How to build wooden buildings from timber. Methods for proper construction of a house from timber. Reciprocating saw prices

I wanted to build a house. I immediately encountered the problem of choosing a material. There wasn’t much money, but I wanted a house that was reliable, warm and durable. Having studied the proposals of modern construction market, decided to stop at

On the forums they advise building houses with a cross-section of 15x15 cm. But I had to build it myself, sometimes with a friend, i.e. I didn’t want to involve outside workers, so I decided not to use a heavy 15-centimeter beam. Instead, I bought dry material with a cross-section of 15x10 cm. Then, when the wood shrinks, I will insulate the outside walls with mineral wool, and the house will be warm.

To further save on construction costs, I decided to use only local materials. You can take my story as an example of guidance and navigate the situation.

Pouring the foundation

First, I cleared the area under the house from debris, bushes and other things that were in the way. After this, I began laying out the foundation.

I had to think for a long time about what type of foundation would be suitable specifically for my area. I studied the geological conditions, learned the composition of the soil and the level of groundwater. Specialized reference literature helped me with this. Additionally, I asked my neighbors what foundations their houses were on.

I live in the Ryazan region. Local conditions make it possible to save on the construction of foundations, so most neighbors have houses on light supports made of limestone and concrete. Most often, they even refuse reinforcement - such is the wonderful soil we have. The soil is sandy, therefore, it is not “heaving”. The water runs deep, and wooden houses weigh little. Therefore, there is no need to install buried monolithic supports in my region.

I started by digging a trench. To begin with, I removed the fertile ball. Sand appeared. To make it seal better, I filled it with water. Then he lined the trenches with stone and laid two reinforcing bars. I tied them up in the corners. I think it is best to reinforce the tape both at the bottom and at the top. So I did.


To save yourself from unnecessary work, you could order a ready-made construction concrete with delivery. However, in my region this turned out to be unrealistic - there are simply no such proposals. And my plot is such that the truck would have to go through the garden, but I don’t need that.

Alas, you won’t be able to save this much in every region. For example, if I lived somewhere in the Moscow region, I would have to make formwork, install a spatial reinforcing frame, and only then pour in the building mixture.

While the concrete gains strength (and it needs 3-4 weeks for this), I will start preparing consumables.

Prices for timber


Find out more detailed nuances from our new article on our portal.

Preparatory activities

Preparing dowels


The connection of the beam crowns is carried out using wooden dowels. I decided to make them from scrap boards left over from other construction projects. In my case it was the installation of roof sheathing.

For dowels, use wood that is as hard as possible. The process of making fasteners is extremely simple. I took some scrap boards and edged them on one side using a matching saw.

Then I set the stop and started sawing to size. In my situation, the size was 12 cm. As a result, I received neat and beautiful blanks.

I sawed the planks using band saw. At the end of the day I received a whole box of wooden sticks. Next, I sharpened the blanks with an ax on each side and got my dowels.

Moss preparation


Dowels, sphagnum peat moss and boards

The technology requires that between each crown of timber there be laid. Professionals usually insulate with rolled materials. Working with them is easy and convenient - just roll out the material on top of the laid crown and you can continue working. However, convenience and ease of processing come at a price.

I decided not to waste money and use moss. Firstly, this material is abundant in nature - go and collect it. Secondly, moss is not only a decent insulator, but also an excellent antiseptic. Additionally, I studied thematic forums: moss is actively used as inter-crown insulation, and there are no negative responses about it.

Red or peat moss is best suited for insulation. The first one is characterized by high rigidity. The second one becomes brittle after drying. If possible, it is best to use red moss. It is easy to recognize - it has long stems with leaves that resemble a Christmas tree.

Making joints


I make them for every door and window opening. For this I use a flat beam. If possible, there should be no knots at all. For greater convenience, I made an impromptu workbench directly next to my stack of lumber. Made longitudinal cuts. A circular saw helped me with this. Excess material was removed using a chisel.

Not even every professional carpenter can make the right joint. Therefore, I decided to make window jambs using simplified technology. In every window opening I will install only a couple of vertical jambs. The window block itself will be responsible for the horizontal connection.

To install the block you need a “quarter”. However, here too I figured out how to simplify the task. Instead of sampling (it's shaded in the photo), I decided to glue in a strip. To do this, I sharpened the plane in advance. The result was no worse than it would have been in a situation using a quarter.

It is impossible to reduce the number of jambs in the doorway - all four are needed. However, the shape of the products can be significantly simplified.

I chose grooves in the block, which in the future will serve as a threshold, similar to the recesses in the side jambs. This allowed me to slide the bottom timber over the tenons of the opening. However, at this stage, the timber would have to be cut with a chisel across the wood fibers - not the most pleasant or simple task. I found a great way out of this situation! Taking a circular saw, I prepared the cuts by first setting the appropriate output of the disk and making rip fence.

Then I took a feather drill and made a hole 2.5 cm in diameter, just like for the dowels. Finally, I cut out an even rectangle across the wood grain. A reciprocating saw helped me with this.

Carpenters usually make two rectangular nests in the threshold, and at the bottom of each vertical jamb they create a counter protrusion, cutting down and sawing out excess wood using a chisel. I decided to make holes as for fastening dowels, and hammered in a couple of fasteners. I made similar holes at the bottom of the jambs.

I haven’t touched the upper horizontal beam yet, but I nailed a small board to the threshold - it will take on the functions of a “quarter”. The design of the opening turned out to be extremely simple, but this does not interfere with its ability to cope with its main function. Later I will plan the opening and glue the “quarters”.

Required Tools

To build a house from wooden beams, I used the following tools and devices:

  • hammerless electric drill;
  • circular saw;
  • roulette;
  • sledgehammer;
  • electric plane;
  • square;
  • reciprocating saw;
  • plumb line;
  • hammer;
  • water hose;
  • axe.

I bought a circular saw to cut wooden beams. I had to cut in two steps. First, I drew a line along the square, after which I cut, turned the beam over and made the cut again. It is best to transfer the line to the second edge of the beam using a square. If you are confident in your “eye”, you can cut “by eye”.

Using a circular saw, I made tenons and recesses for the corner joints of the beams. When arranging the tenons, I lacked a slight depth of cut, so I had to make a couple of extra movements with a hacksaw.


We are building a house

Rules for laying the lower crown

Laying the starter crown is traditionally done with a joint known as "into the wood floor". This unit can be made without any problems with a circular saw - just cut the material lengthwise and crosswise. In some areas the depth of the cut turned out to be insufficient - here I worked with a hacksaw, after which I got rid of excess material using a chisel. By the way, in my case, the lower crown is the only one that is connected with nails.

I placed the lower crown on board linings. There are gaps between the elements - in the future I will make vents there. In my area they are usually in the wall rather than in a concrete base. This option has its advantages. Firstly, making vents in the wall is easier and faster. Secondly, at a certain elevation the wind moves at a higher speed than directly near the ground, due to which the underground will be better ventilated.


Cutting timber. Half-tree connection

I'm going to mount the floor beams on the pads - this way, I think, the loads on the base will be distributed more evenly.

The linings and timber of the lower crown were covered. As practice shows, the material laid at the very bottom rots most quickly. In my situation, there are pads underneath, and not the timber itself. In the future, if the boards rot, they can be replaced with much less effort than the beam of the lower crown.

Reciprocating saw prices

reciprocating saw

Features of laying the second and subsequent crowns

Starting from the second crown of masonry, work is carried out in the same order. At the corners I connected the timber with the help of root tenons - the usual joining of elements is unacceptable here.

Taking a circular saw, I trimmed a couple of cuts. I transferred the cutting line to the second face using a square. The root tenon is easy to do, everything is demonstrated in the photo. If the disk output is insufficient, the depth can be increased with a hacksaw. The groove is made even simpler. Also demonstrated, but in the photo.

Important note! Keep in mind that in tongue-and-groove joints there should be approximately a 0.5-centimeter gap for laying the seal. A connection in which the wood simply touches the wood is unacceptable.

I first set the cutting depth I needed. With my saw, you can change the output of the blade without any problems - you just need to loosen the lever. The add-on is convenient to use. If in traditional carpentry production the master sets some parameter of the working tool and prepares required quantity blanks of the same type, then in carpentry the situation is somewhat different: the material is dragged onto the workbench, and the depth of the cut is adjusted directly as the work progresses.


My saw is equipped with a thin disk - it takes much less effort to cut. The safety guard moves very smoothly and does not interfere with the cut in any way.

The walls of my house will be longer than the timber, so I will have to join the building material. To do this, I made a notch at both ends of the long beam, removed the excess with a chisel, and got a tenon in the middle. The ledge is ready, now we need a groove. Cutting wood with a chisel across the grain is impractical. I used a trick and drilled a simple through hole in the second beam. The drill bit was not long enough to create a through hole, so I had to drill from both sides. Next, I cut off the excess wood from the workpiece, made markings and cut the timber along the grain using a chisel. Connected the spliced ​​beams. The gaps were filled with moss.

