How to caulk a house made of timber: materials for caulking seams, which one is better to choose, instructions for insulation

Houses made of timber are environmentally friendly and reliable, but over time the walls begin to let in the cold.
Insulating the walls with caulk helps solve this problem. Each case uses its own material and technology.

We will describe them, and also consider how to check the quality of the craftsmen’s work, what prices exist in the Russian Federation today, and give an example of calculating the amount of jute fiber for caulking a timber house.

Why do you need to insulate the seams?

When building housing from wooden beams, insulation is laid on each crown. But over time, the house shrinks by 5-10 cm, the linen or jute tape moves, and gaps appear. This leads to the appearance of cold bridges.

To increase the thermal capacity of the building, be sure to caulk all joints and cracks. This procedure allows you to avoid the appearance of frost on wooden surfaces , which is fraught with cracking of the wood and the occurrence of high humidity.

Thanks to caulking, the microclimate of the house becomes more favorable, and heating costs are reduced.

If the humidity of the beams is high, mold may appear and rot may spread. This will affect the health of the people living in the house.

Lack of timely caulking will lead to the following problems::

the homeowner will be forced, figuratively speaking, to “flood the street”;
the wood will rot and turn black due to dampness;
the performance characteristics of profiled or laminated timber (heat capacity, strength) will deteriorate;
There will be a distortion of the walls due to the unevenness of the insulation between the crowns.

In addition, there will be sections of walls that are periodically subject to icing. Through them, the heat will quickly leave the house.

Even if the outside walls are finished with siding with a windproof membrane, the building still needs periodic caulking.

Beams for a country building can be selected from different batches, differing in operating conditions, shrinkage period and other characteristics. This will affect the deformation of the walls, lead to the appearance of cracks and, again, lead to the issue of insulation.

Recommendations from experts

There are many subtleties in caulking. The following recommendations will tell you how to properly caulk a log house:

— to insulate a log house, it is better to use natural material. Synthetic insulation does not allow wood to breathe.

— moss must be pre-treated with a special solution before laying. It is made from 200 grams of soap and 500 grams of oil, which are mixed with a bucket of water.

- You can’t save on insulation. If the rolled roller is small in volume, you can add additional strands of the insulation used to it. The strand is intertwined with the ends of the tow hanging from the timber and pushed inside.

— it is better to caulk a log house at an outside air temperature of 10-20 degrees Celsius.

Caulking a log house is a responsible job that takes more than one hour of work. Comfort and coziness in a log house depends on the careful execution of caulking and strict adherence to its technology. High-quality insulation of a log house will allow you to save on heating a wooden building and ensure that it maintains the proper temperature.

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How often is caulk needed?

Experts advise insulating inter-crown joints and corners of a timber building every 3 years , not counting the first three times:

Initial. After completion of construction of the building, to reliably seal all seams. It is carried out with low density, since the house must still shrink.
Second. One and a half to two years after the first procedure. During this period of time, the shrinkage of the house will be approximately 80%. Here caulking is carried out with a higher density to prevent sagging of the material.
Third. It is carried out in the absence of external insulating cladding of the house. The duration of these works falls on the fourth or fifth year of operation of the building. In this case, the caulking is carried out even more tightly than the second time.

Video description

Caulking with rolled material: you will see how to do it correctly in the video:
The corners of the timber are caulked using the same technology:

If the gaps are wide, a cord is formed from the insulation tape. Roll it into a ball.
Unwind part of the cord and weave loops from it. Then each loop is pushed inside the seam.
Hammer the loops with a spatula, first from above the joint, then from below.
After sealing the seams, final caulking is carried out if necessary. It involves residual filling of joints and is carried out if necessary.
The density of the caulk is checked with a kitchen knife. The knife blade should not extend into the joint more than 1.5 cm. If this condition is met, caulking is done correctly. If not, then additional caulking is required.

Checking the density of the caulk Source 24aul.ru
Caulking corners is done using the same technologies using roll insulation, for this they move along the seam from the bottom up. To ensure uniform laying of the material, it is constantly tensioned and straightened.

Requirements for insulation

There are many insulation materials on the market, but not all of them are suitable for log houses. Polyurethane foam and synthetic analogues lead to dampness in the building, rot, mold and other related problems.

