Log houses: construction and finishing

In the construction market, there is an abundance of materials for building a house, but ordinary log houses are again becoming popular. The possibilities of wood processing, the ecological compatibility of the material, its thermal conductivity make it the best choice. While maintaining the technology of erecting a house and selecting the material in a dwelling, there will always be a comfortable humidity and temperature, natural allocation of wood in the form of resin for a person is only useful.

Log houses perfectly fit into the natural landscape, they look natural and peaceful, and the versions of ready projects will satisfy even the most refined taste.

Tree Selection

To begin with it is necessary to be defined, from what type of a log the house will be constructed. The construction of log houses in Russia is gaining momentum, and the popular material in our time is a round log. It undergoes mechanical processing, takes an ideal shape and is assembled as a designer. The time for construction goes a little, shrinkage almost does not give such a material, but the logs remove the most durable layer - sapwood - and the surface is impregnated with antiseptics and various strengthening solutions.

A log of manual logging, or a "wild" log, will require a lot of processing time. Construction is best done in the winter months, when the humidity is constant. The erection will take up to 6 months, since each log must be customized individually, then another year the house will shrink. Only after that it is possible to start to insert windows and to make finishing works.

Log houses are also made of laminated veneer lumber. Such material is not available in all regions of Russia, but it is possible to build houses of any shape from it. The tree has already been processed, and there is no need to wait for shrinkage.

The tree itself is worth selecting the coniferous species: pine and spruce are more convenient to process and due to the large amount of resin are resistant to humidity and last longer. It is desirable that the tree was grown in the same area where the house is built - so the natural moisture will not change and the tree will give less shrinkage.

It is also worth considering that the logs are uniform yellow or dark yellow, the cut is even without resin pockets and visible defects. Cracks from the end should not penetrate into the depth more than a third of the diameter of the log.

Substrate preparation

The plot for the future house needs to be prepared and before it is decided on the kind of foundation. Log houses do not have a lot of weight and do not require a strong foundation. Basically, a concrete strip foundation is used, deepened to the depth of freezing, and there is also a variant of the foundation on concrete or on screw piles.

If you want to save time, nerves and money, consult a builder who understands what log houses are. Projects ready to be found easily, they have already calculated the amount of material and costs - this also saves time.

First, it is necessary to remove the vegetation layer to a depth of 15-30 cm. Align the area. If you have chosen a screw pile, then more excavation work is not required, a trench is needed for a foundation foundation, and wells for a pile.

The foundation on screw piles is simpler and cheaper, but the reliability is much inferior to its competitors, although with their application log houses are often built. The photo clearly shows this option.

For concrete piles and a strip foundation perform a pouring of rubble and sand, install a reinforcement frame and pour concrete. To compact the mixture you need a vibrator, and in general it is worth keeping to the technology of laying concrete for the sake of the long service life of the foundation.

To protect the future house from groundwater, it is necessary to perform vertical waterproofing of the foundation, for example, lubricating, and horizontal. At the top of the basement, which rises 30-50 cm above the ground level, the roofing material or any of its analogues is stacked.

Variants of attachment points

The main task when erecting a frame is the question of fixing the walls between each other, as well as lengthening the logs. There are several mounting options. And all of them are applied when log houses are built. A photo shows one of them.

To save material, fix logs so that they do not protrude beyond the wall. However, there arises the problem of additional protection of nodes, because the remnants in the connections play the role of a buffer buffer. Changes in humidity they take over and protect the corner nodes. For lengthening the logs are overlapped.

The most common options for joining logs are a simple bowl, a comb and an alley. In the construction of rounded logs, a simple bowl is used, it is the simplest one, but the comb and the bridle reduce the probability of cold bridges.

To fasten the logs along the crown, nagels are used - this is a rod made of metal or wood. He fastens two crowns to each other. It is better if the nagel is made of the same wood as the log houses. The projects provide for the exact location of the nail holes and other types of anchorages.

Required toolset

If you decide to build a log house with your own hands, then it is worth preparing. A good tool is the guarantee of quality work! To build a wooden house, you will need some tools. A small carpenter's ax will be very convenient for chopping knots, fitting parts and connections. A manual saw is necessary by default: what else to saw the tree? With a large amount of work, it is better to have an electric or chainsaw. An electric drill is useful for drilling holes under nagels. The tool for marking the cuts in the nodes is a "line", or a scriber. Also needed a small hammer, and better kyanika for clogging nagel. The chisel will not be superfluous, if the heater when laying logs will shift and it will have to be put back in place. Sometimes use a construction stapler to fix the insulation.

Do not forget about the level, as it is worth every time to control the horizontality of the crowns.

Walling

We already have a foundation, it's time to raise the walls. You can not stack logs at once, to distribute the load under the first crown, a board of coniferous wood is laid, sometimes a bar 50-100 mm thick with a width of up to 150 mm is used. Next, the assembly begins. The first logs are stacked from opposite walls, then two others. The groove and the recesses of the bowl are filled with a heater (moss, tow, jute, etc.). Try to insulate the heater from both sides for several centimeters. Then the crowns are laid out in the same order as the first one. Must comply with 90 degrees. Between logs and control the horizontality of the entire structure.

Two crowns between themselves are fixed by nagels (the hole under them is drilled with a slightly smaller diameter than the nagels themselves) and are clogged to a slightly smaller depth than the hole, so that when shrinking there is free movement. Nagels are hammered in checkerboard pattern and always in corner joints.

Roof mounting

The next stage of construction is the installation of the rafter system. Beams are mounted in the upper crown. If necessary, lay the Mauerlat. The rafters themselves are installed with a step of 600 mm. The ridge analog is connected with metal hairpins. For reliable fixing of the construction to the upper crown, sliding supports are used . The lining is set depending on the roofing applied.

After that, the walls are prokonopachivayut, sealing all the cracks. Log houses are left alone for one year to shrink, after that they once again prokonopachivayut. Only now the door and window blocks are inserted, since the tree shrinks to 12%, then with an early installation, it could just be broken.

Finishing of the log house

After shrinkage and connection of all networks, it's time to start finishing work. Log houses, like any other, can be sewed with siding, sewed with plaster or other material. There is only one restriction: it is not necessary to use airproof materials, films, as the finish is very sensitive to changes in humidity and ventilation conditions.

Just do not rush to completely sew up the walls. Correctly processed, they look very colorful and do not lose color for many years.

Rules of operation

As with any other constructions, you need to look after the tree. Organize a drain to ensure that water falls less on the walls, at the first signs of the appearance of bark beetles, treat the tree with insecticides. It is recommended to protect all the cracks once more in a year's operation. Better small minor defects to identify and eliminate at the stage of nucleation, than to reconstruct entire sections of the house.