Advantages and disadvantages of eliminating gaps in wooden houses using mezhventsovy heaters, methods of laying material on walls from various types of beams, insulator installation technology. Mezhventsovy heaters are special materials for sealing gaps between logs in wooden houses. These include traditional jute and flax based products as well as modern artificial insulators. These are finished products that can be used for their intended purpose immediately after purchase. We will talk about the methods of laying mezhventsovy insulation on walls made of various types of beams in this article.
Features of the use of mezhventsovy insulation
Wooden walls absorb moisture well and change their linear dimensions and volume when the humidity changes. Therefore, the wooden blockhouse is constantly in motion, which leads to the appearance of cracks in the wall. They cause premature destruction of lumber and rapid cooling of the room. To prevent the appearance of gaps between the logs, a mezhventsovy insulation is laid.
The principle of using the material is very simple: it is laid in a special groove on the bar and fixed with a construction stapler. Another round timber is placed on top, which compresses the insulator with its weight and keeps it from blowing out. The joint becomes windproof.
Insulation is used with any logs - rounded, profiled and roughly processed. Its dimensions depend on the quality of sawn timber processing. For logs with a high quality finish, you will need a standard strip 25 m long, 8-10 mm thick and 5 to 15 mm wide, to fit the size of the joining surface.
The insulator is on sale in rolls, which speeds up the installation process several times. Its density should be at least 600-700 g / m2… Glued beams are insulated with products of smaller thickness, chopped logs - with thicker ones.
There are two groups of this kind of insulation - natural and synthetic, they have their own advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider them in more detail:
- Natural heaters … There are very few such materials - these are modifications of jute and flax. They are made using needle-punched technology, resulting in a woven fabric in the form of felt. Less commonly, moss, tow and sheep wool are used for such purposes.
- Synthetic insulation … There are many more similar samples, one of the most popular is polytherm. They are much more expensive than natural ones, do not burn, have high recoverability, but have low vapor permeability. If a house with caulked holes will stand for a long time without protective lining, it is better to use artificial insulators. It is not recommended to use mineral wool, polyurethane wool, isover.
The process of warming joints is divided into two stages. The tape is laid between the logs at the stage of wall construction. A year later, when the box shrinks, the process of caulking the joints is performed to eliminate possible cracks.
Advantages and disadvantages of using a mezhventsovy heater
Eliminating joints with a fibrous tape seal placed between logs is much more reliable than filling up gaps in a finished log house with tow or moss.
The advantages of this method of insulation are as follows:
- The products have good elasticity, which prevents gaps between the decks during operation.
- The material is produced in the form of homogeneous tapes with the same properties along the entire length.
- With high-quality installation at the stage of building construction, there is no need to caulk the walls.
- Mezhventsovy insulation is in good harmony with wood.
- A healthy microclimate is created in the house.
- The material is not subject to decay, insects do not settle in it.
- The samples are securely fixed between the logs and do not weather out.
- Many insulators contain a large amount of lignin, which protects the wood from decay.
- The material is produced in belts of various thicknesses, which allows you to choose the optimal size for each specific case.
- Mezhventsovoe insulation provides good vapor barrier when humidity changes.
- The insulator does not deteriorate under the influence of various natural factors.
The disadvantages of using such a heater are associated with the characteristics of the material from which it is made. The pore-free canvas does not allow air to pass through, and the house “suffocates” under the protective film. Products with pores absorb moisture well, but do not increase in size, therefore, over time, gaps may appear between the logs.
Thermal insulation technology of walls with a mezhventsov heater
To get a well-insulated wall, it is necessary to take into account many factors, the main of which are the correct choice of material and the quality of the site for laying it.
Choosing a method of insulation
There are three options for eliminating wall gaps. The choice of the method of laying the mezhventsovy insulation for the house depends on the thickness of the insulator and the quality of the manufacture of the logs.
Let's consider the methods of its installation in more detail:
- Laying the tape without folds … The method is used in the construction of houses from laminated veneer lumber, which is of high quality workmanship. The material is placed on the surface of the upper row in one layer and fixed with a construction stapler.
- Laying of a mezhventsovy insulation with one-sided bend … This method is used in houses made of profiled timber. During installation, the material is folded in half with a fold inward with an indent from the edges of 5 mm and fixed with a stapler. The option is used in the case of installing a house or a bath from a profiled bar of natural moisture. After the lumber dries, cracks may appear on one side of the wall, so the seal is bent. When determining the amount of insulator, keep in mind that you will need twice as much.
- Double-fold styling … It is used in houses made of chopped or rounded logs, in which the width of the groove for the insulation is different along the entire length of the wall. For the possibility of adjusting the width of the strip, it is tucked on both sides. The thickness of the mezhventsovy insulation for a log house can be increased by putting tow inside. If, after the start of operation at home, there is a need for additional insulation, finish caulking the cracks using tape material or tow.
Recommendations for the selection of material
Insulation material is bought depending on the existing needs, but some important points should always be remembered. For example, the choice of insulator is influenced by the season of the year when construction is in progress. In winter, condensation can form on the logs, so it is necessary to use breathable insulation - jute or linen. If the house will stand for a long time without finishing, use synthetic samples, they are not afraid of moisture.
The choice is also influenced by the density and thickness of the insulation:
- Sealant with a thickness of 3-4 mm and a density of 300-400 g / cm2 used in massive rooms, for example, in baths.
