Round log cabins. Round log houses Turnkey round log houses

Features of log houses

• A sanded log is a tree trunk from which only the top layer of bark is removed, knots and various irregularities are removed. At the same time, the natural protective layers of wood are preserved, so the material will be more durable and durable. However, a sanded log always has different thicknesses at the base (butt) and the top, so they will need to be alternated when laying.
• Rounded logs are a type of round wood that has undergone special processing. Several layers of wood are removed, leaving only the densest middle part. In addition, the log acquires an even cylindrical shape, so it will be easier to use.
• Sometimes a calibrated log is additionally distinguished. The sanded trunks are selected strictly according to the diameter (caliber), due to which the construction will be easier, and the walls will be smoother.

Whichever option you choose, a round log house will be the most beautiful solution: log houses have excellent aesthetic qualities, their appearance reminds of Russian fairy tales. The surface of the walls will have to be treated with a protective treatment, but it will retain the natural color and texture of the wood, so the building will look great.

Preparatory work before construction

Stages of construction of a log house

The strip foundation is a monolithic concrete strip, which is poured along the entire perimeter of the building. The concrete is reinforced with a reinforcing cage, so the strip base remains one of the most durable and reliable.

After pouring the foundation, it needs to dry, it takes several weeks. Only then can the formwork be disassembled and proceed to the assembly of the log house. The foundation requires careful waterproofing: roofing material is laid on it in several layers, and bitumen mastic can also be used. The log house itself is assembled in several stages:

• The first crown is assembled from the thickest, strongest and most reliable logs, which have to withstand the weight of the house. From the bottom side, they are pushed up so that they can be laid flat on the foundation.

Usually, for log cabins made of round timber, the type of felling “into the bowl” is used: semicircular recesses are selected in the logs, with the help of which the corners of the frame are fastened. It is important that the bowls are as even as possible, then the wall will be reliable.

• Before laying the next crown, roll insulation is laid on the log. Its use will allow you to avoid constant caulking: linen or jute fiber, moss or other materials will not release heat outside, and from the side, the inter-crown insulation is almost invisible.
• The crowns of the log house are stacked one on top of the other, not forgetting about the openings for doors and windows according to the project. Usually, for professionals, the assembly work takes only a few days, a novice craftsman will have to carefully adjust the logs to each other, it will take time.
• The last crown serves as a mauerlat - the roof rafters will rest on it. For log cabins, a classic gable roof with a large slope is usually used so that snow does not linger on it. When the last crown is laid, the ceiling beams are cut into it, and you can proceed to the installation of the rafters in the chosen way.
• When the blockhouse of a round timber bathhouse is assembled, it must be allowed to stand for at least six months in order for the shrinkage processes to complete and the wood to dry as much as possible. Before that, it must be treated with an antiseptic so that rot does not start.

There are two types of round logs: rounded logs and hand-cut logs. Before starting construction, a rounded log undergoes machine training: it is given the same diameter along its entire length. A hand-cut log is cut down on a logging site, after which only the bark is removed from it, and in this natural form, with all the knots and natural irregularities, it goes into the frame.

Compared to a rounded log, a hand-cut log has a number of undeniable advantages, so it is important to understand which round log you will be building your house from.

Rounded log

When processing a rounded log, its outer, hardest layer is removed. Therefore, such a log is susceptible to cracking. Bowls in cross-sections (at the intersection of logs at the corners of a log house) are also cut by a machine and made in a simple semicircular shape; after drying, through cracks inevitably appear in them. Nevertheless, the main advantages of a wooden house made of round logs are a democratic price and speed of construction.

Hand felling log

Since these logs are cut down in the forest and do not receive any special training, except for removing the bark, they go to the frame in the most original form, with all the knots and natural patterns.

There are two approaches to such a log: some plan it, and we only grind its surface, which allows you to maintain a hard outer layer and reduces the possibility of potential cracking. We can make log cabins from a round log into a paw, but we consider chopping into a bowl to be more reliable and durable; the key advantage of hand-cut logs over rounded logs is the device of the bowl: we use an additional spike, which, after shrinking the house from a turnkey round log, avoids cracks in the corners.

