If you read our article about the main construction principles for log walls of log houses, bathhouses, cottages and any other wooden buildings, then you will surely understand that wood construction technology requires insulation and sealing of the inter-log joints. Wood is known to dry and swell depending on air humidity. Of course, these fluctuations are not visible to the naked eye; besides, if a log building is well-crafted, then such fluctuations will be as small as possible and you will not notice them.
And yet, these fluctuations take place in any wooden structure, and in order to prevent cracks from making your stay in a wooden house uncomfortable, the grooves between logs are insulated with special inter-log insulator during the construction.
Contemporary markets offers a myriad of various insulators, and you can also make your own if there is a swamp nearby. Basically, there are two main types of insulation - natural and artificial.
Natural insulators include:
- jute
- wool
- flax
- moss (sphagnum)
There are also artificial insulators, for example:
- mineral wool
- sintepon
- basalt wool
- glass wool
House construction mainly utilises above-mentioned natural materials.
Modern technologies make it possible to exploit many additional qualities of the insulation materials besides protecting a house from air leakage:
- protection from heat loss (low thermal conductivity)
- ability to absorb and release moisture depending on humidity fluctuations both outside and inside a room, similar to wood itself (moisture absorption-moisture transfer ratio, moisture vapour transmission rate)
- resistance to the effects of various natural factors
- microbial growth prevention
- lack of hazardous inclusions and allergens
- durability – not changing physico-chemical properties for several decades.
You can find a lot of in-depth information on the Internet about various manufacturing technologies of the inter-log insulation, so we will not write much on this topic. We just want to draw your attention to the fact that our company, the North House, uses 25mm thick and 100 mm wide flax in the construction of houses, bathhouses and cottages.
Let’s consider our choice of material and discuss why we favour flax and jute fibre. Firstly, flax meets all the stringent quality requirements in all countries. It has all the necessary properties listed above. Jute adds important properties to the insulation, such as strength and increased hygroscopicity.