The wood at the base of the walls of the house begins to dry out over time. This entails the formation of cracks, which should be disposed of, because a building with grooves between the logs loses its thermal insulation characteristics. Caulking a wooden house, which sometimes needs to be done several times during the operation of the house, will help to cope with such problems.
Caulking machine performs the function of insulation, and also protects the wood from moisture.
Caulking, which performs the functions of insulation, also pursues related goals, including the protection of wood from moisture. Its accumulation occurs due to the collision of warm air masses coming from the house, and cold ones from the street. Condensation is very dangerous for wooden walls, as it can cause mold and mildew to form on them.
Tools and materials
- mallet;
- caulk;
- insulation;
- forests.
The choice of material for caulking
In order for the caulking of a wooden house to be effective, it is necessary to choose a good insulation, which should have a slight thermal conductivity. The material must be impervious to moisture and temperature fluctuations and must be wind-resistant.
Moss acts as the most successful solution for caulking a wooden house.
Bioinert material should be chosen, which will eliminate the interest of insects and pathogenic fungi in the walls of the house. Eco-friendly material should be preferred, otherwise the construction of a wooden house does not make sense. Durability is also important for insulation, it should not be less than 20 years. Among the qualities, breathability and hygroscopicity are also important. The latter characteristic assumes the absorption of moisture and its release when necessary.
In view of the above requirements for the characteristics of heaters, moss acts as the most successful solution for caulking a wooden house.
This material is a marsh plant. It is not in vain that it is used as a heat insulator for mezhventsov, because it is a natural antiseptic. This quality prevents the formation and further development of putrefactive bacteria and fungi, which guarantees a longer service life of wood. Moss is able to smooth out fluctuations in environmental humidity.
Despite its many advantages, over time, they began to look for a replacement for moss, since it is quite difficult to work with this material.
Tow when caulking at home not only insulates the walls, but also seals them.
You can also caulk your house with tow, which is obtained from flax fibers. The material not only insulates the walls, but also effectively seals them. Sometimes the tow is treated with resins, which helps to increase its resistance to moisture. When using tow, the caulking will have to be repeated 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 drops and high humidity. This allows the hemp not to lose its characteristics even after getting wet, so the heat insulator is resistant to decay.
Caulking is often carried out with the use of jute fiber, which is not affected by mold, bacteria and is not of interest to insects and birds. Jute is also hygroscopic, and also easily compacted, which compensates for the high cost.
Caulking is carried out in several stages, which is explained by the gradual shrinkage of the building. The first time a wooden house should be caulked after assembly.
The second stage is carried out 1-1.5 years after the completion of construction. The third time, the work should be repeated after 6 years, since it is believed that after this period the house ceases to settle down. If you plan to clad 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 with a layer of at least 5 mm.
If caulking is done after building the 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 with a hammer and a tool called caulk. The hammer should be made of wood or rubber. The caulking process should be carried out in several steps, after the first batch of material, which turned out to be in the grooves, the second batch will be used. Thus, it is necessary to fill the gaps while the material will fit in them. If a knife blade 15 mm or less can be placed in the groove between the crowns, caulking is successful.
It is important to know that it is necessary to caulk the house correctly between the crowns, where rather large gaps have formed. For this, jute should be used, long strands will have to be twisted from it, after rolling them into a ball. Then, from the resulting ball, you will need to collect loops, placing them in the grooves until the latter are filled.
In winter, it will be possible to check how well the caulking was done; for this, the walls must be analyzed for the presence of so-called "hares". They are pockets of frost located on the outer sides of the walls. These foci are formed on the cracks through which warm air escapes from the premises of the house. In the presence of such "hares", you need to mark their locations in order to eliminate the grooves between the bars. A year after caulking, the house should be inspected in order to qualitatively repeat the insulation. The heat insulator has to be added to the places from 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 is 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 forests. The completion of the re-caulking indicates the possibility of finishing work inside the house.