The best option is to choose materials that have the following characteristics:

Environmental friendliness. Since log houses are built with this property of wood in mind, the insulation materials must have the same quality.
Hygroscopicity. The ability to accumulate and release moisture without loss of thermal characteristics is very important.
Breathability. Do not interfere with the flow of warm air.
Antiseptic properties. Such insulation does not harbor pests, mold and fungi.
Low thermal conductivity. Materials for caulking should easily withstand temperature changes without losing physical properties and retain heat well inside the house.
Elasticity. This property allows wood to change its size without harming the structure.
Density. A characteristic that will allow the insulation to withstand the pressure of beams and wind flows.

The most important quality of a good material for caulking is low thermal conductivity. It should be less than that of wood. The lower this value, the longer the material retains heat.

For pine timber, the thermal conductivity will be 0.015 W/(m °C) across the fibers, and 0.004 W/(m °C) along the fibers. For comparison, the thermal conductivity of jute fiber is 0.036 W/(m °C), and that of flax tow is 0.034 W/(m °C).

Jute

Recently, builders are increasingly asking the question of how to caulk a bathhouse with jute. Given that we mean rolled material. Jute fiber has excellent thermal insulation properties and contains natural binding resins. Jute is practically not afraid of moisture, and very rarely becomes unusable due to rotting. Even in conditions of high humidity it does not get wet.

Jute comes in several varieties:

Jute tow. During the production of this material, the fibers are not torn, but combed, aligning them in the desired direction. This preparation of the material allows it not to lose all its properties. However, jute is not very convenient for caulking, because it is hard and has a low density; caulking has to be done several times due to the material drying out, the impossibility of obtaining a tight seam the first time, and birds pulling it apart for nests.
Jute felt. This material is based on 90% torn jute fiber, and is supplemented with 10% long flax fibers. The result is a dense and flexible material that is much easier to work with. But if it has a short fiber length, it may get confused and fall out. When choosing jute, you should choose a material with a fiber length of at least 20 mm to obtain maximum elasticity. Short material will not have the necessary properties; it will either fall out or be blown away by the wind. Another disadvantage is the fact that moths can appear in it. In this regard, it is recommended to impregnate such material before installation with a composition against moths and against rotting.
Flax-jute. It is a composite tape material, half of the volume of which is soft flax fibers, and the rest is hard jute fibers. This material is of interest to many builders, but it also has disadvantages, such as a tendency to rot and moth damage. That is, like the previous material, this one also needs to be treated with mixtures against rotting and pests.

Types of materials

Although many natural materials are used for laying between the crowns of timber, not all of them are suitable for caulking.

Among the materials for caulking there are traditional and modern insulation materials :

The first group includes: moss, flax tow and hemp.
For the second - jute and linen felt.

Moss

Kukushkin flax or sphagnum is often used to insulate joints between crowns. Thermal conductivity coefficient is 0.04 W/(m °C). Caulking is carried out with slightly damp material. If the moss is overdried, it becomes unsuitable for this work.

Advantages:

environmental friendliness;
durability;
antimicrobial properties.

It prevents the timber from rotting, which is a definite advantage over other insulation materials.

Flaws:

before use, soak in a soap-oil solution and dry briefly;
difficult to find on sale.

Flax tow

This insulation is a waste product from flax production. Its density is 160 g/cub.m. Thermal conductivity - 0.034 W/(m °C). The peculiarity of working with tow: it requires calm weather and compliance with fire safety, since it is a flammable material.

Advantages:

environmentally friendly;
has antiseptic properties.

Flaws:

compared to moss, this type of insulation is less durable;
used by birds for nests, which makes it less suitable for such work;
it is difficult to place in inter-crown seams;
skill required.

Tow absorbs a lot of moisture, which can lead to wood rotting.

Hemp hemp

The fibers of the plant of the same name are durable and hygroscopic. The fibers do not shrink even at temperatures of 300 degrees, which is an advantage for insulating wet areas in the house. Thermal conductivity - 0.036 W/(m °C).

Advantages:

lightweight and easy-to-install material;
environmentally friendly;
durable and resistant to elevated temperatures.

Disadvantages : inaccessibility.

Jute

Another name is Calcutta hemp. Made from the wood of a southern tropical plant. Available in the form of ribbons, tow, fiber. Density - 400-800 g/sq.m. Thermal conductivity - 0.036 W/(m °C).

Advantages:

extremely low ability to absorb moisture (30% at absolute 100% air humidity), which makes it an excellent material for timber;
environmental friendliness;
antimicrobial properties.

During operation it becomes even denser, which leads to tight joints. Easy to install between seams.

Flaws:

the material is taken away by birds;
rapid caking leads to the need for repeated caulking;
its short service life - 2-3 years - makes it less suitable for insulation compared to moss.

