Connecting timber at the corners: laying with and without residue, installation of profiled timber using the Dovetail method. The connection of the beam in the corners during the construction of the log house - with and without the remainder: how to do it right for the strength of the log house and less heat loss How to cut

The construction of a wooden house at the present time is an advantage and the key to the success of a practical modern person.
The most common and popular type of buildings are, which, in turn, has high strength and does not absorb moisture.

Timber houses effectively solve the energy problem, as they are characterized by excellent thermal insulation, which helps to reduce the cost of heating the building.
A great progress in the construction of structures from profiled timber, which makes it possible to achieve reliable stability of the entire structure, provide protection from cold gusty winds and subsequently retain heat, is the "warm corner" system.

The “warm corner” design is a felling of a log house (corner) with a root tenon. The beam is connected in such a way that adjacent corner elements, one of which has a spike, and the other has a groove, are the same size and symmetrical.

Cutting options in "Into a warm corner"

The spike or protrusion has a rectangular shape (50/80 X 50/80mm) and is located on the edge of the profiled timber. During construction, there is an alternation of joints on the crowns: on the even crowns on the left there is a spike, and on the odd ones there is a groove.

Due to the tight entry of the spike into the recess, a kind of “lock” is formed, excluding the presence of cracks, a monolithic structure is formed, which is sealed with linen jute embedded in the groove. Jute insulation is much better and more practical than moss, linen tow or linen batting. Having finished laying the next crown, a round wooden dowel is hammered into the corner. Thanks to the use of wooden dowels, there are practically no gaps in the log crowns, and the structure shrinks faster. To date, the corner connection "warm corner" is the most popular and is considered an easy way to install a profiled beam. Material savings and high speed assembly are some of the advantages of this method, which does not require additional fasteners.

In the process of building houses from timber or logs, great attention is paid to cutting the corners of the building. There are several types of corner cutting: "thorn-groove" or warm corner; "to the floor of a tree"; "in a dovetail", one-, two- and four-sided locking groove.

The dovetail design is considered the most reliable, since the spike and groove have a trapezoidal shape.

The “tree floor” design is a beam with a recess at the end half the height of the product. Before assembly, holes are drilled in the corners of the beam under the dowel, calculating to connect several beams. The structure is fastened with nails, staples or wooden dowels.

The most popular and easiest way to cut corners is butt cut. The beam is installed in a checkerboard pattern, snugly adjacent to each other. This technology allows you to complete the construction of the house in a matter of days. However, when cutting corners into a joint, cracks are formed in the corners, which contributes to the ingress of cold inside the house. Usually, such a house is sheathed, insulated from the outside.

Warm corner in execution

Advantages of the "warm corner" design

1. The ideal forms of the source material contribute to perfect geometry and a clear entry of structural elements, which makes it monolithic and reliable.
2. The "warm corner" system does not require additional fasteners, which saves money and makes the design uncomplicated.
3. High-speed assembly due to the finished material contributes to the completion of the construction of timber houses in a short time.
4. There are no "cold bridges", thanks to which the heat is retained indoors for a long time.
5. The “warm corner” design represents a comfortable interior and exterior finish, so timber houses do not require special decoration.

The strength and heat engineering of a wooden structure to a large extent depend on the type of corner cut. The builders of the old Slavic settlements did not keep secret the options for its manufacture. Thanks to their oral master classes, proven folk technologies were able to survive. Carpentry traditions were significantly enriched by foreign experience and the introduction of useful improvements. A wealth of knowledge has been accumulated. Now, in wooden construction, various methods of cutting beams and logs are used, one of which will be used to build your own bathhouse.