Before starting work, you should take into account some of the exceptions that caulking technology implies. So, moss can be used exclusively for insulating a house, assembled from non-profiled timber. This is due to the fact that the named insulation, after laying, will completely fill the space between the crowns, which is completely unacceptable if the timber is assembled according to the thorn-groove system.
The key to the success of high-quality work is the knowledge of how to caulk correctly, therefore it is important to familiarize yourself with the rules even before the start of insulation.
Experts say that wooden houses give their owners good health and an incredible sense of comfort and harmony. You can't argue with that, because wood is a natural, environmentally friendly material. The range of materials for the construction of a wooden house is very diverse today.
If you nevertheless made your choice in favor of building from a profiled bar or log, then you need a caulk of a rounded log, and it will also be useful to know some of the nuances regarding caulking a house from a bar.
Often, when drawing up an estimate and a work plan, specialists do not take into account the caulking and squinches of a log house, which is an absolute demonstration of incompetence. After all, a real professional who understands all the features of such buildings will definitely advise you not to skip this important stage. Even if later you plan to insulate and carry out external and internal finishing, you do not need to save on caulking at home. Timber is a relatively inexpensive wood material, which in recent years has become very popular in the construction of houses and summer cottages. It is important to know that when the timber dries up, it will inevitably decrease in size, which entails the formation of cracks. Over time, such gaps lead to the fact that the house loses its thermal insulation properties. The answer of the professionals is as follows: in order to avoid rot, mold and drafts, it is necessary to bore the house at least three times and be sure to insulate it.
Modern technologies for the production of profiled timber, indeed, make it possible to believe that in the age of new technologies, there is no need to caulk a house. According to sellers, such a bar does not dry out, because its parts fit very tightly to each other. However, it must be remembered that the timber gives the final shrinkage only a few years after construction under the weight of the entire structure. Secondly, it is necessary to take into account the properties of the material as a whole, where the forest grew, how it was stored. Even if large gaps are not found during and after construction, the gaps that are on both sides of the house are capable of accumulating moisture. Over time, this can lead to mold and rotting spots. Caulking is necessary in order to maintain thermal insulation properties. With the help of insulation, you can get rid of cracks, which later will not only cause discomfort, but also create other serious problems.
The technology of caulking a house from a bar
Caulking should always be done starting at the top, filling one crown completely outside and then inside. The ideal option would be a working team of four. After the timber is correctly laid and fixed, it is necessary to lay insulation in the space between the crowns with a layer of 5 mm or more, and jute between the spike and the groove. The laying technology depends on the location of the timber as a whole: if the timber has the shape of a "crescent", then in this situation the space between the crowns must be filled with insulation with edges of 4-5 cm. part, and caulk the cracks on the sides after. The jute should be slightly tucked under the bottom and pushed into the gap with a wooden or rubber mallet. If the space in the slots is too narrow, a narrow rope should be made from the jute fiber and driven into the slot.
There is one more caulking technology - "stretching". It is necessary to take the jute fibers and lay them across the timber, slightly pushing inward with a hammer. The remaining ends of 5-6 cm should be left. Next, you need to roll the jute into a ball and push it into the slot.
Another technology is called "in a set". It is necessary to take long fibers of jute and roll them into a ball. After that, typing the loops, fill in the gaps.
Materials for caulking timber
Various materials with which people have caulked their homes over the centuries have survived to our time. Any material that is suitable for digging a house must meet the following requirements:
- Be resistant to temperature extremes
- Keep moisture and air out
- Serve for a long time (at least 20 years)
- Have low thermal conductivity
- Have the same properties as wood material
- Have hygroscopic properties
The first place among the materials used for caulking wooden houses is moss. It is hygroscopic - when it needs to absorb moisture, when not - it gives it away. Moss is an environmentally friendly natural material, it can serve for many decades. It should also be noted that moss has medicinal properties, is a natural antiseptic and antibiotic. Moss prevents the formation of bacteria and mold.