Combination options are often sold under the guise of natural insulation: a mixture of jute and flax hemp. This option is also used for caulking, but has worse performance characteristics. You can distinguish it from natural jute by color: analogues are lighter than the original.

Linen felt

In terms of technological properties and price, it surpasses the same tow. Another name for felt is flax wool.

Advantages:

low hygroscopicity;
ease of installation between the crowns;
long service life.

Flaws:

inferior to natural jute in density;
quickly loses its shape, which leads to the need for additional caulking;
When exposed to moisture, it loses its performance properties.

Synthetic sealants

Insulating the seams of a log house using these materials does not always give the desired results. It is often used as an additional means for caulking with natural jute or tow. In this case, installation of the product should be carried out directly on the timber, and not on the insulation.

Advantages:

long service life;
plastic.

Flaws:

does not allow pairs to pass through;
not environmentally friendly due to its chemical composition.

Construction of houses

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Have you been told that it is not necessary to caulk a house made of timber, they say, everything fits perfectly there anyway? You can safely send such “woe” specialists home and invite real professionals in the construction of wooden houses. Like any other, the technology of building houses from timber has its own stages and design features, which invariably include caulking of a timber house, even if you are going to subsequently do external and internal finishing with insulation. You should not try to save time and money so as not to overpay in the future. If you don’t want there to be constant drafts in your house, curtains to flutter even in calm weather, and over time wet and rotten places in the wood to appear, it is better to complete all the caulking work at home on time.

Is it necessary to caulk a log house and why?
How to caulk a timber house
When to caulk a log house
Do-it-yourself caulking of a timber house
Caulking a timber house: video - example

Is it necessary to caulk a log house and why?

In some sources you can find information that a log house does not need to be caulked. And the builders who are building your house can say the same thing. They explain this by the fact that, unlike timber houses, in log houses the shrinkage and displacement of wood occurs stronger and more intensely, cracks and leaks appear, so it is necessary to caulk the structure. But houses built from profiled timber practically do not shrink, since the wood is pre-treated. Let's figure out how it actually happens when building a house from timber with your own hands.

Timber with natural moisture is a relatively cheap building material, which is why it is popular in the construction of economy-class houses with subsequent insulation and finishing with siding. Even if you invite the best architect, he will not be able to build a house from such timber without gaps between the crowns and gaps. Moreover, when the timber begins to dry out, and this is inevitable, additional cracks will appear, wider ones, the timber will decrease in size, and it will begin to “twist”. As a result, cracks will appear, due to which the wooden wall will lose its thermal insulation abilities. To avoid such a sad end, the walls must be caulked at least 3 times and thoroughly insulated.

Profiled timber was invented precisely in order to reduce costs and time for building a wooden house. It undergoes special processing in production, due to which it practically does not dry out during operation, and its tongue-and-groove connections are perfectly aligned to the nearest millimeter. The beams fit together as closely as possible, and 5 mm insulation is placed between the crowns, which is located between the interlocking parts. Despite the seller’s assurances, the house made of profiled timber still shrinks, as the timber finally falls into place under the weight of the structure. In addition, the properties of wood greatly depend on the region of growth, climatic conditions and storage conditions. No one can guarantee that absolutely all the timber you purchased is of the same high quality. As a result of building movements, the timber may shift slightly and the insulation may become wrinkled. Even if no gaps appear after shrinkage, and this option is possible, still those gaps that are located in the inter-crown space outside and inside the house accumulate moisture, and since the place itself is very secluded and vulnerable, mold and rot can form in it.

Caulking a timber house is necessary in order to insulate wooden walls, completely filling them with natural insulation and sealing the gaps and cracks between the beams and in corner joints. This guarantees tightness, no heat leaks through the walls, drafts and icing of the timber outside the building, which occurs when warm steam escapes through the cracks and settles as wet frost on the surface.

How to caulk a timber house

To summarize, the material that can be used to caulk a house must meet the following requirements:

Have low thermal conductivity.
Be immune to temperature and humidity fluctuations, and easily withstand wind.
So that insects and pathogenic fungi (mold) do not grow in it.
Be an absolutely environmentally friendly material, otherwise the whole point of building a wooden house is lost.
Be relatively durable (not lose properties for at least 20 years).
Be breathable.
Be hygroscopic, i.e. when you need to absorb moisture, when you need to give it away.
And the most important thing is to be similar in its properties to wood.

Due to the fact that our ancestors caulked their houses hundreds of generations deep on their own, materials that have been tested and tested by thousands of years of successful practice have survived to this day. They can be called traditional materials.