Useful advice. In the crown, which is the beginning of the opening, it is better to immediately make spikes for the jambs of this opening. In the process of cutting timber, it will not be possible to completely make tenons with a saw; you will need to additionally chisel with a chisel to complete the process. On next photo you see the bars already with fastening spikes. Thresholds for door openings are shown as templates.

I laid the second crown on the lower one, correctly performing the corner joints and the necessary splices along the length. It's time to make markings for installing dowels - the connectors of the crowns of my house under construction. I took a square and made vertical marks on the bars at the bottom and top, in the places where the fasteners would be placed. Turned over the top beam. I moved the markings to the center of my beam. Then I drilled holes for the fasteners and drove the dowels into them using a hammer.

What do you need to know about dowels?


Logically, a round dowel would need to be driven into a round hole. Builders adhere to a different technology and use square dowels. Such fasteners are simpler to manufacture and hold the connection much more reliably. In this case, a short dowel will not interfere with the process of shrinkage of the structure.

The problem is that to drill hand drill strictly vertical hole impossible without the slightest deviation. When installing the beam of the next crown on a pointed and slightly protruding dowel, the first one will wobble a little. In order for the timber to be firmly fixed, it must be additionally hammered with a sledgehammer.

The dowels I use work for shear and ensure correct shrinkage even if there are minor deviations from the vertical in the mounting holes. There will be no gaps. Firstly, the timber will shrink. Secondly, the space between the crowns is filled with insulation, which I will discuss later.

Once I had to observe how builders made holes in a wall made of timber using a long drill and drove long round pins into them, which looked like the handles of a shovel or rake. Were such holes vertical? Naturally not. Ultimately, the beam did not settle, but seemed to “hang” on the dowels, which led to the formation of impressive gaps between the crowns.


Having driven in the dowels, I laid tow and moss on the crown. He laid the tow across the beams. The moss was simply thrown over the tow. As a result, tow hangs from the walls. This will make it easier for me to caulk the walls in the future. Moss will provide adequate insulation of the building.


I installed the beams on the dowels, laid the tow, threw on the moss, sieged the crown with a sledgehammer, but for some reason it is still wobbly. This happens due to the presence of gaps in the corner joints. In my situation, the dimensions of these gaps were up to 0.5 cm. I filled them tightly with moss. A spatula and a narrow strip of metal helped me with this.

The attentive reader will ask: what about tow? Shouldn't it be put in the corners too? No, it's not necessary. Firstly, as I said earlier, moss is a very good natural antiseptic. My house will stand for quite a long time without any finishing, and sedimentary moisture will continually flow into the corners. Moss will prevent the wood from rotting in these places. Secondly, in the future the timber in the corners will probably have to be planed. Moss will not interfere with this. Tow can cause the plane to break.

Prices for tow

Now my corners are strong, insulated and windproof. At the end of the day I covered the corner joints to protect them from possible precipitation.



In the picture you can see that one of my beams is located higher than the other. But they must be at the same height. We are not in a hurry to immediately turn on the electric planer - such a problem can be easily dealt with using a simple sledgehammer.

I worked with a plane at the very end, when the obstacle to the installation of the next crown became clearly visible. I used a plane to compare small “screws” and “humps”. I compensated for more significant differences in height with the help of tow and moss - their arrangement takes much less time than processing wood with a plane.

Why should we build a house?

You have already become familiar with the basic principles of laying each crown. Eat important nuances. Firstly, the crowns must be laid with alternating corner joints. Secondly, the internal load-bearing wall of the house must be connected to the longitudinal wall. This is done through one crown. For binding I use an already proven and familiar connection. Only I drill the holes for the dowels “checkerboard” in relation to the lower rims. After this, I lay down the tow and moss, and placing each beam in its designated place, I seal the joints in the corners.

That is, the procedure for building a house is extremely simple:

  • I'm laying out another crown;
  • I make markings for dowels;
  • I drill holes;
  • I drive in wooden fasteners;
  • I lay down the tow and throw moss on it;
  • I repeat the sequence.

Along the length of the beams I join using the “staggered” method.

Having reached the height of the window sill (this is my seventh crown), I made markings for arranging the window openings. I calculated the width of each opening by adding the dimensions of the jambs and sealed gaps to the width of the purchased window block. There should be a pair of gaps on each side of the opening - between the jamb and the window block being installed, as well as between the jamb and the wall of the house. As a result, in my situation, the required width of the window opening was 1325 mm. Of this, 155 mm was spent on gaps.

Based on the calculation results, I installed a crown with a window opening, having previously cut tenons in the bars, similar to the stage with openings for doors.

The next crowns with a window opening were laid from timber without tenons, observing the same overall dimensions.

I constructed all the window openings from “short pieces”, the evenness of which was disrupted during the shrinkage of the timber - such material is not suitable for walls, and it would be a pity to throw it away. I didn't make any jumpers. While arranging the opening, I constantly checked its evenness using a plumb line. I also checked the walls.

I temporarily secured the separate partition with slats so that it would not fall during the work. The T-shaped structure, as well as the corner, do not require additional strengthening - they are perfectly supported by their own weight.

Important note! In places where the tenons of the opening and the cutting line are arranged, i.e. just a few centimeters from the edge, I did not lay the oakum, because... when cutting it would wrap around cutting disc. In the future, the tow can be tapped from the ends without any problems.

After laying the last crown with the window opening (it needs to be laid temporarily without fastening or compacting), I removed the top beams and made cuts for the tenons. He put blunts on them. Having set the saw blade to the required depth, I installed a parallel stop to maintain the required distance from the edge. It didn’t take me much time to do this kind of work. I was unable to cut the timber to the required depth with a circular saw - I had to finish it with a hacksaw.

IN lower crown opening I made tenons to control my assembly. I didn’t do this in the last crown - in the future, tenons will still have to be created in each beam.

On personal experience I was convinced that assembling the entire height of the opening for a window without a connection, and from not quite “short” ones, is not the easiest task.

Light and short cuttings can be tried on before creating a recess or tenon. It may well turn out that a block deviating to the right will fall on a beam that deviates to the left. As a result, a flat wall will be built. If both beams have a deviation in the same direction, you can’t count on the evenness of the wall.

To eliminate deviations, you can plan the “screws” using a planer or lay the timber “ladder”. I had exactly the second case. I also eliminated the gap using a plane. At each stage, I checked the verticality of the openings being constructed using a plumb line.


Installing jambs and finishing work

The upper crown was laid. It's time to install the jambs of each opening. Thanks to these simple elements, strength will be significantly increased finished design. The bottom beam of each opening is equipped with a full-fledged tenon. On the upper beams there are cuts in the required places. I apply the guide, set the desired cutting depth and make the cut with a circular saw. After this, I draw a couple of lines from the ends according to the dimensions of the tenon and get rid of excess material using a chisel.

My tenons are smaller than the grooves. I fill the gaps with thermal insulation material. If you wish, you can make the tenons wider, and only then, at the stage of finishing the house, cut off the excess material and fill the gaps with sealant.

I inserted temporary spacers between the jambs. In the future, I planned to add a veranda to my house. If you are planning to make an extension, do not lay the top crown of the timber before starting its construction. I also mounted a smaller one on the crown.

The box is ready. I covered it with a temporary roof, closed every opening and left the house until next season. The timber will have time to shrink. After that I will continue, which I will definitely tell you about in my next story.


Instead of a conclusion

While the house is shrinking, I decided to take stock. Firstly, I was pleased that I had to spend much less money on the foundation compared to other types of supports. It took a little money to dump the stone. There is also a lot of sand in my region - you can dig it yourself and bring it. Most of the money was spent on cement and reinforcement.

Secondly, I was pleased with the affordable cost and relatively low consumption of building materials. When the timber was delivered to me, I laid it out in a stack about a meter high and two meters wide. At first it seemed that I had miscalculated somewhere and that I would not have enough material. As a result, about 20 beams remained unused. In general, for the construction of a house with dimensions of 6x10 m (the timber part of it is 6x7.5 m), I spent about 7.5 m3 of timber with a cross-section of 15x10 cm. For timber 15x15 cm I would have spent 1.5 times more money. And additional labor would have to be hired, which is also not free.

Thirdly, I saved on fasteners and thermal insulation. Nageli made it himself, the moss is free. My friends gladly gave the oakum to me after finishing their construction work.

Fourthly, I did not have to buy highly specialized and expensive tools. Everything that I used for construction will be useful to me on the farm in the future. I am especially pleased with the purchase of a good circular saw and concrete mixer.

Now about the speed of work. I didn’t have much experience in timber construction. As practice has shown, in a whole day, working with one hand and provided the weather is good outside, you can lay out one crown with a partition. You can do this either faster or slower, I won’t argue.

And the main advantage of such construction is that you do not need to have any special skills to carry it out. And I was personally convinced of this.

I hope that my story will be useful to you, and you can, just like me, make your dream of owning your own home come true.

Video - DIY timber house

The decision to build a house from timber is not made immediately or suddenly. It’s just that this technology, with a simpler assembly of walls, allows you to obtain excellent characteristics for housing: for the Moscow region, timber 195 mm thick is sufficient. With such a thickness of the external walls it will be warm, but to save on heating it is better to insulate it (10 mm mineral wool on the outside) and make a reversible façade. Then there will also be savings on heating.

