Caulking a log house: how, when and with what should it be done? What is the best way to caulk a wooden house made of rounded logs? How to caulk a log house

Any person dreams of living in comfortable conditions, the list of which includes a comfortable home, a pleasant and stable microclimate. Special attention In such buildings, high-quality insulation of the building is given. This stage has great value for owners of timber houses. How to properly caulk a house so that you don’t have to redo the constructed creation in the future? A large number of private developers are trying to find the answer to this question.

Caulking a house made of timber is necessary for its insulation.

Having searched for a sufficient amount of material on this topic, you can come across the statement that it is not necessary to use a similar method of insulating a building. Such arguments are justified by the following fact: wood undergoes special treatment before use, and buildings erected from it should not shrink. This means that the appearance of cracks in timber buildings is excluded.

Despite this point of view, profiled beams occupy a central place in the ranking of building materials, and they also have a reasonable price. Any timber is wooden base with all its inherent characteristics. It can dry out if a material with a natural degree of humidity is chosen for construction.

Despite the fact that insulation can be laid between the logs, this will not prevent the wood from shrinking, as a result of which its dimensions will noticeably decrease and the gaps will become more noticeable. If you do not caulk the log house, the warmed air from the room will end up on the street. Timely work will prevent the appearance of dampness on the walls and rotting of the surface.

Necessary equipment for work

Tools for caulking log houses.

Is it necessary to caulk a log house? Yes, this is necessary, because a correctly carried out process will eliminate cracks in the space between the timber and at the connection points of the crowns, heat will be retained in the room, drafts and icing will not appear there.

The material used for caulking must meet certain requirements. In terms of quality indicators, it should be similar to wood and have a clean, environmentally friendly base. Such raw materials are not characterized by changes in external data under the influence high humidity and temperature indicators. Air should not pass through it; at the same time, the source must absorb moisture from the surrounding air and get rid of it in a timely manner. Such material should be free of rot or pests. An important indicator Such a source will ensure the preservation of valuable indicators for as long as possible.

Among the materials used for insulating the seams of houses, they have long been used bog sphagnum moss, flax tow, hemp hemp. Modern achievements construction area provided for public use new material, jute. One of best options becomes swamp moss, which reliably protects the walls of the building from putrefactive processes and fungal manifestations.

Types of caulk.

As a result, buildings last much longer. Moss is able to actively absorb moisture, and if the need arises, it saturates the wood with it. Its base is highly breathable and has antiseptic properties. Moss can be considered an ideal material for caulking. However, it is quite difficult to finish seams in a log house with it. And it’s not easy to collect such raw materials in the required volume.

Flax tow and hemp are also used for caulking at home, but their quality indicators are much lower than the considered option. These options are classified as industrial waste, have a similar structure, hemp has thicker and stronger fibers. The disadvantage of such materials is the residue in the form of fires; over time, it begins to crumble, and there is a need for repeated work.

Jute is an imported product; it has been used in construction not so long ago. Any house will be reliably caulked with this type of material, providing it with special strength, hygroscopicity, and excellent air conduction. Jute is not capable of rotting or molding; its strong base does not allow birds to pull fibers out of cracks, which is often observed when using tow and hemp.

Jute is sold in strips and fibers. The first form creates comfortable conditions to determine them in the space between the crowns in the log house. Pure jute fiber helps in constructing a uniform compaction. But such material will have a fairly high price. To reduce its cost, flax becomes a component of jute, which does not have the best effect on its quality indicators.

Technological features of caulking of buildings

Caulking technology.

How to caulk a house made of timber? To study this issue, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of the procedure. The process of sealing holes in a building is not as easy as it seems. Beams must be clearly and stably fixed and reinforced. To connect the crowns of the house, you need to use a layer of insulating material, the thickness of which is equal to 5 mm. A log house built from a material with a natural degree of humidity allows you to increase these indicators to 10-15 cm. When constructing a building from profiled timber, the insulating layer is placed in the space of tenons and grooves.

It happens that a timber connection resembles a combination in a log house, bottom part they have a relief plane, and the opposite one has a concave shape. In this case, the space between the logs is filled with insulating material, its edges must hang 4-5 cm from outside. A timber structure that does not allow material to be fixed in the space between the beams, gaps from the inside and from outside insulated one at a time.

The difference between caulking timber and logs.

