Need to urgently get a shirt, sweater or dress down a size or two? This need may arise for various reasons. Sometimes a thing stretches during wear or is bought in a size larger than necessary, or the owner of a beautiful sweater has lost weight, but does not want to part with her favorite thing. Then the solution of the problem arises: how to make the thing sit down after home washing. After all, baggy things suit few people, especially if the figure is slender and you want to demonstrate it on the contrary.
Wool
If you need to plant a wool item, hand wash it with liquid agent.
The basic rule for woolen knitwear is never soak it, things only stretch out from this.
How to wash knitwear so that they shrink
T-shirts in the process of wearing are often stretched out and lose their attractive appearance. What can be done to restore them? If they are properly tailored (and this is not always the case) - there are chances. Can help you reduce their volume washing machine.
- Wash knitwear on the highest temperature and spin speed.
- Another method involves dipping a T-shirt in boiling water without washing it. After lying in it for 5 minutes, the product will decrease by one size; staying for 15 minutes will reduce the thing by one and a half to two sizes.
High water temperatures can encourage shedding. If you do not want to risk color, wash the item as required by its label. And for shrinkage, use an electric dryer.
How to shrink cotton clothes
We reduce linen things in size.
- Linen is a natural fiber and the shrinkage process is similar to that of cotton. Use 90° hot water and a gentle setting in the machine, or soak the item in a basin for a while at this temperature.
- Do not use washing powder with chlorine in the composition - this substance is detrimental to linen. Rinse off the remaining product in cool water. After such a wash, your linen item will sit down one size.
How to make synthetic outfits sit down.
For synthetics to shrink, things need to be dried in a washing machine.
- Not every synthetic fabric shrinks. You will not be able to plant products made of acrylic, lycra and spandex. It will be possible to solve the problem with a decrease in size only by altering things. Small size by washing can only be purchased products from polyester And nylon. To do this, wash them with your hands in cold water.
- The subsequent drying in a washing machine or on a battery can further provoke the shrinkage of these fabrics.
We reduce the outfit made of silk.
- Silk fiber does not tolerate too high temperatures. Wash silk items by hand in warm water. Even from this they will sit down a little. You can dry it outdoors or at room temperature.
Do not hang silk linen on the radiator for drying, it can be permanently deformed.
Additional ways to shrink things
The drying method can also affect the size of woolen items. A woolen thing can sit down if it is dried after a normal wash on a hot battery.
To shrink a piece of cotton clothing, such as a jacket, heat the iron, set the steam output to maximum and process the entire product.
Shrinkage methods for other things are based on exposure to high temperatures and a contrast washing mode.
Are there any special fabric shrinkage products?
Alas, but the means that allow things to decrease when they are used, you will not find on sale. So, one way or another, you will have to resort to various washing options. In weaving mills, the fabric is subjected to forced shrinkage on shrink machines (decathing) so that it shrinks less in the future, or it is treated with anti-shrink chemicals and resins.
The ability of a fabric to shrink refers to defects in the fabric, and not vice versa, therefore, industrial means for influencing the fabric in this direction are not produced. A shrunken piece of clothing can more often upset than please.
Well, if you have lost weight, and it’s a pity to part with your favorite things, change them. If there are a lot of such things, it is better to give them to the studio, in the hands of professional tailors. In extreme cases, put your clothes in a wardrobe for storage. Who knows, you might still need it.
Your worries are in vain.
Many so-called "specialists" unknowingly spread the myth about the catastrophic consequences for repairs from shrinkage of a panel house - this is not true.
Panel and monolithic-frame houses shrink slightly when the owners move into their apartments.
The calculation of the foundations of residential buildings (most often piled) is carried out for maximum static and dynamic (horizontal and vertical) loads and is multiplied by the load reliability factor (according to GOST 27751-88 "Reliability of building structures and foundations. Basic provisions for calculation.") This coefficient always greater than one, sometimes reaching 1.5.
The negative consequences of shrinkage are relevant for brick new buildings.
In the apartment you bought in a panel house, small cracks are possible in the corners of the rooms (at the junction of the panels) and thin (hairy) cracks in the horizontal corners on the ceiling - the junction between the wall and the ceiling. There can be no cracks on the wall or ceiling, since each individual wall and ceiling is molded at the factory as a separate monolithic reinforced concrete panel. There are no joints between plates or panels in one plane, therefore there can be no cracks on the walls or ceiling.
For about twenty years I have been living on the first! floor of a 22-storey building and not even a cracked wallpaper in any corner.
As for your question regarding laying tiles in the bathroom, you can safely tile the walls and not listen to the "unfortunate specialists" who picked up information from the Internet and claim the opposite.