The only disadvantage inherent in caulking a moss house is the complexity of the process itself. For such work, it is worth hiring specialists.
Linseed tow is most often used in regions where there is no swampy area and there is no opportunity to collect moss. Oakum remains from the production of ropes and ropes, also has antiseptic and antibacterial properties, but to a lesser extent. A significant disadvantage of caulking with tow is that caulking will have to be carried out several times.
Hemp hemp is similar in properties to tow. Hemp contains coarser fibers and is susceptible to temperature and humidity changes. Such material is often used in regions with high humidity. Hemp is not afraid of moisture, therefore it does not allow mold and rot to accumulate.
Jute is a foreign material. Most often it is delivered from China, India, North African countries with a tropical climate. Jute is a shoot of a plant of the Malvov family, has high strength, does not undergo mold, rot. Its main advantage is its hygroscopicity. Jute contains as much lignin as wood. The undoubted advantages of using jute is its uniformity when laying.
In some cases, felt insulation is used to caulk houses from a bar:
- Jute sealant contains 90% jute and 10% flax.
- Linen Felt is made from high tenacity linen.
- Linen-jute felt consists of jute and flax in equal proportions.
Of all the materials listed above, jute takes the leading place. Uniform styling and similarity to wood are the two main trump cards when choosing a material. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that the more flax is contained in the felt material, the lower its quality for caulking.
When to caulk a house from a bar
According to experts, the main shrinkage of a house from a bar occurs in the first 1.5-2 years. Every year it is less and less, and after 5-6 years it stops altogether. The first caulking is carried out immediately after the construction of the house: first of all, the insulation is laid, and then the material chosen for caulking is laid in the cracks of the house. The second caulking should be done 1.5-2 years after the completion of construction work. By this time, the house has already given a certain shrinkage, so caulking can be done with a dense layer. The third caulking can be done 5-6 years after construction. This time it is necessary to very tightly fill all the cracks and gaps. In case you intend to upholster your house with siding or other material, the third time the house may not be caulked.
Cauliflower with moss
In caulking with moss, the main thing is no longer the observance of technological subtleties - in this respect it is much simpler than caulking with fibrous materials - but the preparation of the material. More precisely, purchase. Forest and marsh building moss goes on sale, but self-harvesting of tree moss is possible only in some very remote places from civilization, and self-harvesting of marsh moss in most developed countries is prohibited and punishable by law: in recent decades, the extremely important role of bogs as accumulators of moisture and regulators has been revealed natural processes. In addition, mosses actively accumulate in themselves a variety of both useful and harmful microelements; bog moss is a natural filter of radionuclides. Caulking with moss collected on your own, you risk not only infecting the log house with rot, mold and pests, but also yourself and your loved ones are not at all better.
The best moss for caulking is marsh sphagnum, or cuckoo flax, pos. 1 in rice: it never wakes up in buildings and releases substances that protect wood from deterioration. But it is impossible to caulk with bright green fresh sphagnum (pos. 2) - on the contrary, it will spoil the blockhouse. You need to caulk with moss (both marsh and forest), dried to wilting without prettiness, pos. 3. This moss is sold in bags (item 4). In them, it must be stored until use, without allowing complete drying out: moss, still a little alive, is suitable for hemp. Overdried gray or brown building moss (pos. 5) is not a caulking, but an insulating material. By the way, very good.
Note: it is impossible to caulk with rock and ground moss - it will definitely contain substrate particles with embryos of wood pests.
Moss caulking order
Caulk with moss before winter. In the spring, when it’s warm, but it’s not dry yet, they check the hanging scallops (see below) and pluck the green ones. Then the scallops are knocked into the grooves. At the same time, it is very important not to allow the caulking to dry out: if the moss begins to crumble under the caulking tool, the whole caulking will never be whole, and once every 2-5 years you will have to do repeated caulking, and the whole blockhouse will not stand as long as it can. A year later, the building is checked and, if it has split, a secondary caulking is carried out with the same (!) Moss.