Traditionally, the log house is caulked, starting from the top, gradually moving down. The ideal way out of this situation would be to attract helpers; it would be good if they worked as a team of four, that is, each of the walls was occupied by workers. In this case, you don’t have to worry about the building being skewed; on the contrary, its height may increase slightly, up to 15 cm. To carry out this process in a smooth and organized manner, the following is used for work:

caulk;
regular knife;
spatulas.

The caulk has the appearance of a flattened blade made of wood with a long handle and a narrowed base. One side looks like a handle, the other resembles a spatula.

Options for caulking a timber house

Caulking methods.

Such measures are carried out in two ways, which depend on the width of the gaps. For the most part, such gaps are very small in the space between the logs, so here it is advisable to use the “stretching” technique. Thanks to it, the insulating fibers are placed along the opening, after which they are hammered inside using caulk. This should be continued until the gap completely disappears.

The presence of large gaps between the seams gives rise to the use of the “set” method. The insulating material is twisted into thin and long ropes, the thickness of which corresponds to the gap. The gaps must be completely plugged. To check the quality of work performed, you must use kitchen knife, which needs to be inserted into the slot.

When it penetrates the gap by 1.5 cm or less, we can talk about good quality insulation. If this item is buried deeply, you need to add another layer of insulating material. During work, care should be taken: excessive force may lead to separation of the laid timber.

Caulking your home with jute fiber gives good results.

It is worth noting that the process of insulating a building by plugging cracks with insulating materials is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Maximum efforts must be made for quality work; the layers should be hammered 3 times: first at the time of construction, then 1 year later and after the completion of the natural shrinkage process. The time period for caulking can last up to 5 years.

These measures must be carried out on time, which will protect against drafts, condensation and wood rotting. High-quality work contributes to good sealing of seams and a complete absence of cracks in the walls.

Caulking a log house is a painstaking process that requires patience and great effort. Everything matters here: the tool, the quality of the material, the sequence of work. Without the appropriate experience, not everyone can caulk a log house correctly, so first you need to familiarize yourself with the technology, study caulking methods, and choose the right inter-crown insulation.

Caulking of a log house is carried out in two stages - immediately after construction and after some time, when shrinkage occurs. Primary (or rough) caulking can be carried out in two ways: with laying insulation during the process of assembling the walls or performing one-time work upon completion of construction.

1 way

Lay the bottom row of logs on the base.

Then the insulation is spread on top so that the ends of the material hang evenly on both sides. Next, lay the second crown, and again a layer of insulation. This is repeated until the very top of the log house. After all work on the construction of the log house is completed and the roof is installed, the protruding ends of the seal are driven into the gaps between the beams using caulking.

2 way

Caulking begins after installation of the roofing system on the log house. Insulation (preferably tape) is applied to the seam of the bottom row and, using a tool, is pushed into the gaps between the logs along the entire length, leaving hanging edges 5-7 cm wide. Then these edges are folded in, formed into a roller and hammered inside the seam. Repeat the procedure in the next row and so on until the top of the structure.

The second stage of caulking is carried out after shrinkage of the log house - after 1-2 years. The selected insulation is applied to the cracks between the crowns and driven tightly inside. You should always start work from the bottom row, and be sure to do it along the perimeter of the log house.

You cannot caulk one wall first, then the second, and so on. In addition, each row is caulked both from the outside and from the outside. inside to avoid distortions in the structure. The insulation raises the frame by 5-10 cm, and its uneven distribution contributes to the vertical deviation of the walls. In some cases, the log house is caulked for the third time - 5-6 years after construction. During this time, the wood completely shrinks and new gaps form.

There are two ways of caulking - “set” and “stretched”. The first is used to eliminate wide gaps between logs, the second is usually used during primary caulking, when the gaps are still narrow.

To work, you need tools - a set of caulking tools, a road worker and a mallet. As a rule, metal caulks are used, although many craftsmen make them themselves from hardwood.

Name	Description	What is it used for?
	Flat metal or wooden spatula. Blade width 100 mm, thickness 5-6 mm	The main tool for filling gaps between crowns
	Flat chisel with a blade width of 50-60 mm and a thickness of up to 5 mm	Used to seal seams in corners and rounded areas of a log house
	The caulk is triangular in shape with a longitudinal groove along the blade. Width - 170 mm, thickness 8-15 mm	Tool for forming even rollers from twisted strands of compaction
	Thick and narrow wedge up to 35 mm wide	Widens narrow gaps, making it easier to fill with insulation
	Wooden hammer	Used for filling the seal with wooden caulks

The caulking blades should not be sharp, otherwise when driving the material they will cut it. Pay special attention to the surface of the blades: if it is rough, the insulation fibers will cling and be pulled back out of the seams.