The whole point is that in the bathrooms of panel houses, cracks cannot appear due to shrinkage of the house or other deformations.
In panel houses, during installation, a unified concrete sanitary cabin with separate or combined bathrooms is installed in each apartment, in the left or right version (in relation to the sewer riser).
Such cabins are molded at the factory in a monolithic reinforced concrete design (walls + ceiling). After the product gains strength in the steaming chamber, it is removed from the mold and a pallet is welded to it from below (to the sanitary cabin), which later serves as the floor of the bathroom. You probably noticed that the floor of your bathroom is 10 centimeters higher than the main floor of the apartment. This is one of the proofs that your bathroom is a separate monolithic product.
Based on the above you can safely make repairs in the bathroom and not be afraid of any shrinkage and cracks.
When facing walls in such bathrooms, it causes additional difficulties that all the walls are tilted inward (installed, as it were, not on a plumb line). This is due to the specifics of production. In order to pull the finished reinforced concrete sanitary cabin out of the mold, the inner molding "cans" are made conical (narrowed towards the top), so the walls of the cabin at the top are a little thicker.
The ceiling of the sancabin is also in most cases not even, but has the shape of an envelope with a raised center (also due to the dome structure of the formwork form). The concrete ceiling in the bathroom can be pasted over with foam tiles, leveled with plaster, mount a stretch or suspended ceiling.
Shrinkage of a wooden house is an inevitable process, since wood is a porous living material. Wood absorbs and releases moisture, which leads to an increase or decrease in the volume of a log or beam. As the lumber dries, the height of the internal and external walls of the house changes slightly. By the way, the shrinkage of a house made of rounded logs occurs more intensively than a timber structure. We note right away that shrinkage cannot be avoided, but the process can be regulated and the consequences minimized.
The specificity and timing of shrinkage depend not only on the type and degree of moisture content of the material. This factor is influenced by the size of the log or timber, the type of wood, the area of the house, the technology and the season of construction. A small role is also played by climatic conditions and the level of humidity of the region where the house is built from a log or timber. In the article, we will consider how many percent the log house shrinks, depending on the type and moisture content of the material. We will find out how long this process will take, and whether shrinkage can be reduced.
Shrinkage depending on the type of material
How long does it take for the house to settle
Shrinkage time depends on the season of construction and installation of the log house. The “summer” house takes about a year to settle down, and the “winter” house takes 6-8 months. In winter, moisture freezes out more slowly, so wood changes evenly and gradually. The most intense changes occur in the first three months after the installation of the wall kit, then the process gradually decreases, but it will continue for several more years. After 1.5 years from the date of construction, shrinkage is almost imperceptible.
Remember that you can start finishing, installing windows and doors only after the intensive stage of shrinkage has passed! For a log house, this period is about a year, for a log house - about six months. The MariSrub company will perform a full range of works on the construction and decoration of a country wooden house.
After the shrinkage of a house made of timber or logs is completed, the following work is performed:
- Installation of windows and doors;
- Roof and attic finishing;
- Treatment of wood with protective agents;
- House insulation, including wall caulking and seam sealing;
- Installation of internal partitions, stairs;
- Wall, ceiling and floor finishing (cladding or painting, laying finishing materials);
- Finishing the bathroom and toilets;
- Exterior decoration of the house.
Experts do not recommend using a stove in a wooden house earlier than a year after the completion of the log house. And heating should be turned on after completion of all finishing work. Moreover, the temperature is increased gradually. In no case do not try to accelerate shrinkage by heating the house! Otherwise, lumber, especially timber, will begin to crack.
log shrinkage
How to compensate for shrinkage
To reduce the deformation of the structure, special expansion joints are used for a wooden house. First of all, this is the installation of a longitudinal groove for each log. It is a compensation cut to relieve stress and unload wood fibers, which prevents cracking. Such a cut is made with a depth of a quarter of the diameter of the log and a thickness of 8-10 mm. When assembling a log house, the products are laid with the cut up so that moisture does not get into the wood.
Using a jack to adjust and maintain the vertical supports will help prevent damage to the roof. Since posts or columns do not shrink, over time they can pose a threat to a wooden structure. The jack is installed in the gap of the upper part of the doorway, which is made using special compensators.
To reduce shrinkage time, use dried materials (both log and timber). Try to keep the humidity in the room at 40-70%. The ends of logs or timber must be treated with a special compound to prevent moisture from escaping, and the interventional seams must be insulated to prevent excess moisture from entering. In addition, it is advisable to cover horizontal and vertical surfaces where snow can accumulate with a film.