The owner of the house bears the name Bulat, which is rare for our region. Not surprising, considering that he hails from Kazakhstan, where he has a successful business. Another thing is surprising: for Bulat, this house became the fourteenth, which he built in his life. Of course, not all had a chance to live - some of the houses were erected for children and relatives, but the fact remains: by the time of ordering a house from round timber, Bulat had tremendous experience in housing construction. For the company he turned to, it became a kind of challenge: it was necessary to please the customer in every detail. And this is what happened in the end ... A word to the owner.

Born in USSR

Now I have several houses: one - in Kazakhstan, one - with my mother-in-law in Ukraine, now I have it in Belarus. It’s unusual for me to hear words about independent states, I am, so to speak, “born in the USSR”. And I sincerely love the post-Soviet countries, I had the opportunity to travel and live in most of the republics. Each of them has something unique, good, and memorable. Belarus is a great place to live: nature, forests, air, sympathetic and kind people. And although I have built 14 houses in my life, it was here that I decided to get a house made of round timber.

Living in a wooden house is an old dream. It appeared after four years in Siberia, in Tomsk. I lived there in the apartment of a tanner, in a real Siberian cedar log cabin. At that time, this house was 100 years old, it was already considered a monument of wooden architecture. And not so long ago I returned to Tomsk, to the same street where I lived - this house is worth, at least that to him. It has been standing for 130 years. I was so impressed that I firmly decided to build my house from round timber.

There were, of course, concerns. For me, this is the first experience in wood construction, the previous houses were made of more standard materials: bricks and gas silicate blocks. In Kazakhstan, where I come from, there is not a lot of wood, the climate is different, so almost no wooden houses are built. And in Belarus - God himself ordered. It remains only to find a company with experience in the construction of log cabins and agree on the details. After searching, the choice fell on the company "Ecohome".

Design and construction

They decided to build a one-story house. Most of the time my wife and I live here together, why do we need the second floor? And in general, I think that in most cases this is an overkill, wasted money: my mother has a two-story house, so she hasn’t come to the second floor for a year and a half. For the elderly, this is 100% extra spending, no one uses the second floor. The architect of the Ecohome company was in solidarity with us, and after numerous meetings and negotiations, the project of the house was agreed upon.

The foundation is pile-grillage, the top is a monolithic slab. They did this because of the height difference across the site - more than one and a half meters. The basement was not expected, so we chose this type of foundation so as not to waste too much. In addition, the basement is always damp and heat leakage. For hot countries, it is even reasonable to sink into the ground, with the Belarusian climate this is superfluous.

As for the forest, I completely trusted Dmitry (director of the Ecohome company - editor's note). The forest, of course, is winter, logs with a diameter of 240 mm. I am satisfied with the quality of the wood: the wooden house has been standing for four years, during this time only two cracks have appeared: one outside, one inside. We covered them with sealant - and no problem.

It took a year for the frame to shrink. Then the windows were installed, the interior and exterior decoration proceeded. I have already tracked the last stages of work personally, I arrived with my wife Lyudmila, began to live in an old house, equipping it for temporary residence. I supervised the finishing works myself, my wife was responsible for interior design, selection of materials, etc. This is an important point: if you organize the finishing work correctly, you can move into the house very quickly. We checked in 7-8 months after the box was erected. In the same six months, the foundations for the bathhouse and the summer kitchen / garage were poured, a fence was erected, all communications were laid for ancillary buildings and street networks.

The house has a "second light", the roof is hemmed for a ridge, and at the ends there are two attic rooms. We have a non-standard insulation system: the entire attic was filled with liquid polyurethane foam with a layer of 120 mm, the density was chosen high so that you could walk on the frozen foam. In the attic we have something like a technical floor, where the electrical wiring is divorced. The main advantage of polyurethane foam (in addition to thermal conductivity) is seamlessness, insulation is obtained without a single gap, heat does not go out into the street. On the slopes (where the "second light" is) - insulation is done in the same way with polyurethane foam.