Caulking materials

The following materials are used as inter-crown insulation:

red and white moss;
tow;
felt;
jute;
flax wool

Type of material	Description
	Ecologically pure material, which has antiseptic properties. If you independently procure raw materials, the costs of insulating the log house will be minimal. It is usually collected late autumn when there are no snails in it and fewer insects. Immediately after collection, the moss is sorted, lumps of earth and debris are removed, and slightly dried. There is no need to dry it too much, otherwise the stems will become too brittle and unusable. Purchased moss must be soaked before caulking to make installation easier. Pros: durability, low thermal conductivity, resistance to temperature changes, environmental friendliness, antimicrobial properties, low cost. Cons: difficult to find on the market, protection from birds is required, requires pre-treatment before installation
	Tow is suitable for the initial caulking of a log house and for sealing the crowns after shrinkage. It is made from flax fibers, and depending on their quality, it is divided into bales and rolls (tape). Rolled fiber consists of shorter and stiffer fibers, which makes it difficult to stuff between the crowns. Tape tow is better in quality, softer and more convenient for caulking. Pros: has low thermal conductivity, does not electrify, is highly absorbent and dries quickly, has bactericidal properties. Disadvantages: labor-intensive installation, unaesthetic appearance of seams after caulking.
	Until recently, natural felt was widely used in the insulation of log houses. Now its composition is supplemented with synthetic and plant fibers, which significantly improve its individual properties. And yet, felt insulation without additives has a number of advantages: it has high vapor permeability, does not allow odors to pass through, provides good noise insulation, has low thermal conductivity, is easy to use, and environmentally friendly. Cons: susceptible to rotting, easily damaged by moths
	Traditional insulation materials are increasingly being replaced by materials such as jute. It is available in the form of fibers, ropes of any thickness, and also in the form of tape. Tape jute is soft and pliable, compacts evenly, and is used for both primary and repeated caulking. It is more convenient to use jute fibers and ropes after shrinkage of the log house. Pros: it is durable, not damaged by moths and other insects, does not rot, provides favorable microclimate in the building. Cons: the material cakes quickly, short service life.

Prices for tow

Primary caulking “stretched”

The whole process is divided into two stages - laying insulation between the logs during the construction of a log house and the caulking itself. The insulation is laid after installation of each crown. If moss is used, it should be slightly damp.

Take a large bunch of moss and lay it in fibers across the log so that the ends of the fibers hang down on both sides by 5-7 cm. The next bunch lies close together.

The fibers must be evenly distributed over the surface, forming a layer of equal thickness. The wood should not show through the moss, so make the insulation layer thicker. It’s better to put in too much than not, because thin layer will not be able to effectively protect the seams from blowing.

If you use tape insulation, installation is much simpler and faster: the tape is rolled out along the crown and secured with the staples of a construction stapler. When the tape runs out, the new piece is overlapped by 5 cm so that there are no gaps at the joints. After the entire row around the perimeter is covered with insulation, the second crown is installed.

So, the log house has been erected, the roof has been installed, and the walls can be caulked.

The procedure for caulking and sealing cracks after shrinkage of a log house

It is more convenient if the insulation is tape, then forming a roller out of it is much faster. When twisting the material, it must be slightly stretched along the seam, which promotes greater compaction and uniform distribution of the insulation. Sometimes the thickness of the roller is not sufficient to fill the gap, then they take additional strands and wrap them in the hanging ends of the material. After this, the thickened roller is driven into the gap.

If during the construction process insulation was not laid between the logs, caulking is performed in the manner described above, only more material will be needed. It is necessary to apply it to the seams with the fibers across. The longitudinal arrangement of the fibers will not provide the required density; the material will not be able to be firmly fixed and will constantly crawl out of the grooves. When choosing a tape compactor, make sure that the width of the tape is several centimeters greater than the thickness of the log. Edges that are too short are difficult to tuck, and therefore the quality of caulking will be poor.

