How and with what to paint the log house of the house outside and inside

Compared to houses made of modern materials, buildings erected from wooden ancients have an attractive appearance, in good harmony with the surrounding nature. The undoubted advantage of log houses is the speed of construction and the effective maintenance of comfortable parameters of the internal atmosphere.

Content:

• Why and why wood must be protected
• Selection of materials and tools
• Preparatory stages
• Grinding
• Antiseptic treatment
• Painting prepared surfaces

Painting a log house is a very responsible and necessary task. In order for the wooden structure, apartment building or bathhouse to serve you as much as possible, the surface should be treated with protective antiseptic and paint materials.

Why and why wood must be protected

The outer layer of wood, devoid of bark, is completely defenseless from the destructive effects of wind and sharp fluctuations in humidity, as well as from insect pests. The risk increases if the house is located in a rural and wooded area. This is explained by the following:

1. As a result of the complete cleaning of the surface of the wood from the bark, access of wood-beetle beetles is facilitated.
2. Under the influence of indicators of relative humidity constantly changing throughout the year, mold appears on wooden houses over time (and usually in inconspicuous places, from where it is most difficult to remove).
3. Moisture stains remaining on an unprotected surface provoke the development of fungal diseases on wood.
4. With constant weathering, the surface of the building changes its natural color, becoming dull brown, due to which the wooden house loses its aesthetic appearance.

Based on this, according to the readiness of a wooden house, it should be subjected to surface grinding, antiseptic treatment, and then - painting.

Coloring logs outside has several advantages:

• paints and varnishes prevent destruction, dampness and decay;
• antiseptic treatment protects the log house from pests, fungal mold and corrosion;
• Exterior painting provides an opportunity to create a facade that fits perfectly into the architecture of the house and landscape solutions.

Selection of materials and tools

How to paint the log house - an individual decision, depending only on your preferences and desires. An important factor when choosing coloring materials is their good permeability to wood, the presence of antiseptic and fire-fighting properties.

If you want to emphasize the natural texture of a wooden log house, it is better to choose a clear or translucent color for painting.

In order to emphasize the architecture of the house, the frame can be painted with paint. The color scheme of paint products is quite diverse.

If you need to focus on the details, you can paint individual parts of the house in a different shade from the main color. It can be painting the ends, ridge, cornice.

To paint the ends of wooden logs do not use varnish and oil paints, which can delay the release of excess moisture from the wood. You can mix starch and ocher in equal proportions. A decoction of oak bark not only gives the tree a shade of dark brown, but also favorably emphasizes its pattern.Also, for the ends of the building, you can use lime, acrylic and water-based paints to allow the logs to breathe.

To finish the logs inside the house, only water-based paints should be used. These are mainly acrylic compositions. Staining with paints based on components for outdoor work is impractical and life-threatening.

Preparation and painting of logs is carried out with the following tools:

1. Manual grinding machine ("grinder") and special nozzles for it.
2. A flat chisel with which you can perform work in hard-to-reach places where normal grinding around is impossible.
3. A set of emery paper with different grain sizes: from number 40, which can remove bark residues and clean large irregularities on the surface, to numbers 80–100 - after rough grinding, they finish the painting.
4. Spray gun for antiseptic processing.
5. A set of paint brushes of various widths, as well as a paint roller for processing flat areas.
6. Hammer.

Do not forget about personal protective equipment. Grinding is a process accompanied by intensive emission of dust, therefore a respirator or gauze bandage, safety glasses are required. The same protective kit is necessary for painting work.

Preparatory stages

Before applying paint materials to the log house, it should be carefully processed. First, remove all contaminants from the surface. To do this, a brush with non-rigid bristles, a washing vacuum cleaner or an ordinary garden hose are suitable. Just be careful, you should not water the logs with plenty of water, the tree may be saturated with moisture and it will take several weeks to dry.

Grinding

Grinding a log house should not be carried out immediately after completion of construction work. A tree with high humidity is poorly processed, and any further coating will look ugly on a poorly sanded surface. Therefore, the house must last at least a month. It is also recommended to carry out such work at an ambient temperature of not lower than 10–15 ° С and not higher than 30 ° С. For internal surfaces, this circumstance is less critical than for external.