Moss is the best material even today for caulking wooden buildings. This is sphagnum moss, a bog plant that can be red, white or brown. Subsequently, peat is formed from it. None of the modern materials can compare with moss, it is so durable and environmentally friendly. You can travel through old abandoned villages, look at the houses: the logs have almost rotted, and the moss is still in excellent condition. Moss is simply irreplaceable as an interventional sealant: it has antiseptic, antibacterial and healing properties. Sandwiched between wood, it suppresses the development of putrefactive bacteria and mold fungi, due to which the wood lasts longer. Moss easily allows air to pass through itself, which, passing through it, is saturated with healing vapors, so the atmosphere inside the house becomes healing. Moss is hygroscopic, which means it smoothes out changes in humidity. In general, moss has no drawbacks, except for one thing - it is not so easy for them to caulk, otherwise no one would invent or look for anything new.

Tow made from flax fibers is used as a sealant and sealant everywhere, but for caulking - mainly in regions where flax grows and where there are no swamps where moss could be stocked. No one produces tow specifically; it is waste from the production of ropes, cords and linen, or tweezing and stripping after cleaning flax fibers. Tow has some antiseptic and bactericidal properties, but to a lesser extent than moss. Therefore, in some cases, tow is treated with resins to increase resistance to high humidity. These resins can be natural, i.e. tree resins, then this material can still be called environmentally friendly, but petroleum products are also used for impregnation, then tow no longer has anything in common with natural materials. The tow contains a large amount of fire, which will be shaken out during the first years of operation of the house, so the caulk will need to be repeated several times.

Hemp hemp is very similar to tow, only its fibers are coarser, so they are sometimes confused. Hemp is not afraid of temperature changes and high humidity, so it can be used even in very humid regions. These properties are due to the high content of the polymer lignin, which is also found in any wood to bind cellulose fibers. Hemp does not lose its properties even after getting wet, therefore it is resistant to rotting.

Among the modern materials for caulking, the following can be distinguished:

Jute is a foreign product; it is imported to us from China, India, Egypt and other countries with a tropical climate or heavy rainfall. It is produced from the shoots of the jute plant of the Malvaceae family. Jute fiber is very durable, not affected by mold, putrefactive bacteria, not interesting to insects and birds, hygroscopic, i.e. easily accumulates and releases moisture, allows air to pass through. Jute contains about the same amount of lignin as wood, so their properties are similar and together they are a perfect pair.

Jute is produced both in fibers and in strips of different widths. Tape jute insulation is very convenient to use for laying between the crowns of a log house. In addition, pure jute compacts evenly. These advantages more than cover the price of this material.

In addition to materials made from fibers, felt insulation materials (inter-crown felt) are also used for caulking:

Jute inter-crown insulation consists of 90% jute and 10% flax. But it is better to follow this ratio, since there is jute felt that consists of 70% jute and 30% flax, which significantly worsens its properties.

Linen felt is also called eurolin or flax wool. It is a needle-punched material made from highly purified flax.

Flax-jute felt consists of jute and flax in a 1:1 ratio.

All-jute modern insulation materials are considered the best, since they interact perfectly with wood and shrink evenly, while other materials with the addition of flax worsen the properties of the insulation. The more flax, the worse the properties.

When to caulk a log house

Work on caulking a house is carried out in several stages, this is due to the fact that the timber dries out gradually, the house sinks under its own weight. The largest shrinkage occurs in the first year and a half after construction, and every year it is less and less. Experts say that after 5–6 years, shrinkage practically stops.

The first time a timber house is caulked immediately after construction. During the construction process, insulation is laid between the crowns, and after the entire house is erected, the gaps between the beams are filled with caulking material, but not too tightly.

The second caulking is done a year and a half after the completion of the house. The house will already have settled, so it is necessary to caulk tightly, leaving no gaps or hanging material.

The third time the caulking work will have to be done again after 5 - 6 years, carefully filling all the newly formed gaps and cracks and adding material where it accidentally spilled out or was pulled out by birds.

If it is planned to cover the outside of a timber house with siding, then the third caulking is not performed, but the first two must be completed. There is no need to rush and save on something for which you will later have to pay much more.

Do-it-yourself caulking of a timber house

Caulking is a very responsible and labor-intensive process, despite some monotony of the operations performed. Not many construction crews agree to do caulking work; they simply don’t know how to do it and are afraid of ruining it, which is why they recommend not caulking at all. We have already discussed why you should not listen to them.