The edge of the tape is laid on the ground near the corner of the log house and retreated along the wall, unwinding the roll. The material cannot be pulled, it should simply lie in an even strip on the ground. It is very important that the tape does not twist during the unwinding process. Having reached the second corner, the roll is also left lying, nothing is cut off yet.
Return to the beginning of the tape, take it by the edge and place it over the seam. Using a caulking blade, press the tape in the middle, leaving the edges to protrude by 5-7 cm. In this way, the entire inter-crown seam is passed.
Insert insulation into the seam
Measure out another 25-30 cm of tape and only then cut it off the roll. This reserve will allow you to hammer the grooves more tightly without adding insulation.
Now, little by little, straightening and tucking the edges of the material, they begin to caulk the seam. The tape should completely disappear into the gap between the logs along with the reserve.
As a rule, one layer of tape is not enough for high-quality filling, so everything will have to be repeated two or even three more times.
The finished seam should protrude from the grooves no more than 3-4 mm and be of uniform thickness.

Prices for caulk

caulk

If the gaps between the crowns are very wide, caulking is used “in a set”. For these purposes, tow, hemp ropes or jute cords are used. Long strands are formed from tow and wound into a ball. Finished cords or ropes are also wound into balls for convenience.

Start from the edge of the lower crown:

clear the gap, removing loose chips and debris;
unwind a small amount of cord, fold it into loops and push it into the gap with caulk;
seal the loops first in the upper part of the gap, then in the lower part;
put another strand on top, now without loops, and level it with a road maker.

Further along the seam, the strands are laid in one layer until the next gap. The more densely the voids are clogged, the better insulation. Try not to leave hanging fibers: firstly, they spoil appearance walls, and secondly, the seal can be pulled away by birds. Having finished caulking the first row, they move on to the second, and everyone repeats in exactly the same way.

To make the log house decorative, you can hammer a jute cord along the entire length of the seams.

Caulking corners

The corners are caulked separately after the work on the walls is completed. It is also more convenient to use tape insulation here.

Since the seams between the logs at the corners have a semicircular shape, you will need a curved caulk.

Step 1. The tape is positioned vertically. Take it by the edge, apply it to the corner seam and press it inward with caulk. They step back a little and drive the material into the gap again.

Step 2. As soon as the insulation has been secured a little, they begin to tuck the protruding edges and drive them deeper into the cracks.

Step 3. After filling and leveling the top seam, move on to the second. The material must be constantly straightened and stretched a little so that it lies more evenly.

This is how the entire corner is sequentially compacted. The seams should not protrude more than 5 mm, otherwise the appearance will be sloppy.

Video - How to caulk a corner of a log house

Caulking a log house with sealants

Caulking of log houses with special sealants, which are easy to apply, give the seams a very aesthetic appearance and reliably protect against blowing, is gaining popularity. If the log house is made of rounded logs or laminated veneer lumber, and jute is laid as insulation between the crowns, you can only use sealant and a rope made of foamed polyethylene. Sealing of seams is carried out no earlier than shrinkage of the log house occurs.

Step 1. The joints between the logs are cleaned of dust and clogged debris and wiped dry with a rag.

Step 2. A primer primer is applied along the perimeter of the seams using a brush or sprayer. If work is carried out in winter, the primer should be rubber-based, summer time- on the water.

Step 3. After the primer has dried, a rope of foamed polyethylene is inserted into the seams, the diameter of which is selected according to the width of the gap.

Step 4. Apply sealant. They use the composition in tubes, which is applied using mounting gun, in buckets and in the form of a tape. The last option is very easy to use: remove the tape from one side protective film, apply to the seam, press with your hand and roll with a roller.

Step 5. After sealing all inter-crown joints, remove the outer layer of film so that the sealant hardens. Finally, the joints are coated with colorless varnish or a tinting compound is applied, depending on the color of the sealant.

When applying the composition with a spatula or from a tube, the sealant should be smoothed and excess should be removed with a damp cloth.

If the logs for the log house were harvested by hand, more uneven gaps will form during shrinkage. Here, one sealant and a polyethylene cord will not be enough. In such cases, caulking is performed in the traditional way, after which the seams are sealed with sealant. After such treatment, there is no need for subsequent caulking.