Be sure to wait until the end of the intensive period of this process! If you start finishing during the process of minimal shrinkage, you will get a number of problems. This is a strong cracking of a beam or log, a warp of the floor, door and window openings, damage to decorative materials. To avoid such troubles, contact the professionals!
MariSrub craftsmen build turnkey wooden houses from timber and logs, including finishing, installation and connection of engineering networks, installation of roofs and foundations. We guarantee high quality of work and materials, compliance with construction technologies! We build according to standard and individual projects.
Despite the shortcomings and inconveniences that shrinkage causes, wood remains a valuable and best material for building a country house. Eco-friendly and natural wood will create a unique cozy and comfortable atmosphere in the room, fill the room with a pleasant forest aroma.
Wood retains heat for a long time and has a refined, attractive appearance. You can create any design and shape of the building, which will harmoniously fit into the surrounding landscape. You will find many interesting projects of country cottages and country houses in the MariSrub catalog.
In the first years, after a brick house is built, it will definitely shrink. It can last quite a long time - up to 8 years, depending on the characteristics of the soil on which the construction was carried out. The load-bearing walls of the house put pressure on the foundation and if the soil is soft, then the house will sink deeper. In order to prevent cracks from appearing in the brickwork as a result of shrinkage, so-called expansion joints are arranged. These seams are designed to reduce stress on the house structure in areas where deformation may occur. These seams are a kind of cut that divide the building into blocks and give the structure a kind of elasticity. The seams are sealed with special insulation material.
Seams are for various purposes - shrinkage, sedimentation, temperature, anti-seismic.
A brick house that is subject to shrinkage must have both a shrink joint and a temperature joint.
Features of house shrinkage
Many happy owners of a new brick house do not carry out repairs in the house for 2-3 years. However, if we are talking about the only housing, then you can make cosmetic repairs. It should not be very expensive, because then you still have to deal with alteration. It is necessary to do fairly simple and inexpensive actions:
- plaster the walls, whitewash the ceiling and stick not very expensive wallpapers;
- parquet is best suited for the floor, it is not afraid of shrinkage;
- tiles and tiles do not need to be used, there is a high risk that it will fall off or crack.
Of course, you can decide on a serious repair, but we must remember that it can be spoiled by the consequences of shrinkage of the house and, in particular, shrinkage of the cement mortar. In order to minimize the consequences of house shrinkage, it is recommended to use the highest quality building and finishing materials produced by the best manufacturers during repairs. To carry out the work, it is necessary to invite experienced specialists who have already carried out similar work in newly built brick houses. Brick buildings are quite rigid, so their shrinkage is not so significant.
Often in brick houses there is a settling of the foundation. This one can reach up to 150mm. To make the draft minimal, the foundation of the house is erected on a sand cushion and buried to a sufficiently large depth. It is clear that this is done at the very first stage of construction. Drainage should be built around the house, which will reduce the pressure of groundwater on the foundation.
When building your own house, you must remember that shrinkage of the house is not something unusual, it always happens, no matter what material they are built from.
Shrinkage of cement mortar
Cement slurry shrinks as it dries. In addition to changing the volume of the binder material, due to which shrinkage mainly occurs, this process depends on the percentage ratio of the binder aggregate to the water binder. Also, a very significant role in this process is played by the hardening time of the solution and the weather conditions under which it solidifies.
The more binder and water-binding material in the solution, the more it changes size when dried. Shrinkage occurs as quickly as possible in the first stage of solidification of the solution. Over time, the changes decrease and, in the end, stop completely. Shrinkage of cement mortars stops after 3-3.5 months. For standard solutions, the shrinkage value can vary within rather wide limits - from 0.1 to 0.4 mm/m. Sometimes the maximum shrinkage rate is reached, which is equal to millimeters per meter of length.
During facing works, as well as mosaic, shrinkage is highly undesirable. In order for it to be small, it is necessary to make a solution with a minimum amount of binder material and add special impurities to it.
Wooden houses in the era of the active invasion of chemistry in the field of construction are deservedly popular among developers. However, for the environmental comfort, aesthetics and high energy efficiency of wooden housing construction, you have to pay a considerable price.
The main problem here is the anisotropy of wood, or simply speaking, the instability of geometric dimensions under the influence of the natural shrinkage process.
This forces builders to apply special methods to reduce the negative effects on the building.
Shrinkage of a wooden house is an inevitable phenomenon, and this process does not end even a few years after the house is commissioned, but only becomes less intense.
Wood is a porous material. Therefore, it constantly absorbs and releases moisture into the surrounding atmosphere and at the same time increases or decreases in volume accordingly.
The main change occurs in the thickness of the logs, and to a much lesser extent affects their length. The uneven deformation leads to the appearance of gaps in the wooden walls, cracking and twisting of the logs.
