Caulk with moss
In caulking with moss, the main thing is no longer compliance with technological subtleties - in this regard, it is a lot easier than caulking fibrous materials– and the procurement of material. More precisely, purchasing. Forest and swamp building moss goes on sale, but self-harvesting of tree moss is possible only in certain places very remote from civilization, and self-harvesting of bog moss in most developed countries is prohibited and prosecuted by law: in last decades identified exclusively important role swamps as moisture accumulators and regulators of natural processes. In addition, mosses actively accumulate many useful and harmful microelements; swamp moss is a natural filter for radionuclides. By caulking with moss collected yourself, you risk not only infecting the frame with rot, mold and pests, but also yourself and your loved ones, which is no better.
The best moss for caulking is bog sphagnum, or cuckoo flax, pos. 1 in Fig: it never wakes up in buildings and releases substances that protect wood from damage. But it is impossible to caulk with bright green fresh sphagnum (item 2) - on the contrary, it will overheat and ruin the frame. You need to caulk with moss (both swamp and forest), dried until it withers without rotting, pos. 3. This moss is sold in bags (item 4). It must be stored in them until use, not allowing it to dry out completely: moss that is still slightly alive is suitable for caulking. Dried gray or brown building moss (item 5) is not caulk, but insulation material. By the way, very good.
Note: It is impossible to caulk with rock and ground moss - particles of the substrate with germs of wood pests will certainly remain in it.
Procedure for caulking with moss
They caulk with moss before winter. In the spring, when it gets warm but not dry yet, the hanging festoons are checked (see below) and the green ones are plucked out. Then the scallops are tapped into the grooves. It is very important to prevent the caulk from drying out: if the moss begins to crumble under the caulking tool, the entire caulk will never be intact, and every 2-5 years you will have to re-caulk, and the entire log house will not stand as long as it can. A year later, the building is checked and, if it is split, a secondary caulk is carried out with the same (!) moss.
Sphagnum moss is laid out in the grooves when assembling the log house as a mountain (item 1 in the figure below), because It cakes heavily under pressure. The festoons of bog moss should hang abundantly from the grooves, pos. 2. Immediately after assembling the frame, moss is added to the remaining cracks (shown by arrows in position 2), tamping the top with oblique wooden caulk. Quite easily reviving tree moss, on the contrary, is laid out sparingly but tightly so that there are no empty cracks, pos. 3. Its festoons should protrude from the grooves of the assembled frame by approx. half the palm of your hand, but not hanging down, pos. 4. Hanging ones (shown by an arrow in position 4) are cut off.
Instead of moss
In coastal areas you can find durable log buildings, caulked instead of moss with damask - sea grass eelgrass or eelgrass thrown ashore by storms. Kamka also good insulation and in this capacity it is now sold dried, but caulk can only be done with damp, fresh stone. But caulking with damask turns out to be excellent: it releases salts into the tree, making it unsuitable for pests, and releases iodine into the air in the room. Which, as is known, among others beneficial properties, promotes the removal of cumulative poisons and radionuclides from the body. They caulk with damask like moss, with some differences: they take it apart into flat strands and lay them out in the grooves of the log house in a herringbone pattern without gaps so that the ends hang down half a log. Upon completion of the assembly of the log house, the ends are tapped into the grooves with wooden caulk.
Synthetics and sealants
Synthetic caulking is used in combination with rough jute tape, or, for “aesthetics,” with twisted white jute rope. The rough tape is placed in the grooves of the log house under caulking with sealants without wings, flush with the edges of the groove. If the logs have a Finnish groove, then the edges of the tape should lie exactly on the longitudinal cuts in the log under the edge protrusions of the groove of the upper log.
Sealants for wood are produced in chemically neutral polyurethane: silicone for mechanical and physical and chemical properties worse match with wood (in particular, according to the coefficient thermal expansion TKR), and is destroyed under the influence of even very weak acids. In turn, the silicone solvent - acetic acid - spoils the wood, so do not try to replace special sealants for wood with ordinary construction ones. Synthetics are used to caulk mainly log houses made of laminated logs and timber - their estimated service life is the same as that of glue joints of laminated lumber.