Video - How to caulk a log house

The wood at the base of the walls of the house begins to dry out over time. This leads to the formation of cracks, which should be eliminated, because a building with grooves between the logs loses its thermal insulation characteristics. Caulking will help you cope with such problems. wooden house, which sometimes needs to be done several times during the operation of the house.

Caulking performs the functions of insulation and also protects the wood from moisture.

Caulking, which performs the functions of insulation, also has related purposes, including protecting the wood from moisture. Its accumulation occurs due to the collision of warm air masses coming from the house and cold air masses from the street. Condensation is very dangerous for wooden walls, as it can cause the formation of mold and mildew on them.

Tools and materials

mallet;
caulk;
insulation;
forests.

Selecting material for caulking

In order for caulking of a wooden house to be effective, you must choose good insulation, which should have insignificant thermal conductivity. The material must be insensitive to humidity and temperature fluctuations and must be wind-resistant.

Moss acts as the most good decision for caulking a wooden house.

You should choose a bioinert material, which will eliminate the interest of insects and pathogenic fungi in the walls of the house. Should be preferred environmentally friendly material, otherwise, building a wooden house makes no sense. Durability is also important for insulation; it should not be less than 20 years. Among the qualities, air permeability and hygroscopicity are also important. Last characteristic involves absorbing moisture and releasing it when necessary.

In view of the above requirements for the characteristics of insulation, moss acts as the most successful solution for caulking a wooden house.

This material is a marsh plant. It is not for nothing that it is used as an interventional heat insulator, because it is a natural antiseptic. This quality allows it to prevent the formation and further development of putrefactive bacteria and fungi, which guarantees a longer service life of the wood. Moss is able to smooth out changes in environmental humidity.

Despite many advantages, over time they began to look for a replacement for moss, since this material is quite difficult to work with.
When caulking a house, tow not only insulates the walls, but also seals them.

You can also caulk a house with tow, which is obtained from flax fibers. The material not only insulates the walls, but also effectively seals them. Sometimes tow is treated with resins, which increases its resistance to moisture. When using tow, the caulking will have to be done again after some time, since the material contains a huge amount of fire, which is gradually shaken out.

The process of caulking houses can also be done with hemp, which is not afraid of temperature changes and high humidity. This allows the hemp not to lose its characteristics even after getting wet, so the heat insulator is resistant to rotting.

Caulking is often carried out using jute fiber, which is not affected by mold, bacteria and is not of interest to insects and birds. Jute is also hygroscopic and easy to compact, which compensates for its high cost.

Caulking is done in several stages, which is explained by the gradual shrinkage of the building. First time wooden house should be caulked after assembly.

The second stage is carried out 1-1.5 years after completion of construction. The work must be repeated a third time after 6 years, since it is believed that after this period the house stops shrinking. If you plan to cover the house with siding, the 3rd stage of caulking is not required.

If you are wondering how to caulk correctly, you should know that the insulation must be laid in a layer of at least 5 mm.

If caulking is done after building a house, insulation should remain hanging on both sides of the walls, which should be tucked in and pushed into the grooves between the logs. Such manipulations should be carried out using a hammer and a tool called a caulk. The hammer should be wooden or rubber. The caulking process should be carried out in several stages; after the first batch of material, which ended up in the grooves, the second batch will have to be used. Thus, you need to fill the gaps until the material fits in them. If a knife blade of 15 mm or less can be placed in the groove between the crowns, the caulking is successful.

It is important to know that you need to caulk the house correctly between the crowns, where quite large gaps. To do this, you should use jute; you will have to twist long strands out of it, then roll them into a ball. Then you will need to pick up loops from the resulting ball, placing them in the grooves until the latter are filled.

IN winter time It will be possible to check how well the caulking was done; for this, the walls need to be analyzed for the presence of so-called “hares”. They are pockets of frost located on the outer sides of the walls. These lesions form on the cracks through which warm air evaporates from the premises of the house. If there are such “hares,” you need to mark their locations in order to eliminate the grooves between the beams. A year after caulking, the house should be inspected in order to qualitatively repeat the insulation. Thermal insulation will have to be added to the places where it has frayed or spilled out; in some places the cracks may increase and need to be eliminated.

It must be remembered that natural insulation materials are of interest to birds, which is why they should be hidden as carefully as possible between the grooves.

The house should be caulked from 4 walls at the same time, during which you cannot do without outside help. And in the future, when carrying out work it will be necessary to use scaffolding. Completion of re-caulking indicates the possibility of finishing works inside the house.