Let us consider in more detail what factors affect the degree of shrinkage of wooden houses and what can be done to ensure that this process does not cause undesirable consequences.
What determines the amount of shrinkage of a wooden house?
The shrinkage period of the house and the amount of decrease in the height of its walls is determined by the following factors:
- Logging material type - simple or rounded log, profiled or glued beam;
- Size material (length and thickness);
- The degree of wood moisture (natural or after chamber drying);
- House dimensions;
- Construction technology;
- Type of wood;
- Construction season.
Shrinkage of a house with walls of 3 meters in height, depending on the type of material, occurs in the following range:
- Regular log - up to 10 cm.
- The rounded log gives from 8 to 10 cm of shrinkage.
- Walls from a bar of natural humidity - up to 6 cm.
- Profiled non-dried timber - 4-5 cm.
- Chamber-drying profiled timber - about 2.5 cm.
- Glued laminated timber - no more than 2 cm.
How long the house shrinks depends on the time of year (season) when it was being assembled. Therefore, a log house built in the summer should dry for 12 months, and for a winter house, 8 months of exposure is enough. Given this circumstance, builders offer customers to assemble buildings in the winter.
In winter, moisture from logs freezes out slowly, so the deformation of wood occurs more evenly than in summer. In the log house, set in November, by the beginning of summer, the process of subsidence of the crowns ends. After that, you can put doors, windows in it, start finishing without the risk of cracks in the wall cladding. Another advantage of winter construction is the assembly price, which is almost 20% lower than in summer.
The most intensive process of wall shrinkage in a log house is the first 3 months, and completely it ends only after 3 years.
A house under shrinkage is not difficult to understand if you study the difference in the degree of its construction readiness. The figure shows that this technology does not provide for the installation of doors and windows, as well as sheathing of internal partitions and flooring.
Construction technology
This is a very important factor influencing the amount of shrinkage.. The beam and logs laid in the wall must fit very tightly to each other. At the same time, the seams between them are caulked with an interventional sealant - jute or tow.
If an unprofiled beam is used for construction, then the assembly is carried out on metal or wooden dowels - vertical rods that prevent the logs from twisting. After the drying of the log house is completed, a second caulking of seams is performed, which closes the shrinkage gaps formed.
In the process of drying, the logs of the upper crowns begin to put pressure on the window and door frames. Therefore, if installed incorrectly, the entire carpentry will inevitably lead and jam. To exclude this - the movable design of the boxes. It moves along the guide grooves along with the wall and therefore does not deform.
An expansion joint 3 to 4 centimeters high is left above each opening. It is needed so that the upper crown does not destroy the window or door frame. After the drying of the walls is completed, this gap is closed with a wooden lining.
How long the house shrinks is an important, but not the most important issue for its owner. It is much more important to be firmly convinced that the work on the assembly of the log house was carried out using high-quality wood and special expansion joints.
screw jack
We have already mentioned the need to install a pigtail, so we will focus on a device called a screw jack. It consists of two plates, a nut and an adjusting anchor. Compensators are placed on all pillars of the log house and fastened with self-tapping screws to the floor beams.
At the same time, the pillars are made a little shorter so that the beams do not deform them, and the load is transferred through the screw jack. As the beams dry, they shrink, so the compensator is regularly twisted, reducing its length.
Timbered house will shrink less if builders use the so-called "Canadian cup" to connect the crowns. Its main advantage is the special wedge-shaped joint. Due to this, log shrinkage does not lead to the formation of a gap, but additionally seals the seam under the action of the weight of the upper rims and the roof.
Comparing different materials for the construction of a log house, the following important nuances should be noted. The amount of shrinkage of a house made of glued laminated timber is minimal, but it costs significantly more than a profiled log.
By gluing individual boards into a single structure, it is possible to minimize not only shrinkage, but also longitudinal torsion of the glued beam. However, a cheaper profiling technology, in which longitudinal ridges and grooves are applied to the log, also compensates well for this negative phenomenon.
The disadvantage of rounded logs is that that during its processing the outer most dense layer of wood (4-5 cm) is partially removed, therefore the frame from it shrinks significantly and requires careful protection from moisture and decay.
The correct approach to the assembly of any log house is to use for its strong and durable woods, such as oak or larch.
If the assembly team does not own the technology of wall shrinkage compensation, then it is better to install the roof only after the house dries well.
The shrinkage of a new house will be successful if the qualifications of the builders allow them to eliminate all the risks associated with this process. In this case, after the installation of the walls, you can immediately proceed to the installation of the roof. Its weight will be an additional factor that positively affects the tightness of the connection of the crowns.