Caulking with sealants is done quickly and simply: the initial composition is squeezed out of the tube into the groove, pos. 1 in Fig.. When it has set, the seams are puttied on top with a finishing compound to match the wood, pos. 2.:
There is also an “ultra-modern” method of caulking log houses built without rough caulking at all: cuts are made along the seams, strands of self-expanding polyethylene foam are inserted into them and sealed with wood-like sealant, pos. 3. In essence, this is no longer caulking, because This method is suitable for buildings made of lumber without shaped grooves, assembled on dowels and impregnated with water repellents (water-repellent impregnations). In addition, it is only suitable for selected materials chamber drying, completely dried out and shriveled. And then what will happen with warping from moisture during operation - we’ll wait and see: in practice, “caulk-free caulking” has so far been used for no more than 10-12 years.
Let's return to caulking, which is still caulking, albeit synthetic. Finishing compounds darken when dry, so they are selected to match the wood using test strokes on the container. But in the light of the finish line synthetic caulk burns out and the walls of the log house take on the appearance shown in pos. 4. Some people, since such “decoration” cannot be avoided, order caulking seams to be glued or filled with white twisted cord. How much this adds “aesthetics and respect” to the building is a matter of taste of the owner. And there is no arguing about tastes. Moreover, about the tastes of people who believe that natural wood needs additional “improvement”.
It is much more practical to use synthetic caulk to seal gaping cracks in logs, pos. 5 in Fig. On top of the sealant, the cracks are filled with any wood putty for exterior use, and the entire structure is rejuvenated. The putty has to be renewed every 2-3 years - it also fades in the light - but this doesn’t last long, it’s not difficult and inexpensive.
The final touch - sanding
Caulking has not yet completed the construction of the log house until it is ready for flooring, installation attic floor, roofs, installation of windows, doors, partitions, for finishing and equipment - the log house is desirable, but the inside must be sanded. Especially – chopped from wild log, debarked by hand.
Sanding a frame with sandpaper is extremely time-consuming, tedious, and this damages the outer most resistant layers of the wood. The log house is sanded manually using a universal grinder with nylon brushes. Worse - grinder with them; drive is too powerful. But the main thing here is still brushes for sanding wood, see video review:
Video: review of nylon brushes for sanding logs
Sanding a log frame with a brush is actually a controversial issue: the brush removes the bead of caulk, see figure..
In principle, the answer to this question is obvious. Log caulking is needed to eliminate inter-log cracks and gaps by sealing them with various types of insulation.
This process is repeated multiple times:
Directly when laying logs on logs during the construction of a structure, during country house construction with your own hands.
12 months after installation of the log house.
Not less than four years from the previous log caulking.
Due to the fact that log houses tend to shrink (albeit not always significantly) throughout their life, when cracks appear, the log house must be caulked.
2. Methods for caulking a log house.
Also, do not forget that you need to hammer in the insulation carefully, since you can greatly raise the height of the log house. And yet, the walls are caulked on both sides. Or you may get skewed again. If you use moss, it should be moist and not crumble into dust.
Fig.3 Caulk of a log house with tow
In the case of tow and moss:
1. The material is twisted into a bundle.
2. It is pushed as far as possible into the cracks between the logs.
3. Caulking is applied to the resulting tourniquet.
4. And slowly hammer it in with a hammer or mallet.
This is the so-called “stretch” method, which is used for not very large gaps. Otherwise, the tourniquet does not stretch along its entire length, but is formed into loops and then clogged. Here, the same area will require much more insulation. This method is called "set".
Fig.4 Caulk of a log house with jute or flax wool
At log caulking flax or jute:
1. The upper part of the insulation is fixed.
2. The lower part is folded from top to bottom.
3. Carefully hammered into the cracks.
Fig.5 Caulk of a log house in the corners
Both methods are also used here, depending on the size of the gap.
