Timber house caring – all you would like to know!
We prepared a short guide for caring a timber house for our beautiful, warm and wood-breathing houses to be used by you and your descendants during many centuries and it will help you keep it always in perfect condition
Wooden house shrinkage
The shrinkage of the house occurs only upon completion of the construction and after the first summer season. Its reason underlies in reduction of the joints between the horizontal details. Therefore, in the first year after construction, it is necessary to make an adjustment of the details: for this purpose, the building should be carefully examined twice. Details requiring a particular attention:
- Vertical bearing structures and posts;
- Moving parts of slabs and ladders;
- Window apertures, door openings and archways;
- Walls raised on a brick work.
Humidity in a wooden house
A wooden house is the most beneficial for living, because it always has the ideal humidity for human health: from 45 to 57%.
You should control the humidity in the house during its construction only! The timber is carefully dried and packed at the place of production, but in the process of construction in an exposed position the humidity of details always rises, so the ventilation is needed before the heating is turned on – the ventilation holes, windows and doors shall be open!
IMPORTANT: you can warm your house upon completion of construction, but you should do it step by step, raising the room temperature not more than 1 degree per day!
Wooden surfaces
The highest quality of our Finnish raw materials (wood of choice sorts A and B) and a perfect production processing do not require any coatings or protective layers for our wooden houses either inside or outside – nowhere! Particularly as almost all of them are toxic in their chemical composition and they will evolve noxious vapors into the atmosphere.
Protective compounds are used in those cases when a wooden house is of low quality – in this instance they are recommended to be periodically coated with various chemical compounds – the house’s quality under their influence will only become worse in the course of time.
It is a different story if you want to give some shade to the indoor walls – in this case it is possible, but it will be better to use ecologically friendly paints. If you wish to paint your house outside, you should repeat painting approximately once every 10 years. The side of the house facing the south probably should be painted more often, because it bleaches in the sun.
Any house needs care!
Like any other thing, the house needs care. You should periodically do the following:
1. Check the drainage system, remove waste from the control wells and flush tubes with water
2. Examine the roof; remove waste and snow from concave joints. As and when necessary, wash the roof carefully without damaging the material
3. Remove the waste from the storm water outfalls, check tubes and gutters, as well as the places of disassembly of storm water outfall and drainage systems
4. Check the garret ventilation. The moist air from the ventilation apertures should not enter the garret – it can lead to a moisture-proofing breaking
5. Control the ventilation system – the valves should be cleaned once a year, and the ventilation trunks should be cleaned once every 10 years. The compensatory air openings should be constantly open
6. Examine the ventilation of the kitchen, sanitary conveniences and other rooms with very humid environment
The specialists of LUMI POLAR will be pleased to answer any additional questions. We shall be glad to share our experience! We remind you that we have a program of lifelong technical VIP-service for all our customers who chose warm, beautiful and cozy Finnish timber houses: our specialists go to the site, make a free inspection and give a conclusion concerning the necessary service works. And you may get any technical advice online!