what is log home chinking

[constructor]

Until the middle of the summer we had a real timber house like others (since the heat has come). And so go on. There is nothing twisted, but between the crowns of the upper half of the framework, there are big gaps and cracks no according to the State Standard i.e. 12 – 15 mm. Round timbers, nice built on an amateur’s look. It is quite normal. And I see that crap only on two walls, and other three or four crowns on top. A lot of big cracks on top of the house. ((How to get out of the situation? Drying was anomalous, and too soon, uneven. I have some logs almost torn up inside. And suddenly in the third year of "winter" sludge of forest the wood dried to an abnormal value for itself, now it gains moisture. If this heat doesn’t repeat, then there will not be such shrinkage. But some things you can’t correct.

[bill]

That is if there is a great shrinkage and greatly reduces in diameter, then with an increasing atmospheric humidity will it again increase in size? Do I correctly understand the physics of the process?
In the summer the humidity was around 30%. I ask the question here, the house from beams of a natural moisture, built on October in 2011, cracked from the outside, from the inside not too critical, and the question is - if we heat the house with an iron stove in winter during our arrivals for the weekend, will the house continue cracking from the inside? Because of the difference in temperatures, you go away and the house stays cold. As it is critical for the wood? On my own notes in this fall, as I was leaving everything was normal, but when came again cracks added inside. Do I have paranoia?

[buldozer]

If you started counting crack, you had exactly paranoia! And in fact, if you heat the house in the winter not regularly, then cracks would be added unequivocally, because you begin heating as soon as possible ~ 3 hours and the temperature is up + 20 degrees. And such shifts adversely affect any material and wood, as well. Plus, A high humidity and so on with all the consequences. Simply, leave an indirect radiator at home with an established regime on it "*" and it will periodically switch on maintaining the temperature of + "0" degrees. Number of indirect radiators depends on the size of the room in which they are installed. Then a start heating will go in a softer mode than with a difference of -20 to +20 degrees.

[constructor]

Thanks to all responded, but how then I saw houses where were no cracks inside assembled from ordinary timbers? They are not heated or what? Although, the people as I know it well, come to New Year’s holidays, and other holidays, as well on February and on March holidays. As for the convectors, thanks, I understood, but there is no lightning until February. Not to come in the winter?

[expert]

The wood shrinks not from the fact that it heats up or cools down. This is because it dries slowly and decreases its linear dimensions, and in different directions (radial, tangential, axial). This is a different reducing on size. Hence the cracks.
Large fissure damages, usually formed by a rapid drying, when the outer layers dry out, and the inside part is still wet (swollen). With gentle drying often form a network of small cracks.
But large cracks, as the drying of the "core" closed and become smaller. As for the periodic hearting it doesn’t significantly affect the rate of formation and size of cracks. Quite the contrary.

[bill]

It is absolutely true. What will be, will be.
Come here and heat. The number of cracks it doesn’t affect at, the beamы can also begin twisting. Heat carefully, not overfilling the oven until it stops. Try to stretch the process of a heating time for 3-5 hours to warm up the house more gradually. For the better heating - wave a large piece of cloth, like a propeller, for better mixing of air masses. It's like in the sauna when waving a sheet.
Do not worry, everything will be fine.

[baltazar]

Hello.
Please, give me a piece of advice. Who does know the next question?
Built a two-storey house from bard of 150 x 150 (a height of the walls is 6 meters) + a roof (no attic space).
Maybe, somehow to dry faster the house? For example, with a heat pump (the name is not quite right, but I think the point is clear.) I would like in a couple of months to move to the house, and as I understand it has not occurred until the shrinkage, you can’t do an interior and exterior trimming? (For the external part we choose a metal siding with the insulation).
Just construction companies say they can do right away, do not worry ... But having read the forums, I can not believe.
p. s. Now, we have a one-story house from the same timbers, it is just a box, without finishing. In a couple of weeks we will be built the house above, the size of timbers I think also will be 150 x 150 or 200 x 200.
And indeed as a shaped beam glued not subject to a strong shrinkage?
(Only if you really strongly shaped beam has no shrinkage, it may be slightly overpay ... and then a laminated board is strongly expensive) and they offered me to build from bars of a natural moisture. For example, on May. Then, we will make a rough floor, a roof, etc. But on August - on September to gradually warm by a heat gun ... They say that it will be ok and it will be possible to check in (I mean the construction of a second home).
The first home made family by another company, but from a winter forest and it was built in the winter. The heat gun is also offered ... But in this internet I found nothing ... If the house has a big shrinkage, so far the courts and other ... what will be not a great result ...

