Block house inside the house: features of use and finishing technology. Photo examples

It is human nature to want to make production waste-free. The block house seems to have started like this - with the use of slabs left over from sawing rounded logs as cladding material for the exterior and interior decoration of frame houses. As sales volumes grew, manufacturers switched from using slabs as a by-product to producing panels that imitate logs from boards using the milling method.

Block house: features, advantages and disadvantages

The material used in the manufacture of this type of lining is a planed board, which has the appearance of a rounded log. The product has a durable structure, thanks to solid wood processing, which allows the panels to serve for a long time.

Advantages:

• Simple installation - assembly can be carried out by a person without special skills, thanks to the presence of a tongue and groove;
• Environmentally friendly material - it does not emit harmful substances that have a negative impact on human health, it has a pleasant smell of fresh wood;
• Durability of the structure – it can withstand heavy mechanical loads;
• Resistance to temperature fluctuations - not afraid of cold and heat;
• Aesthetic qualities - the room, the house acquires an attractive appearance.

Flaws:

• Low fire resistance - building materials are susceptible to burning, despite being treated with fire retardants;
• Rapid contamination leads to loss of appearance. Requires periodic care using special protective equipment;
• Does not serve as insulation;
• The thickness of the board is of great importance - its use when finishing indoors significantly reduces its area.

What is a blockhouse

Today, a block house is understood as a planed board, with one plane in the form of a segment of a rounded log, the other flat with a groove or cuts in the middle that relieve stress, as well as a tongue and groove on the narrow sides.

Decorating a block house indoors imitates the interiors inherent in wooden architecture, creating a feeling of warmth and comfort characteristic of a material such as wood.

Types for interior decoration

Interior finishing is an operation that one has to deal with when building a house or performing repair work. Of the huge number of technologies and a large selection of building materials, the block house plays one of the key roles in the interior. There are several types of panels used for finishing work inside buildings:

• Wooden. Standard option. Coniferous and deciduous wood is used in production. The thickness of the board is 2-4 cm, so it is necessary to consider options for additional insulation. The cost of a wooden block house is quite high, but it has good sound insulation and is made of environmentally friendly material.
• Vinyl. Used for interior finishing work. This is due to poor resistance to temperature changes, which lead to loss of strength and tarnishing. The panels accurately imitate logs, which allows them to be produced in various colors and create an unusual interior.
• Metal. It has a long service life, which can reach 60 years. It is resistant to temperature changes and does not require processing. Low cost of panels and ease of installation compared to wooden boards.

Covering a bathhouse with siding

Siding - decorative panels of a standard size: width - 22 cm, length - 125 cm. The material can be metal or vinyl, has more than 10 colors.

To cover a bathhouse made of timber with siding, you must first install a profile frame or wooden sheathing on self-tapping screws. All installation work can be done independently. The surface of the walls is carefully treated with antiseptic compounds to prevent the formation of mold and harmful microorganisms.

The siding is installed in a horizontal position with a distance of 20 cm from the foundation of the building.

Covering a bathhouse with siding has the following advantages:

• protection of the facade from precipitation;
• resistance to temperature changes and fading;
• inertness to deformation and mechanical damage;
• Fire safety;
• absence of toxic elements;
• good air permeability;
• low level of moisture absorption;
• accessibility of installation.

However, the material has some disadvantages:

• high cost of individual fixing elements of the structure;
• the appearance of deformations and play due to violation of installation technology;
• the need to create a flat surface for fixing the panels.

Color and material of manufacture

The color palette used when painting a block house can be very diverse. When choosing a color scheme, the style of the room, be it a house or an apartment, is taken into account, as well as the personal preferences of the owner. The most common shades are white, chocolate, beige, cream. A panel made to resemble savage stone, brick, or wood is also very popular.

The block house is made from various building materials: acrylic, wood, metal, vinyl, asbestos cement. For interior decoration, only vinyl or wood is used. The following materials are used for their production:

• Vinyl. The main element used for its production is polyvinyl chloride. The product consists of 80% vinyl and 20% various additives that improve its characteristics and properties. Additives include modifiers, stabilizing additives, coloring pigments;
• Tree. This is primarily a natural material. Coniferous and deciduous species are used for its production.

Basement siding

Basement siding is used to finish a building in the base area. This cladding is made to protect the lower part of the house from the aggressive effects of precipitation and constantly operating mechanical factors.

Finishing the base with siding

To eliminate their harmful effects, cladding should be used, the thickness of which should exceed 3 millimeters. To solve such problems, installation of basement siding is used.

Basement siding

Individual elements of the building material have a relatively large thickness and are made in small sizes in order to ensure reliable fastening and reduce the likelihood of spontaneous destruction of the structure due to its large weight, which does not correspond to the fastening method used.

Attaching basement siding

To give a house a presentable appearance, they often use basement siding, which will not only provide reliable protection for the lower part of the building, but will also play an effective decorative role.