Plasticity in processing is one of the advantages of wood

Which wood to choose

Wood is usually used to build a house coniferous species. There are several reasons. Firstly, the increased content of resins, which are natural preservatives and antiseptics. Thanks to their presence, wood does not deteriorate for a long time. Secondly, affordable price. You can, of course, build a house from beech or oak beams, but the price will be simply exorbitant. Thirdly, the wood is soft and easy to process.

Of all the coniferous species, a house is most often built from pine beams. With good characteristics, it is relatively inexpensive. Houses made of larch and cedar are rarely built: they are too expensive. Spruce is even rarer, but for a different reason: it deteriorates the fastest, and is also difficult to process. So, regarding the type of wood, there is, in fact, no choice. 95% of it is pine. But you need to understand the type of timber.

According to the processing method, timber can be:

  • Regular or solid, unplaned timber. Sawed from a single log, the cross-section is a quadrangle (square or rectangle).
  • Profiled timber. It is also cut from a single log, but is then processed: tenons and grooves are formed with milling cutters - profiles with the help of which one beam is joined to another. The side edges are also processed. They come out of the machine already planed. The section is of complex shape. The side edges can be smooth, rounded, figured - with chamfers, the shape of a “lock” - numerous beards and notches.
  • Glued timber. Outwardly similar to profiled, but assembled (glued) from several boards.

Let's look at the features of each type of timber regarding the construction of a house.

House made of ordinary timber

If earlier they said that they decided to build a house from timber, then they clearly understood the usual rectangular timber. There was simply no other one or it was too expensive: it was brought from abroad. Ordinary timber is the most affordable, if you take the cost per cubic meter. But, as a result of all the required measures, the cost of construction may be higher than from a profiled one. It's all about the characteristics of the material. They lead to significant additional costs even at the construction stage: when building a house from unplaned timber, inter-crown insulation is necessarily used. Its geometry is not ideal, and if this is not done, the blowing through the gaps between the crowns will be very strong. The second feature is that the surface of the walls turns out to be uneven and it is impossible to do without finishing the inside and outside.

In addition to laying the inter-crown layer, the delivered log house is caulked, additionally sealing the seams. You need not just one caulk, but at least two, sometimes more. And all because it is made from wood with natural moisture. In practice this has the following consequences:

Another feature of a house made of ordinary timber: the walls are uneven. To give them a “decent” look, they are either sheathed with finishing materials or sanded. But grinding is a controversial undertaking: the inter-crown seal makes it almost impossible. Even if you manage to sand the timber, where should you put the seams?

So it turns out that the cost of the house may be higher as a result: to the cost of the timber, add inter-crown insulation, material for caulking and the work itself (and it is not cheap), the cost of external and interior decoration. Please also note that they deliver moldings to your site - bars of the ordered length. The bowls are cut on site. This means that the qualifications of carpenters must be high. How warm the corners will be depends on how the cut is made. And in a log house, it is the corners that are the most problematic place.

Features of profiled timber

When examining profiled timber, the first thing that catches your eye is its almost ideal geometry and smooth surfaces. At least that's how it should be. If the workmanship is of good quality, no finishing is needed: the wall will immediately be even and smooth, even if it is ready for painting.

The second, also quite obvious feature, is that due to the fact that the edges that join two profiled beams have recesses and protrusions (locks), there cannot be through gaps. Manufacturers of profiled timber say that you can lay walls without inter-crown insulation: it will be warm anyway. But few people listen to them. They put in at least thin insulation. Some people use a thin backing for laminate, others use self-expanding tape for installing plastic windows, as well as jute tape and similar materials.

In the photo, by the way, the most common profile among developers lately is the “comb”. She may have a "tooth" different heights and width, and everyone loves it because, in theory, it is impossible to “blow through” it. However, even here they play it safe by installing insulation.

Several typical timber profiles (the two on the far right in the picture are laminated timber, but the exact same profile is made from solid wood)

In general, there are a lot of profiles. Some of them are in the photo. When choosing a supplier, you need to pay attention not only to the shape of the locks, but also to how they are made. The match in any pair should be maximum.

Having decided to build a house from timber with a profile, you need to decide on its humidity. Profiled timber can be of natural humidity (cheaper), or it can be chamber dried with a humidity of no more than 14-16%. The features of lumber with natural moisture have already been considered, now let’s talk about chamber drying. The enterprise installs large drying ovens into which finished profiled timber is loaded. There, in conditions of elevated temperatures, it loses excess moisture. At the same time, all the processes that usually accompany drying wood occur in the chamber: it bursts, it twists. Accordingly, part is scrapped, and the rest is sold at a higher price. The reasons seem clear.

If you decide to build a house from kiln-dried timber, you can start finishing earlier. The log house should still stand, but it will take 9-12 months. At the same time, new cracks rarely form; existing ones only expand. But it is worth keeping in mind that due to the high costs of drying, most often they only reduce the humidity to operational humidity - 16-18%, while chamber-drying wood is considered to be 8-12%.

In any case, the cracks will need to be sealed. Caulking is needed in very limited quantities: first of all, you will have to look at all the corners and notches, if any (this is what they call the places where the walls are attached). Even a well-made bowl can dry out unevenly, causing a gap to appear. The beam can also turn out, which will also lead to the appearance or expansion of a gap. So periodic revision of the angles is also required during operation. Wood is a living material and will change all the time. Also, after a year of sludge, you will have to repair too large cracks in the timber (without fanaticism, so that the tow does not open the crack).

The log house is assembled from numbered blanks with a molded bowl (numbers in blue at the ends)

The situation may be simpler with the assembly. If you just order lumber, you can cut corners from profiled timber, as from regular timber, on the site. But many enterprises, if they have a project, offer to take on part of the work themselves. Using a special program, they lay out the timber: they make a list of “spare parts” from which the house will be assembled. Then, according to this list, blanks are cut out, with molded bowls. The blanks are numbered and delivered ready-made to the site, where the house remains to be assembled like a construction set: folding the beams according to the numbers marked on the plan.

This is convenient, especially if you are going to build a house with your own hands without construction experience. It is clear that the service is not free, but you can save on paying carpenters: you do not need to assemble such a highly qualified designer. Only in this case, whether your house will be warm or not depends on how accurately the bowls are made in production. Sometimes there are companies that make very low-quality cuts. You can see several of these in the photo.

Poorly made bowls - the blowing will be incredible, and caulk will not help much

In general, it has its disadvantages and its advantages, but compared to ordinary timber, profiled timber is more convenient in construction, and in terms of price it may even be cheaper if you count the finishing.

Glued laminated timber

From the name it is clear that it consists of glued parts. First, the lamellas are cut out, treated with antiseptics, dried to a certain moisture content, and then glued together. Due to the complex manufacturing process, the price tag for this material is approximately 2.5-3 times higher than that of conventional material and 80-90% higher than that of profiled material.

What are its advantages? Properly made, it does not crack, it does not shrink: dry material cannot shrink, and glued beads should have a moisture content no higher than 12-15%. Therefore, the finishing process, if the width of the timber is sufficient to compensate for heat loss, can only be reduced to painting or varnishing, since protective impregnation is carried out at the enterprise (should, in any case).

What does laminated veneer lumber and its profiles look like?

Another consequence of the lack of shrinkage is that after just a few weeks, the folded frame can be immediately placed under the roof, and after another few weeks, finishing can begin. This time is necessary for the bowls to shrink, and the geometric dimensions of the laminated veneer lumber should not change. That is, there is a significant saving of time - everything, including finishing work, can be done in one season.

But are glued beads really that good? In terms of speed of construction, yes. But it has serious drawbacks. First: it is glued. This crosses out one of the main advantages of wood - environmental friendliness. Secondly, its vapor permeability is low. Many people build wooden houses precisely because of their ability to naturally regulate indoor humidity. Glued laminated timber lacks this due to the presence of layers of glue. Of all the advantages of wood, only its attractive appearance remains, but when finished with clapboard of the appropriate profile or a block house, it looks exactly the same. Therefore, the use of laminated timber to build a house is a very controversial issue.

Stages of building a house made of timber

A log house has several advantages:

  • The walls turn out to be light, which is why the load on the foundation is low, which means that the costs of its construction will be lower.
  • Wood is an elastic material and it compensates for small movements of the foundation without compromising the integrity of the building. And this, again, allows you to make shallow foundations on well-draining soils.

The choice of foundation type depends largely on the soil, but most often it is done if there is no need for a basement, you can put a columnar one (for small buildings of temporary residence - dachas, bathhouses, etc.) or without). It is advisable to base the choice on the results of geological research. The process is described in more detail.

