In Rus', aspen has been used in the construction of wooden structures for thousands of years. It was valued for its magnificent properties - unique to this tree. Its strength, only gained over years of use, determined the use of aspen in the construction of houses, roofing systems, domes and temple roofs.
But this wood gained special respect as a material for the construction of Russian baths. To this day, the wonderful properties of aspen are in demand by lovers of strong and healthy steam.
Features of an aspen bath
Few people have questions about the quality of an aspen bathhouse, since it is a fairly common material for construction. However, aspen for a bath has pros and cons that may affect the final choice.
Aspen typically grows in swampy areas, which means that the inside of its trunk is susceptible to rapid rotting. The defect can be determined by its looseness when cutting the wood.
Aspen blanks are not made from solid wood, but only from tops measuring 3-5 meters in length. Almost the entire tree trunk is not used in construction, so cutting it down is not considered profitable.
Aspen has high humidity, which, depending on the professionalism of the builders, can be both a plus and a minus. The fact is that when dried, wood acquires stronger shrinkage properties than linden or birch. The quality of the material depends on drying - it can curl or crack at the base.
All manipulations with tools must be carried out while the wood is wet. Afterwards, the aspen hardens and cannot be processed. Due to its strength, an aspen bathhouse will last for ten years without additional repairs.
Treated wood material Source garantwood.ru
When building a bathhouse, many are puzzled by the choice of material: linden or aspen for the steam room, which will last better and longer. Aspen baths require considerable expenses, since not every tree is good due to internal rotting.
It is best to seek help from a specialist or carefully select each trunk for construction. If you build a bathhouse from poor material, rot will quickly spread to the entire frame and infect the building, which will rot in a maximum of a year. High-quality selection of material will allow you to save money in the long term, since you will not have to resort to urgent repairs and replacement of wood.
The appearance of aspen leaves much to be desired. Unlike its counterparts: linden and pine, it looks extremely unpresentable. Over time, dark circles and spots appear on the material. Sanding and sanding will help avoid them. All processing work is carried out before the wood is dried.
Appearance of aspen before processing Source rubl-kirov.com
Positive and healing properties
Almost all the disadvantages of aspen cover its advantages, thanks to which baths made of this material are so popular. Among the main advantages are:
- Durability . Due to its strength after drying, an aspen bathhouse does not require additional repairs or replacement of wood. The better the wood processing, the longer the building will last.
- High temperature resistance . Aspen does not heat up as much as other wood species. If the bathhouse is built from a different material, aspen is often used for shelves, benches and walls in order to comfortably take bath procedures. You don’t have to worry about burns or sticking to the walls, since it doesn’t emit resins or other substances.
The healing properties of aspen buildings are noted by many experienced bath attendants. After the visit, the general condition of the body improves, immunity grows and tone rises. Aspen has the property of disinfecting water; wells were previously built from it. High-quality wood does not rot and does not emit harmful substances that cause mold or fungi to appear.
Bath procedures Source banyaland.rf
See also: Catalog of companies that specialize in baths.
Not every bath attendant will choose a log bathhouse made of aspen, due to the pros and cons, as a material for construction, since it is quite difficult to select and process it yourself. But its positive properties overshadow its disadvantages due to its stability and durability. The seasonality of the material determines the construction of aspen buildings in the summer; wood processing is carried out from March to May.
Practicality and costs for further operation
Harvesting aspen logs
The best time to start harvesting aspen timber is from the end of March to mid-May. During this period, the juices move inside the plant, and the bark is easier to separate from the trunk. Doing the same thing at another time is much more difficult. Therefore, only this period is used for procurement. The further process of preparing cut trees, processing speed and appearance depend on the correct choice of time.
Drying wood
The process of drying cut aspen logs takes a long time. There are several methods, but the most popular is the water hammer method. It helps the wood to dry out gradually with minimal loss and deformation. When moisture evaporates from the wood structure, drying occurs. It loses up to 40-45% in volume, and this is taken into account at the construction planning stage.
Characteristics of properly dried and treated aspen logs:
- elasticity;
- aesthetic appearance;
- increased hardness;
- moisture resistance;
- antimicrobial properties.
Where can you buy quality aspen
When making the final decision to build a bathhouse or house from aspen, it is necessary to take into account that the life of the room for its intended purpose depends on the quality of the wood. If, when selecting sawn logs, they are found with rotting cores, they are removed and not used in construction. If you miss one such workpiece, instead of durability, in a few years you will get a rotten structure that will not last long.
Our company offers you to purchase properly sawn, dried and treated wood.
Russian steam room: what should it be like?
Our website presents a number of log house projects, for example: Or you can see all prices for log houses. You can calculate the house or bathhouse you need with maximum accuracy using our log house cost calculator. To order and buy a log house, call:
- Vologda
- Moscow,
Comments
Svetlana
Why is the steam room lined? If the bathhouse is made of a log house, does the steam room need to be doused?
14.06.2019
Answer
- dom
Hello, I don’t understand the question, what does it mean - the steam room needs to be doused, it’s like, but the steam room is sheathed for aesthetics, it’s more beautiful and comfortable.
14.06.2019
Answer
Nuances of aspen construction
Some recommendations from experts will not be superfluous for those who decide to build a bathhouse from a tree such as aspen:
- Due to the high risk of internal rot, it is best to choose aspen from a least wetland location. The desired trunk age is from 40 years. These conditions will help reduce the risk during construction.
- It is best to harvest and process wood during the period of sap release, while the tree is wet. Subsequent natural drying of the bark will prevent the trunk from deforming.
- The treated material should be kept only under a canopy so that the sun's rays do not dry out the wood. When exposed to the sun, aspen quickly deforms and cracks.