Before starting work, you should take into account some exceptions that caulk technology implies. Thus, moss can be used exclusively for insulating a house assembled from non-profiled timber. This is due to the fact that after installation, the said insulation will completely fill the inter-crown space, which is completely unacceptable if the timber is assembled using a tongue-and-groove system.

The key to the success of high-quality work is knowledge of how to caulk correctly, so it is important to familiarize yourself with the rules before the start of insulation.

From time immemorial, a wooden frame has served people as a warm, reliable home. And now many people prefer wood to bricks and foam blocks. Tree - alive natural material. It breathes, changes shape, and sometimes acts up. Therefore, it is important to know the small secrets of construction and follow the advice experienced craftsmen. Experts know how to properly caulk a log house so that you can enjoy comfort in any weather. Having decided how and with what to caulk a house made of timber, you can get to work.

When purchasing profiled timber, a person often hears that he will not need additional insulation. The beams are fitted closely to each other. There is already 5 mm thick insulation between the crowns; it will protect against drafts.

In fact, the house still shrinks a little under its own weight. Even profiled timber, dried in industrial conditions, subject to weather influences. It can either gain moisture or dry out. It’s not significant, but it’s enough for cracks, crevices and cold bridges to appear between the crowns. Following this, drafts will appear and moisture will penetrate inside the walls. Thermal insulation also needs protection. Opened, it can wrinkle, get wet and rot.

If building material became a solid beam or log with natural humidity, then deformation during drying is inevitable.

Knowing how and with what to caulk a timber house, you can avoid:

drafts;
penetration of moisture and damage to wood and thermal insulation inside the wall;
icing of walls;
heat loss.

After properly done caulking, the log house will serve as a reliable shelter from the cold and will not require repairs for a long time

Caulking materials

When choosing how to caulk a timber house, you need to take into account the basic requirements:

low thermal conductivity coefficient;
immunity to temperature fluctuations;
hygroscopicity;
airtightness;
wind resistance;
durability (service life from 20 years);
high antiseptic properties so that harmful insects, mold or mildew do not settle inside;
environmental cleanliness.

Indeed, since the house is built from wood, as interventional insulation should be used natural materials with similar properties.

These include:

hemp hemp;
wool;
felt;
other analogues.

Knowledgeable people usually use only a few of them in their work.

Moss

Moss comes in red and white. One of the most popular materials, known since ancient times.

It is still known thanks to its advantages:

This is an environmentally friendly natural material.
It literally grows under your feet. The main thing is to be able to prepare.
It does not harbor pests. On the contrary, the appearance and development of fungus is excluded.
Resistant to temperature changes.
Absorbs excess moisture.
Has medicinal properties.
Its service life is almost endless.

It is difficult to find on sale, but you can assemble it yourself. This is done in late autumn, when most of the insects and snails have already gone into hibernation.

Natural moss requires serious processing. Soil and debris are removed from it and then dried. Don't dry it too much. This will make it brittle and will no longer serve as a good insulator.

If you managed to buy ready-made moss, you need to soak it before starting work.

However, it is very difficult to caulk with moss without the skill.
If the caulking is not done well enough, the already laid moss is pulled out by birds. For protection, the top is stuffed with strips or decorative cord.

Tow

Tow is similar in thermal insulation properties with moss and is also loved by birds. It is made from waste from the production of flax fibers. Sometimes hemp and jute are used.

Depending on the source raw material, there are bale and strip tow. The first consists of short fibers and is inconvenient for caulking. The second is considered almost ideal and is often used. But it contains fire, it falls out, and the house has to be insulated again.

The big disadvantage of tow is its ability to accumulate moisture, which then begins to undermine the wood. To level out this quality, tow is impregnated with resins. Previously, these were tree resins, but now petroleum products are increasingly common. This does not make it possible to call tow an environmentally friendly material.

Jute

Jute – foreign material. It is produced in India, China and Egypt from a plant of the Malvaceae family. It has the advantage of not attracting the attention of birds. In addition, it is strong, durable, hygroscopic and completely similar in properties to the wood of the house.

Jute is available in the form of ropes, fibers and ribbons. Tapes are most suitable for caulking the first and second stages. They are soft and pliable. Fibers and ropes are used third.