But there are teams and entire organizations that deal with caulking professionally. The price for caulking a timber house depends on the stage of work and amounts to a certain amount per 1 linear meter of each crown. The average cost of caulking is 50 – 60 rubles. for 1 m.p. And caulking corner joints can cost up to 200 rubles. for 1 m.p. At a separate rate, caulking will be carried out with a decorative rope (rope), which decorates the appearance of the caulked walls and prevents birds from pulling out the material. By the way, it is customary to pay for the material separately. If you are offered to perform caulk work for 25 rubles. m.p., you should not agree, since the work will be done extremely poorly.

If you want to do all the work yourself, then stock up on patience, material, tools and subsequent information.

How to caulk a timber house with jute

Jute, as a material for insulating a log house, is gaining wild popularity. It is often used in the construction of the house itself.

Before caulking a timber house, you must first properly lay and secure the timber. Insulation is always laid in the inter-crown space with a layer of at least 5 mm. Even if the beam is profiled, jute must be laid between the tenon and groove. But its width depends on the shape of the tongue-and-groove system. The simplest option is when the lower beam has a surface convex with a crescent, and the upper one has the same notch (somewhat reminiscent of a joint of logs), in which case the space between the crowns is completely filled with insulation, and its edges remain hanging 4 - 5 cm on each side. A more complex version of profiled timber, when it is impossible to lay the insulation with a continuous carpet, then it is laid only in the middle, and the external and internal cracks are then caulked separately.

If the house is made of timber with natural humidity, then the thickness of the inter-crown insulation should be 10 - 15 mm.

Important! Caulking must be done from top to bottom. In this case, first one crown is caulked completely outside, then inside, and only then they move on to the second crown. It is better if the work is carried out by 4 people simultaneously on 4 walls. This is necessary to ensure that the house does not warp. After all, after caulking is completed, it will rise by several centimeters, from 5 to 15 cm.

Let's consider the option when the insulation hangs between the beams by 4 - 5 cm. The caulking technology is very well shown in the video example. Using a caulking tool (tool), the jute is tucked underneath and lightly pushed into the gap. Then it is gently, but more forcefully pushed in the upper part, and finally - in the middle. To push the material inside the crack, use a rubber or wooden hammer (mallet), which is gently hit on the caulk.

If, after the work has been completed, loose cracks are still observed, then additional caulking is performed.

Let's consider the option when the gaps between the crowns are not filled (the insulation is located somewhere in the middle of the beam). The work will be exactly the same as with additional caulking.

Usually the gaps between the beams are quite narrow, so this caulking method is used: a rope as thick as the gap is twisted from jute fiber and hammered into the gap with a mallet.

There is another way - “stretching”. Separately taken fibers of jute are laid in fibers across the beam and pushed inward with a spatula or caulk until the gap is completely filled. We leave the remaining ends of the material hanging, it should be about 5 - 6 cm. Next, take a little more jute, roll it into a ball (roller), which is wrapped in these hanging ends and pushed into the gap.

Important! How can you check whether it’s enough to push the insulation in or if you still need to add a little more? If a kitchen knife fits 15 mm or less into the gap between the crowns, then the caulking has been done successfully. If the knife goes further, then material should be added.

When large cracks are formed, use the “set” caulking method. Long strands of jute are twisted and rolled into a ball. Loops are then made from the ball and pushed into the cracks until they are filled.

After all caulking work is completed, the house is loaded and, if possible, used for a whole year. In winter, it will be possible to check for the presence of cracks using the so-called “hares”. These are pockets of frost on the outside of the wall. If you find them, mark the place, this means that there is a leak of warm air from the house. A year to a year and a half after the first caulking, a second caulking is carried out, the house is carefully inspected, insulation is added to those places where it has spilled out or frayed, where the cracks have widened, where the timber has warped, and also in places where there are “hares”.

Only after re-caulking can you begin the exterior and interior decoration of the house. Even if it involves 100 mm of mineral wool and a ventilated façade.

You can caulk a timber house with other materials. But there are some exceptions. For example, only a house made of non-profiled timber can be caulked with moss, since this material is laid and completely fills the inter-crown space, which is absolutely impossible if the timber has a tongue-and-groove system. The work itself on caulking a house is complex and painstaking, although from the outside it seems painfully simple. If you are not confident in your abilities, invite a specialist.

Caulking a timber house: video - example

Which is better to choose?