Treated wood under a canopy Source 24aul.ru
Final processing is best done in early spring, when the aspen is wetter. The longer it sits, the more difficult it will be to work with it with an ax and saws.
When processing, professionals recommend cutting the corners of the bathhouse not into the “bowl”, but into the “foot” to prevent cracking of the material.
When sanding wood, it is worth treating it with an antiseptic or any other bioprotection. Due to the properties of aspen, additional internal cladding is not required. It does not emit resins, is resistant to temperatures and, in general, is excellent for building a bathhouse.
Sample construction of an aspen log house
Aspen is a fairly heavy material, so for a log house you will need a strip foundation about 40 cm wide and about 50 cm high. The top and bottom of the foundation is reinforced with rods with a diameter of 12-14 mm, laying three on each side (more details: “Construction of a bathhouse from a log - step-by-step guide").
You need to lay a waterproofing layer on top of the foundation and build a brickwork of several bricks. A log frame is erected on top in the same way as from any other tree.
If you do not want to paint the walls, but leave them light, then it is enough to sand and impregnate them with antiseptics and fire retardants.
And then you will be able to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere in your steam room, feeling the comfort of the pleasant aroma of wood, as well as the pride that you were able to do all this on your own.
Features of a linden bath
Aspen is often compared to linden, preferring the latter as a material for construction. And this is not surprising, because it has a number of positive properties:
- the lightness and softness of the wood allows for convenient processing, making construction from linden less labor-intensive;
- low thermal conductivity, due to which it is easy to warm up the bath;
- weak shrinkage of logs with proper drying allows you to operate the bathhouse immediately after construction;
- no additional covering of the lining is required due to the versatility of the material.
Linden steam room lining Source yandex.net
In addition, linden releases many useful resins and essential oils, which also create a pleasant microclimate inside the building. Bath procedures treat colds, nervous diseases and are beneficial for human internal organs.
The main disadvantage of a linden bathhouse is considered to be poor resistance to rotting; even high-quality treatment does not protect against the appearance of harmful microorganisms and fungi. Due to the poor density of wood fibers, frequent repairs and replacement of material in the bathhouse are required. In addition, linden is a fairly expensive material; it is at least more expensive than spruce or pine, as well as its main rival, aspen.
Alternative to aspen
Aspen, as you might understand, is an expensive material, so it is wise to find a replacement for it. A more budget-friendly option is to build a bathhouse from pine or spruce.
In addition, no one is forcing people to completely abandon aspen. Let the building itself be made of pine, and the furniture inside made of aspen. In addition, it can only be used for the lower crowns of the bath. Over time, these crowns of wood will turn into real concrete, which is not afraid of moisture, temperature, or weather.
Which material to choose: whole log or timber
Baths are built from both solid logs and timber. Material for construction, as a rule, is prepared seasonally using all methods at once: logs and beams, after drying it in a special chamber. Logs have high humidity, up to 85%, which greatly increases drying costs. After drying, the material loses density and shrinks in size, which also affects the price and, as a consequence, the choice during construction. Even more effort and money are spent on the production of timber, the price will be higher than that of logs. The quality remains at the same level.
Therefore, it is best to choose ready-made, high-quality logs for building a bathhouse, the main thing is that they are not subject to internal rot and do not lose their properties due to improper drying.
How to prepare an excellent aspen log yourself?
But, if we turn to the origins of ancient Russian architecture, we learn that due to the lack of chainsaws, sawmills and drying chambers, it took a lot of time to prepare building materials. All the work, in fact, was done by hand - from logging to the interior finishing of the steam room. Craftsmen at that time had a good understanding of what kind of wood they needed to work with, and aspen was highly valued in this regard.
So, in order to get a strong and lightweight aspen frame, you need to cut this tree in the spring, when there is the most sap. Wood craftsmen claim that it is the frozen sap that gives this polymerization property. Experienced builders advise doing this: as soon as small buds begin to swell on the aspen, simply cut it down at the root. Aspen is cut from February to April, and harvested from April to May.
The branches need to be left, and then the buds will get their moisture from the trunk and the leaves will bloom. This is the initial drying. After this, clear the logs of branches and twigs, and give them sufficient time to lie in the bark, which will peel off almost by itself over time. Pre-seal the ends of the logs with clay so that the wood dries properly. But you can’t dry aspen in the sun - it will immediately become covered with cracks.
Hide the log house under a canopy and let it lie there for about a year. In the spring, the bark from the aspen will need to be removed (it will easily slide off on its own), otherwise bark beetles will grow under it. It is better to do this in the first warm days. If an aspen frame has been well and properly dried, its strength resembles bone.
Briefly about the main thing
It is quite difficult to determine which is better for a bath: linden or aspen. It is not easy to choose a material, especially if you need to take into account the properties of wood and its disadvantages. Aspen is excellent as a basis for construction, second only to linden in aesthetic qualities. Therefore, it is best to finish the interior steam room from linden. When choosing, it is important to take into account the age and location of the tree being cut; the quality of the material may depend on this. It is important that the aspen trunk is not subject to internal rot, which can spread to the entire finished building.
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Advantages:
- Being a soft material, aspen is at the same time hard as a rock. But this is only over the years of shrinkage - then the aspen log house becomes a fortress. This behavior can be compared with cedar; it is also not difficult to process.
- Aspen is not resinous. This is an excellent quality for a bathhouse - the spirit in it will be wonderful. But it’s still not like a log house. It's better to finish it from the inside. Perfect for steam rooms or saunas - it heats up little.
- Cheapness. On the market this material is presented in the form of boards, so they ask about 4 thousand rubles per m³.
Well, the praises are over. If what was written did not make an impression, then you should type in a search engine - a log house made of aspen. Reviews - and then trust the opinion of many unhappy, and perhaps happy, people who tried to build from it.