[expert]

At least, a winter and a summer, it is better not to hurry up. I remember an old cartoon: It is better to lose a day, and then to fly in a hour), though the main thing is a tail! If your team advises, let it advice in writing, takes a warranty of a couple of years, correction for possible joints and all other things through the contract.
I will not say anything about profiled beams- it is my trouble, a chopped house.
Well, rough floors and the roof are quite normal. But the interior finishing is problematic. And again, purely my IMHO.
At the beginning of operation of the wooden house, you should focus on the launch of the heating system. In the new house you should raise the temperature very slowly and gradually. In the case of the boiler at a full capacity there will be overheat of the inside of walls and a sharp drop in their uneven moisture. As a result, the inside of logs or beams to increase the formation of cracks, the expansion joints and twisting due to uneven moisture in diameter logs and cross-section beam. In summer, when testing the heating, the temperature in the room should not be higher than the temperature outside the house.
Too, perhaps, stand by express, timbers need "to defend and dry" in a natural way ... On spring I will proceed to the construction site, the house from bard (ordinary), it is good, the share is in a sawmill, and builders are masters, so, it will be real to us the northern winter forest, and then I will put it in the spring, and finish in a year... But no hurry!

[constructor]

And the exterior walls can be made of anything you want. Bearing walls of wood can shrink for five months, and you can quickly begin to finish. Sliding and adjustable structures can help you. It there would be a prof which controls everything. And in any case you need to download the framework. Raising the roof, make heavier the floor, studs, etc. You can search in the Internet how to trim the frame house (lumbers, milled logs, timbers, etc.). How to insert the windows and doors, to frame walls, chimneys, etc. which has no shrinkage.
Perhaps, it is in the internet. Nothing new (a technology of a last century). Difficulties only on the sliding roof (small difficulties). What elements are you interested in? I will tell you from my own experience.

[Summer]

Help me, please, logs of what thickness crack less? I want to order a house with a D = 26 cm, and the company says that is not the good, and it better use from 22 ... 24, for a heat transfer are very similar, but they crack less. Ideally, I want something with no cracks.

[buldozer]

Of course, the smaller the diameter, the less moisture is in the logs, and it cracks less on drying. The external surface area of timbers is also less and less evaporation during drying and a moisture output.
Moreover, cracks may be or not on the ends as well as on the outer surface along the logs. Depends on the method, timing, and materials processing. Even less crack 100 mm, only to be very cold. Not true. If properly done, the number and size of cracks to be small in any diameter.
Order 26 cm, do not listen to others! And the groove is better use 15 cm.
P.S. Maybe they just do not do more than 24?

[expert]

I think 28 or 26 or 24 are equally cracked, again, it depends on as correctly mentioned above, the properties of the particular wood from which it is taken each log, the quality of cutting, etc. In a wooden house can log some little crack, whereas neighboring logs simply break ... You need cuts carefully if there is a narrow slot (for example in the inner areas of the house do not need a wide one) when the groove 12 cm or more, a crack on the beam itself will necessary i.e. where and make this cut.
On the photo the groove is too narrow here, and the crack went where it is easier to get through, where the groove is wider there is the weakest it makes its way back to something like this.
PS: Why are you afraid of cracks? You can’t live without them anywhere, even in a well-known log house they will be obligatory.
And we have come up with, I am sorry that I am here you are new from Ukraine, so I can not give you a link to your branch. I'll copy and paste:
So, a summer 2009:
1. Unaesthetic appearance of the walls (cracks in the logs themselves) forced us to think what should we do with this good, and we began to experiment...At first, we studied an expensive American sealer. Felt this way and that, but realized that not we will not overpower it financially and we bought several generic sealants and decided to experiment with them, i.e for 3 months we have created critical conditions for experimental logs: freezer, a hot sun, a water, freezer again and so on for 3 months. I can tell you that all sealants overall spectrum passed these tests! Their only disadvantage was the color. Especially you can not pick up, well, firstly, you need to grind, and then seal.
Our guys come-builders, try and look at and offered another option. i.e we cut small beams, and we pasted into all the possible cracks in our logs, then everything is trimmed and polished.