Moss is the most environmentally friendly and durable material, but it is very difficult to obtain, to ensure compliance with installation technology and the need to maintain optimal moisture content of the insulation, since it crumbles when it dries out. Requires skilled work. Therefore, using moss will be the best solution if you have good caulkers.
Linen tow is less strong and durable, and has low performance characteristics. Not suitable for timber walls due to high hygroscopicity.
Hemp hemp is the best option, but is difficult to obtain. Natural jute is a good material, but has a short shelf life. Its advantage is density - 300-400 g/sq.m. m.
Jute is the best insulation for a house made of profiled timber. It has a high density, and a layer of 3-4 mm is enough to lay it. If jute is not suitable for some reason, linen felt 5-10 mm thick will be an excellent solution for insulation.

Longitudinal cracks in wood

What you should know in advance when choosing a wooden house:

Despite all the natural advantages, wood retains natural disadvantages - hygroscopicity, susceptibility to decomposition, oxidation of the outer layer, torsion, drying out, shrinkage, etc.
For all the cases listed above, there are modern “antidotes”.
The log house requires constant maintenance during operation. Different works are carried out at different intervals (1/3/5/10 seasons).
A house made of logs or timber will retain enough heat only in mild winters (up to -15 at normal humidity). For living in colder periods, insulation or increased heating will be required.
The tree is afraid of wind, moisture and sun. Therefore, the ideal place for a wooden house is a natural environment (wooded area).
Wood has the highest fire hazard of all building materials (for walls).

So, all the nuances have been taken into account, the house has been built or purchased, and we are ready to deal with all the problems, bringing the appearance and performance properties to perfection.

Due to the fibrous structure, a log or beam has defects that spread longitudinally. A transverse crack or dent occurs extremely rarely in the event of overload or rotting of the material. In such cases, the log is not subject to repair, but to complete or partial replacement.

Longitudinal cracks, based on their location in the structure (direction), are divided into:

Direct. Approximately coincides with the axis of the log (timber).
Spiral (uneven). Does not match the axis.
Segmental. Uneven cracks with fiber transition.

In all cases, one selected method is used. As a rule, this is insulation and subsequent sealing of the sinus. This combined method is the simplest and most accessible today. It is suitable for cracks with an opening width of 5 mm. Smaller defects are sealed with a special sealant. The described method is perfect for a block house.

Question. Why not seal all the cracks with just sealant?

Answer. This will be very expensive due to the high consumption of sealant. At the same time, its thermal insulation properties are an order of magnitude lower than insulation.

Thermal insulating filler. This could be a special thermal harness or just a strip of foam rubber.
Sealant, professional gun.
Metal knives and scrapers.
Hand sprayer with water.
Pieces of foam rubber, rags.

Attention! Before starting work, make sure that the wall material is dry (normal humidity). Treat the internal cavities with an antiseptic. 1

We clean the edges of the crack from sawdust, loose wood, and wood chips

1. Clean the edges of the crack from sawdust, loose wood, and wood chips.

2. Fill the cavity with a thermal tourniquet (foam rubber). On the outside, ½–¼ of the crack remains for sealant to be applied.

Attention! If you use foam rubber, you should not tamp it down too hard. Any insulation in a compressed state loses its properties. The thermocouple is not subject to crushing

The thermocouple is not subject to crushing.

3. Place the sealant in the sinus.

4. Using a foam brush, smooth the sealant along the edges so that you get a continuous smooth surface. For a better effect, you can wet the sealant with water from a spray bottle.

Attention! Don't do this with your finger. The quality will be low, but the risk of getting a splinter will be high. 5

Remove any remaining sealant from the surface with a rag.

5. Remove any remaining sealant from the surface with a rag.

The choice of sealant is the most critical part of this work, if you do it yourself or the “problem of a good craftsman” has been solved. An experienced specialist will advise you on the appropriate option. Most of these products are universal - suitable for any type of work. “Internal” sealants, as a rule, differ slightly in price from “external” ones. The companies that produce them have an assortment of related products - thermal rope, felt.

Sealants for cracks and joints of logs and beams:

Consumables and tools

For this procedure, special tools are purchased that make the work process easier.

These include:

different types of caulking (stacked or straight, curved, broken);
road worker;
mallet.

Caulking is an item for laying insulation between the crowns. Depending on the type, it is used for “stretch” or “set” work.

Many experts advise using wooden caulks rather than metal ones.

Purpose of the tools:

Curved caulk is used for corner seams; its blade has a width of 50-60 mm.
The breaking variety of the tool has a width of 30-35 mm; it is used, as the name implies, to “break” grooves in order to facilitate the laying of insulating fibers between them.
The road worker is used to form rolls of tow so that the seam is beautiful. Usually has a width of 170 mm.
Mallet - a wooden hammer for hammering insulation into gaps.