Two "root" families of cuts

The fundamental criterion for dividing cutting methods into two large classes is the presence or absence of bypasses. This is how folk craftsmen called the remains of a log, and then a beam, which go beyond the contour of a wooden structure at the ends. Based on this indicator, in the technologies for the construction of log cabins, I distinguish two main felling schemes:

• "Into the bowl", according to which the corners are cut down with the rest. This is the most common method, which has a lot of variations of domestic and foreign origin. The minus of the nodal bowls is in a noticeable consumption of not at all cheap material, plus in the excellent thermal insulation of the corner. Yes, and the buildings chopped into a bowl look very impressive.
• "In the paw" or in a simple way "without a trace". According to it, the contour of the building is built clearly according to the plan. With the same material consumption as the previous technology, the internal dimensions of the structure are larger. The corners chopped into the paw require mandatory cladding, otherwise they will be blown and wet. Log cabins built without bypasses can be sheathed with clapboard, block house, plastered, lined with bricks or sandwich panels. Unlike options with bowls, all directions of finishing are applicable here, and sometimes recommended.

One of the fundamental rules says that all corner joints must be made in the same way. Since the cutting of the timber and log-bearing walls was carried out according to the “into the bowl” scheme, then the partitions will need to be cut in exactly the same way. We immediately draw your attention to the fact that all existing methods are applicable for corner joints in log crowns. But a bath from a bar is chopped mainly into a paw, but a number of bowl-shaped types are occasionally used.

Both classes of corner cuts "overgrown" with an impressive number of daughter subspecies, differing in manufacturing complexity and thermal properties. The choice of the best method is determined by:

• performer experience;
• climatic specifics of the area;
• the period preferred for taking bath procedures.

To assemble the crowns of a country bathhouse, which is operated only in the summer, the simplest cutting methods are suitable. Especially if the owner is going to build a bath at their summer cottage on their own. The customer of a team of craftsmen who needs a warm building for year-round use should not deny themselves the choice of a complex technological scheme. Information about the differences and features of cuttings will help both an independent performer and a prudent employer of builders who want to spend money not in vain, make a wise choice.

Residual felling options

The most accessible method for making a corner knot for a novice carpenter is cutting into a bowl, i.e. with the rest of the log on the end. In the "cup" class there are simple and super-complex technologies. In wooden construction, it is important to understand: what is easier to cut will heat and serve less. However, without carpentry skills and knowledge in this art, it is better not to take on the manufacture of complex structural recesses.

Algorithm for making a simple bowl

For the production of cutting into a simple cup in a log, two recesses in the form of semi-cylinders and a longitudinal mezhventsovy furrow, called the lunar groove, are selected on the sides. All recesses in the log are made from above, which is very convenient for the master, but not good for the walls. Moisture easily seeps into the openings facing the sky and dust enters through the junctions, which have lost density due to shrinkage. Therefore, simple bowls need constant updating of caulking.

The owner of the rounded material does not need to suffer with preliminary preparation. Calibrated logs have a single size, often mounting grooves are already selected in them. Even the manufacture of corner recesses can be done by cylinder manufacturers if they receive an order and intelligible project documentation. The buyer of sawn wood will have to carry out processing: debarking, drying, choosing a longitudinal moon-shaped furrow for reliable joining of the crowns, and then proceeding to cutting into a bowl.

The sequence of work for the manufacture of a simple bowl:

• We will lay the debarked log on the appropriate place in the log house for marking.
• If the longitudinal interventional furrow has not yet been made, on the thin end of the lower log, in the upper part of which recesses are to be made, we draw a line equal to the width of the future groove.
• Let's move the legs of the factory or home-made line to the width of the marked mounting groove.
• We will attach the line with legs to the humps of the log laid in the log house and the upper colleague trying on it, then we will scratch the exact profile of the upper element on the lower log with sharp legs of the line, “surrounding” the log from all sides.
• Having completed the marking of the groove, we will push the legs of the feature to a distance equal to half the average radius of the log laid on top.
• Let us again attach the legs of the drawing carpentry tool to the tried on and to the lower log lying across to outline the semi-cylinders of the future corner recesses.
• Let's remove the trying on upper element of the log house, and on the lower log we will make cuts that do not reach the depth of the drawn recesses of 7-10 mm.
• We select the marked recesses with an ax and finish the surface with a sherhebel.

