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Building from wood, probably, will always be. There is a very good atmosphere in such buildings, and the appearance of a well-cut house, according to the most modest estimates, is attractive. Finishing a wooden house inside is a separate topic with many nuances: wood is a special material, the characteristics and properties of which should be taken into account. We will talk about the technical and technological features of finishing work in a wooden house.
When to start
On a “fresh” log house, finishing work can begin no earlier than the main shrinkage has passed. If the log house is made of glued beams, 3-4 weeks should pass. For all other types of wooden houses, the period is calculated in months, and sometimes years. The exact shrinkage time depends on the initial moisture content of the raw materials, the climate zone and the time of construction. This is how difficult it is. In any case, earlier than in a year, in extreme cases, after 10 months, you should not start finishing. During this period of time, there is an active shrinkage of wood, logs and timber are reduced in size, the insulation laid between the crowns is crushed. If you attach the trim before the main processes have passed, it will fall off or skew it. Everything will have to be removed and redone. So there is no need to rush. Moreover, there will be enough work: you need to achieve tightness of the joints, and this is not easy. You need a careful competent caulking.
Usually the main caulking of a log house takes place in two stages. Primary – a few weeks after the installation of the log house, and secondary – about six months – eight months. Each time the cracks are clogged with insulation – jute, tow, sometimes moss. Immediately it is done both outside and inside, otherwise the house will warp. Therefore, the building is bypassed around the perimeter, caulking alternately, each crown, either from the outside or from the inside. Work begins from below, from the lowest row of logs or timber.
With each caulk, the log house rises by 5-7 cm. Then, under the force of gravity, it gradually settles. Compacted interventional insulation reliably covers the gaps. The quality of this work is very important: it not least depends on how warm it will be in the house.
Finishing work begins inside the wooden house after the log house sits down after the second caulk. To determine whether the process is complete or not, the height of the walls is periodically measured. If there are no significant changes within two to three months, we can assume that the main processes have passed. It’s time to start decorating the inside and outside of the house.
How to build a house from a bar, read here.
Types of wall decoration of a wooden house
If the log house itself has an attractive appearance, it is rarely sheathed. In this case, it makes sense to reduce the cost of interior decoration: sand the log or beam and tint it. Only floors should be varnished: the varnish will prevent abrasion of the wood. And the walls and ceiling are best covered with tinting antiseptics or water-based paints. They do not paint over the texture of the wood, but only give it a shade, showing the pattern better. You still have to use antiseptics – to preserve the attractive appearance of the wood.
If the log or beam is normal, the caulk seam looks bad, it is sealed with a twisted cord, and the walls are finished in the same way – they are sanded and tinted. Everything looks good too, and the cord in the groove serves as an additional guarantee against drafts.
How to sheathe the walls in a wooden house inside
If the log house is so crooked or old that grinding will not help, you will have to make the interior decoration of a wooden house from clapboard, wall panels, drywall or other material.
For any of these materials, it is better to make a crate: this way you can level the surface of the walls. In addition, there is room behind the crate for free air circulation. In a wooden house, this is important, since only dry wood does not rot and blacken. Free air circulation between the finishing material and the wall will maintain their normal condition.
The distance behind the crate is also used for laying communications – electrical wiring, for example. In a wooden house, it should be made in non-combustible pipes, so you need a decent place for it. There, if necessary, you can lay a heater – this is if your house turned out to be cold. If you spend a little on heating and the house is warm, it is better not to use any additional materials: neither insulation nor vapor barrier. Wood itself does an excellent job of maintaining a stable humidity in the house, and the extra layers only upset the balance.
Not everyone likes fastening the finish to the crate: if an animal or insects settles behind the sheathing, it is difficult to get rid of them. In this case, you can level the surface of the logs by removing the protruding parts and nail the finish to such a surface. A perfectly flat surface is difficult to achieve, but possible. The gaps between the finishing material and the wall, which in this case still exist, were once covered with clay. It will be thermal insulation and protect against drafts. Technologically, this is incorrect, but they do it too.
Whatever materials are used for cladding the walls of a wooden house inside, there should be a gap of at least 2-4 cm to the ceiling. For a “young” log house, this is insurance in case of shrinkage. For the old – a gap to compensate for changes in the geometry of the wood. She breathes all her life: it picks up moisture and swells, then it dries out. The gap under the ceiling will allow the tree to expand or shrink quietly, without consequences for the finish. If it is not done, then either cracks will appear, or the finish will bend / tear out. So that the gap does not “cut the eye”, it is closed with a ceiling plinth. It is nailed only to the stream, it is only leaned against the wall. In this case, all movements will be invisible.
Read about the interiors of a wooden house and methods of interior decoration in the article “Design of a wooden house inside in photos and videos”
Clapboard decoration inside the house
Clapboard is the leader among finishing materials. It is used both inside and outside the house, only with different processing (impregnations and paints are taken for exterior or interior work). It comes in different types. It’s not just about different types of wood or different board widths. There are also different profiles: even, wavy, imitating a beam or a log house. There are several options in the photo below.
For finishing inside the house, the lining is taken not thick: 1,5-2 cm is enough. It costs less and does its job. Reiki can be positioned horizontally, vertically, at an angle. From the combinations of all these areas, you can get amazingly beautiful panels, but this is a laborious task.
When nailing the crate or planks, you need to remember about the shrinkage of the log house and the ability of the wood to swell and shrink. Near the floor and ceiling, do not nail the trim and the crate close, leave 2-4 cm each to compensate for these extensions.
