is due to the fact that the beam dries out gradually, the house sags under its own weight. The most big shrinkage occurs in the first year and a half after construction, and every year it is less and less. Experts say that after 5 - 6 years, shrinkage practically stops.

First time a log house is caulked immediately after construction. During the construction process, a heater is laid between the crowns, and after the whole house has been erected, the gaps between the bars are filled with caulking material, but not too tightly.

Second caulk produced a year and a half after the completion of the construction of the house. The house will already sit down, so it is necessary to caulk tightly, leaving no gaps and hanging material.

Third time work on caulking will have to be done again in 5 - 6 years, carefully filling all the newly formed gaps and crevices and adding material where it accidentally spilled out or was pulled out by birds.

If the log house is planned to be sheathed with siding from the outside, then the third caulk is not made, but the first two must be completed without fail. Do not rush and save on something for which you will later have to pay much more.

Do-it-yourself caulk of a log house

Caulking is a very responsible and time-consuming process, despite a certain monotony of the operations performed. not many construction teams agree to work on caulking, they just don’t know how to do it and are afraid to spoil it, which is why they recommend not caulking at all. We have already discussed why they should not be listened to.

But there are teams and entire organizations that deal with caulking professionally. For a caulk of a timber house, the price depends on the stage of work and amounts to a certain amount per 1 linear meter of each crown. average cost caulking is 50 - 60 rubles. for 1 r.m. A caulk corner connections can reach up to 200 rubles. for 1 r.m. At a separate rate, caulking will be carried out with a decorative rope (rope) that adorns appearance caulked walls and prevents birds from pulling out the material. By the way, it is customary to pay for the material separately. If you are offered to perform freckled work for 25 rubles. m.p., you should not agree, as the work will be performed out of the ordinary badly.

If you want to do all the work yourself, then be patient, material, tool and subsequent information.

How to caulk a log house with jute

Jute, as a material for warming a log house, is gaining wild popularity. It is often used in the construction of the house itself.

Before you caulk a timber house, you first need to properly lay and secure the timber. A heater is always laid in the interventional space with a layer of at least 5 mm. Even if the beam is profiled, jute is necessarily laid between the spike and the groove. But its width depends on the shape of the tenon-groove system. The easiest option when lower bar has a convex crescent-shaped surface, and the upper one has the same notch (somewhat reminiscent of the connection of logs), in this case the space between the crowns is completely filled with insulation, and its edges remain hanging by 4-5 cm on each side. A more complex version of a profiled beam, when it is impossible to lay the insulation with a solid carpet, then it is laid only in the middle, and the outer and inner slots are then caulked separately.

If the house of their timber is of natural humidity, then the thickness interventional insulation should be 10 - 15 mm.

Important! Caulking is necessarily made from top to bottom. In this case, first one crown is caulked completely outside, then inside, and only then they move on to the second crown. It is better if the work will be done by 4 people at the same time on 4 walls. This is necessary so that the house does not warp. After all, after the completion of the caulking, it will rise a few centimeters, from 5 to 15 cm.

Consider the option when the insulation hangs between the bars by 4 - 5 cm. The caulking technology is very well shown in the video example. With the help of a caulk (tool), the jute is tucked under the bottom and slightly pushed into the slot. Then gently, but already more strongly pushed in the upper part, and finally - in the middle. To push the material into the slot, a rubber or wooden hammer (mallet) is used, which is gently beaten on the caulk.

If after the work done, loosely clogged slots are still observed, then additional caulking is performed.

Consider the option when the gaps between the crowns are not filled (the insulation is located somewhere in the middle of the timber). The work will be exactly the same as with an additional caulk.

Usually, the gaps between the beams are quite narrow, so this method of caulking is used: a rope as thick as a gap is twisted from jute fiber and hammered into the gap with a mallet.

There is another way - "stretching". Individual fibers of jute are laid with fibers across the beam and pushed inward with a spatula or caulk until the gap is completely filled. We leave the remaining ends of the material hanging down, it should turn out about 5 - 6 cm. Next, a little more jute is taken, twisted into a ball (roller), which is wrapped in these hanging ends and pushed into the gap.

Important! How can you check whether it is enough to push the insulation already or do you still need to add a little more? If it enters the gap between the crowns kitchen knife by 15 mm or less, then the caulking was completed successfully. If the knife goes further, then the material should be added.

When large gaps are formed, the “in-set” caulking method is used. Long strands are twisted from jute and rolled into a ball. Then loops are drawn from the ball and pushed into the slots until they are filled.

After completion of all caulking work, the house is loaded and, if possible, operated for a whole year. In winter, it will be possible to check for cracks by the so-called "hares". These are pockets of frost on outside walls. If you find them, mark the place, it means that there is a leak warm air from home. A year and a half after the first caulk, a second one is made, the house is carefully inspected, insulation is added to those places from where it has spilled out or frayed, where the cracks have increased, where the beam has warped, and also in places of “hares”.

Only after repeated caulking, you can proceed to the external and interior decoration Houses. Even if it assumes 100 mm mineral wool and ventilated façade.

You can also caulk a log house with other materials. But there are some exceptions. For example, only a house made of unprofiled timber can be caulked with moss, since this material fits and fills the interventional space completely, which is absolutely impossible if the timber has a thorn-groove system. The work on caulking at home is complex and painstaking, although it seems painfully simple from the outside. If you are not confident in your abilities, invite a specialist.