[constructor]

It is necessary to seal the cracks in the old logs.
We must do it cheap. An aesthetic look is important too. It is got for painting. I read about PVA and chips. I haven’t a lot of chips (I need 2 liters, as in some cracks (after cleaning) a child's fist intermeddles. And this way for subsequent grinding, which I do not need it. Now I handled with bioprotective drugs, spilled by a varnish. Simple silicone sealants such as impossible, since they clog the moisture, accelerating a decay?
A cement + PVA? We need sawdust and glue. Filings are available on sawmill, and they are not two liters, but rather two cubes. Also, you can do almost without sanding and be content with the trowel (depending on the density of the resulting "putty" and the value of sawdust).

[expert]

Yeah, I do not need polishing!
A crack (1 m in length and a width of 3-5 cm, a depth of 10-15 cm, a rot around) at the top of logs, it just pours the water that gets into the interior. A log is rotten in principle, I do not want to change it, so to close it up to 5-8 years and it will be enough.
We can’t chip with a chainsaw. I just put the frame and cracks are not so many, but who knows what will happen later. I knocked on wood ... This I ask in advance, and is there any sense to repair now small cracks or it is better to do it next year. At the moment I just have a lot of sawdust after sanding. A sealant to get a smooth surface. You can putty. And now it is quite enough an acrylic paint (a foam protection from UV rays) of varnish or paint to protect against UV rays and a direct exposure to precipitation. With foam we have a minimal complexity. The water will get under almost any sealant. The foam has some elasticity, so it does not come off of the wall cracks. And if the lacquer film and burst on the strain, a width of cracks in the lacquer will be 0.3-0.5 mm, i.e. 100 times smaller than the existing one. Besides an acrylic paint and varnish materials "breathe", that is the water vapor is passed, but it do not miss condensed moisture. Between the foam and the acrylic sealant there is a constant moisture in the winter, I think this moisture will freeze, and the water is a substance that expands on freezing ... what will happen with a foam sealant? With cracks?)
sawdust plus glue. In the crack of 0.3-0.5 mm one liter of water can get, which will soak up the foam and leave a "deposit" in the wood. Isn’t so? I have the crack at the top of log, all of which will fall on the wall (a wind or a snow) directly poured into it.
By the way, I remembered Bustilat. I can use it with sawdust in gaps? A moisture proof initially (in contrast to the usual PVA, although there is a waterproof PVA)?

[buldozer]

There will be constant moisture, if to pour it specifically. Terminations should be produced, naturally, in a dry weather. There will not be puddles between the sealant and the foam – the wood, the foam, an acrylic sealant, an acrylic lacquer - all are porous materials.
Acrylic materials including sealants have a porous structure after drying. This is because the acrylic materials in a liquid form are a suspension of acrylic copolymers in the water. After application of the material, the water evaporates (forming pores), copolymer particles clump together and begin a curing process.
Sawdust + glue are also possible, but more difficult. For 5-8 years the foam is enough, maybe only 3 - 4 years to renew the coverage. By the way, the sawdust is also wooden. So, too, absorb water. 0.3-0.5 mm liters of water will not get the crack, simply because there is no place for it. There is the foam which absorbs the water very quickly. A tiny amount, and the rest will flow, if, of course, not to organize a "trough" in that place.