These basic tools will allow you to make caulk quickly and efficiently. In addition to them, for the work you will need a stepladder, gloves and consumables - moss, as well as a container for soaking it with soap and oil.

Preparatory work

Since jute is a durable material, there may be no need for re-caulking, which saves time and money. But still, in order for a self-made caulking to last a long time and reliably seal your home, it must be installed correctly. To do this, you need to prepare in advance and prepare your tools. You should choose jute of a width that matches the width of the gaps between the logs.

To prevent the logs from rotting and collapsing, the cracks should be properly treated before caulking. For this purpose, special wood antiseptics are used. The sealant should be placed only in dry cracks. It is best to carry out caulking in the summer, warm dry spring or autumn. The air temperature should not be below +10° C, there should be no rain. Too hot weather is also not suitable, as the logs dry out unnecessarily, which can result in overuse of jute.

Jute materials are easily torn by hand. Without using any special means, you can install the seal yourself quickly and easily. But such a finish will not have a completely aesthetic appearance, so it cannot be used for walls that carry a decorative load. To make caulked walls look neater, the pieces of insulation need to be identical and have smooth edges. To do this, the jute must be cut with a sharp knife or scissors. Therefore, the tools should be sharpened in advance.

You need to squeeze the sealant into the gap carefully, using a special metal caulk, which visually resembles a small chisel. If one is not available, it can be replaced with a thin chisel. To drive the seal into the gap, you will also need a hammer and a rubber mallet. If the gaps are small, then you can use a jute rope of small diameter. If the rope is narrow and the gaps are large, then it is better to fold it several times.

Step-by-step instruction

When insulating, it is customary to use two caulking options :

"Stretch" .
This method eliminates gaps in the longitudinal rows of wood around the perimeter of the entire house. The principle of work is to gradually fill all the gaps between the crowns with two strands: regular and twisted.
The insulation fibers must be laid perpendicular to the beams, the ends of the material must be twisted into a roller, pushing between the remaining gap.
"To the set." The method is most often used for re-caulking after shrinkage. A strand of insulation is twisted into a bundle, wrapped in a loop, and pushed into the gap. The fibers also occupy a position perpendicular to the beams. Typically, this method is required to eliminate cracks larger than 5 mm in diameter.

Each material has its own caulking method.

Tow

Caulking instructions:

A wide fiber of tow is carefully hung along the entire seam. The upper part of the strand is driven into the slot, and the rest awaits the master’s repeated penetration.
After completing one crown around the entire perimeter of the building, the caulker returns back. Now almost the entire 1-2 cm wide strand is driven inside the wall.
After this, the loose ends are rolled up and pushed into the remaining space.
The end result should be neat and even seams.

Before use, the tow must be freed from debris and combed, if this has not been done before.

Ribbon

Work with tape insulation is more labor-intensive due to the straightness of the timber. Because when you hammer in the material, it starts to come out on the other side.

Caulking instructions:

First you need to hammer in the edge of the first tape, under which you place the second tape.
The remaining ends will need to be placed so that the second layer of insulation is between the first.

If the seam width is large and the perimeter of the walls of the house is large, you will need a larger roll, since it is undesirable for the material to break.

To avoid distortions of the building, you will need to go through one crown at a time , and so gradually the entire timber house. Laying is carried out along the inside and outside of the building simultaneously in the absence of external finishing.

It’s worth starting from the corner of the house, so it’s better to control the work process. The material should be trimmed along the edge of the timber.

The nuances of caulking corners

For wide gaps, the twisted insulation is squeezed perpendicular to the wall using “set” loops. First push through the top part of the felt, then the bottom. In fact, caulking joints in corners is no different from the same technology for wall insulation .

The process of filling gaps between logs

If the gap between the logs is even and approximately the same, you can push the insulation into the recesses with a special wide spatula - a road builder. This allows you to speed up your work. If the recesses are uneven, with narrow gaps, it is better to use a tool with a sharp tip. If the cracks are crooked and you have to drive the sealant into them at an angle, then it is better to use an oblique metal caulk.

You can process seams and gaps with jute in different ways. The choice of method depends on the size of the cracks and the desired aesthetics. There are 2 main approaches to laying the seal:

Stretch. The compaction material is taken in individual strands and pushed with a thin tool along the gap between the logs. A roll is formed from the hanging remains of jute and forcefully compacted into the groove using a thin tool and a hammer. This method is suitable for processing small cracks and allows you to create good thermal insulation. But the wall does not look entirely aesthetically pleasing due to the remnants of insulation peeking out from under the logs.
Into the set. This method allows you to process even the largest gaps. To do this, jute fibers of the required length are taken, which are then wound into balls. The larger the gap, the larger the ball you need to form. Then the formed balls are filled tightly into the cracks using a chisel and hammer. When using this method, the edges of the insulation do not protrude from the gaps between the logs, making the treated walls look more aesthetically pleasing.