Lnovatin

Linen batting is made from flax and is produced in the form of linen, immediately ready for use.
It retains heat better than others, does not rot and does not absorb water.

New types and forms of insulation appear regularly.

How to caulk a timber house

Caulking is carried out in three stages.

For the first time, when the house was just built. The insulation is placed between the crowns and laid in the cracks.

The second time they caulk the already weathered and settled house. This happens about a year and a half after construction. The insulation is pushed in tightly, leaving no space.

The third caulking should be done after 5-6 years, when the shrinkage of the house has almost stopped. If before this it was not additionally insulated from the outside and not covered with finishing.

There are several options for caulking a log house.

Stretched caulk, set

The stretching method is used for narrow gaps and cracks in timber.

Use special tool, which is called caulk, and a mallet.

They start the process from the upper crowns, move down, pass one seam on the outside and inside. To prevent the house from warping, it is better to work on all four walls at the same time.

First, the insulation is laid by hand, then it is pushed deeper with caulk, and finally it is hit with a mallet to compact the insulation. Continue until the shoulder blade enters the gap less than one and a half centimeters.

Sometimes a wide strip of insulation is laid between the beams during the installation of walls, so that it hangs on both sides. And then they push her inside.

After completion of the work, the height of the log house will increase by ten centimeters.

If the gaps have formed more than two centimeters, choose the “in-set” method.
They cut off the insulation tapes and twist them into bundles, the bundle is folded into loops, then pushed deep into the crack. This way all free space is filled. The final tape is applied on top and compacted using a triangular spatula.

How to caulk corners

To prevent the house from getting cold, it is imperative to insulate the corners. They do it from the inside.
Take a crooked caulk, a long strand of insulation. Apply a strand to the seam, distribute it evenly and push it inside.

It is possible to insulate a house with your own hands, the main thing is to be patient.

Caulking a house is a construction operation, the purpose of which is to seal the cracks between timber or natural logs fibrous material to prevent cold air from entering the home from the street. The second property of caulk is decorative. Smooth long rollers between the logs, twisted from flax or jute and varnished, look original and give the structure a natural look, referring us to the technologies developed during the times of wooden architecture. But the decorative component of caulking is important only for log houses, houses made of logs, which are not finished on the outside. For buildings made of timber, the cracks are only punched with tow, since the walls are almost always lined with finishing material.

Owners may object, why do they need to caulk if the building is to be finished? This can be answered this way: even despite external finishing heat loss through the spaces between the timbers will still be the same. In addition, wood-boring insects, which love to live in such recesses, can settle in them. Therefore, it is better not to take risks, but to caulk the house outside and inside. As a last resort, the cracks should at least be foamed before finishing.

To work, you need to have a special tool, a caulking chisel. They are sold in construction stores. The width of the working part is from 1 to 5 cm. It is more convenient to caulk with a tool with a narrow blade internal corners log house The tow is hammered in with a small sledgehammer, weighing 1 kg. A heavier tool, weighing 1.5 kg, is used in cases where the shrinkage of the house has ended and the gaps between the logs are minimal. Accordingly, when working with a weighted sledgehammer you get tired faster. By the way, almost all professional caulkers have chronic pain in their wrist joints.

To caulk cracks, use natural fibrous material - flax or jute. Jute fiber is more expensive, dense, and birds do not like to pull it out. But if the gap between the beams is minimal, you will have to hammer in the jute with great effort.

Flax fiber is cheaper and less dense. Easily fits into the narrowest gap. If the distance between the beams is wide, more flax is consumed than jute. Birds love to pull it out for their nest-building purposes. The quality of flax fiber is easy to determine: the fewer inclusions of straw, the better it is.

At the stage of building a house, the initial installation of inter-crown insulation is carried out. In ancient times, moss was used for these purposes. It was collected from the forest, dried and placed between logs. Today, this painstaking work is not necessary: flax or jute fiber, collected into strips of various widths, is produced in factories and then sold in stores.

The wider the tape, the cheaper the same volume of fiber. Thrifty owners buy a bale of the widest strip and then cut it to the size of a log or timber. This insulation option is the most economical. Of course, it also has its downsides. Natural fiber cuts very poorly. For these purposes, craftsmen have adapted an ordinary scythe, which must be sharpened after each cut. Therefore, sometimes it is wiser to buy a tape of the required width. You will not spend much more money, but you will save time and nerves, which are so necessary when building a log house.