A method for manufacturing a corner joint based on the technique of cutting a log house into a bowl with a spike is shown in the video:

There is not much difference in the sequence of actions. You can cut first the groove, then the corner notches, or in the reverse order. The main thing is that all three structural components are accurately hewn. You will have to puff on anyone: you will need to try on and cut off the excess, if the upper log does not “sit down” in the log house. Therefore, with the final selection to the scratched lines, you should not rush. Finishing is desirable to gradually bring to mind, so as not to spoil the material with too large samples. In the old days, for the first time, cleanly hewn mounting recesses were smeared with tar and the top element was laid on it. Dirty marks indicated where more work needed to be done.

Child variants of the bowl

Cutting a log house into a bowl attracts inexperienced performers with its simplicity and relatively low labor costs. However, without additional locking elements, it does not hold heat well. For the construction of a summer bathhouse, this is quite acceptable. For the construction of a warmer building, it is better to supplement the lock knot with a slab. The cutting method will become more complicated, but the heat engineering will improve.

The list of the closest "relatives" of cutting into the bowl technology includes:

• Cutting into an okhlupen (aka into an okhlopen), which is a mirror image of the bowl. This method is also called Siberian felling. It differs in that the corner locks and the moon groove are simply turned down. The lower orientation of the recesses prevents the penetration of moisture and dust into the nodal interfaces, so that the insulation does not deteriorate and the log house does not get wet.
• Bowl with ledge. It appeared as a result of the folk improvement of the ways in okhlop and in oblo, according to which cuttings are made either from above or from below the log. Cutting a bowl with a ledge allows you to position the longitudinal groove at the bottom, and the corner grooves at the top, or vice versa. Because it will be necessary to lay a log with an intervention furrow in the bowl, the configuration of the recess cannot still be semi-cylindrical. Therefore, a rounded protrusion appeared in the bowl, repeating the radius of the longitudinal mounting groove.
• Cutting in okhrjak. It consists in the formation of two equivalent rectangular cuttings on the upper and lower sides. The option is simpler than simple, but suitable only for the construction of outbuildings.
• Okhlop with prisek. In order to optimize the strength and thermal insulation of the corner, a notch is left in the bowl - this is an unselected quarter in the bowl on the inside of the corner. For docking, you will also need a reciprocal recess in the mating log.
• Cutting into a fat tail. It differs from a simple bowl by the presence of an additional spike in the recess, which increases the strength of the corner knot. A spike is called a fat tail or darkness. He gave the name to the method and improved the thermal performance of the log wall. You can orient the felling in the fat tail in both traditional directions. The bowl is initially cut to half its height, then a spike is extruded. They transfer the dimensions of the formed spike to the mating log without any special tricks: they roll onto the log house and mark with serifs where to cut the reciprocal groove.

Quite demanding in relation to the skill and experience of the performer are two ways of cutting a log house into a hook. The first of them predetermines the cutting of half of the bowl, and the remaining, not hewn half, must clearly dock with the semicircular cutting of the mating log. The second technology resembles a bowl with a notch, but the logs are hewn to one edge, and the hewn side is turned inside the building. When cutting into a hook, the maximum power of the log is maintained, due to which the corners are warm and reliable.

This is how cutting into a simple hook is carried out:

Overseas technologies of cuts with the remainder

Fundamentally, the Canadian and Swedish felling schemes are similar to the Siberian “hard-to-cut” technique. Only the corner grooves and recesses for them are not rounded in cross section, but trapezoidal. This is a significant plus, because. when shrinking, Slavic bowls expand, which is why they need periodic caulking. The Canadian and Swedish notches, after shrinkage, “sit down” tightly on the log hewn under it. There are no gaps at all, and over the years, the docking also spontaneously compacts.

Their technique is different. The external ones can be distinguished by the logs of the “Canadian” log cabin, partially hewn in the area of ​​the castle, and the pretty “Swedish” bypasses, sharpened into six faces. The Canadian technology has a good simplified follower - felling into the saddle.