While the foundation is “setting,” the wood is prepared. All timber and dowels are treated with antiseptics and fire retardants. Use compounds that do not form a film on the surface of the log. They will not interfere with the drying process. After preparing the timber, the actual construction of the house begins:

  • Cut-off waterproofing. To prevent the wood from the foundation from drawing moisture, it is necessary to lay a layer of hydrophobic material. Previously, two layers of roofing material were laid under the first crown. Today there are more modern materials - coating and roll. You can use them, and in combination: coat them, stick them on a roll.
  • Laying the trim crown. The timber is chosen without signs of blue, with a minimum number of knots. Preferably - from the middle part of the tree - with a maximum density of annual rings. It is additionally treated with impregnations intended for wood in direct contact with the ground. In order to ensure better preservation of the first crown, there is a trick: a wide board impregnated with bitumen mastic with waste is laid on the waterproofing. Another layer of waterproofing is placed on it, and the first crown is placed on top. All these layers are connected to the foundation with studs that are embedded in the foundation.
  • Rough floor. The floor logs are attached to the first crown - a beam with a section of 150 * 100 mm. They are laid in increments of at least 70 cm. To make it more convenient to work, subfloor boards are laid out along the joists without nailing them.
  • Assembling walls from timber. If a wall kit with ready-made bowls is not ordered, they are “slaughtered.” Cut out according to the template. A template is drawn from a piece of plywood, traced, and then cut out. A chainsaw is used more often, but a fairly high degree of proficiency with the tool is required: how warm the house will be depends on the accuracy of the cut. The shapes of the timber connection are shown in the picture.


We have already talked about laying inter-crown insulation: when using regular timber it is required, for profiled timber it is advisable in bowls, the rest is optional. The crowns are connected to each other by dowels - long round bars carved from a single piece of wood, dowels - rectangular in shape or pins - metal rods. In any case, a hole is drilled under the connection into which the connecting element is driven.

  • The order of work depends on the type of roof chosen. When installing a simple installation, rafter legs are installed, but the order is different. To the collected rafter system The windproof membrane is rolled out and secured. In this form, the house is left to dry out for a long period of time.
  • Door and window openings. To speed up drying and shrinkage, you can cut out window and door openings, install a frame or fixing strips. Door and window blocks are not installed until the main shrinkage is complete.

After a year or two you can start finishing works. All the time while the log house is settling, it is necessary to monitor the processes occurring in the wood. It is necessary to immediately inspect the corners and, if necessary, caulk them. Then monitor the condition of them, as well as the beam connections. If the dowels are driven in with great force, during drying the timber may hang on them, causing cracks to form. You can solve the problem by hammering: take a huge wooden hammer and knock on the walls, causing faster shrinkage. The same technique is used if the house is settling too slowly.

The video shows the main stages of how to build a house from timber. Despite the lyrical digressions, there is a lot of valuable information.

How to build a house from timber: photo report

They built such a house.

We ordered a wall kit for the project, and a strip foundation was poured under it.

They brought blanks with sawed-off bowls. They were carefully unloaded, while inspecting them for any defects. One beam turned out to be problematic - it was in the middle of the bundle and suffocated - it became covered with fungus. It was postponed for a separate “treatment”. The rest were covered with impregnation (Valti Pohusta) and stacked.

To avoid problems with fungus, a spacer is laid under each - boards lying across.

Rolls of insulation and dowels were also purchased. The Nagels were sent to bathe in the impregnation. IN old bath poured the impregnation and left them for half a day, then took them out and dried them.

The first crown - a half-beam - was laid on top of the waterproofing laid on the foundation. It has no grooves at the bottom.

It was pulled to the foundation with anchors to studs poured into concrete.

The first crown was laid. The one that was previously fixed on the foundation is often called “zero”.

Let's measure the diagonals. In order for the cups to stack without problems and to avoid distortion, they must be equal. The permissible distortion is a couple of millimeters.

Having aligned the diagonals, we drill holes for the dowels. To prevent holes larger/smaller than the required length, a wood stop was placed on the drill.

The walls are gradually growing. We fasten them in a checkerboard pattern with dowels.

In general, the timber is more or less normal, but there are problems with incorrectly sawed cups. When we lay the timber, we get a huge gap. The only way to combat this is to manually adjust the cups so that everything lies evenly.

It takes a long time to eliminate these inconsistencies, but gradually all the walls are laid out.

Walls made of profiled timber were removed

Let's start assembling the rafter system. First, as is customary, the two outer trusses are installed, then everything else, according to the project.

The finished sheathing was sheathed with roofing felt. So let's leave the house to dry.

Inside we lay out the subfloor boards, nailing every fifth one. They will dry along with the house.

Video on the topic


Mistakes that are made when building houses from profiled timber are described and discussed in detail in this video. Very helpful. Look.

Construction of a house from timber is today one of the most popular types of construction contracts in the private sector. The revival of interest in wooden construction in all countries of temperate and in large parts of cold climate zones is quite natural. Wooden houses are good not only and not so much for their “spirit”, “breathing”, “environmental friendliness”, but modern methods wood treatments make them completely safe and durable. At the same time, information circulating on the wooden house market is clearly mythical and clearly commercially oriented. In this article we will try to give the reader an objective idea of ​​the features timber houses, their advantages, disadvantages and we will try to draw a conclusion where and in what cases it is advisable to build a timber house.

Main advantages

The first main advantage of a timber house is the same as that of all wooden ones: the foundation for it can be of a lightweight type - not buried, insulated. It's clear why: wooden buildings lighter than stone and more elastic.

Next factor– timber construction technology actually does not require technological interruptions. More precisely, it does not require “deaf” breaks, when the building must simply stand still and nothing can be done there. That you can move into a log house right away is, of course, nonsense. But, firstly, it will take a year for complete shrinkage, while a brick one needs 2-3. Secondly, while the log house is settling, a lot of things can be done in it that you won’t have to do later, see below.

Other main advantages of houses made of solid wood (cut and prefabricated beams, see below) are due to the ratio of the heat capacity of wood to its thermal conductivity. In modern climatic conditions - global warming and the increasing frequency of abnormal, warm and cold winters - it turns out to be optimal from the point of view of heating engineering. For brick and stone, this ratio is too high, and for aerated concrete, insulated frame and composite structures (SIP panels, etc.) it is small.

What does this look like in practice? An adult at rest emits approx. 60 W heat. A family of 5 people, not all the time lounging in a chair - ok. 350 W. Lighting, household appliances, and heat generation during cooking in the kitchen also provide, on average, 700-1200 watts per day. Roughly speaking, the house consistently produces approximately 1.3 kW of waste heat. In a brick building, not to mention a concrete one, this heat will go uselessly into the walls, and from there outside. In aerated concrete or composite, it will have to be released into the ventilation or through a window, otherwise it will become hot. And in a wooden one it will be evenly distributed in time and space.

With intensive combustion, such an addition is unnoticeable, but when the boiler operates almost “on guard,” the fuel savings are quite noticeable. True, in pyrolysis and solid fuel combustion boilers the efficiency drops sharply in this mode, but in gas and surface combustion boilers this effect is weakly expressed. As for stove heating, it becomes possible to reduce the number of firings per day without reducing the fuel load to a value at which the efficiency of the stove decreases. The advantages of a log house for stove heating are especially clear if the stove has 2 modes, “spring/autumn - winter”.

The next advantage of timber/log houses is related to the previous one: mechanical properties and the geometry of wood properly prepared for construction does not deteriorate from periodic freezing/warming, unless the wood is drenched with moisture to a drip. The reason is the very thin pores in it. Water in ultra-narrow capillaries freezes at temperatures much below 0, but only becomes viscous. That is why winter animals survive under snow, and small animals overwinter in frozen soil or under the bark of trees. The walls are brick and aerated concrete house, if it has to be heated at minimum for 2-3 years in a row, it can become damp and after another 3-5 seasons it will begin to crumble. The thermal insulation of the frame wall from the “underflow” also becomes damp; composite panels delaminate. But a wooden house can be left unheated as many times as you like, and after the fire starts, it will warm up in 2-4 hours, and not in 2-3 days, like a stone one. IN Russian outback you can find wooden log houses abandoned to the mercy of fate 50-100 years ago. Many of them can be moved into after renovation.

Note: there is a log round beam, and timber construction techniques and log houses very similar. Therefore, further the log is considered on an equal basis with the timber, specifically stipulating what is being discussed only if there is a difference in relation to a given moment.

Is it possible to do it yourself?

Is it possible to build a house from timber with your own hands is also a very relevant topic. As can be seen from the previous one, the main advantages of individual log houses appear outside the network coverage area central heating. Departure construction crew construction will become much more expensive on site, and you will have to pay the full amount for it at once, which not everyone can do. And if you negotiate with the contractors about work in parts, the “cool” budget will also burst due to construction costs.

Timber construction, except for the zero cycle(pit - foundation - plinth) does not require the use of special equipment or complex tools. A physically strong man can handle a 6-meter beam alone; Sometimes an unqualified assistant may be needed for a while. How to build a house from timber with your own hands, see a selection of videos:

Video: do-it-yourself timber house in stages

Stage 1: the whole box before shrinkage

Stage 2: initial finishing

Stage 3: final finishing

Stage 4: staircase installation


As you can see, it is quite possible to build a house from timber without being a professional carpenter or builder in general. It’s clear that you need the right kind of head and hands for this. But what can be achieved (in the sense of what kind of house to build), and what initial skills you need to have for this are more serious questions.

What can timber do?