Fig.6 We caulk the frame with sealant
In case of caulk the log house with a special sealant:
1. First, the sealing cord is pushed in.
2. Use a special gun to squeeze the sealant into the cracks.
4. What to do after caulking the log house.
When the process log caulking finished with your own hands, in any case, you will cover it with some kind of product, of which there are a huge variety now. So, in order to prevent the birds from pulling the insulation out of the cracks, and they really like to use it as building material your nests, we recommend:
Or cover all joints with jute rope, which will give an even more aesthetic appearance to your home.
Or, when painting, additionally go over the seams with a brush several times so that the outer part of the insulation hardens.
In our opinion, the first method is more interesting. Of course, it is more expensive, but it is done only once and again looks very beautiful. The second method is less reliable and will require periodic touch-ups.
In general, as you understand log caulk You can completely do it yourself. Everything is quite simple if you know some of the nuances that we have already talked about. But in general, the process is quite tedious.
There is almost no reduction in the number of people wanting to build own house made of wood. Moreover, wooden buildings have a lot of advantages in comparison with frame, concrete and brick buildings.
But often many people forget that wooden frame, whether it is built from logs, rounded logs or timber, has such a significant drawback or, rather, feature as shrinkage and high deformability wooden elements. For this reason, construction wooden house is always more time consuming - first you need to wait for the frame to shrink, and only then can you start finishing work.
But it leads not only to a change in the geometric dimensions of the logs, but also to the appearance of cracks and leaks, which subsequently need to be sealed. Without this, the house will be cold, damp and uncomfortable. To eliminate any defects that have arisen, the walls are caulked.
What is caulking
The process of caulking consists of eliminating gaps between the elements of a log house with thermal insulation material, which is designed to prevent cold air flows from penetrating into the house.
This one would seem simple work requires patience, accuracy and quite a lot of time from the performer. Caulking technology has remained virtually unchanged over the past centuries, so many developers prefer not to do caulking themselves, but use the labor of professionals.
The caulking process has several purposes:
- correction of defects made during the assembly of the log house;
- by eliminating cold bridges;
- elimination of gaps that inevitably arise in the crowns, corners of the house, between windows and the frame;
- giving the house a finished look.
You should not think that it is enough to caulk the house once and all problems will be solved.
Only at the first stage - during the construction of a house - caulking is carried out twice:
- after the initial shrinkage of the log house (about six months after its assembly);
- before starting finishing work.
In ancient times, the main materials for insulating a log house were moss and wool. They are still used today, but other materials have appeared on the market, varying in price and raw materials. Therefore, anyone, even those limited in funds, will be able to find suitable material to insulate your home.
In order to choose the right material for caulking, you need to know the properties that it should have (or at least most of them).
These are properties such as:
All materials used to insulate a log house are divided into two groups: natural and synthetic.
- tow;
- hemp;
- felt;
- flax wool;
- jute.
- mineral wool;
- foamed polyethylene;
- foam;
- sealants.
Of the artificial insulation materials, only sealants deserve attention.
Other insulation materials should not be used, as this will lead to undesirable consequences:
- good insulation, but it is afraid of moisture and can lead to the development of allergic reactions in some people;
- foamed polyethylene is a closed-cell material that retains heat well, but does not breathe, which can lead to rotting of the log crowns;
- foam rubber and other materials with open pores are not able to protect the seam from freezing, since air and water get into the pores (in addition, foam rubber sags under the weight of logs and decomposes in the light).
Seams can also be sealed using sealants. This process is much simpler and faster than traditional caulk. Some sealants (for example, Neomid) have good adhesion to wood and high elasticity. Sealants are applied using a construction gun. The seams obtained in this way are not afraid of moisture, do not decompose under the influence of UV rays, do not turn yellow or mold.
But, no matter how good modern sealants are, most owners prefer to caulk their homes using natural materials.
Moss- this is the most ancient and to this day quite effective insulation for a log house.