Inter-crown insulation is laid between logs or beams. To prevent it from being blown away by the wind, it is attached to the tree using a construction stapler. The tape is laid with a small margin, so after it the walls look untidy, with rags of insulation sticking out everywhere.

After construction, the house is left to shrink. During this time, the tree dries and decreases in size. between the logs they close or, on the contrary, increase. This happens when the timber or logs are uneven. In any case, gaps appear through which cold air. To minimize losses on buildings, it is necessary to caulk them.

The construction services market has a wide range of caulking offers. wooden houses. Type the word “caulk” in the search bar and you will see large selection such works. This service is expensive; in 2017, prices for 1 meter of caulk start at 100 rubles. If you have a log house measuring 8 by 8 m and a height of 2.5 m, then you will spend about 50,000 rubles on caulking the outside alone. And there's just as much inside. This work is not difficult, but rather monotonous. If the construction budget allows, it is better to hire professional caulkers. They will do their work quickly and efficiently. If you don’t have money for caulking, but still hold on, you can perform this construction operation yourself.

The approach to caulking a house made of timber for finishing and a log house is slightly different. The log is completely caulked, even if there are no cracks. Here, the caulking also has a decorative component - an even roller is made along the perimeter of the building between all the crowns of jute or flax. IN timber house, if there are no gaps between the crowns, it is not necessary to hammer in the caulk. Only those places through which air can enter are caulked. In addition, the tow is hammered flush with the wall, decorative roller do not do this, as the surface will be finished off. This version of caulking is much faster.

CAULKING AT HOME WITH YOUR HANDS

About six months after the construction of the house, they begin to make caulk by pushing old tow inside the crack. This is the most simple work. Take a chisel and, starting from the lowest crown, break through the tow that has come out between the beams. According to the rules, you need to caulk the log house around the perimeter of the house, starting from the bottom of the building. There were cases when inexperienced builders first caulked one wall, then the other. As a result, the house was warped, and the tow had to be removed and the whole work redoed again.

Then we take the tow and start punching it. We used flax insulation, tape, 15 cm wide. This is the most common size, since tow of this width can be rolled 2 times. We tear off a piece of about 2 m and tuck the edge between the timber, driving it in with a chisel to a depth of 1-2 cm so that it does not jump out. If the gap is so small and you understand that cold air will not pass through it, there is no need to caulk the timber.

Then we take the tape by the bottom edge, fold it in half and again hammer it with a chisel along the entire length. There is no need to punch deep; it is enough that the insulation does not fall out of the gap.

Next, we’ll roll up the tow again and also hammer it between the beams. Here you need to increase the force of the blow with the sledgehammer in order to push the tow inside.

Now you need to hammer it flush with the wall along the entire length of the tape using short elastic blows.

The fibrous material located between the beams must be elastic and not be pressed through by finger pressure. If the width is quite large and the tow is easily crushed, you need to add more tapes of the same length and repeat the whole operation again. Over time, you will understand how much tow you need to caulk the crack. different sizes. Then we again tear off another 2 meters of tow and break through further gaps, and so on around the entire perimeter of the house.

Vertical seams between the beams are hammered in the same way. Only the tow needs to be rolled several times more. The result should be an elastic roller driven flush with the wall.

Corners are also made using this system. In some cases, a chisel with a narrow blade may be needed. If you didn't buy one, a regular impact driver may work.

Thus, meter by meter, you need to go through all the crowns around the perimeter of the building. Finally, to prevent the wind and birds from tearing the tow apart and removing it from the cracks, it can be treated with varnish for outdoor use. For log houses, yacht varnish is usually used, for finishing - the cheapest. The varnish is applied to the seam with a brush.

When it dries, the tow will harden and neither the wind nor the birds will be able to pull it out. In some cases, after about six months to a year, after the final shrinkage of the structure, re-caulking is carried out. Before this, an inspection of the cracks is carried out to ensure the need for this construction operation.

Caulking is a tedious and time-consuming job. Especially when it is necessary to pierce the upper crowns. We have to tinker scaffolding or use the ladder, climbing on and off it countless times to move it further.

It is most convenient to caulk with your own hands in winter period when cold weather prevents you from doing other things. Dress warmly, brush the snow off the wall, and swing the sledgehammer until it gets dark. If you liked the article, share it on social networks.