An extremely demanding moment of all cutting schemes with a remainder is precisely the length of the part of the log that protrudes beyond the contour of the building. It is impossible to make a bypass too short, otherwise it will break off. So that the desire to save money does not lead to an emergency state of the log house, GOST No. 30974-2002 clearly regulates the limiting distances: from the end of the log to the center of the cut bowl, there must be at least 1.4 diameters of the processed log.

Video demonstration of the Norwegian felling:

Cutting methods without residue

There are much fewer options for felling log cabins in a paw than methods with a bowl. The reason for their appearance was not economic considerations, but the desire to convert a wooden tower into a luxurious palace by finishing. The corners cut into the paw are much colder. The capillaries at the ends are open, so the outer side of the corner joints in the paw is strongly advised to be sewn up at least with boards.

For the construction of a log house using the “paw” technique, a beam is suitable, a gun carriage is a log cut into two vertical edges from opposite sides. Suitable cylindering and ordinary round timber with vertical left and right notches - "doodles". The length of the block, i.e. the length of the side seam is equal to the largest diameter of the material used. The width of the block, i.e. the distance between the notches is equal to 2/3 or 3/4 of the diameter of the top of the thinnest log in the purchased batch. It is he who must first be identified and "fooled" as a standard for other logs, so that in the process of work it will not be found that part of the material does not fit the size of the planned paw. By the way, blockheads can be hewn on all logs at once, and then you can start making paws of the selected type.

General instructions for making paws

The straight paw is the simplest pattern in the "paw" class, so you can try to make it yourself. She has all the lines of the forthcoming tesky strictly vertical and horizontal. To make the corner blown less, the paw can be supplemented with a slit by carving this constructive addition from the inside of the corner. The most reliable connection in the class is considered to be an oblique paw, because the inclined planes do not allow the log house elements to turn out and diligently retain heat.

All variations are cut in an equivalent sequence:

• The block prepared for processing is again cut off from above and below. The depth of the notches should be equal to the width of the block. As a result, we get a parallelogram with one imaginary side and a square section turned towards us;
• We draw the end of the parallelogram into 8 equivalent horizontal parts.
• According to the selected type of paw and tabular dimensions, we mark and connect the points on the drawn plane;
• Mark the lines of future slats with the required slopes of the planes and undercuts, if it is decided that they should be;
• Carefully remove the excess behind the markup and make a template for transferring the dimensions to the next logs along the first finished paw.

There is no need to independently calculate the dimensions of the oblique paws, they are available in the tables. Masters cut them slowly, scrupulously. The lunar groove is scratched out along the logs laid in the log house, pushing the legs of the feature by the size of the revealed gap.

Corner cuts in timber

It is difficult to form a round joint in a beam, and it is not necessary, because their own methods have been developed for joining beam crowns. On the basis of the paws, identical variants with very similar names were created: okhryap, half-tree, fat tail.

However, the timber has its own, specific methods and types of corner joints using spikes inserted or sawn into the material. The walls, according to the tradition of wooden architecture, are “permeated” with pins - vertical wooden nails 25-30 cm in diameter and 0.8 times the height of the log house.

However, the timber has its own, specific methods and types of corner joints using spikes inserted or sawn into the material. The walls, according to the tradition of wooden architecture, are “permeated” with pins - vertical wooden nails 25-30 cm in diameter and 0.8 times the height of the log house. It should be remembered that a vertical gap must be left between the elements of any connection in a block and log cabin to compensate for the standard shrinkage that follows construction. In bowls and paws, the maximum gap is 0.5 cm, in mounting longitudinal grooves 1.0 cm.

We have described common, but far from all existing cutting schemes. The difference in the methods of their implementation and in heat engineering will tell you what is better to prefer. Good luck!

Warm in winter, cool in summer, houses made of wood, a material with excellent thermal insulation properties, are becoming increasingly popular not by chance. The tree improves the air, fills the space with useful substances, aromas. But how to protect the building from cold winds, frost and heat, make it really warm and comfortable - warm corner technology will help.