Basement siding also plays a decorative role

In accordance with the requirements of the owner of the building, you can select elements of basement siding that imitate various materials: wood, brick, stone. To ensure an affordable level of cost of building materials intended for the construction of a basement structure, manufacturers often combine it with affordable raw materials.

Basement siding imitating brick

In some cases, cement siding is used to cover the lower part of the building. It should be taken into account that in order to perform the functions assigned to the structure, its height should not be lower than 15 centimeters from ground level.

Finishing the base with cement siding

The advantages of basement siding lie in the possibility of its long-term use, the period of which practically corresponds to the life of a residential building, during which it will not be necessary to carry out work to eliminate damage caused by mechanical force or natural adverse factors.

In a house whose cladding is made in the style of basement siding, rodents cannot appear, due to the reliable protection of all walls from the possible entry of uninvited guests. The construction material does not crack and maintains a respectable appearance for a long period of time.

Basement siding has a long service life

When purchasing siding elements made from various materials, you should consider:

• thickness of the structural element;
• presence of defects on the surface;
• availability of certificates of product compliance with regulatory requirements;
• manufacturer's warranty.

In general, buyers prefer to equip their homes with cladding made from natural materials, due to their environmental friendliness and hypoallergenicity.

Types of basement siding

When choosing elements for a future structure, materials whose appearance imitates natural wood or stones are popular. Wooden siding is less popular in building cladding due to its high price and short-lived product life.

Basement wood siding

All types of siding can be easily washed when dirty. For convenience, a garden hose is used for such purposes, under the pressure of water from which any dirt can be easily removed with a sponge.

Siding needs regular washing and cleaning.

Options, methods and stylistic directions when used in the interior

Block house is a universal material, which allows it to be used not only for cladding facades, but also for interior work. With its help you can create a country, loft, Provence style, or in combination with other materials - modern.

It is not at all necessary to sheathe the entire room with a block house. It can be combined with different surfaces (tiles, stone, brick, plastic). It can be combined with other wooden textures, carpets, and glass elements. For example, when lining a corridor, a block house combines well with lining, and there is a spectacular alternation of lines and reliefs.

This material can be used to cover and decorate rooms such as a bathhouse, bathroom or sauna, and can be used in a library, living room, personal office, bedroom, kitchen, fireplace or billiard room. Some apartment owners use the material to create furnishings in the “Russian hut” style.

Criterias of choice

The choice of finishing method for the premises of an apartment or residential building directly depends on the financial viability and taste preferences of the home owner. If we compare the cost per square meter of surface covered with clapboard, imitation timber or block house, then the latter has the highest. At the same time, it best conveys the spirit of antiquity, combining elements characteristic of wooden architecture of the 18th – 19th centuries with modernity. Cladding a block house makes it possible to find stylish design solutions, while avoiding the use of complex carpentry technologies, which, by the way, are not mastered by modern finishers.

How to choose

When choosing a block house, you need to decide what material is required for the interior cladding and in what room it will be used. Wood is an ideal option, as it is living, breathing. However, wood does not have a smooth surface without flaws; such properties are inherent only in artificial materials. Each beam has its own unique original pattern.

A block house made of wood has three main grades: grade A (1), grade B (2), grade C (3). Also, some manufacturers highlight another variety, “Extra,” which is quite rare on the market. When choosing a board, you need to pay attention to the following features:

• You should not use boards with defects: mold, cracks on the surface, rotting knots;
• It is better to give preference to longer lamellas, which will reduce the number of joints;
• Choose a denser material, which significantly improves all other characteristics;
• Having made a choice and calculated the required quantity, you also need to pay attention to the method of storing the product, the integrity of the packaging, and the absence of damage.

Wood species

Its performance characteristics depend on the type of wood from which the material is made.

• Pine. Most often, such a surface contains traces of knots, creating an interesting pattern. The panels can be used for both interior decoration of rooms and exterior decoration of buildings.
• Siberian fir. The material differs from other coniferous trees in its light weight. This wood contains some resin, so it is susceptible to rotting and requires additional treatment with an antiseptic.
• Spruce. The material has a beautiful texture and a light shade.
• Cedar. Wood has a pleasant aroma and has a beneficial effect on the microclimate of the room.
• Larch. This is a highly durable material with a high resin content that protects it from rotting.
• Alder. Durable and moisture-resistant wood, the performance characteristics of such panels only become better over time.
• Linden. The coating made of this wood is practically not exposed to high temperatures. Linden block houses are most often used for cladding baths.
• Birch. Wood has a homogeneous structure, so it is easy to process with paints and varnishes. Birch panels allow you to create an imitation of almost any type of wood.
• Aspen. The material is practically not subject to rotting, tolerates moisture well and has high strength.