Heating, by the way, is combined in the house: underfloor heating and radiators. The heat in the house is retained due to the good thermal conductivity of wood: to maintain the temperature, you need to heat the boiler less, we spend pennies on gas in winter.

The most time consuming part of the process was sanding the walls. They are polished in two stages: for roughing, and finishing, for painting. After painting, the walls are ready. Compared to plasterboard cladding, the savings in time (and money!) Are enormous. Judge for yourself, in the case of a stone house you need to: mount the profiles, make a vapor barrier under them, glue all the seams after installing drywall, putty, sand, prime, and only then paint. Here it is much easier and faster.

Of course, before that, you still need to dig all the logs, fill the seams with a sealant - this is also a piece of work and financial costs. A familiar team of Ukrainians caulked the house, in the old fashioned way - they “punched” every crack with a hammer and a screwdriver. I personally checked the quality of the work every day. But this part refers more to the construction of the walls than to the decoration: if you do not caulk, there will be no heat in the house.

Interior and design

The house is made in two colors. My wife likes a light shade, I like a dark one, so we can say that we divided the house (smiles - Approx. ed.). The interior design was done according to the individual design project of the wife of Lyudmila: both colors and furniture and textiles. At the project stage, the living area with two bedrooms was separated from the guest area (living room and kitchen). We did this for convenience: so that guests who often visit us do not move around in the host's area. Bedrooms with a separate entrance from the street are not uncommon in European architecture, we decided to borrow this experience.

Initially, it was planned that the hallway and corridor would be open, something like a terrace. But later this idea was abandoned: in winter, running from wing to wing is not very convenient. Equipped with a warm floor, glazed it up - it turned out to be a spacious, well-lit corridor-hallway.

There is another exit from the living room to a covered veranda, it is very good to sit, think, read here.

Almost all the furniture in the house is attached, it was a design decision. The walls in the house move for the first two or three years, so almost all the furniture is on the floor. An exception was not made even for the kitchen: we have no wall cabinets, everything is stored in floor cabinets and two cabinets. The cooking area was stylized with a painted clinker brick wall, which lags behind the main log wall. In addition to being decorative, this wall also has a practical function: food preparation products do not fall on the wood and are not absorbed into it.

A similar design and technical solution was made in the bathroom / toilet: they "crashed" into the frame with a clinker brick wall, to which the bathroom adjoins. The wall was painted and covered with Remmers waterproof varnish. Both convenient and practical - the log wall behind the clinker “breathes”, moisture does not get on it.

The two bedrooms are each furnished differently. For men - in calm tones of natural wood, for women - light, in a classic style.

In this place of the living room, they decided to put either a fireplace or a stove, until they decided. So far, the opening was laid with natural stone, interspersed with mica. It turned out to be a good design solution, albeit a temporary one.

The house itself cost us $ 110,000. with a total area of ​​147 sq.m. But, again, the price depends on which finishing materials you choose. For example, we have expensive Italian tiles on the floor: about $ 45. per sq. m., French plumbing and faience products. Impregnations for wood were used of high-quality, from well-known manufacturers and with a guarantee of at least 10 years, the sealant is not very budgetary, etc. In a word, everything was done with high quality and from high-quality, expensive materials, although it could have been cheaper - it all depends on the budget and preferences.

Location on

Detached buildings on the site - a guest house with a garage and a summer kitchen, a bathhouse with a relaxation room and an open terrace.

There is a Russian stove in the guest building - not only for heating, but also for everyday cooking. Meat, duck, bread - you can bake anything in it. It was put by the Ukrainians, they even brought special white clay from their homeland. The oven, of course, will still crack slowly - the technology is the most traditional, all ovens crack. But this room is ideal for receiving guests: here you can walk in shoes, a large table, food can be served directly from the stove ... Well, and if someone gets tired, there is a bed nearby.