It has such necessary properties as:
- excellent hygroscopicity (capable of absorbing moisture in a volume 20 times its own);
- the presence of lignin in the structure of the fibers, which resists deterioration of both the moss itself and the logs;
- bactericidal properties - moss is able to destroy microorganisms.
Before caulking, dry moss is moistened in a solution prepared from 200 g of soap and 500 g of oil, dissolved in a bucket of water. Of all the types of moss, only two types are used as caulk: forest moss (cuckoo flax) and red swamp moss.
The moss is not laid after the frame is assembled, but during it. To do this, the moistened material is distributed in a layer of at least 10 cm along the crowns with the stems across. The ends of the stems, 10–15 cm long, are released outside for subsequent caulking. The disadvantage of this method is the high labor intensity of preparing the moss (it must be cleared of soil residues and dried) and the rather complex process of caulking.
Tow It can be used, but it is not advisable.
There are several reasons:
- it is difficult to twist tow so that it does not fall apart;
- it absorbs water vapor well, so it is almost always wet and deteriorates;
- in the heat, the material crumbles into dust;
- Birds love tow and use it to build nests.
Thus, the log house will have to be caulked too often. The tow is first treated with a formaldehyde solution and then dried. This protects it from pests. Working with tow is not very convenient, because it is too hard and it is very difficult to achieve a dense filling of the seam.
Hemp– made from hemp stem fibers, which are highly durable and resistant to various influences.
– non-woven material, made from felted wool. For caulking, it is cut into strips. Needs pre-treatment protective compounds, because it is easily damaged by moths and other pests. Currently, you can purchase impregnated felt that has already been treated with bitumen or resin.
Linen– it is advisable to use dry wood or wood to insulate the house. The material does not have high density and is afraid of prolonged exposure to moisture, which can cause rotting processes in it. The shade of flax caulk is usually gray.
Lnovatin– made from flax and jute, which together form good insulation. Material of racks external influences, has good density and the ability to restore its size. After the wood dries, leading to the formation of cracks, the material reliably fills all the resulting voids.
Jute- its properties resemble moss, but it is much easier to work with. The material has sufficient density to keep the cold out and keep the heat out of the house. Jute is a breathable, hygroscopic material. In addition to all these positive properties, jute has a beautiful golden hue, which greatly decorates the house.
Insulation technology for log walls
From ancient times to this day for insulation wooden walls two main technologies are used.
Stretching - used mainly for caulking narrow cracks:
- a strand is formed from the selected insulation, placed in the slot and pushed through with a spatula, leaving an edge of the material about 5 cm long outside;
- then a thin roll is rolled out of the insulation, which is wrapped into the left free edge of the insulation and carefully, using a chisel, hammered into the groove.
Included in the set - used for caulking large grooves and cracks between logs:
- the sealant is twisted into long strands up to 15 mm thick and wound into balls;
- then it is carefully unwound, while simultaneously hammering the material into the cracks using a caulking chisel;
- if there are gaps different sizes, then for larger required thickness The insulation is collected by twisting it into loops.
- caulks (they are different: type-setting, curved, broken);
- wooden mallet or rubber mallet with a wide head.
Caulking tools have a steel blade that must be soft and smooth, otherwise it may damage the seal.
Work order:
- The caulking process itself begins from below, from the very lower crown and continues upward. It must be taken into account that caulking the seams changes the height of the log house.
- One seam must be caulked along the entire perimeter of the log house, first from the outside, then from the inside. This will avoid distortions in the walls of the house.
- Then the next highest seam is processed. And so on until the very top.
Caulk separate walls This is not possible, this may cause the wall to deviate from the vertical.
As you can see, the process of caulking a log house is not that complicated, but it requires great care and careful execution of all operations. Then your home is on long years will be protected from atmospheric influences, and the facades of the house will take on a finished look.