Sphagnum moss is laid out in the grooves when assembling a log house with a mountain (item 1 in the figure below), because it is strongly caked under pressure. Swamp moss festoons should hang abundantly from the grooves, pos. 2. Immediately after the assembly of the frame, moss is added to the remaining slots (shown by arrows in pos. 2), knocking from above with an 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 scallops should protrude from the grooves of the assembled log house by approx. half-palm, but not hanging, pos. 4. Dangling (shown by the arrow in pos. 4) are cut off.
Instead of moss
In coastal areas, you can find durable chopped buildings, buried instead of moss with camouflage - the sea grass thrown ashore by storms or scum. Kamka is also a good insulation material and as such is now sold dried, but you can only caulk with fresh, moist damask. But hemp with a dam is excellent: it releases salts into the tree, making it unsuitable for the settlement of pests, and iodine into the air of the room. Which, as you know, among other useful properties, promotes the elimination of cumulative poisons and radionuclides from the body. Caulk is caulked like moss, with some differences: it is disassembled into flat strands and laid out in the grooves of the log house with a herringbone without gaps so that the ends hang down on half a log. Upon completion of the assembly of the log house, the ends are knocked into the grooves with a wooden caulk.
Synthetics and sealants
Synthetic hemp is used in combination with a rough jute tape, or, for "aesthetics", with a twisted white jute cord. The roughing tape is placed in the grooves of the log house for 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 cutouts in the log under the edge projections of the upper log groove.
Sealants for wood are chemically neutral polyurethane: silicone is less consistent with wood in terms of mechanical and physicochemical properties (in particular, in terms of the coefficient of thermal expansion TCR), and under the action of even very weak acids it is destroyed. In turn, the solvent for silicone - acetic acid - spoils the wood, so do not try to replace special wood sealants with conventional construction materials. Synthetics are used to caulk mainly logs made of glued logs and beams - their estimated service life is the same as that of the glued seams of re-glued sawn timber.
Caulking with sealants is quick and easy: the initial composition is squeezed out of the tube into the groove, pos. 1 in Fig. When it grabs, the seams are putty on top of the finishing compound to match the wood, pos. 2 .:
There is also a "supermodern" method of caulking log cabins, folded without any rough caulking: cuts are made along the seams, bundles of self-expanding polyethylene foam are inserted into them and sealed with wood-like sealant, pos. 3. In essence, this is no longer caulk, because this method is suitable for buildings made of lumber without shaped grooves, assembled on pins and impregnated with water repellents (water-repellent impregnations). In addition, it is suitable only for selected materials of chamber drying, completely shrunken and shrunken. And what will happen later with warping from moisture during operation - wait and see: in practice, the “caulkless caulk” has not been used for more than 10-12 years.
Let's go back to the caulk, which is still caulk, albeit synthetic. Finishing compounds darken when they dry, so they are selected to match the wood by test strokes on the container. But in the light, the finishing synthetic caulk burns out and the walls of the log house take on the form shown in pos. 4. Someone, since such a "decoration" cannot be avoided, orders gluing or filling the caulking seams with a white twisted cord. How much this adds aesthetics and respect to the structure is a matter of taste for the owner. And there is no dispute about tastes. All the more so - about the tastes of people who believe that natural wood needs additional "refinement".
It is much more practical to use synthetic hemp to seal gaping cracks in logs, pos. 5 in Fig. On top of the sealant, the cracks are putty with any wood putty for outdoor use, and the whole structure is rejuvenated. The putty has to be refurbished every 2-3 years - it also burns out in the light - but this is not long, easy and inexpensive.
The final touch is sanding
Caulking is not yet completing the construction of a log house until it is ready for flooring, installation of an attic floor, roof, installation of windows, doors, partitions, for decoration and equipment - a log house is desirable, but inside it is necessary to grind it. Especially - chopped from a wild log, debarked by hand.
