Larch house

Physical and mechanical properties of larch log houses

Larch belongs to a group heartwood trees. It has a core of reddish-brown colour and an abruptly limited, narrow white and slightly yellow sapwood, very distinct growth rings with a sharp border between early and late wood.

The texture of larch is determined in longitudinal section by the width of tree rings, differences in colouring between early and late wood as well as heartwood and sapwood. The texture is especially rich and beautiful in tangential section. Larch wood does not have branches or branch stubs.

Macrostructure statistics

Resin canals are small and scarce. An average number of growth rings in 1 cm of cross section significantly varies depending on the area of tree’s origin.

Larch wood exhibits relatively low overall density as it varies greatly in early and late wood.

Turnkey larch house construction

Physical properties of a larch log house

Freshly cut wood exhibits a moisture content of 82%. The maximum moisture content during water absorption is 126%. Like with other types of trees, a growing larch tree shows seasonal and daily fluctuations of moisture content, which occur to a substantially smaller degree while maintaining the general pattern.

Moisture absorption and water uptake of a larch tree are significantly lower than those of a pine tree due to higher density. If the protective coating is used, objects made of larch wood retain virtually the same level of moisture content, which makes larch perfect for parquet floors. Hydraulic conductivity is also substantially lower in larch than pine, spruce or birch trees, which requires a special approach in the drying process of saw-timber.

Larch wood is a type of wood known for strong shrinkage. Tangential shrinkage of an early zone of a growth ring amounts to 7.8%, for late zone — 9.4%. Average value of a wood swelling factor:

• radial — 0.2
• tangential — 0.38
• volumetric — 0.60

An important characteristic of wood is its swelling pressure. For a larch tree (core) under normal conditions, it amounts to 0.91 MPa (radial).

Density of larch wood depends largely on the type and place of upgrowth.The highest density has been found in larch timber from the Altai region (12=725kg/m³), followed by larch logs from the Urals and near Urals region (2=675kg/m³). European larch possesses the lowest density (12=506 kg/m³).

Gas and liquid permeability. Air permeability of larch wood (core) is the lowest of all our wood types. The same can be said about water permeability. As a result of this, larch wood is hard to treat with protective substances.

Mechanical properties

In addition to beautiful texture and colour, larch exhibits properties that make houses built from larch exceptionally sturdy and durable. In terms of its strength characteristics, it is insignificantly surpassed by hardwood trees only. Its mechanical properties also significantly depends on the type and place of upgrowth, therefore we shall provide averaged data.

Larchwood belongs to the group of woods that are resistant to fungal infections and other biological effects. This biological resistance only strengthens in the course of tree or wood’s life; more bio-resistant wood is in the bottom part of a tree trunk. This parameter is estimated in comparison to basswood (with a set value of 1). The core of a larch tree shows the highest estimate among Russian woods — 9.1, followed by oakwood — 5.2.

The continuous influence of water increases hardness of larchwood. During the construction of the city of Venice more than 400 000 larchwood piles were used to strengthen the foundations of various buildings. In 1827, 1000-1400 years later, some of the piles were examined, drawing outstanding conclusions: larchwood piles that stood underwater and supported the city had virtually turned to stone, so hard they were. Wood has become so firm that an axe or a saw can barely affect it. The most durable log house is a log house built from larch.

Non-shrinking wood (excerpt from Johanna Paungger's book)

In many spheres of use it is important that the wood does not shrink; in other words: that the volume does not decrease. Such wood is best cut on St. Thomas day (December 21) between 11 and 12 o'clock. This day is the best wood-cutting day of all. After this time timber should, with certain exceptions, only be cut down in winter when the moon is waning. Other periods suitable for cutting non-shrinking wood are: February evenings after sunset when the moon is on the wane, September 27, every month during the three days after new moon, Lady saints' days (among others, August 14 and September 8) when these fall on Cancer days. Also wood that is cut at new moon in the sign of Libra will not shrink and can be used immediately. Also, timber that is felled in February after sunset will become rock-hard as it ages.

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