Caulking should be done evenly, in a circle, level by level. You should move from bottom to top. If you treat each wall separately, the entire structure may become warped due to uneven distribution of gravity. One should take into account the fact that after caulking, the structure can grow in height by almost 15 cm.

Quality checking

Many owners of log houses hire construction crews to carry out such work. In this case, you need to know how to check the quality of the seams between the crowns.

You can use two methods:

You should try pushing a regular awl or knife into the seams. If it barely penetrates to a length of 15 cm and is not visible from the opposite side, the caulk is made with high quality.
You can also try pushing the caulk between the seams yourself using a mallet. Usually it rests on a dense layer of insulation.

The best option not to make a mistake is to choose a knowledgeable person who will take responsibility for monitoring the work.

Then we can hope that the builders will not “crash” and the caulking will be carried out according to all the rules.

Difficulties and errors

Errors may occur when working independently:

Caulking is carried out only on one wall. In this case, distortion of the house is inevitable.
Work begins with the upper crowns of a timber house or with the central ones, although according to the technology it is necessary to caulk the lower elements.
Caulking is carried out only inside the building without external walls. In this case, distortions or insufficient thermal insulation are possible.
The insulation between the crowns was laid too tightly after the construction of the log house was completed. This will prevent it from “settling” evenly. According to the rules, light caulking is required at this time, taking into account the deformation of the beams.

Since the seams of a log house are straight, without indentations, unlike the logs of a log house, it is difficult to install insulation, since it sticks out on the other side.

Why do you need to caulk a log house?

A wooden house is very favorable for living. Wood holds heat well. But in log houses, gaps inevitably remain between the crown logs. They need to be closed to prevent the cold from penetrating inside the house. This operation is called caulking. With careful caulking, the house will be reliably protected from the cold even in the most severe frosts.

In addition to performing the function of insulation, caulk also protects a wooden house from rotting.

What you need to know about log caulking.

Material calculation

How to determine the amount of flax felt or jute fiber for work? First of all, you need to find out the required density of the material for a particular log house.

Insulation that is too thin will be displaced by heavier beams. Therefore, the density of the fibers and the thickness of the walls are related to each other.

So, with a beam diameter of 200-300 mm, the density of the linen tape should be at least 300 g/sq. m. With a standard wall thickness of 150 mm, the density is 200 g/sq. m. will be enough. This value has a 15 mm layer of linen insulation or 6-8 mm of jute insulation.

Once the density is determined, the volume of material required can be calculated. You will need to find out the perimeter of a wooden house made of timber on the outside. After this, you need to multiply the resulting number by the number of seams in one wall - corresponding to the crowns. This will be the total linear meters that need to be caulked.

Based on this number, the volume of purchased material is calculated.

There is no need to skimp on the amount of insulation. If the calculated number is 1 cubic meter of jute fiber, it is better to take a little extra, taking into account corner joints, door and window openings.

Advice from the experts

Caulk with jute rope

The walls of a house made of edged timber do not always have an attractive appearance; it is almost impossible to lay insulation between the crowns without unevenness, so it will not be possible to caulk the frame “string by thread”. You can decorate the facade using jute rope, which is laid over a layer of inter-crown insulation; the rope is secured with clapboard nails.
After finishing caulking, it is advisable to treat the crown gaps with an antiseptic; the domestic drug “Neomid” is an effective remedy. The product provides long-term protection of insulation made from natural materials from rotting, fungus and insects. It has a liquid consistency and is applied with a brush.
If the frame is sanded after shrinkage, finishing caulk is carried out last - after sanding of the walls is completed.

Approximate costs

The cost of the work of craftsmen, regardless of the type of insulation material, is on average in the Russian Federation - 45 rubles per 1 sq. m. m, there are prices for 1 linear meter in the Moscow region - 65–70 rubles.

Removing old tow will cost about 30 rubles. for 1 m.

At the same time, the average prices for insulation materials in the Russian Federation:

Jute tape - 9–16 rubles/1 linear line. m.
Linen wool - 5–7 rubles/linear. m.
Jute tow - 135 rubles/kg.
Hemp hemp - 100 rubles/kg.
Linen tow - 75 rubles/kg.
Moss - 300 rubles/45 liter bag.