Sanding a log house with sandpaper is extremely long, tiring, and this damages the outer most resistant layers of the tree. The blockhouse is sanded with a hand-held universal sander with nylon brushes. Worse - a grinder with them; the drive is too powerful. But the main thing here is still brushes for grinding wood, see the video review:
Video: an overview of nylon brushes for polishing a log house
Grinding a log house with a brush is generally a controversial issue: the brush removes the hemp roller, see fig.
Do-it-yourself caulking with jute
Caulking a wooden house is the final stage in the construction of a wooden building, and it is simply impossible to do without it.
Wooden houses have enjoyed wide popularity throughout the ages. For a long time, wood remained one of the most popular materials for low-rise construction. Today, timber buildings have a rather outlandish rather than traditional appearance. Due to its naturalness and naturalness, the use of wood gives a person many benefits. However, the creation of such a building is a rather complicated process that has many nuances.
Wooden houses can be of various shapes and designs, which implies a variety of work. At the same time, whatever method of erecting a building and the material would not have been used, hemp is always a necessary condition that requires full compliance. It is not a secret for anyone that after construction any building undergoes a shrinkage process. Brick, concrete and, especially, wood can undergo serious deformation during operation. This is due to various factors, ranging from the specifics of the soil and ending with climatic influences.
In a situation with a timber, one criterion becomes more and it is not at all about using at home, but rather about drying the wood. No matter how dry and solid the material would be, within 5-6 years after being at the base of the structure, it necessarily undergoes various changes. Under the combined influence of internal and external factors, it is able not only to change its shape, but also to significantly deform. As a result, a dense and monolithic house becomes less warm, and its surface is covered with a web of cracks.
This state of affairs requires immediate correction, since ignoring it can lead to much more serious consequences in the form of decay of the material and violation of the integrity of the building. However, timely assistance can solve this issue once and for all and prevent the destruction of the building.
It consists in carrying out caulking, aimed at correcting the situation and preventing the most sad development of events. Its implementation has many features and can be performed in various ways. However, its purpose remains unchanged and consists in filling the gaps formed as a result of the shrinkage of the house with special materials. Moreover, they must meet the following requirements:
- have a low coefficient of thermal conductivity;
- have a plastic structure;
- do not succumb to temperature effects;
- tolerate moisture and aridity equally well;
- do not succumb to rotting or the action of insects;
- be natural and natural.
Only a clear compliance with these criteria will make it possible to obtain a monolithic surface that can stand for many more years. In addition, all these qualities significantly affect the preservation of heat, as a result of which it will become warm and cozy inside the house.
Sealing cracks in a log house
Caulking of wooden houses allows you to eliminate not only all visible surface defects, but also to affect its characteristics. So, filling the space between the logs significantly increases the thermal insulation of the building and makes it possible to eliminate drafts. The duration of shrinkage depends on many factors and in some cases can reach 7-10 years.
At the same time, correct and high-quality work can make a warm and comfortable room even from an old wooden house. However, not every building material is suitable for caulking, since in addition to all the above qualities, it must also have a specific structure, which can be called hygroscopic. To date, only a few materials meet all the necessary requirements, the list of which is as follows: 
- sphagnum moss;
- linseed tow;
- hemp hemp;
- jute;
- linen felt.
These tools have the necessary qualities, and they may well be used to carry out work on the processing of a wooden house. However, it should be remembered that the total cost of caulking can vary significantly when using a particular material, since they all have a different price. In addition, even the same product can differ in its structure, increasing material consumption or increasing the time of work.
This state of affairs is due to the fact that natural materials, like moss or tow, do not always have the same structure and properties, since their characteristics are most dependent on the qualities of the plant. Therefore, at the time of purchase, the sealants and their characteristics should be carefully checked. This is the only way to be sure of obtaining a positive result and full-fledged caulking of the building, which will increase its quality.