Before grinding the log house should be checked for leaks. The result is the sealing of possible gaps and gaps left after construction. If this stage is not necessary for glued-beam houses, then log houses (especially in inter-seam seams) may leave some leaks that must be carefully repaired using sealants based on acrylic or silicone.

Since wood of normal humidity is easy to sand, do not use a massive tool. The optimal power of the grinder is 800-1000 watts. In this case, the size of the grinding disk must be consistent with the diameter of the logs. Preference is given to machines that allow you to adjust the speed of the grinding disc.

When grinding with your own hands, work begins with the back walls and the most even sections: it is easier to get used to the tool. When calculating the necessary time, it is worth remembering that it takes about 5-8 minutes to process one running meter.

After that, sand the surfaces of the ends inside and outside the house with sandpaper. This processing step is quite laborious. The smoother the surface, the easier and faster the protective impregnation of the wood will fall. A grinder with an emery wheel will help speed up the grinding process. For cleaning wood should use two types of sandpaper: coarse and fine grain.

Grinding is performed by circular motions of the disk over all elements of the log house, starting from the upper rows. It is not recommended to treat all walls and sections at once - the polished surface is quickly weathered, and therefore needs to be immediately impregnated with an antiseptic. Therefore, the processing should be divided into a number of successive stages.

In hard-to-reach places grinding is performed manually - with the help of a chisel.

Antiseptic treatment

Logs need immediate coating with antiseptic compositions, which must be done immediately after grinding. For this purpose, the following can be applied:

1. Bioprotective compounds that protect wood from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, and also increase the moisture resistance of wood.
2. Fire retardants providing proper fire protection at home. They are carcinogens, therefore, special precautions are mandatory when handling them!
3. Combined drugs that combine both flame retardant and moisture-preserving impregnations. For example, acrylates are substances that, when painting a surface, simultaneously increase its resistance to adverse external factors.
4. Antiseptic compounds. Separately produced antiseptics for indoor and outdoor use.
5. Compounds that destroy tree pests. To this end, after grinding, fumigation is used (fumigation with special generators). To do this, it is better to invite specialists. Also, to combat the woodworker, ultrasonic fields are processed. In the interior of log homes, you can use a conventional microwave oven with an open door, but you should be careful - this is dangerous.

Fire, bio and moisture resistant impregnations are applied in 2 layers and left for 10-14 days for complete absorption and distribution on wood.

In order to save money, you can use the "grandfather" secrets of processing houses from logs. It has long been used wax and turpentine in equal proportions to protect against rodents. Inside the blockhouse can be treated with starch or laundry soap.

As a water-repellent layer on the outside, you can use machine oil.

Painting prepared surfaces

It should be noted that the color of the log house is usually performed in different color shades outside and inside. For external painting, darker shades are used, and for internal surfaces - light. The selected color should emphasize the texture of natural wood, and not mask it.

Coloring is carried out along the crowns from the previous castle to the next. Transverse streaks, after staining a small part of the surface of the logs, will have to be removed immediately, which reduces processing performance.

The recesses and joints are best treated with a spray gun, and on smooth surfaces it is more efficient to use a paint roller. The areas in the corners are painted with a brush. In order to achieve high quality of the finished surface, two-pass painting is used. When applying each next coat, pause for 1–2 days so that the previous coat thoroughly dries.

When calculating the need for impregnation and paint, it must be remembered that it takes 2–3 times more to process the ends of the material because of the special ability of the logs sawn against fibers to absorb moisture, therefore, coating with the compositions should be done in 3-4 layers. But timely and high-quality coloring of the ends will not allow the logs to crack.

The surface treatment of the house must be repeated after 8-10 years of operation of the building. Such are the warranty periods for the effectiveness of impregnations and paints.

There are a lot of factors causing premature aging and destruction of a wooden structure. Painting the internal and external walls and ends of the house from logs will avoid this. High environmental friendliness, frost resistance, sound insulation and durability of a wooden log house are indisputable advantages of a natural material that can give your wooden structure its pristine beauty and long-term strength.