From timber you can build houses with up to 3 storeys with an attic and a total area of ​​up to 600-700 sq. m. m. Architectural forms – angular; about the possibilities timber construction A selection of photos gives an idea. Suppliers of construction logs offer material with ready-made bowls not only at 90 degrees to the axis of the log, but also at 45, 60, 30, which allows you to assemble faceted structures. In principle, smoothly curved timber walls can be assembled from bent timber, but the price is exorbitant.

About insulation

Many sources claim that log houses are suitable mainly for seasonal living. The reason is that for the average family budget, construction from timber up to 200x200 is feasible; the most popular standard size is 150x150. According to heating engineering, such a wall is equivalent to 1.5 bricks, which is not enough for Central Russia. However, firstly, timber houses can be insulated from the outside under without restrictions; it turns out to be easier and cheaper than similar insulation using stone. Secondly, the thermal properties of wood make it possible to insulate a permanently inhabited (and heated in cold weather) house from the inside; For a typical diagram of the internal insulation of a timber house, see Fig. right. Thirdly, there are timber construction techniques (see below) that allow you to place insulation in the wall. In general, the timber foot, i.e. a wall whose thermal engineering is equal to or better than 2.5 bricks is real.

Note: wooden building beams are produced up to a section size of 300x300, which is equivalent in terms of heat to a wall of 2 bricks, but the price of such material skyrockets.

How to be a “teapot”?

Is it really possible to install such beauty without the experience of a carpenter and builder? At all without experience, on bare theory, nothing can be done at all. A theory can generalize existing experience, clarify something incomprehensible in it, and discern in experimental data something that previously eluded general attention. On this basis, theory can extend existing experience and look far ahead of it. But the theory is based only and only on experimental data. Speculative speculation has never brought any benefit to anyone anywhere.

Specifically, in relation to this case: to assemble a foot from a solid 6-m timber, you need to make 36-50 longitudinal cuts and the same number of transverse ones. Cutting width – 2.5-3 mm. The error in maintaining dimensions during manual unskilled work is twice as large. Doesn't converge to half according to the law large numbers, like an experienced worker: due to the accumulation of fatigue, the inexperienced hand leads in one direction. With a wall height of 3 m, the flaw will run up to 9-15 cm, randomly in the corners. Will a house like this stand? The question is rhetorical. What about the corners, ceilings, roof, partitions? What about openings and communications?

In addition to the accumulation of errors, there are other factors leading to defects. To level them in the process of work deliberately beyond the limits of human capabilities requires working skills. It is possible to work them out automatically by first installing a non-residential or seasonal timber structure with a plan size of approx. up to 4x5 m – barn, bathhouse, utility block, country house. A “teapot full” can already “keep him all in his mind”, as long as he is not a “teapot” in essence and not by conviction. And in the process of work, purely mechanical skills will be developed that will allow you to take on a residential building.

If you have already built something similar, after reading what follows, watch another video as carefully as possible and get started preparatory work. If not, read anyway. This will allow you, firstly, to significantly reduce the cost of design. Secondly, choose a suitable contractor: there are a lot of hacks in this sector. Thirdly, also wisely select and, possibly, purchase the material yourself.

Note: It is best to start building a log house in winter. A tree harvested in autumn-winter gives the least shrinkage, and the one cut down earlier will have time to rest comfortably.

Design and technology

The general layout of a timber house with an attic is shown in Fig. below. It can be collected not only chopped. If you are not planning anything more complicated than building a seasonal one-story house until approx. 6x6 m in plan from timber 150x150, then it is possible to use beam-and-beam construction techniques. At the same time, in the corners and under the piers in the mortgage (lowest) the crown of the box, which in this case is not a log house, is placed on tenons, i.e. vertical bars, pos. And in the drawing in Fig. right.

The simplest way to assemble beams into walls is with a tongue-and-groove insert, as shown in Fig. As tenons, you can use ready-made slats of a suitable size, only rectangular ones, not furniture elliptical ones! The grooves for them are selected using a manual wood router. A more durable structure, suitable for housing in places that are not particularly windy or snowy, can be erected in this way on root spikes; better - in a frying pan, see below, but you need a special factory-made beam, because a manual wood milling machine will not turn the cutter of the required size.

An additional condition is the roof transom, i.e. its entire power structure, including the rafter system, and the building frame must be mechanically self-sufficient. Simply put, so that the entire roof can be removed, placed side by side, allowed to sit for 2-3 months, and then put back without disturbing the design of either one. The reason is that prefabricated beam boxes are not capable of bearing the loads that push them.

Note: the feet of prefabricated beam walls need to be fastened with dowels, as in the next. case.

Real lumber

So, we are building a log residential building. The basis is a log house, a very strong and fairly elastic box of lying beams, fastened together with notches at the corners and in places where the walls are drained. This means that you will need to master several types of timber cutting, see fig. For log houses in the oblo, a simple cut into a bowl is most often used; for a 1-story house with an attic it is quite enough. It is better to assemble the log house of a high-rise building into a fat tail, this is the most difficult, but the most reliable way. For a log house made of laminated veneer lumber (see below), cutting into okhryap will be no worse.

When cutting without leaving a residue, cutting into the paw is commonly used. Methods b, c, d are recommended for non-residential or seasonal buildings up to 1.5 floors. Methods a and d provide a durable frame, but are not recommended for places with annual precipitation exceeding 300 mm or wet areas. Method g is used to assemble lungs, and method h – load-bearing partitions.

Note: The pan looks like a dovetail joint, but is not one. Dovetail is a corner furniture connection of flat parts on a set of trapezoidal tenons and resp. grooves

Logs in a log house are also cut in several ways; on both halves of the fig. they are arranged, from left to right, in order of increasing complexity and reliability. Currently, there are rounded logs for sale for log houses with ready-made bowls at 90, 45; sometimes - at 30 and 60 degrees. The spacing of the bowls along the length is 1.2, 1.5 and 3 m. Before designing or laying out the beams of the house (see below), you need to decide on the supplier of the material and tie the log house project to the pitch of the bowls.

We’ll have to get ahead of ourselves a little about logs. Most calibrated logs go on sale with a ready-made lunar groove, pos. 1 on next rice. If there are doubts about the quality of harvesting and seasoning of wood, it is better to take a log from the so-called. Finnish groove - longitudinal slot at the top, pos. 2. Cracking of any type of non-laminated timber is inevitable. The Finnish groove provokes the appearance of a primary crack where it is most difficult for moisture and pest germs to get into it, and when the cracks go along the sides, the log will turn into almost pure lignin, which is more resistant to harmful influences.

Construction logs should not necessarily be stored under a canopy, but certainly on some elevation and on logs with a thickness of 150 mm, laid at least every 2 m (to avoid sagging of the logs), and the rows in the stack should be arranged with slats with a thickness of 50 mm or more, pos. . 3. The highest quality timber is stored on concrete sites with a slope to drain rain and melt water, pos. 4, in stacks oriented longitudinally in the north-south direction.

But let's return to the stacks of beams in the walls. In addition to corner and intermediate notches, to prevent longitudinal and transverse displacement during shrinkage, their assembly is reinforced staggered with dowels - round wooden pins, see next. rice. Dowels with a diameter of 30 mm are used to connect along the length and at the corners of the notches in the paw and half the tree, and the notches in the root tenon are reinforced with 20 mm dowels. Dowels are not necessarily made of hard wood; The main thing is that the wood of the dowels dries out faster than the timber, otherwise the beams will hang on the dowels, the walls will split and weaken. Aspen pins are suitable for 1-story houses made of pine beams; they do not rot. Birch is stronger, but is only suitable for partitions in dry rooms, because Birch is very susceptible to rot and mold. The best, but most expensive pins are oak.

Recently, another way to fasten the beams in the foot has appeared: with steel bolts with threads for wood. They are driven into the lower beam by half or 2/3 of its thickness, and in the upper beam a wide hole with a depth of 1/3 of its thickness is selected under the head of the bolt. Place 2 washers with a spring between them under the bolt head. At first, the bolt is tightened tightly, and as it shrinks, the springs compress the foot. This allows you to counteract not only the correct shrinkage of the timber, but also its rather strong warping, see below. In theory, everything here looks perfect, but this technology has been used relatively widely for less than 10 years. The minimum permissible service life of residential buildings is 40 years, so it is too early to definitely recommend tying the timber pile with bolts.

Caulking and shrinkage

As the timber stack is assembled, it is caulked with strips of flax or jute with an overlap of 5 cm to the sides. After assembling the foot, the caulking laps are pushed into the grooves, this is the so-called. the first padding or tuck. Then, if the log house is still without a roof, the tops of the walls are covered with roofing felt and the log house is left to shrink for up to a year. At this time, communications can be laid inside it and some other work can be done, see the video above. Shrinkage is controlled by slats with marks installed in the corners. If the openings for windows and doors are not cut out in the settled log house, but are formed by trimming the beams immediately, they must be made higher than the calculated ones minimum possible the amount of shrinkage of this timber. They are cut to size later. The final caulking with a rope is carried out under the roof after shrinkage of the frame.