Wood is an excellent natural building and insulation material. An artificial analogue that could replace it 100% has not yet been invented. Therefore, wood is still actively used as a building material. And it is not surprising that summer residents in most cases choose houses made of wood - logs. But many are looking for a solution to the problem of protecting logs from deformation, damage and moisture. And, naturally, the question arises of how to caulk a log house. Because it is after caulking that wood walls become even more reliable and durable.
Felt, tow, and hemp are used to insulate the log house.
Caulking of a log house is done only after the house has completely settled down, and can be done no earlier than six months or a year later. But the longer the shrinkage process takes place, the better it will be.
During the construction of the house between the logs and internal lining there is insulation.
So, if it is installed correctly, the edges of the insulation should be visible from the outside of the wall.
Where to start the process?
The first step is to compact the edges of the insulation between the log frame using a hammer and chisel. In this case, you need to be very careful and start caulking the log house from the lowest logs. And carry it along all the walls at the same time. The first stage of caulking a log house can be risky, since compacting the insulation can move the logs together.
The higher it rises, the more minimal effort the insulation is compacted. On upper levels the insulation can simply be bent with further fastening.
When constructing corner log houses, the insulation is often placed incorrectly and extends only beyond the ends of the house.
Caulk of a log house: A - stretched; B - set.
- This error needs to be corrected by adding additional balls of insulation to such places so that it extends beyond the bowls of the log frame, but this technology is used only at the corners.
- After completing the first stage of the work process, it is necessary to inspect the walls of the house from all sides in order to check for gaps between log cabins, their further elimination by completing the first stage. After all, if you make mistakes at this stage, the work may turn out to be of poor quality and the wooden frame will not give the wall the necessary qualities.
- It must also be remembered that the edges of the insulation are not simply pushed between the log frames. They are precisely compacted, and most of them must fall into the cracks to eliminate them, so that the log houses do not rise among themselves, thereby not forming new cracks.
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Continuation of caulking walls
Natural sealants are sold in the form fabric tape and cotton wool.
The second stage of caulking the walls is to lay the outer layer of insulation. For this, either the same material as before, or some other one can be used. The main thing is that it is of high quality and easy to use. This process is much simpler and consists mainly in fixing the second layer of insulation, but not using a tamper between the log cabins, but in using additional materials, for example, wooden planks.
Not everyone uses the second stage of caulking log houses, but it provides an additional guarantee that it will not be damaged at first, and the owner’s efforts will not be in vain.
The outer layer of insulation is added without special effort. It is desirable that the insulation be slightly harder than the internal masonry. Moreover, the second stage will go better if in the process you use roofing felt folded into several sheets. Thus, the result should not be very wide, the size of a maximum of a human palm, but the length of the tape laid in the gap between the log houses.
Sometimes a rope as thick as a rope is used, but this method is more labor-intensive and requires additional use different fastening solutions. However, it is short-lived, since fastening mortars qualitatively fasten bricks, and not log cabins.
A path made of roofing felt or pressed moss (which can also be used, and the quality will not be lost) is caulked in place of the first caulk. Immediately after laying this kind of insulation, the result is secured by fixing it on top wooden planks. It is advisable to choose a tree that is not too thin and not too thick.
What is caulk? Essentially, this is the process of compacting a log house with fibrous materials - moss, tow and others; it can be used thermal insulation material How interventional insulation– flax jute fiber, polyurethane foam, For example. But caulking correctly is not so easy - you will learn about all the intricacies and features of this process from this article. So, how to caulk a log house - with moss, tow, tape and sealants.
Technology for getting the job done right
Once the frame is laid, it is still impossible to caulk it - after all, shrinkage lies ahead. One can understand, of course, the desire of those building a bathhouse to make money, which is why they offer to caulk everything right there, but this needs to be done only after at least six months.
So, as soon as the log house has shrunk, you can begin to caulk it - from the bottom up, from the very bottom crown. This should be done this way: caulk one seam, strictly along the perimeter of the entire log house - outside, then inside. It is impossible to caulk each wall separately - otherwise the log house will warp over time. The same applies to separate external caulking and inside– because of this, a dangerous vertical deviation of the walls can easily occur.