What is technology?

High quality warm corner

The construction market is replete with offers of wooden houses, the popularity of which is growing day by day. People who are tired of megacities tend to live in environmentally friendly homes, away from the city, closer to nature. Houses made of profiled timber, which meets all the requirements of comfortable housing, are in special demand today. The material creates an ideal microclimate inside the premises, has an attractive appearance.

However, high-quality construction of a log house is possible only with the use of warm corner technology. What is this technology. Simply put, this is the joining of the timber in the corners of the house with the help of ledges. The tree is sawn in such a way that a snug fit of the parts is ensured without gaps and cracks. The corners of the cuts are joined together by a tenon-groove system, that is, one end fits into the other absolutely tightly. Crowns by their own weight add strength to the connection, and the whole structure is reliable and stable.

Important! A warm corner is a connection of corners that is strong, locking, consisting of surfaces ideally adjacent to each other. The connection of the timber in a warm corner guarantees the preservation of heat in winter without blowing and freezing.

An ideal warm corner involves additional insulation of joints and crowns with jute or other materials. There are different ways of cutting joints to form a warm corner, they have been known since ancient times. Each method has peculiar differences, techniques for connecting corner elements.

Ways of docking timber

All existing docking options that form a warm corner have the same fastening principle, the essence of which is that one end of the beam is fixed in the other, only the fastening methods differ.

Advice! When choosing a developer company, give preference to one that, when building a house, does not allocate a separate cost for the construction of warm corners. A self-respecting company that guarantees the quality of work will never emphasize individual technological elements in independent stages of work. If builders offer a butt-to-butt connection, refuse their services.

What types of connections guarantee the formation of warm corners.

Docking in wood floor

This is the name of the variant of the connection of the beam, in which half the width of the beam is cut on one wall, and half on the other, the saw cuts are connected at an angle. This docking option is not as reliable as a paw connection.

Docking in the paw

Docking into the paw can be done both with the remainder (when the end of the beam enters the corner of the wall) and without it. A notch is made in the wood, and how the end of another beam is inserted into the paw. When cutting into a paw without a residue, a perfectly even beam is needed, when cutting with a residue, the length of the logs should be half a meter longer. Cutting into a paw has varieties, they are joined into a paw with a cut, a paw with a tooth. The connection of the labyrinth and dovetail is also a kind of felling in the paw.

Docking dovetail

The method of fastening the dovetail is otherwise called an oblique paw, it differs in that the cuts are made trapezoidal. This method is considered the most reliable, sustainable for the design of the house. A variation of this method is docking in half a dovetail, when the spike is sawn out in a conical shape, this connection is used when the beam is shorter than the wall, which it seems to cling to with a hook.

Connection straight tenon

The straight spike connection is used when the length of the wall and the beam are the same, suitable for small buildings. A groove is sawn in one beam, a spike in another, the connection can be perfectly matched, which is required by the warm corner technology. A variation of this connection is the corner spike. In this case, the spike is made triangular in shape. The connection is also tight and secure.

Important! For the construction of a residential building using warm corner technology, you should buy a profiled beam with a thickness of 140-200mm, another thickness is not possible for this.

So, a reliable and efficient warm corner connection used in low-rise construction should be as tight as possible. Mating beams are cut from a third or a quarter of the thickness of the beam; jute or felt insulation of plant origin is used to completely seal the connection.

To give greater strength to the connection, wooden pins with a round section, through or deaf type, can be used. Nagels contribute to providing tighter connections, shrinkage of the house will occur faster and more correctly. The joints alternate in a checkerboard pattern, even with a spike, odd with a groove.

Technology Benefits

The correct application of technology contributes to the tightness of the structure, but not only. Pros:

• reducing the cost of fasteners;
• improving the quality of building construction;
• significant reduction in heat loss;
• increase in efficiency during operation;
• aesthetic significance of the structure;
• saving building materials.