About the ends

There is no need to paint or resin the ends of the timber. Although wood draws moisture primarily along the ends, it also dries evenly along them. In a finished unpainted log house, 2-3 years after construction, in dry summers, it is useful to generously soak the exposed ends with water-polymer emulsion 2-3 times. It will not affect the appearance of the house in any way, but the likelihood of developing cracks, rot and mold will drop sharply.

Mortgage crown

The Achilles heel of wooden houses is the lowest, mortgage, crown of the log house. Capillary damming is inevitable between it and the foundation, i.e. accumulation of moisture that has settled directly from the air, and a rotten mortgage crown requires reconstruction of the entire log house. To avoid this, SNiPs recommend raising the mortgage crown above the foundation by 5 cm, but how? Wooden slats are rotting steel mesh in several layers or pressed small metal waste rusts, cement screed leads to the same soaking, only higher. Most effective way The same SNiPs give the opportunity to neutralize capillary moisture: a mortgage crown and, preferably, 1-2 more above it - made of larch. Even if it is not soaked, it is constantly in musty water and lasts for 100 years or more. In this case, the lower crown is simply laid without a gap on 2 layers of roofing material laid over the foundation.

Design

To build a timber residential building, an approved project is required. Minimizing design costs will also result in significant savings in overall costs. Cheapest of all standard projects, and for their own more or less reputable contractors they do not charge a separate fee. But it is not always possible to fit into the “type”, either due to one’s own needs or local conditions. In this case they will help computer programs construction design. There are several of these, aimed at private log houses:

  • VisiCon – interior design and planning, designed for amateurs. We need to start with it. If everything you want in the house fits into a “standard box”, then is it worth straining your wallet, yourself and people’s heads?
  • FloorPlan 3D + House-3D, for facades and stairs - will allow a non-professional, right down to the user, to get a sketch from which the designer will understand exactly what the customer wants. This will reduce the cost of consulting with specialists and finalizing the project.
  • CyberMotion 3D-Designer is a semi-pro software, designed for a user who can read technical documentation and is superficially familiar with computer-aided design systems (CAD, CAD). After using this software correctly, the specialist will only have to check the project and submit it for approval.
  • Total 3DHome Design Deluxe, HomePlan Pro, Xilinx Planahead are professional products. If you have already designed houses yourself, here you have at your disposal extensive sets of templates, a database of technical and architectural solutions.

The SEMA software deserves special attention - a complete software package for designing timber and frame houses. Even a beginner can master it, but the result is:

  1. General layout and premises.
  2. Determination of the dimensions of surfaces and openings along the axes.
  3. Weight distribution is the determination of the centers of gravity of all structural elements, which will greatly simplify the work of the designer, and will give the customer serious reasons to demand a discount on the project.
  4. Layout of the rafter system for the selected roof, calculation of the sheathing and roofing pie. The effect is the same as before. case.

Particularly valuable to the developer directly at SEMA is planking - a full calculation of timber for building a house:
  • Layout in rows along the axes.
  • House kit cards.
  • Summary material sheet with specifications of all elements.
  • Schemes for laying out timber along the crowns.

Having an accurate layout, you can, firstly, while the papers are wandering through the authorities, reduce the estimate for construction and calculate your capabilities according to it. Secondly, find a supplier, select and order the material in real life. Thirdly, for screeding, you can purchase materials in parts as needed, rather than shelling out the entire amount at once.

Material selection

Now we're down to the material. Here we will have to learn the difference between the concepts of shrinkage and warping, which we have already encountered earlier. Shrinkage is a proportional decrease in the linear dimensions of the timber due to uniform loss of moisture and under the influence of mechanical loads, primarily weight. Warping is shrinkage that distorts the geometry of the part. Occurs from uneven drying, regardless of mechanical loads, see fig.

If shrinkage is normalized for different breeds wood and types of lumber, then the warping effect is certainly harmful and is unacceptable for high-quality industrial wood. Depending on the drying conditions, raw wood may not warp, but seasoned wood, if stored incorrectly, will warp. Given these circumstances It is possible to build a good house from timber:

  1. Wild or wild wood - from the forest, which had lain at the lumber yard for an indefinite period of time before sawing. Cheapest. Shrinkage up to 10%, humidity is not standardized, the development of cracking and warping is not guaranteed with proper further storage;
  2. Seasoned edged - goes into sawing brought to an air dryness of 20%. In regions with developed logging and timber industries, it is not much more expensive than wild wood, but the shrinkage is approx. 7%, cracking is normalized (see below), does not warp if properly stored;
  3. Seasoned profiled - the properties are the same as in point 2, but more convenient to use. The price is slightly higher than the edged one. The most popular type;
  4. Glued – beams are glued together from individual boards/slats (lamellas), seasoned and impregnated. Only profiled, more expensive than seasoned. Surpasses everything before. views in all parameters except one: in most profiles, see below, glue seams visible and noticeable that the wood is not natural;
  5. Rusk - from rusk, high-quality dead wood. Zero shrinkage, development of cracking, warping and rot are excluded. Very expensive, because... Tapping bark from the butt of a living tree to obtain crackers in all civilized countries, including the Russian Federation, is considered a predatory method of logging, is prohibited by law and is subject to criminal prosecution.

Savage and sawn-off shotgun

Types of edged timber, from left to right in ascending order of price per 1 cubic meter. m, shown in Fig. In the construction of a house, not only a 4-edged clean-cut can be used, as is commonly believed. For example, a 2-edge gives a double-sided imitation of a log without making a moon groove and rounded bowls, which is difficult or even impossible hand tools. The 3-edge allows you to imitate a log on the outside, leaving a flat surface inside. 4-edge with wane gives external wall, more resistant to atmospheric moisture. To do this, you need to collect the foot with the wane facing outward and oriented upward. Rows of small teardrop cornices are formed on the wall, greatly reducing the penetration of water into the grooves even with very slanting rain.

Note: sleepers look similar to beams, but are more expensive because they are additionally standardized for knots, curls, cross-layers, etc., which is not significant in construction.

Profiled timber

A house made of profiled timber is not only easier to build, it is also more economical in terms of heat, because... through cracks in the walls occur when the deformations of the timber are greater than that of the edged timber, approx. the same as in a log house. Also, the profile beam ensures the evenness of the wall surface, because the protrusions and grooves of the profile keep it from lateral displacement. But, contrary to popular belief, it is still necessary to reinforce a foot made of corrugated timber with dowels: suddenly it will warp and the thin protrusions will simply tear.

Comparative characteristics of solid seasoned and glued profile timber are given in table. in the figure, and how it looks naturally is shown in the photo below. Add to the table data. and there are few pictures left.

Firstly, about national standards for shrinkage. In Europe, which is poor in timber and free space for storage of timber, its valid value– 2%, or 2 cm per meter, respectively. array size. With a foot height of 3 m, this gives 6 cm, which is not very good, but Europeans maintain their standards.

There is no need to compare Russian laminated veneer lumber from the best manufacturers with quality standards; it itself can serve as such a standard. But, unfortunately, in this very profitable sector there is a host of medium-small producers, many of whom have even heard of standards, then, pardon the expression, they want to give a damn about them high place. Canadian timber not inferior to the Russian one, but about such prices in Odessa they say: oh, mother, give birth to me back! That's why It is better to order high-quality timber construction on a turnkey basis with a guarantee(a year is enough for a log house for all the defects to appear), and for a budget one, take seasoned solid corrugated timber.

Secondly, Glued laminated timber is available in thicknesses starting from 50 mm, and its high performance qualities make it possible to assemble hollow walls from it, pos. 3 in the photo. The gap is filled with expanded clay, foam concrete and other non-flammable insulation; in addition, the resulting honeycomb structure is more rigid and wind resistant. This makes it possible to build a house from laminated veneer lumber in difficult, even extreme, climatic conditions. A hollow-core insulated timber wall seems to have two modes: in the off-season, with minimal heating, it behaves in terms of heat like a wooden one, see above, and if it gets too hot, the insulation comes into play.

Thirdly, the performance qualities of a wall made of laminated veneer lumber are determined not so much by its profile as by the gluing pattern, see figure:

  • Horizontal gluing is the most reliable, because the adhesive seam is compressed by the weight of the overlying structures. Disadvantage: the seam is visible.
  • Vertical gluing beams are suitable for buildings up to 2 floors.
  • From salon beams you can build houses of any number of floors and structures allowed for timber beams. Also, salon beams must be high-quality beams with a thickness of 200 mm or more.
  • Glued laminated logs work completely similar to solid ones, but its technical parameters correspond to the conditions for laminated veneer lumber, which is much more rigid, see above. True, the glue seams give away its artificial origin.

Summing up + prices

Price for houses made of timber per 1 sq. m of total area varies significantly depending on the availability of raw materials, the degree of development of the forestry and woodworking industries in a given region, logistics infrastructure, and finally, the season, current demand and competition among contractors. When navigating for yourself, you need to consider the following.

Firstly, for houses with a total area of ​​more than 100 square meters. m, but up to 200 sq. m, you need to multiply the average price in a given location by 1.15, and for houses larger than 200 sq. m. m - by 1.25. The reason is the technological difficulties of assembling walls longer than the standard timber length of 6 m. The same coefficients apply for a number of floors of 1.5-2 and over 2.