Caulking is a careful, fussy job. At the same time, the master is obliged to constantly monitor the log house so that there are no distortions in the walls. And it’s bad if, after caulking, the entire frame has risen up a whole crown - this will invariably lead to logs falling out of the dowels or locks, and therefore it is better not to allow this.
Which material should you prefer?
So, here are the most common materials for caulking a log bath:
Moss - like the good old days
Moss - environmentally friendly pure material, which has medicinal properties. It resists temperature changes and drying well, absorbs moisture, but does not rot. And most importantly, it has antimicrobial and tonic properties, and at the same time lasts quite a long time.
This material for caulking has been used since ancient times. Today it cannot be called the best, but many bathhouse owners use only it during construction.
So, when laying, you can only use highly moistened moss - then after drying the log house, it will turn into a homogeneous dense mass that will fill all the cavities and cracks. Therefore, you won’t have to caulk the bathhouse anymore. However experienced builders it is not recommended to give special meaning historical experience of its use - such finishing is still quite expensive.
Tow - not everything is so smooth
Caulking tow is the most difficult. As the log house dries out, it will gradually gain moisture and eventually rot, turning into dust. And then you will have to clean out this insulation, caulk everything again and tightly fill the empty cavities - and this will take a lot of effort and time.
Sealants - modern technologies
Sealants for log baths are much more expensive than tow, but they also have their own undeniable advantages. Sealants as a means of caulking are suitable if the log house is rounded, or well-cut from an ordinary log, and the groove in it is semicircular. And if there is jute fabric between the logs. In this case, you can really get by with just one sealant. But, if the log house was made using a chainsaw, and the groove in it is triangular in shape, then it is already necessary to fill the void, i.e. caulk for real.
If you use a sealant with tow, then everything should happen according to this scheme: the bathhouse is caulked with tow twice, and after it completely shrinks, the seams are sealed. And in order to save sealant, it is advisable to lay a cord of insulation in the grooves.
And for the seams different widths – different types sealant. But the seams turn out light and neat. And there is no longer any risk of subsequent caulking.
Caulk with tape insulation
One of the most simple ways caulking – caulking with tape. There is no need to cut it into strips, which makes the whole process much easier. And you need to do it like this:
- Step 1. First you need to approach one of the ends of the log house, place the end of the tape on the ground, and, unwinding it, gradually move away to the other end. There is no need to cut the tape - it is only important that it does not twist and runs in a strip. And most importantly, the tape should not be pulled, it should go slightly relaxed.
- Step 2. Returning to the beginning of the tape, you need to lift its end and start tucking it right from the end between the crowns - with the tool that was selected depending on the existing gaps. As soon as it has already been passed to the end, you need to leave a margin of 10-20 cm - and only then can the tape be cut, and only with well-sharpened scissors.
- Step 3. At this stage, you can already caulk the tape. But only a little bit - otherwise it will go into folds. Moreover, you need to caulk it not in one stage, but in several - until the tape completely disappears in the logs, and the reserve that was initially left will also disappear. As for the process itself, the tape should be pushed in diagonally.
- Step 4. Now you need to repeat everything - between the same crowns. Oddly enough, two or three tapes will easily fit there, depending on their density. Those. The amount of insulation caulking itself requires at least four times what was originally used during installation - and this is only when caulking outside, whereas according to all the rules, the same should be done inside.
So, if the insulation padding has become dense, like wood, the caulking was successful. By the way, craftsmen advise taking jute of at least 10 mm - and the thicker it is, the better.
But today a Chinese instrument is considered a completely worthy alternative, which is not expensive and is quite acceptable in quality.
By the way, if you use a hard tool for caulking, you cannot avoid chips and dents - after all, it will slide off. Soft caulk is more difficult to use, but you can make it right on the spot, with your own hands. Made today and wooden caulking with curved edges, which penetrate deep into the seam quite easily, but they require skill to use.
In general, everything is within the power of a Russian person!