A profiled beam of natural moisture changes its geometry when it dries, it can be warped or warped. After installation, wood shrinkage occurs in a fixed position, which saves the beam from deformation. Since the groove-thorn elements are cut out in advance, at the preparation stage, the assembly of the house itself does not require a lot of time and labor. Anyone can assemble a house with their own hands, saving money on this.

Advice! At the preliminary stage, you should not refuse to consult with experienced craftsmen, first you should learn how to make blanks, understand the intricacies of the technological process, and only then, carry out self-assembly of a house or bath.

The disadvantages of the technology include the complexity of its implementation. To cut the connecting elements correctly with a perfect fit, practical knowledge and skills are required. An incorrectly cut spike during shrinkage can lead to cracking of the timber.

All photos from the article

Assembling a beam in a warm corner is considered by most craftsmen as one of the most effective methods for arranging a log joint. This mounting method ensures a reliable connection of parts even without fasteners.

In addition, the design minimizes the contact of the inner surface of the timber with the external environment. Accordingly, due to the configuration of the angle, blowing is reduced and heat losses are reduced.

How is the laying of timber in a warm corner and what are its main advantages, we will tell in our article.

General principles for the formation of corner joints

Cutting the corners of a timber or log building is one of the most complex and time-consuming stages in the assembly of a log house. It depends on the design of the corner how effectively the structure will resist deformations, whether it will be durable enough, and also how the walls will respond to heat loss.

Today, the formation of corner joints is practiced both with and without a residue. These methods can be compared in the table below:

As can be seen from the table, the corner connection of a beam into a warm corner belongs to the category of joints without residue, while the technique itself provides very good thermal insulation. Due to what this happens and how to implement it in practice - we will tell in the next section.

Overview of methodology

Mounting technology

If you assemble a wooden frame with your own hands, then the result of all work largely depends on your skill in arranging connections. This is all the more true when it comes to such a design as a "warm corner".

This connection is made according to the following scheme:

1. On the middle or on the inside of the end of the beam we cut out a spike. The length of the spike should be about 1/2 of, and the width should be from 1/3 to 1/2 of the same value.

Important! A spike is not cut out on the outer part of the part, since in this case neither the strength nor the tightness of the connection is ensured.

1. A recess is cut out symmetrically to the location of the spike on the side surface of the second beam. The dimensions of the recess should be equal to or several millimeters larger than the dimensions of the spike.
2. The shape of the protrusions and depressions can be different.Most often they are made rectangular (radical spike), but sometimes the details are cut out in the form of unequal trapezoids (dovetail). The second option is much more complicated in execution, since you need to monitor the correspondence of the angles, but such a docking is held much better.

1. When laying crowns, spikes and grooves must be alternated. So, if we cut a spike on the odd crown on the left, then on the even crown there should be a groove. This design allows you to provide the necessary rigidity and block the displacement of the bars in the horizontal plane.

Assembly instructions are quite simple:

• we put a layer of jute sealant in the recess;
• we insert the protruding part and push the timber to the end, if necessary, upsetting it with a mallet;
• if the “dovetail” is being installed, then we install the spike in the groove from top to bottom, hammering until the parts to be joined are in the same plane.

Advice! When a profiled beam is assembled into a warm corner, care must be taken to ensure that the profile locks are not damaged during the installation of the parts.

Advantages and disadvantages

This method of cutting a corner has an impressive list of advantages:

1. Tight joining of elements without metal fasteners and through slots provides a high level of thermal insulation. That is why the warm corner of the walls made of timber for a bath is almost the only acceptable option, and for a residential building it is highly desirable.

1. With proper installation, the connection is perfectly smooth, which contributes to a uniform distribution of operational loads.
2. The convenient shape of the joined parts greatly facilitates assembly: if the dimensions are observed accurately enough, then it will take only a few minutes to form the joint.
3. Both outside and inside, the connection looks very neat, since the integrity of the beam is minimally violated. This reduces the cost of caulking and finishing.