Secondly, the turnkey price does not mean that you can bring furniture into the house and celebrate a housewarming party. In the “connected” house you will receive:

  1. In a house made of wild timber there will be no finished floor, but there will be empty openings, because... it must sit for a year before final finishing.
  2. The house is made of seasoned and laminated timber - there is a laid floor, windows, doors.
  3. The remaining surfaces prepared for finishing (decorative) finishing.
  4. Divorced communications, but without installed devices plumbing, heating and cooking and lighting. The maximum is temporary light bulbs dangling from wires.
  5. There will be no external cladding unless otherwise specified in the contract.

In general, averaging across the Russian Federation, the price of 1 sq. m. m of turnkey timber house is:

  • from wild edged timber – 350-400 USD;
  • from seasoned solid profiled timber – 600-750 USD;
  • from laminated veneer lumber Russian production with a one-year warranty – 1100-1300 USD.

A brick house under the same conditions will cost 850-1000 USD per 1 sq. m. m. Taking into account the fact that the finishing of a log house is cheaper (except for plasterboard sheathing), it turns out that way. However, the construction of a timber house may turn out to be more profitable, firstly, in places with a developed timber industry, but a shortage of mineral raw materials. Secondly, oddly enough, in southern regions, due to savings on heating in the off-season and warm winters.

The art of construction wooden house you can learn on your own. The material chosen is, as a rule, timber: glued or profiled. It differs in the manufacturing method, but the construction technology is almost the same for each of them. Wood allows you to save on hiring workers, since 3 people can build a house from timber with their own hands. You don’t need heavy equipment for this; you just need to prepare a concrete mixer, a concrete pump, a winch, a chainsaw and small tools.

What will the house be like?

Timber is used in low-rise private construction for the construction of houses no higher than 3 floors. Performance properties of the material, favorable internal microclimate, beautiful design contribute to the choice of this particular material for building a house. The beam differs from the log in its rectangular shape, and this is its advantage, since it allows you to immediately obtain a flat surface. Its benefits are obvious: it is easy to do internal and external cladding, you can hang any interior details on the walls. Also, the use of timber eliminates cold bridges due to the precise fit of the wooden elements.

Wood allows you to create an exclusive design project for any structure: a small dacha, a one-story house, a luxury cottage. It may include balconies with beautiful railings, cozy terraces, and verandas. A multi-pitched roof decorates a building more than other types of roofing, especially if it has a large total area. The house project must be ordered from a professional organization. This will guarantee taking into account the properties of the soil, correct calculation of the material, and compliance with construction technology.

It all starts with the foundation

A house made of timber has sufficient weight, so it requires a strong, reliable foundation. If you plan to make a basement or cellar under the house, choose a strip foundation. If the soil is wet, muddy, loose - the right decision will be the application screw piles. small house can be built on a solid slab foundation. In this case, the concrete base simultaneously serves as the subfloor of the first floor.

A pile-grillage foundation is constructed in the same way as a strip foundation, but with concrete piles installed in trenches. Used on loose soils with high level freezing. The strip foundation is the most popular: it can withstand heavy loads, can be erected without the use of machinery, and the work technology is easy to implement. This type of foundation is suitable for all private houses, so its design is discussed further.

First, markings are made exactly along the perimeter of the future house. Indicate the location of load-bearing internal walls. According to the markings, trenches are dug, the width of which is 10 cm greater than the width of the walls. For the basement, you need to dig a pit of the appropriate size, for the cellar, a hole. The depth of the trenches should be greater than the freezing level of the soil, but not less than 60 cm. A sand cushion of sand (10 cm) and gravel (10 cm) is poured into the bottom of the trenches, and the layers are leveled. The sand should be moistened and compacted to ensure sufficient density. The pillow is filled with a thin layer of concrete (5 cm).

Formwork, reinforcement, concreting

For removable formwork, take a 25 mm board and knock it down in the form of panels. They must rise above the trench level by at least 40 cm (the external height of the house foundation, which is indicated in the project). Shifting of the formwork is prevented by installing spacers between internal walls and support boards from the outside.

Reinforcement is carried out with 10 mm rods in 2 layers. The frame is laid first along, then across; the intersection points are secured with tying wire. It is important that the rods do not touch the formwork. The gap should be 5 cm. Concrete mortar can be made in two ways:

  • ratio of M400 cement and sand 1:3;
  • the ratio of M400 cement, sand and special additives is 1:4:4.

Concrete at a construction site can be mixed in a concrete mixer and poured into trenches using a special concrete pump. It is important to prevent the formation of air bubbles in the foundation before it hardens, so you need to use a cement vibrator. The uncured surface is moistened with water to prevent the foundation from hardening too quickly. At this stage, the construction of a house made of timber with your own hands is suspended for 20-30 days. This time is required for the foundation to completely harden and be able to bear the main load.

The consumption of materials and the cost of the building depend on the method of assembling a house from timber. They can be reduced if you choose a frame construction method, but this article discusses the classic masonry of a house made of timber. The types of wood most suitable for self-construction are easy to process and at the same time inexpensive: larch, pine, spruce.

The first crown is laid on a double layer of rolled insulation laid on the foundation. It is placed alternately with bitumen, heated to a liquid state. Thus, the following layers are obtained:

  • bitumen,
  • roofing felt,
  • bitumen,
  • roofing felt

The width of the insulation exceeds the width of the foundation by 30 cm. Next, work with the timber begins. It is important that each part is pre-treated with an antiseptic. It will protect the tree from rotting and damage by insect pests. Fire retardant compounds are also used to protect wood from burning. Impregnating each log separately is more effective than impregnating the entire building, since in the second case there will be untreated areas at the junction of the beams.

The very first board, the backing board, is rigidly attached to the foundation through a layer of waterproofing. A low tide is fixed to it, which will protect the frame from precipitation by draining water. There are 2 ways to lay the first crown:

  • on the backing board,
  • on the cross rails.

The second option provides additional clearance, and therefore ventilation. Slats 10 mm thick are attached across the foundation to the backing board in increments of 30 cm. The length of the slats is equal to the width of the board. It is important here to constantly check the horizontal placement of elements. Use better laser level, you can use oil-drip. The quality of the entire structure depends on the competent, unhurried assembly of the first crown. A 150x150 mm beam is used for it.

Features of connecting beams

Profiled and laminated timber have a 4-corner profile, and for the construction of houses they use section sizes of 140x140 mm and 90x140 mm. The front side can be convex or flat (for profiled timber; for laminated timber it is always flat). A tongue-and-groove connection is made at the factory on the upper and lower sides of the timber. It allows you to connect the elements together as tightly and rigidly as possible. Each new row is laid on a layer of jute inter-crown insulation. The crowns are connected to each other by vertically hammering the dowel in increments of 1 m, to a depth of 30 cm.

More information about insulation

Jute insulation eliminates the formation of cold bridges in winter. This prevents facade condensation, mold growth in the wood structure, and significantly increases the service life of the building. It is better to buy inter-crown insulation in the form of a tape of suitable width. Secure it with a construction stapler.

It should be noted that the use of tow or flax does not prevent the appearance of microscopic gaps in the log house, since it is impossible to ensure uniformity of the layer. Tape insulation does not have these disadvantages; it has the same thickness and high-quality non-woven fabric, connected by a needle-punched method.

How to lengthen a beam?

The length of the walls of the house often exceeds the length of the timber, and in this case it is necessary to properly connect the joints. The assembly is carried out in a dressing, that is, the vertical seam of each next row is shifted relative to the previous one. To securely connect the joints, cut half a tree along the beam. After connection, rigidity is ensured by driving in the dowels. The reliability of the connection can be increased if the joint is located on the partition.

Window and door openings are arranged by laying shorter timber. In these places, only solid material is used. 2 dowels are hammered into the crowns near the openings. The second method involves cutting out openings in the finished log house. In this case, the dowels should be located outside the opening, but close to its edge. Sawing begins with markings using a plumb line and level. The work is done with a chainsaw.

Roofing a house made of timber

The beautiful roof consists of several slopes, and the presence of an attic with several windows makes it original. If you don’t have the skills, you can install a gable roof yourself - this is a practical, effective, aesthetic type of roof. For the Mauerlat, choose a 150x150 mm beam and attach it to the crown of the wall using brackets, dowels, and anchor bolts.

The rafters rest on the mauerlat. It should be noted that in this place it is customary to make a triangular cut for a stronger engagement of both elements. In wooden houses that experience significant shrinkage, a notch is not made, since displacement can deform the structure. The best way to attach the rafters and allow for movement is to use a steel "sled" fastener. It consists of 2 elements that allow the rafters to change their angle due to shrinkage of the house.

The rafter system consists of durable timber and is a frame. It defines the shape of the roof and consists of duplicate elements. The angle of inclination, pitch, length, thickness of the rafters are indicated in the project. As a rule, they take timber with a width of 150-180 mm and a thickness of 50 mm. The system elements are connected to each other by tongue-and-groove fastenings and steel plates. Raising the rafters to a given angle is carried out using special elements - rafter legs, which are higher, the more the beams rise up.