- Tapes with a thickness of 4-5 cm and a density of 500-600 g / cm2 used with heavy rounded logs.
- Stripes 8-10 mm thick and with a density of 700-800 g / cm2 insulate two-story buildings.
- Trouble can arise if the thickness of the inter-row insulation is 6-7 mm, and the density is 300-400 g / cm2, soon bald spots will appear between the logs. Similar problems will also arise if tapes with a thickness of 5-6 mm and a density of 700-800 g / cm2… Rigid products cannot fill all the voids.
Currently, there are no standards for the manufacture of insulation, so be careful about its choice. Products with completely different characteristics and appearance can be sold under the same name.
If you can see that the tape consists of short fibers or different threads, then it is made as a result of recycling jute or linen fabric. Such products have low density, there is heterogeneity due to the short length of the fibers, which are not enough for uniform stitching of the material.
Low prices should also alert the buyer. All products are manufactured using the same equipment, so their cost differs slightly. It is possible to reduce it in the case of using less quality raw materials or inconsistency of the declared characteristics with the actual values. In case of doubt, ask the seller for a certificate of the manufacturer of the goods, which must indicate the density, width and thickness of the product.
Making a groove in a log
In order for the wall to confidently keep heat and not be blown by the wind, a longitudinal groove is made in each log, into which the insulation is placed. The grooves are made in a semicircular shape, exactly repeating the geometry of the lower beam, which ensures a snug fit of the lumber. If there are no samples on the purchased bars, you can make them yourself.
Before finishing on the round timber, mark the selection using a special tool - "lines". One leg of the device moves along the surface of the lower log, the second repeats the trajectory of the first one and draws a line at the end of the upper one.
Make cuts with the chainsaw across the bar. Remove excess wood between the marks with a special tool - an adze. During operation, the device masks and clogs the pores in the wood, which reduces the moisture absorption of the bar.
It is recommended to cut with a diameter slightly less than the diameter of the round timber. After laying on the wall, the upper deck will lie on the lower one along two lines, and in the middle there will be a small gap for the inter-crown insulation. This design will protect the insulator from moisture. After shrinkage, the edges of the groove will part a little, and the logs will fit tightly. If the groove and the lower bar have equal diameters, then after drying, its edges will disperse and gaps will appear between them, which should be caulked.
The dimensions of the groove depend on the minimum winter temperature of the area where the construction is being carried out:
- Minus 20 degrees - the sample width is at least 10 cm;
- Minus 30 degrees - at least 12 cm;
- Minus 40 degrees - at least 14 cm;
- General recommendations - the width of the longitudinal groove should be at least half the diameter of the log.
It is forbidden to use decks with triangular recesses for the construction of residential buildings, baths and other insulated premises. Such logs have low heat and sound insulation characteristics, although they are much cheaper. Triangular cavities are difficult to fill, fungus, mold grows in them, insects take root.
Laying mezhventsovy insulation
The work is carried out after the final adjustment of the lumber in the following sequence:
- Inspect the grooves in the bars where the insulator will be placed. As a rule, they are made by hand and of average quality, so it is necessary to stock up not only with strips of insulation, but also with tow, which will help fill in the remaining gaps.
- Drill a hole for the dowel in the bar.
- Remove any chips from the profile. You can saturate the groove with insect and rot repellent.
- Place a roll of material on the log and roll it to the full length along the wall according to the chosen installation method. Mezhventsovy insulation for the timber should not reach its edge by 5 mm.
- If the lumber is roughly cut, choose the belts wide so that they hang 5 cm on each side. Extra parts will be needed to caulk the wall. The thickness of the inter-row insulation for logs or roughly processed beams can be up to 15 mm. The strips can be laid in two layers if necessary.
- Secure the tape with a construction stapler, driving the staples in a staggered manner.
- Make a hole in it for the dowel.
- Lay a log on top, which should securely grip the product. Make sure that there are no gaps between the decks, especially if they are uneven or rough. Install the pins into the holes and connect the bars.
- If there are stripes hanging from the logs, do the initial caulking. To do this, use a chisel to push the tape at a length of 0.5-1 mm deep into the slot. You can lightly tap the chisel with a mallet.
- If you feel that the insulation has stopped falling through, stop the process and carefully cut off the excess parts.
- Continue working on the next section in a circle.
- After sealing the gaps at one level, it is necessary to caulk the same level from the inside so as not to distort the frame.
- Repeat the operation at the next seam. The work is not difficult, but long. It can take several days to fix the cracks.
The new home is given time to dry so that the moisture evaporates from the logs. After about a year, the frame dries up and the building shrinks. The logs may warp and gaps appear on one side. The walls cannot be left in this state, so they will be caulked again.
Some rooms, for example, baths, are caulked for the third time, 2 years after the last revision. The need may arise in the case of using certain types of compactor, say, moss.
Many synthetic seals, such as polytherms, are sold with a sticky layer. Before installing the insulation between the joints, remove the protective tape from the surface and glue the product to the wood. How to lay mezhventsovy insulation - look at the video:
Today, mezhventsovy heaters are produced using modern technologies and have become more standard. Instead of traditional natural materials, synthetic materials are increasingly used for thermal insulation. Despite significant differences in the characteristics of the samples, they all qualitatively fulfill their purpose - to ensure that the walls of the house are not blown through.