There are fewer disadvantages of this technique, but you should also be aware of them:

1. The design requires a high culture of manufacturing: both spikes and grooves must be cut with minimal tolerances, otherwise a significant part of the thermal insulation potential will be lost.
2. During the installation process, you need to be very careful, trying not to disturb the geometry of the corner when upsetting the beam.

However, experienced craftsmen are well aware of these shortcomings, and try to compensate for them with their skill. Beginners will have to do all the work very carefully at first.

Conclusion

The warm corner of a log house is assembled according to a certain algorithm given above. If you want to master this technique, then we recommend that you first watch the video in this article, and then practice: it's better to spend some time, but you can do it at the highest level.

Timber joints in the corners and straight walls of the house require strength and tightness. The humidity of the building material has a huge impact on the tightness of a log house. If you build a house from a bar of natural moisture, during shrinkage and shrinkage, the log house will experience significant internal stresses, which can lead to its deformation.

Using lumber that has been dried up to 20%, you can kill several problems at once in the bud - cracks, cracks, heavy draft, etc. Ideally, use profiled or glued beams from kiln-dried lamellas for a log house. The shrinkage of such a log house will be minimal.

The second method to avoid blowing corners is to make these corners with special, complex forms of connections.

The corners must be strong. The log house is affected by forces from possible ground movements, from its own weight and the weight of the roof, roof and snow, as well as pressure from the force of the wind. The corners must withstand all loads, and in addition, withstand deformations from fluctuations in linear dimensions due to rain, snow and changes in the heat and humidity regime.

Corner connection with remainder

Very important advantages of this type of felling:

• Blowing from the street is minimal, even with strong wind and frost;
• High reliability. Even not fixed with dowels, the beams, connected at the corners by one of the types of cutting with the remainder, do not move even with moderate movements of the base soils under the action of heaving or seismic. The lower crowns hold the weight of the upper ones and the tight connection of the corners.

The main types of felling with residue

Cutting method with a one-sided locking groove

This method is equally good for both square timber and profiled. One side of the timber is sawn to form a groove perpendicular to the axis of the timber. The thickness of the groove is equal to half the thickness of the beam, the width and length of the groove are the same. The lock is obtained when this groove accommodates ½ of the timber located perpendicular to it. Such a crown is tightly fixed in relation to the underlying crown in one direction. Additional fixation with dowels gives the corner sufficient strength.

Cutting with a double-sided lock groove

This type of felling is a little more complicated - you will have to choose the grooves from both the upper edge of the beam and the bottom. The grooves in this case have the same width as in the one-sided groove method and a depth equal to ¼ of the thickness. Bilateral sampling of grooves takes twice as much time and requires greater accuracy, but it gives an undeniable advantage - the rigid fixation of each pair of bars not in one, but in two directions. That is, there is already spatial rigidity. Now, with any temperature and humidity fluctuations, the shift of bars and crowns relative to each other is practically impossible.

Cutting with a four-sided lock groove

A very complex cutting, the grooves can be both symmetrical and asymmetric, and it is extremely laborious to select such a complex groove manually. Typically, such complex grooves with ideal geometry are made on equipment that produces house kits. Then, at the construction site, these sets are assembled from numbered bars, like Lego constructors.

Complicated and expensive processing, but no practical improvement in the tightness of the corner is observed, although in theory such an angle should become completely ideal.

The main types of felling without residue

An angle without residue saves on lumber. The bar is entirely in the plane of the wall, the ends do not protrude outward. But overall savings are not observed, since these corners require additional insulation and caulking. In terms of strength, reliability and protection against blowing, these types of felling are also inferior to corners felled with the remainder. Only a warm corner, which is also a root spike, can compete.

Cutting without residue makes it possible to make the facade of the house more geometrically strict, it is easier to carry out exterior decoration. The issue of aesthetics is debatable, and more related to style.

Without a trace, corners are cut both from a square bar and from a profiled one.

Butt cutting without residue

The easiest and fastest way to build a farm building. No additional processing is required, just lay the bars of the required lengths in a checkerboard pattern. So that the bars in the crowns and the crowns themselves do not move relative to each other, with this cutting method, fasteners are necessarily used - galvanized steel overhead plates, steel brackets or wooden dowels.