The room is adjacent to the garage. We combined a garage with a summer kitchen in order not to build a separate building: they saved on the foundation, a common roof, etc. Everything inside the garage is painted in a gray metal primer, the floor is self-leveling, wear-resistant. Unlike the summer kitchen, the garage is not heated. But this is good for a car: from a cold car to a warm one, without a wash - this is rust.

The sauna has a steam room with a wood-burning stove. Opposite the exit from the steam room there is a washing area, with a separate water drive in a tilting bucket, it is very convenient to douche after the "steam".

There is an original street toilet on the site, which the Ecohome company built for me free of charge, as a bonus. It seems like a trifle - but gives some originality to the landscape.

Conclusion: I'm happy with the house. Compared to stone, there is a different air here, it is easier to breathe. Another aura, if you like. After we lived in it, there was an understanding of the importance of the layout of the house, its advantages and disadvantages. But now, having this knowledge, I understand what an ideal wooden house can become. Therefore, now I want to leave my stone house in Almaty and build another wooden house there ... I don’t know if I will stop there. But so far I understand that it is in a wooden house that life is most comfortable.

Interviewed by: Dmitry Malakhov

Since ancient times, a wooden house has been a source of comfort, well-being and harmony. Today, no original, fashionable solutions and innovative technologies diminish the interest in wooden houses. Any project of a house made of round timber resembles a fairy-tale house. To make the fairy tale come true, we will help you find out the secrets and features of buildings made of round wood.

Features of the wood round timber

At all times, the forest is considered the wealth of any country. Especially if it is a varietal round timber, which is widely used in construction. The main use of round timber is its processing into lumber: edged and unedged boards, logs, beams and bars.

Round timber includes trees with a trunk diameter of more than 18 cm.

Round wood is distinguished by trunk diameter and size. Sawlogs are logs suitable for subsequent sawing into boards. Depending on the size of the diameter of the logs, timber is subdivided into assortment. The diameter of the logs is measured at the top of the cut.

The diameter of a large group of logs can reach 26 cm, a medium group - from 14 to 24 cm, and a small group from 6 to 13 cm. The length of a sawlog can reach 4 m. Round pine timber is considered the most popular in suburban construction. Pine round logs are distinguished by their excellent appearance, resistance to decay and cracking, and minimal drying out.

You can determine the quality factor and quality of the round timber by the signs: the tree should not have bark falling off or traces of soot are visible. Otherwise, the tree turned out to be dry before cutting down, or there are traces of a fire.

To erect a log house from round timber, logs with a diameter of 26-28 cm of the same thickness are used.

To build a house out of round timber with your own hands means to erect a solid and environmentally friendly structure.

Projects of houses from round timber

Any project of one- and two-storey log houses begins with the choice of logs. In addition, when designing houses from round wood, the main design parameters are: the diameter of the logs (cm) and the volume of rounded logs (cubic meters).

To calculate the parameters, it is recommended to use the On line calculation program. As a result of the calculation, the amount of material required for the construction of a house from round wood will be obtained: logs (volume per 1 square meter of the wall), dowel, boards, timber and bar, jute.

How should you choose logs for construction, and in what way to fix the log house?

choose logs

There are the following types of round logs:

Rounded

Calibrated

Crafted.

Rounded round logs have the simplest type of processing in woodworking factories, which consists in removing the top layer. In the process of processing, a dense base of wood remains, which has an even cylindrical shape. With this type of processing, wood completely retains its qualities of a natural material and is ready for use.

A calibrated log is wood already selected for certain qualities, sorted by diameter. Erection of a log house from a calibrated log is the most preferable option. The walls of houses, baths during construction have a flat surface, due to the proportionality of selection.

A flaked log is a lightly finished wood with bark removed and knot-like irregularities. The protective layer under the bark remains in its original state, maintaining high structural strength and natural shape.