Required tools and workflow
As mentioned above, caulking is a rather laborious, responsible and painstaking process that can take a lot of time. Based on this, the best solution would be to invite specialists who will perform all the work with high quality and accuracy. In addition, such a solution will make it possible to reduce the overall construction time and guarantee an optimal result. However, the cost of such work can be quite high, which is not always appropriate. 
An alternative to calling specialists is to caulk a wooden house with your own hands, which allows you not only to make it as comfortable as possible, but also to save a significant part of the materials. However, it should be remembered that this process is of particular importance and is associated with serious responsibility, since the durability of the building and its insulating characteristics will depend to the greatest extent on its results.
- caulk;
- mallet;
- wooden spatula.
The main of the listed tools is considered to be caulking - a tool made in the form of a spatula, sharpened along the edges. Its use makes it possible to evenly and efficiently distribute any type of insulating material, as well as fill cracks and other holes with it. In turn, the rest of the tools are designed to ensure maximum fixation in those places where caulk is not able to help.
Caulking a house from a log house involves several stages of work. The first of them is performed at the time of construction, the second - after 1-2 years, and the final one - only after 6-7 years. At the same time, during construction, insulation is laid directly at the joints of the logs and at their joints, and the second and third treatments imply filling the gaps formed as a result of house shrinkage.
As a rule, caulking the surface is carried out from top to bottom by evenly distributing the insulation over all cracks and holes. A feature of this process is the need for an even distribution of material around the entire perimeter of the building, since focusing on one wall can lead to a distortion of the entire building. Small cracks are filled with separate threads of tow or moss, and larger holes are best covered with jute thread, which has a denser structure. Full processing of all problem areas will make it possible not only to increase the service life of a wooden house, but also to make it as comfortable and warm as possible.
Caulking a house is a construction operation, the purpose of which is to seal the gaps between beams or logs with natural fibrous material to prevent cold air from entering the house from outside. The second property of caulking is decorative. Smooth long rollers between the logs, twisted from flax or jute and varnished, look original and give the structure a natural, natural look, referring to the technologies developed during the days of wooden architecture. But the decorative component of caulking is important only for log cabins, houses assembled from logs, which do not get off the outside. For buildings from a bar, the cracks are only pierced with tow, since almost always the walls are revetted with finishing material.
The owners may argue, why do you need to caulk if the building will be finished? This can be answered as follows: even in spite of the external finish, the heat loss through the interbeam gaps will be all the same. In addition, woodcutter insects can settle in them, which like to live in such depressions. Therefore, it is better not to risk it, but to make caulking at home from the outside and from the inside. As a last resort, you should at least foamed under the finish of the gap.
For work, you must have a special tool, a caulking chisel. They are sold in hardware stores. The width of the working part is from 1 to 5 cm. It is more convenient to caulk the inner corners of the log house with a tool with a narrow blade. The tow is hammered with a small sledgehammer, weighing 1 kg. A heavier tool, weighing 1.5 kg, is used in cases where the house has finished shrinking and the gaps between the logs are minimal. Accordingly, working with a weighted sledgehammer you get tired faster. By the way, almost all professional caulkers have chronic pain in the wrist joints.
For caulking cracks, use natural fibrous material - flax or jute. Jute fiber is more expensive, dense, birds don't like to pull it out. But if the gap between the timber is minimal, you will have to hammer the jute with great effort.
Flax fiber is cheaper, less dense. Easily clogs into the narrowest gap. If the distance between the timber is wide, flax is consumed more than jute. Birds love to pull it out for their nesting purposes. The quality of flax fiber is easy to determine: the fewer inclusions of straw, the better it is.
At the stage of building the house, the primary laying of the mezhventsovy insulation is carried out. In ancient times, moss was used for this purpose. It was collected in the forest, dried and laid between the logs. Today, this painstaking work is not necessary: linen or jute fibers, collected in ribbons of various widths, are produced in factories and then sold in stores.