Labor costs in this case are minimal, carpentry experience may be completely absent. If you make a log house in this way from dried timber, you can get an acceptable result. From raw lumber, as carpenters say, with any effort, the corner will walk after shrinkage. The corner is deformed, and fluctuations in humidity will contribute to linear fluctuations, as a result, blown gaps will appear.

Butt cutting on dowels

The key can be of different shapes. For a straight key, you will need to choose straight grooves along the ends and side surfaces of adjacent bars. Under the dovetail key, it is required to choose a rather complex groove, with broadenings from the middle. The key also has a complex shape.

The connection with a straight key will prevent the crown bars from moving in the horizontal plane, but not in the vertical one. Vertically, the crowns will be held only by their own weight and the weight of the overlying structures. The dovetail key will securely fix the angle and prevent the bars from moving in both directions. This method of cutting without residue gives a practically windproof corner.

Cutting in half a tree

Also an easy cut. At the ends of the bars, cuts are made for ½ thickness, a spike is obtained that is the same in length and width. Without fixing with dowels, this connection will not be reliable. After shrinkage and settlement of the log house, the corner will most likely be blown through and will require additional insulation. The second caulk of log cabins after exposure and precipitation is always done.

As with butt cutting, you can modify this method by securing the corners with dowels. In this case, the bars will not move.

You can still improve the method of cutting into half a tree, if you join the ends into a paw. The paw has a more complex shape - the cuts are made oblique, wedge-shaped, exactly in size. The result is an increase in the strength of the frame, the beams are fixed relative to each other in the crowns, and the weight of the overlying crowns prevents the displacement of the underlying ones. The corner looks aesthetically pleasing from the inside and outside, the facade of the house is geometric, smooth.

Connection in a warm corner (in the root spike)

It is considered the warmest, windproof connection and at the same time guarantees the fixation of the crowns. The method is not the most difficult:

The ends are cut, leaving spikes, and the length and width of which should be exactly 1/3 of the beam section. A simpler spike has the shape of a rectangle, a more difficult one has a spike with one-sided widening. The grooves of the joined beams are selected according to the size of these spikes, but without an exact fit, since the grooves need to be caulked with moss, linen or jute fiber, hemp or felt. Bars with spikes are upset from above on bars with grooves. Fastening the crowns with dowels is mandatory for this cutting method.

Fastening the beams with dowels

• The classic wood for dowels is birch, free of defects, knots and slant, and also with a parallel arrangement of fibers relative to the longitudinal axis.
• The optimal length of the dowels is 0.8 of the sum of the heights of the two connected crowns. Sometimes not two, but three beams are connected with one dowel. Dowel diameters from 25 to 35 mm.
• Nagels are installed in the interval up to 1.5 m, and always on both sides of each corner. On the horizontal rows, the dowels are shifted in a checkerboard pattern.

Connections of bars along the length

Long, straight sections of walls can exceed the length of the lumber. The splicing of the timber along the length is done in one plane. The requirements for joints are the same as for corners - strength and tightness.

The easiest way to join a beam along the length is a connection on rectangular dowels. The crowns will be securely fixed in the transverse direction, such a joint will not be blown. The key is cut a little less than the groove to leave gaps for the caulk. The grooves for the dowel are sealed with moss, jute and linen fiber, and other material.

More complicated and more effective is the method of joining the beams with a root tenon. Direct splicing is technologically a bit simpler than angular splicing, but it also requires accuracy. The gaps between the groove and the spike should be several mm in order to pave them with a caulk.

The most complex, costly in terms of material and labor, and at the same time the best type of splicing in a straight line in terms of result is docking with an oblique lock. Dimensions must be accurate, fit close to perfect. The lock configuration is not easy. As a result, two beams have two completely overlapped sections in the joint, which gives strength to the joint, and the cunning shape of the oblique lock makes it impossible for a gap to appear even with significant shrinkage.