Log houses — an overview of worthy projects (90 photos). See the finished projects of wooden houses here!

Initially, in Russia, everything that was worth anything was made of wood. There were wooden houses, baths, churches and fortresses, it is no coincidence that in the old days the fortress walls were called a detinets, which was nothing more than a stockade.

Our ancestors even wrote not on papyrus or parchment, but on birch bark. In general, we can say with full confidence that the forest was at the heart of our civilization. We still have a lot of forests today.

Probably, that's why many of our compatriots, after looking at photos of log houses on the Internet, standing on the bank of a river, against the background of a Russian forest, tend to get a wooden house somewhere outside the city.

Many people want to build not just a house in the village, but so that the river is just around the corner and run to the same forest for mushrooms in the morning, while the dew has not yet come off the grass. To build a wooden house today is a very simple task, the benefit of the master is still in abundance.

We have many companies engaged in the construction of wooden houses, which have combined the efforts of many professionals for this purpose. Each of them is ready to provide a whole catalog of log houses of any type, cut down even "in a bowl", even "in a paw", and it will cost quite inexpensive.

After all, we don't have America or Western Europe here, where an ordinary pine log is almost worth its weight in gold. We have wood from the forest and a very good forest, they still make firewood…

As mentioned above, there are two types of log house projects: houses cut down "in a bowl" and "in a paw". A house chopped into a paw turns out to be more spacious and less material is needed for it.

However, if we take into account such a factor as labor costs, savings do not work out, because a carpenter of higher qualification is needed to process this very "paw".

Log cabins "in the paw"

It is preferable that the material for construction (logs) be calibrated, but calibrated logs are quite expensive. Therefore, it will be necessary to simply make sure that all the logs embedded in the wall coincide not only in length, but also in diameter, and the diameter of the log at its different ends should not differ markedly, which is not too easy to do.

A log is nothing more than a pruning of a tree trunk, and wood is a natural material, not brought to the absolute standard of the cylinder.

Its connection to a single standard is carried out by the calibration method, when a rounded log is made from an ordinary log. Calibrated logs are usually used for standard sizes of log cabins.

To build cheap log cabins of houses should not be calibrated logs. If the construction of a house chopped "in the paw" is supposed to be on its own project using its own materials, then accurate calibration of logs is not required.

It is enough, just, to pick up logs of approximately the same diameter, and in order to level the difference in the diameters of the two ends of one log, it is enough, just, when assembling a log house, to put them with a lump to the top.

There is one significant drawback to the houses cut down "in the paw". Their corners begin to rot faster, because water easily gets into unprotected grooves.

Log cabins "in the bowl"

A house chopped into a bowl corresponds to our idea of a traditional Russian dwelling to a much greater extent. The Russian hut, like any log structure, appears to us in the form of a log cabin with the ends of logs protruding beyond the boundaries of the catch.

To ensure high structural strength, a bowl-shaped recess is cut down almost at the ends of the logs, into which the logs of the walls are laid and fixed in them, forming a right angle with those logs in which the bowl is cut down.

Cutting into a bowl allows you to build more durable, although less spacious structures. By the way, the bowl can be turned both up and down. A house built with bowls down will certainly be more durable, since precipitation will not linger in the grooves of the bowls, and the corners of the house will rot less intensively.

Preparation for the construction of a log cabin

The process of building a log house is quite a long story. If not a calibrated log made at a woodworking plant somewhere in Finland is used for this, but our domestic one made from a whole whip in an artisanal way, then it will cost much cheaper, but it will also take a lot of time.

Before you start cutting, the logs need to be stripped, that is, the bark should be cut off from them. After the bark is removed from the logs, you can start cutting "in the paw" or "in the bowl", depending on your preferences. Regardless of the method of felling, the logs in the log cabin should lie in the position of a lump to the top. With this arrangement, they will fit snugly together, leaving no large gaps between them.

For better articulation of the rows, it is advisable to make a recess at the bottom of each log, into which the upper part of the lower log will freely enter. Such a recess is called a lunar groove, because it looks like a crescent moon.

After the log house is folded, each log, its component should be numbered, in order to avoid confusion and a large loss of time during further construction.

Folded ready-made log houses should hold at least six months, but preferably a year. They should stand in a position to further drying of the logs is not deformed.

Bog moss as the best insulation a log home

While the log house is standing, you can do other equally important things. First of all, you need to take care of the insulation, which will lay all the grooves between the logs. Tow or glass wool can be used as a material for insulation.

However, many developers, when constructing their own wooden house, prefer to use natural materials, primarily moss growing in swamps. It is with its use as insulation that the best log houses are built.

Marsh moss does not need to be bought, besides it has antiseptic properties and prevents the development of rotting processes in the grooves between the logs. After the prescribed time: from six to twelve months, you can start the construction of a wooden house.

If the place for construction has already been chosen, then the first thing to do is to lay the foundation of the future house. Usually, a concrete strip that has already become traditional is used as a foundation.

Foundation construction

It is necessary to dig a trench of sufficient depth under the tape, the depth of the trench should be greater than the depth of freezing of the soil. After that, a sand-cement mixture is filled to the bottom of the trench and compacted. Then it is necessary to install the formwork of the future foundation in the trench.

Reinforcement is installed in the formwork and cement is poured. After two or three days, when the cement tape hardens and dries, the formwork can be removed. Log cabins that have stood for the prescribed period are disassembled and transported to the place of construction of the house, where the foundation has already been laid.

Building a log house on the foundation

Now that both the log house and the foundation are ready, another question arises: – How to build a house from a log house? The logs are laid on the foundation in exact accordance with the numbers affixed to them. If the logs are laid in violation of numbering, then they will most likely not coincide with each other.

Since the logs are not calibrated, they all have different thicknesses. When they were laid in the original log house, they were adjusted to each other. If in the new log cabin they will lie in strict accordance with this fit, then their coincidence with each other will be as possible.

After the first row of logs is laid, insulation is laid on top of them, with a thick enough layer: tow, glass wool or moss. The insulation is laid in such a way that after superimposing the upper row of logs on it, its ends would hang down to at least half of the previous log. Upon completion of the laying of the log house and the construction of the roof, the grooves between the logs should be patched.

Caulking process

The caulking process consists in plugging the insulation hanging on them into the grooves between the logs. If everything is done correctly, the house will be warm enough even in the most frosty winters. After that, the floor is laid in the house, windows are inserted and doors are hung.

In order for the house to look more beautiful from the outside, it is sheathed with boards and painted. Painting is necessary, as well as in order for the house to stand as long as possible.

Photos of log houses