The difference in the diameter of the top and base of the trunk is clearly pronounced. However, this type of processing most fully preserves the advantages of wood. It was from this type of wood that huts and towers served for 200 years.

Methods for fixing round logs

There are three ways of attaching and joining logs and beams:

Horizontal

Vertical

End.

With the horizontal method of fastening, parts of the timber or logs are applied to the "cold" joint. As a result of the connection, a gap of an insignificant size is obtained, which is closed.

The vertical method is considered more technologically advanced, in which a "warm" joint is obtained when the beams or logs are stacked on top of each other.

Finally, the butt method allows logs to be joined into a flat tenon located on the inside of the logs.

The corners obtained when joining the logs are additionally reinforced with grooves and spikes.

How to design and build a round log house with your own hands

The design and construction of a round timber house is based on calculating the required material and taking into account the characteristics of the soil on the site. It is important to remember that when building a house, you must choose a base or foundation. Recall that for light construction with low weight and number of storeys, it is possible to choose a columnar base.

To build a house from round timber on swampy or water-saturated soil, it will be necessary to erect a pile foundation. For the construction of a one- or two-storey capital log house on ordinary soils, it is possible to arrange a strip non-buried foundation.

Roundwood house construction technology

When building a house from round timber with your own hands, it is preferable to purchase a complete house kit, ready for assembly. The set includes all the logs intended for construction, adjusted in size to each other and numbered. All that remains is to carefully assemble. The weight of the logs is impressive, so it is better to work 2-3 people.

Initially, holes are drilled between the logs for pins, with the help of which the logs are strung, as it were, and form a wall. The first to attach are the pins located in the corners, window and door openings. The spacing of the fastening should be 1.5 - 2 m with the length of the side of the logs, and at the interval of window openings 10 cm. The largest and even logs are used to lay the first crown.

The lower base is cut off to create a stable styling, and a "bowl" is formed in the frame. "Bowls" are semi-circular recesses for attaching corners. Having formed a row of the crown, the insulation is laid. The erection of subsequent crowns is carried out with the laying of a roll of insulation. The crowns are laid with adjusting the location of windows and doors, adjusting the logs.

After laying the last crown, the ceiling beams are cut in and the rafter system is installed. The assembled round log house is allowed to stand up to 6 months, so that the wood finally dries up and the shrinkage process is completed.

Rounded logs are a popular material in construction, used for the construction of wooden cottages, country houses, baths, log cabins and other structures. Its distinctive feature is the maximum closeness to the natural shape of the tree trunk, which makes it possible to erect buildings with an attractive and authentic appearance. Rounded logs have a rounded shape and are manufactured industrially. Each element undergoes mechanical processing - cylindering, during which the top layer is removed and the material is given a strict rounded shape. Then the drying process takes place and only after that the workpieces are processed with special compounds and impregnations that improve the aesthetic and operational characteristics. On some blanks, special bowls are additionally prepared for grooves, spikes, ridges, so that elements ready for use are delivered to the construction site.

Advantages of log houses

Log houses made of rounded logs are one of the most popular types of buildings due to a number of advantages:

• high environmental friendliness. In the production of rounded logs, glue and other chemicals that negatively affect health are not used;
• neatness and attractive appearance. The construction of houses from rounded logs is carried out from blanks of the same diameter, having a flat, smooth surface, which ensures high aesthetics and originality of the design;
• no need for external finishing. The undulating relief is their kind of visiting card, which allows you to significantly save your budget when building a house;
• durability. Wood is a durable and wear-resistant material, therefore, subject to the correct construction technology, a house made of rounded logs can last for more than a decade;
• good thermal protection. The tree has excellent thermal insulation properties.

In addition, the construction of houses from rounded logs does not take much time. The workpieces do not require straightening, they fit perfectly and are folded into the frame. Therefore, if you have decided to order a house made of logs, you can be prepared for the fact that in a few weeks a finished structure will grow on your site.