The installed rafter system is covered with a vapor barrier layer, and a counter-lattice and sheathing are mounted on top. The first is assembled from slats 2 cm thick, stuffing them onto insulating material along the rafters. The sheathing is nailed across the rafters; the pitch of the beams depends on the choice of roofing material. If tiles are being laid, it is required continuous lathing, for corrugated sheeting and slate it is nailed in increments of 30 cm.

If an attic is planned, the roof is insulated from the inside with mineral wool slabs laid between the rafters. The cladding material used is lining or plasterboard. Wooden house shrinks within 1-2 years. During this period, you can live in it, but the walls cannot be finished with facing materials.

Having decided on the location and size of the tape, we carry out the markings.

To do this, in the inner corners we drive pieces of steel reinforcement 1 meter long into the ground to a depth of 70 cm.

Instead, you can use wooden pegs of similar length. We install the same racks in places where the jumpers for the partitions branch off from the main strip.

We tie the driven supports around the perimeter with a strong, brightly colored nylon cord so that they are clearly visible. After this, we retreat outward onto the designed tape and perform the second marking contour. Thus, we obtain the boundaries of the future foundation.

The markings should be treated with due care. Mistakes at this stage will lead to problems at all subsequent ones.

Ground work and installation of formwork

The soil between the marking lines must be removed to the required depth. For a permanent structure, it can be 1.5 - 2 meters, depending on the level of soil freezing.

The correct foundation trench contributes to the quality of the strip foundation.

Tape reinforcement

A prerequisite for obtaining a high-quality monolithic foundation is the presence of a recessed steel frame - an armored belt. It is made from special corrugated steel rods with a diameter of 10-12 mm, called reinforcement. To connect parts, two main ones are used:

  • Gas or electric welding.
  • Twisting with soft steel tying wire.

The second option is more widespread, as it can be performed by unskilled workers quite quickly. To carry it out, use a specialized tool or simple pliers (pliers).

To make an armored belt, long rods are cut to fit the sides of the tape and many shorter pieces are installed vertically and across the foundation. The length of the short parts should ensure that the reinforcing frame is indented from the formwork and the top of the foundation by at least 10 cm.

A simple technique will help ensure high foundation strength in corners and at the junction of walls and partitions - lay reinforcement there, previously bent at 90 degrees.

Before installing the armored belt, the bottom of the trenches is covered with clean, seeded sand in a layer of 10-15 cm and carefully compacted, after slightly moistening it. The second layer is filled with crushed stone of the middle fraction and compacted as well. After this, you can install the reinforcement and begin concreting the tape.

The correct armored belt is the key to the quality of the base of the house, its foundation.

Concreting the foundation

A mixture of sand, cement and crushed stone with water can be poured into a prepared trench, limited by formwork. It is not difficult to prepare it directly on the site on your own or buy it ready-made at the nearest concrete plant. Both options have advantages and disadvantages.

Self-production of concrete significantly increases the time needed to manufacture the foundation, since it can be obtained in small batches after each loading of components.

It will not be possible to completely fill the tape with concrete in a day, so the work will need to be repeated. The layered structure of concrete is less durable.

Purchasing a ready-made mixture will allow you to fill the foundation with one layer in a few hours. It will be enough to ensure that the mixer can drive directly to the construction site. Significant disadvantage This is the cost of ready-made concrete, which slightly exceeds the total cost of purchasing its components.

Once poured, the concrete must reach maximum strength before construction can continue. This may take from several weeks to several months, depending on the thickness of the layer.

During the first days, the tape must be kept covered with burlap, which prevents drying out. upper layers concrete. It is recommended to periodically moisten the fabric by sprinkling from a watering can.

Compliance with concrete technology is the key to the quality of the foundation.

We erect walls and partitions - we cut a log house

You can install a log frame on a pre-conditioned foundation.

It can be purchased ready-made or made on site.

The second option is longer, since you can build a house from 150x150 timber yourself without using construction equipment very difficult.

The weight of such lumber in a wet state can exceed 130 kg.

A layer must be laid on the foundation.

Roofing felt or glassine tapes are often used for this purpose. The first wall parallel beams with the quarters removed at the ends are laid on them.

Perpendicular to them, a couple more parts are placed with grooves pre-selected at the ends, made according to the markings using a chain or circular saw. This is how the first crown of the log house is obtained.

At the required distance from the soil, floor beams are cut into the crown, placing them parallel in increments of about a meter. They must be held securely, since in the future they will be covered with boards. Additionally, they can be fixed with construction staples bent from steel rods with a diameter of 8-10 mm.

To ensure the strength of the wall structure, individual crowns are connected to each other using dowels - wooden cylinders made of hardwood.

To install them in several crowns, as a rule, holes are drilled in three, the diameter of which is equal to the diameter of the rods. Next, the dowels are driven into them using a sledgehammer and partially deepened.

Thermal insulation of a house under construction can be ensured by laying a special tape between each crown. In the case of using profiled timber, which has a cross-sectional shape other than rectangular, the width of the tapes is taken slightly less; for non-profiled timber it is equal to its width.

As a rule, the insulation is fixed to the lower crowns using a construction stapler with staples 10-12 mm long.

Log house – essential element the entire building. The peace and health of residents depends on its quality.

Don't forget to make openings

During the construction of walls, it is necessary to leave window and door openings in external walls and partitions free. Their location is determined according to the project, the height from the floor is 80-100 cm.

To save strength characteristics before it shrinks in the openings, they try to preserve one middle beam entirely, thus dividing the hole in the wall approximately in half. Subsequently, before installing windows and doors, the data is cut out.

The technology for making openings is simple, but this stage must be approached with full responsibility.

Installation of interfloor slabs and ceiling beams

If, according to the project, your house has more than one floor, you cannot avoid installing an interfloor ceiling, which will simultaneously serve as the basis of the ceiling and floor. In this regard, high quality requirements are placed on its parts. They must be well dried and have the correct geometric shape.

To install the floors proceed as follows. In the lower crown, at a height of 2.2-2.5 meters from the floor level of the first floor, grooves are made, the width of which is equal to the width of the beams, and the depth is not more than half the thickness of the crown beams.

In the parts of the next layer, similar sockets are made with the same pitch. Place the upper crown with the grooves down and secure it with dowels. You can drive rods through the ends of the cross beams.

Proceed in the same way when installing the upper attic floor. When the under-roof is not in use, the installation step of the beams may be larger, and when it is in use, it can be smaller.

The safety of residents depends on the quality of the floors.

Roof and roof installation

A complex and responsible structure is the roof of a house.

Errors made during its manufacture can damage the entire structure of the building.

Schematically, the roof can be represented by a set of inclined rafter beams, one end resting on the ridge beam, the other on the upper crown of the frame.

Based on the number of slopes (sloping flat sides), the upper structures of the house are:

  • Single-pitch
  • Gable
  • Four-slope (hip)
  • Multi-slope
  • Hip roofs (multi-slope with a large rafter angle)

Traditional for our country is gable roof with hemmed gables, as well as an attic with large usable spaces under the roof. It is made from roof trusses made from rafters connected to each other in the upper third by cross members.

Install them vertically and sheathe the outside with coniferous unedged board 25 mm thick - lathing.

To cover the gables, an additional frame of bars is attached to the outer trusses. Sometimes they are installed at one or both ends of the house. In this case, you can reduce the under-roof spaces, leaving a few square meters open.

To protect the house from moisture, the roof must be covered with some kind of roofing material. The most common ones today include:

  • Profiled sheet – profiled sheets made of galvanized steel
  • Ondulin – corrugated sheets high strength low weight
  • Bituminous shingles
  • Ceramic tiles

The specific choice of one type or another depends on a number of factors, not the least of which is the overall construction budget. Some roofing materials more expensive, others are quite affordable for every buyer.

Preparing the roof for installation of each specific type of coating is also different. For ondulin and profiled sheets, a standard board sheathing is sufficient. For bitumen shingles it is necessary to lay sheets of plywood or OSB.

For a wooden log house it is better to use natural finishing materials. Making a roof with your own hands is not difficult if you follow the rules mandatory rules and process technology. Quality construction can only be achieved by using quality materials.

The final stage of work is exterior and interior finishing.

After installing the roof, laying the roof and sheathing the gables, you need to let the house sit for several months. During this time, a slight shrinkage of the log house will occur due to the drying of the timber.

Only after this can you finish the house - install windows and doors, install interfloor stairs, sheathe the walls outside and inside, lay the floor and hem the ceiling.

The walls can be sheathed with high-quality eurolining, the floor can be laid with tongue-and-groove boards made of larch or cedar. They will look beautiful and wooden stairs with turned or flat ones, leading to the porch or upper floors.

Thus, we looked at how to build a house from timber yourself, photos of which can be found on every site on the network. The technology of work is complex and will require a lot of time, effort and financial costs, but it is worth it. As a result, you will get a unique structure in which every corner will be familiar to you.

Exterior decoration of a house made of timber - on video:



 
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