Self-finishing technology

Specialists are hired to decorate the house, but to save money you can do it yourself. When covering a room with a block house yourself, you must follow the following rules:

1. Before starting installation work, wooden boards must be left in the room for several days. This is done to reduce the moisture content of the material.
2. The board must be fastened along the guides.
3. When attaching panels, they should be installed so that the tenon is on top and the groove is on the bottom. This installation allows you to minimize the entry of dust or dirt into the grooves.
4. When installing, you need to leave a small gap between the floor and ceiling, which will serve as natural ventilation.
5. The panels should also have a small gap between them. If moisture enters or temperature changes, this arrangement will prevent deformation of the material.
6. Galvanized materials should be used as fasteners to avoid rust stains.

Preparing the block house

Before installing a block house in any part of the house, you need to wait some time so that the new beams go through the process of adaptation to the climatic conditions in which they will be located. The tree's susceptibility to natural decomposition makes it a good breeding ground for many insects and various forms of microflora. An important stage of preparation is the impregnation of wooden elements with antiseptic agents, which can significantly increase the resistance of wood to biological damage. Treating wood with a fire retardant increases the material's resistance to fire and mold.

In the material that will be tinted, the tenons and grooves should be painted. This type of painting allows you to avoid problems arising from changing the size of the board so that unpainted parts of it are not visible.

Assembling or installing the frame

The complete assembly of the frame can be divided into five stages. During installation, some of the listed steps can be skipped in cases where there is no need for additional insulation of the room. Let's look at the installation steps:

1. A vapor barrier material is attached horizontally to the wall. To fix it, you can use nails, but it is more convenient to use a construction stapler.
2. Sheathing bars are attached on top of the waterproofing. It is also recommended to install the first layer of sheathing in a horizontal position.
3. Thermal insulation material is installed in the cells of the sheathing.
4. After the insulation, the waterproofing layer is installed again.
5. At the last stage, the second layer of sheathing is fixed, which is now in a vertical position.

When installing, be sure to fix it level, since the block house will be installed on it.

Installation

The panels are mounted from the bottom corner in a horizontal position, along a pre-assembled sheathing. To fix the board, gluers are used; they are attached with self-tapping screws to the frame. A sheathing panel, which is positioned with the groove down, is inserted into the fastener tabs. The next board is placed with a groove on the tenon of the bottom panel. This procedure is repeated until the entire wall is finished.

If you refuse to use gluers and use self-tapping screws as fasteners, installation begins with preparing the seats for them. The fastening step is approximately 40 cm, and the self-tapping screw is screwed into the tenon with an inclination of 45 degrees. To give an aesthetic appearance, the fastening material is masked.

Finishing the corners is the most difficult. At this stage, when carrying out work, special elements are used to design internal and external corners. However, they do not always allow you to completely hide all the cracks, so for masking they use planed timber, which is attached before the sheathing begins. This design allows you to fix the boards of the block house directly to the timber and gives the cladding an aesthetic appearance.

Decoration methods

To give the surface of a block house improved properties and the required color shade, special impregnations that contain pigments and oils are used. Acrylic, alkyd, oil – these are the bases used for painting materials. Glazing paints, absorbing into the wood, cover it with a uniform layer and do not create smudges. They enhance the natural beauty of the patterns. Painted timber stands out noticeably against the background of untreated boards.

In addition to glazing compounds and various impregnations, wood paints are used. They are made on a water basis. Organic and synthetic solvents are also used. Paints have their drawbacks that should be considered when using them inside the home. They hide the natural structure of the wood and emit an unpleasant odor. To paint timber, colored and clear varnishes and stains with a rich range of shades are also used.

Installation of corners

You should consider the design of corners at the stage of selecting materials. Craftsmen recommend using a horizontal installation method; it looks more aesthetically pleasing and allows you to get more correct angles.

• Corners are one of the most difficult areas of work for a builder. You can disguise it with a boat-type plinth. If the decor does not provide for this, cover it with two boards.
• You can cover the outer corner with a trim strip, and install a plinth of the appropriate type inside the room.

Care tips and advice

Service life and appearance depend not only on the initial choice of building material and its correct installation, but also on subsequent care and careful treatment. Simple steps to care for the skin will protect it from external factors and deformation. After installing the panels, they are coated with a primer, then a wax-based varnish is applied.

After waiting for the varnish to dry completely, the surface is sanded with sandpaper, then several layers of varnish are applied again.

During operation, you should periodically remove dust from the surface with a vacuum cleaner and carry out wet cleaning. It is recommended to renew the coating every five years. This procedure will not only increase the service life, but will also renew the appearance and shine of the panels.

The final stage of work

After the block house is securely attached to the sheathing, it is advisable to level the surface using a grinding machine. To improve the performance characteristics of wood, it also needs to be treated with fire-fighting and antiseptic impregnation.

The gaps formed during installation between the panels and the floor (ceiling) must be closed with skirting boards. To make the facing coating more aesthetically pleasing, it can be treated with varnish, paint or stain. Various water-dispersion compositions are used for painting. They allow you to preserve the natural structure of the tree. Application of paint and varnish composition is the same as similar processing of any other wooden structures.

To protect the surface and decorate the material, a natural wax coating is also used. This surface is not very demanding to maintain. You just need to periodically remove dust from it using a vacuum cleaner or a dry cloth.