The wider the ribbon, the cheaper the same fiber volume. Thrifty owners buy a bale of the widest tape and then cut it to the size of a log or bar. This is the most economical option for insulation. Of course, there are some downsides to it. Natural fiber is very difficult to cut. Craftsmen for these purposes have adapted an ordinary braid, which must be sharpened after each cut. Therefore, it is sometimes wiser to buy a tape of the correct width. You will spend a little more money, but you will save time and nerves that are so necessary when erecting a log house.
Mezhventsovy insulation is placed between logs or a bar. To prevent it from being blown away by the wind, it is attached to the tree with a construction stapler. The tape is laid with a small margin, so after its walls they look untidy, rags of insulation stick out everywhere.
After construction, the house is left to shrink. During this time, the tree dries up, decreasing in size. between the logs they close together or vice versa, increase. This happens when the timber or logs are uneven. In any case, gaps appear through which cold air enters the structure. To minimize building losses, it is necessary to caulk them.
On the market of construction services, proposals for caulking wooden houses are widely presented. Type in the search box the word "caulk" and you will see a large selection of 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 only on caulking outside. And the same amount inside. This work is simple, but rather monotonous. If the construction budget allows, it is better to hire professional caulkers. They will do their job quickly and efficiently. If there is no money for caulking, still hold on to it, you can perform this construction operation yourself.
The approach to caulking a house from a bar for decoration and a log house from a log is slightly different. The log will be caulked completely, even if there are no cracks. Here, the caulk also has a decorative component - an even roller is made around the perimeter of the structure between all the jute or flax crowns. In a log house, if there are no gaps between the crowns, it is not necessary to hammer the caulk. Caulk only those places through which air can enter. In addition, the tow is hammered flush with the wall, the decorative roller is not made, since the surface will get off. This caulking option is much faster.
HANDLING THE HOUSE WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
About six months after the construction of the house, they begin to make caulking by pushing the old tow inside the crack. This is the easiest job. You take a chisel and, starting from the lowest crown, break through the tow that has come out between the timber. 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 caulk one wall, then another. As a result, the house was warped, the tow was removed and all the work was redone.
Then we take the tow and start punching it. We used linen insulation, tape, 15 cm wide. This is the most common size, since you can roll tow of this width 2 times. We tear off a piece of about 2 m and fill the edge between the timber, hammering it in with a chisel to a depth of 1-2 cm so that it does not pop out. If the gap is so small and you understand that cold air will not pass through it, you do not 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 its entire length. It is not necessary to punch deeply, it is enough that the insulation does not fall out of the gap.
Then we will once again roll up the tow and also hammer it between the timber. Here it is necessary to increase the force of the blow with a 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 with short elastic blows.
The fibrous material between the timber should be elastic and not squeezed by pressing the finger. If the width is quite large and the tow is easily punctured, you need to add more ribbons of the same length and repeat the whole operation again. Over time, you will understand how much tow is needed to seal the gap of different sizes. Then again we tear off another 2 meters of tow and punch the gaps further, and so on around the entire perimeter of the house.
Vertical seams between the timber are hammered in the same way. Only the tow needs to be rolled several times more. As a result, you should get an elastic roller, clogged flush with the wall.
The corners are also made through such a system. In some cases, a narrow chisel may be needed. If you haven't purchased one, a regular impact screwdriver may work.
Thus, meter by meter, you have to go through all the crowns around the perimeter of the building. Finally, so that the wind and birds do not crumple and remove the tow from the cracks, it can be varnished for outdoor use. For log cabins, yacht varnish is usually used, for finishing it is 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 or a year, after the final shrinkage of the structure, the caulking is repeated. Before this, a revision of the slots is carried out to make sure that this construction operation is necessary.
Caulking is a tedious and time-consuming job. Especially when it is necessary to punch the upper rims. You have to tinker with scaffolding or use a ladder by climbing and dismounting from it countless times to move it further.
It is most convenient to caulk with your own hands in winter, when cold weather does not allow you to do other things. He dressed warmly, brushed the snow off the wall, and wave the sledgehammer until it gets dark. If you liked the article, share it on social networks.
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