Clapboard trim and walls and ceiling. And here and there it looks more than decent, but such a finish is relatively inexpensive. Cheaper (and easier to perform) just upholster with plywood and stick wallpaper. This, by the way, is a popular option for finishing a country house inside an economy class. With a sufficient level of performance, this method can also be used to decorate premises, not only in the country version. The only objection is the glue that is used in the manufacture of plywood. But if you take it as I emission class (allowed for use in children’s institutions), then, probably, there will be nothing to worry about.
How and how to paint the lining inside the premises, read here.
Mounting methods
Previously, they were not particularly worried and nailed the lining into the face (into the front surface) through and through. At best, they used nails without hats or finishing nails (they have very small hats). Sometimes the hats were covered with putty on wood and sanded, sometimes the holes from the screws were closed with pins. This is for the most fastidious and demanding quality finishes.
Today, even this method is considered not the most aesthetic: traces can still be seen. So that nothing can be seen, they use secret methods:
- nails or self-tapping screws are hammered at an angle into a spike or groove;
- with the help of clamps (clamps).
Both of these methods require patience and accuracy: small thin nails are used, they need to be nailed so as not to damage the front surface. To make it easier, you can beat not with nails, but with staples from a construction stapler. Staples are taken with a narrow back and long legs, made of stainless steel with sharpening. Although there are models of staplers that “shoot” nails with a very small head. For fastening the lining – that’s it. They also use self-tapping screws. A comparison of the two methods is made in the video.
There is one nuance. If you bought a non-chamber drying lining (its moisture content is 7-8%), it will gradually dry out. Gaps will appear between the planks and you will either have to put up with them, or nail all the planks again. Sometimes two or three times. It’s impossible to avoid it. You can only choose a profile in which the gaps will be invisible (profiles “Softline” and “Standard” in the figure in the previous section). In this regard, you need to think carefully about the better to fix the lining for the first time: it will have to be removed. Therefore, it is desirable to make it so that it is not difficult and that it does not collapse. Here everyone decides for himself: it is more convenient for someone to work with self-tapping screws, for someone with nails. Both methods are not ideal (it is difficult to pull out the nails, and you need to drill a hole under the head of the self-tapping screw), but both are acceptable.
Sometimes it becomes necessary to dock the lining with a wall of logs. Complexity can arise due to the fact that the wall has a non-linear shape. You can outline it using a small piece of lining, to which a simple pencil is attached. Having set the bar and leading along the wall with a piece of lining with a pencil, they transfer the shape of the log to the bar. By carefully sawing along the intended line, you can achieve an almost perfect match.
You might be interested in reading about how to install laminate flooring.
Wall panels for interior decoration
Finishing a wooden house inside with wall panels gives a completely different stylistic result. This finishing material is made from different materials with different textures:
- wood;
- bamboo;
- MDF (laminated and veneered);
- glass (smooth with photo printing, embossed, colored, transparent, matte);
- plastics and plastics;
- skin.
There are they type-setting or shield. Type-setting – long thin elements connected to each other according to the tenon-groove principle. Clapboard is essentially wall panels too. It’s just that it has long been used as an independent category of finishing materials. Shield wall panels differ in geometry – they have a comparable length and width.
Everything is usually assembled on a crate (like lining), the bars of which are stuffed taking into account the dimensions of the chosen finish. Designers love this material: materials, texture and color schemes make it possible to realize a variety of ideas. Such interior decoration of a wooden house can be very expensive – leather – or cheap – MDF panels. But the appearance is quite decent.
If according to the technology wall panels should be laid on glue (gypsum, for example), then on the crate (you remember that in a wooden house it needs to be made floating), substrate plates are attached – plywood, GVL, etc. Plates are installed on this substrate with glue. An example is shown in the video.
Read about the design features of a wooden house inside here.
How to sheathe a wooden house from the inside with drywall
The technology of working in a house made of wood or other material is no different: a frame is assembled, and drywall is attached to it. Only, as in the case of the crate for lining, you need to leave gaps near the floor and ceiling. The only condition: this type of interior decoration of a wooden house is possible only after complete shrinkage (at least several years must pass and the house must be heated). Gypsum is a brittle material and will simply tear if changed significantly. The only option that will allow them to be ignored to some extent is to make a floating frame, attaching the profiles to the walls not rigidly, but leaving freedom of movement. Then the log house will settle on its own, and the drywall will remain in place.
With what and how to make a floating crate for fixing hard finishing materials (gypsum board, bases for ceramic tiles, etc.), see the video.
Another feature of finishing a wooden house with drywall: all joints, seams and corners must be glued with a polymer reinforcing mesh. It will prevent the formation of cracks in the most problematic areas (or slow their formation). If you need to clad a house from a bar inside with drywall, but you really don’t want to lose precious centimeters of area due to the installation of profiles, you can do it as in the next video. There are some good tips.
The layout of the interior of a country house is described here.
Features of the interior decoration of an old wooden house
If a house made of timber or logs has stood for several decades, first of all you need to assess the condition of the wood. To do this, remove the entire finish and “pick” all suspicious spots – darker or lighter in color, differing in structure or texture. You can do this with a screwdriver, a chisel, even a knife. If the wood is dense everywhere, there are no signs of destruction, everything is fine, you can start finishing. You may need to first impregnate walls and other structures with protective impregnation – to protect the wood for a few more decades. But not all owners of wooden houses agree to chemical treatment, so it’s up to you.
In case the wood crumbles from your efforts, you need to consult a specialist. It is necessary to determine what caused the damage – insects, fungi or microorganisms – and what measures need to be taken. Then the damaged pieces or elements are changed, paying special attention to the treatment with antiseptics and protective impregnations of adjacent areas.
After evaluating or “treating” the wood, you can begin to update the appearance. Finishing an old wooden house inside is no different from those described above. Is it just that shrinkage should not be taken into account: there are no significant advances. So from this side, everything is somewhat simpler.