[bill]

When I was young (about 10 years ago) having rest in the village with my grandmother and my grandfather, I observed the work to replace the accountant logs in a log house, the house was over 100 years old, without a foundation - just on the rocks. But men were coating with the accountant logs with a new oil-mining. Naturally, I am like an inquisitive kid asked - why to smear? I received a response from an old man: not to rot and then he told the story of that before, in Russia, the whole frame house was passed - coated with a pine oleoresin, thereby forming a layer on the wood. What was the sap, I knew at that time, because I went to collect it with my grandma, she made from it some ointments. Right now, I do not know how believe the words of old men! And if you believe it is unlikely that the entire frame anointed...This is how much tar and the time to gather up. In general, as far as I understand what the question is about the appearance of cracks on the surface of timbers. So, these should be obtained as a consequence of internal stress pattern during the wood drying. And whether you treat the ends or not! And the people fight with that process so. To remove a log crack on top, where lies the following longitudinal beam, make a groove, a depth of about 1/3 of the bottom groove considering a maturation. And this gap, but it is decent for the extension of a saw, so cracks are formed. But be sure to consider the location of knots on them too much burst. But it's like the carpenter cutters lucky! So, old people taught. And about the ends I can say to treat them it will not be worse. We painted with a lime, and the kind of a beautiful bug, but now there is a chemistry which the lime, it is a matter of taste.

[baltazar]

Cracks in the logs, are not so scary! A far bigger problem, I received as a result of protracted. A log cabin home with two floors of larch raised in two stages. The first floor in the early summer, the second in the late autumn. The problem occurred because the whole process of uneven shrinkage angles log – the southern one quite noticeably dipped relative to other corners.
PS. For timber baths have very large cracks on the beam, which is located on the eastern side of the shadow - in its middle part. Well, that's another story, given that the bottom timber is harvested groove (do not know the name - not the builder) it turns out that in very thin bowls log, and in this case what that the end may affect some shrinkage. Well if a piece of timber affects the cup to the end and maybe putty ends only helps preserve the appearance of the end.

[buldozer]

I tried once more to understand the issue in terms of 3D. In terms of the thickness of logs can be seen between the cup and the end (a log is highlighted in white). Less propyl for primary caulking between the logs. Typically, logs are slightly less than 50%, can 40%. Thus, the treatment of ends is for fans soaking ends it makes sense, but do not forget that the impact of such impregnation will also provide the conditions in which the drying frame and the type of wood and its initial moisture content. So, for sure, if you have means why not treat butts! Cracks in the ends and the cracks in the logs themselves - they are two very different things. The ends can tear the interval from the end of log before the bowl. Cracks in the log, at least in my wooden house, are much smaller and thinner. By the way, at the ends of cracks, as in the above photos, I have almost no (only a few ends on the house, despite the fact that I have a fir tree, and as it is said, it shrinks stronger).

[baltazar]

Colored ends don’t protect from cracking.
I would like to see similar photos proving "myth-making" – I am not quite interested on the theory.
Only a practice is a criterion of truth. I was taught so. The ends are obscured, because through the ends, the moisture goes much faster and this leads to cracking of the ends. Precious woods are dried such way. In the dryer, too, usually obscure.
I also thought about the airbrushing in the wooden house it. Unfortunately, I do not have the practice of working with log cabins, so I only theorized and concluded that that would do more harm than good. Well smeared ends the moisture goes out through them, but in a bowl all the same leaves. And then the bowl is cut and it turns out that from a half of timber the moisture comes out through, and from the other half - not. In theory, this would lead to non-uniform drying logs. Almost likely to nothing lead. Cracks are in the end and the cracks in the logs themselves - they are two very different things. The ends can tear the interval from the end of the log before the bowl. Cracks in the log, at least in my wooden house, a much smaller and thinner. By the way, at the ends of the cracks, as in the photos above, I haven’t almost them (only a few ends on the house, despite the fact that I have a fir tree, and it is said, it tears stronger). That's all they say to treat butts! Lots of people joined and prove that it is must be there!
Now, here it is not obligatory (when the Remmers have already stood for the ends at home).
What a paradox!

[constructor]

The wood shrinks not from the fact that it heats up or cools down. This is because it dries slowly and decreases its linear dimensions, and in different directions (radial, tangential, axial). This is a different reducing on size. Hence the cracks.
Large fissure damages, usually formed by a rapid drying, when the outer layers dry out, and the inside part is still wet (swollen). With gentle drying often form a network of small cracks.
But large cracks, as the drying of the "core" closed and become smaller. As for the periodic hearting it doesn’t significantly affect the rate of formation and size of cracks. Quite the contrary.