How To Chink a Log Cabin - Handmade House TV #29

well hi I'm Noah Bradley with handmade house TV and on today's episode we're going to talk about chinking stay tuned well alright let's get started on today's episode we're going to talk about chinking as you can see I'm setting on the screen porch of my own log cabin behind me you can see the logs in that space in between them that's filled in the tan color is known as chinking and it's chinking is though is one of the most important ingredients we have in the in the construction of our log cabin and the maintenance of our log cabin with proper chinking our log cabin will likely last for centuries to come but if it's done improperly within a few years we're going to start losing that log cabin that we put so much effort and its money into the construction of now for the cement I just mix it up in a wheel barrel I use a nice grain free masonry sand as smooth and as fine as I possibly can and then I mix in some cement I prefer to use a guide cement I don't like the color of Undine cement it looks too much like a an urban sidewalk spread on the exterior of my beautiful log cabin so I prefer to buy a pre dyed I find that a mixture is more consistent this way and I use a brand known as flamingos c74 I'm often asked what is the material that I use for chinking whether or not I use one of the new synthetic products to a log home and the answer that is a definitive no that I do not and it's for a multiple number of reasons for one thing it's not necessary I don't see where it offers any more protection than a cement based product number two is that it is a foe product it is a plastic product and when you're building something that is as natural of a home as what would log home is why do we want to use a synthetic plastic on it that plastic trying to look like an cement is kind of a oxymoron it's sort of like vinyl trying to look like siding and wood siding and that is the fact that it ever does look like wood siding number three would be that I've never trusted any plastic petroleum products to hold up to ultraviolet light exposure I've had plenty of children in my life that have had their plastic toy through the yard and pretty much we end up throwing it away by the end of the summer because it just doesn't hold up well it is an expensive product it drives up the cost of your home it is not a pleasurable material to work with it requires more trouble with cleanup of not only your tools of the job site of your clothing and of your hands so for all of those reasons I have wood it I use a natural cement I add in enough water just to get the mixture so that it works well I don't want it too runny nor too dry the first step in chinking a home is first of all proper preparation of your logs to make sure that you're ready chinking is generally the last thing that you do on the exterior of your home you come on the outside of it and you put up a diamond mesh plaster laughing and nailed securely and uh top and bottom and tight and straight with the with the diamond mesh recessed at the top in order that the logs will form a nice drip edge and flush with the bottom with at the bottom of the joint flush with the face of the log that is there I then carefully trowel on the cement on the exterior on the plaster laughing making sure to cover everything and try to get it as tight as I can with no gaps around the edges now I've heard some expressed that cement is not the best material to use with logs that cement will rot logs but keep in mind that the amount of cement that I'm applying to this log is just a narrow thin layer on the inside and the outside and that that sum this little bit of cement of contacting a log is not going to rot it if a log is buried in cement I can see where there would be some drying out effect that would occur but I've gone back to log cabins that I have chinked this way thirty years ago there is no sign of any damage to the logs whatsoever and that I know of other log cabins that have been kinked in similar ways that are well over fifty years and by the way all of those joints are still holding true and solid today none have needed any replacement at all throughout my entire career I consider chinking to be the third most important aspect of the construction of a log home number one being the design if you start out with an ugly design you're going to end up with a lovely log cabin and this number two being the quality of the logs you use the that's the essence of what your home is you want to use the best logs you can but number three is beyond a doubt is the chinking and that is that if chinking is done properly you will have a warm cozy log cabin during the winter time and you will have one that will be free of a rot for decades to come during the course of my career the number one call for my services has been chinking in particular most importantly in the removal of previous chinking that was done improperly and has now led to rot if a log cabin is improperly within a matter of two or three years rot is already taking hold and if you leave it alone within ten to twenty years you can end up with the loss of your entire log home so chinking is clearly important one thing I can say about about reaching a log cabin and that is that it costs three times as much to have someone come in and to remove chinking that's been improperly done and to repair the damage that has occurred to the logs during that time and then to do it right in the first time so it's always smart to do things right the first time once the exterior is finished once I have it wired and chinked and that the cement is allowed a time to cure I would go on the inside and I would fill this space between the logs with a foam sealant and then I would repeat the process on the interior once everything was finished in there I would go ahead and put up another layer of my diamond mesh labbing and then trowel cement over it as well well alright that about wraps it up for this episode of handmade house TV thank you very much for joining me I hope you learn something about chinking and if you'd like to learn more within the log-cabin academy you almost we spend almost two and a half hours trying to make sure that we know everything and we get our chinking exactly right because this most critical aspect and the construction of our log home will ensure its survival so whatever you do make sure and get your chinking just right also consider joining us within the handmade house academy where you get not only access to the log cabin academy course but every other course that i have created or will create and with that said let me thank four new members of the handmade house academy ian Reynolds Randy Bowers Josh Taylor and Kathy Marion thank you so much for your support of the ongoing growth of the handmade house academy and that's it for this week so we'll see you in the next week's episode handmade house TV you guys take care [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Handmade Houses with Noah Bradley

Views: 322,351

Keywords: Log cabins, Log homes, Owner Builder, Timber Frame, Homesteading, Self Sufficiency, How to Build a Log Cabin, How to Build a Log Home, Stone Masonry, Tiny Houses, Handmade Houses, How to Build a House, Hewn Log Cabins, How to Chink a Log Cabin, The best way to chink a log home, Permachink, Chinking, How to Chink

Id: p89IPMYtcQI

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2017