Log cabin video in Finnish

I wanted to learn more about the natural insulation used in these Finnish log cabins.

The moss used between logs is called "Seinäsammal" in Finnish, which is the species Pleurozium schreberi, found "on the floor of the boreal forests of Canada, Scandinavia and northern Russia" (according to Wikipedia).

640px-PleuroziumPiceaBorealForest.JPG


640px-Moos_4_db.jpg


Other materials used for stuffing the cracks (once the walls are up) includes hemp, flax, and jute.

mattinen_kuva2_hirsisein%C3%A4n%20leikkaus.jpg

myllym%C3%A4ki_vanhan_pihaton_rest.jpg

from www.rakennusperinto.fi/Hoito/Korjaus_artikkelit/fi_FI/Vanhan_talon_eristeista /

The above link, when translated, has more information about the insulation:

"Moss was usually collected in the summer... It was dried over the summer..."

"Wooden houses are commonly insulated with sawdust... usually half sawdust and half wood shaving... If thoroughly dried when stuffed and kept dry, it generally remained in place for decades..."

"Older wooden building floors can be safely used with traditional peat or sawdust insulation, or new insulations linen-wool or wood fiber pulp..."

"Peat properties have been compared with other insulation materials... Acidity of the peat was able to prevent the worst building-destroying fungi growth, even though the roof had leaked from time to time...

"Dry rot is a common but dangerous basement damager... Bog moss and peat are so acidic, a pH of about 4, and are likely to even prevent rot fungus growth..."
 
Steve (or anyone for that matter), any ideas for alternative chinking material that is relatively free? Thinking I might have my brother (farmer) grow me a little crop of flax for this purpose. Problem being I dont want to wait until next fall to have chinking available for a cabin I want to build sooner rather than later.
 
G-pig said:
...any ideas for alternative chinking material that is relatively free?
Click to expand...

How it was done in parts of Maine:

"The log walls of Valley houses were often chinked with local materials from the field or forest, such as flax, buckwheat chaff, peatmoss, or birchbark. This chinking was rather more like marine "caulking" than chinking of the sort familiar in other regions of the U.S. where logs are laid up with distinct gaps between them. Since the logs fit flush in "piece sur piece" construction, "oakum" made of buckwheat chaff or other materials worked well as chinking..."

from http://acim.umfk.maine.edu/acadian_houses.html
 
The First People in the Northwest frequently used cattail stalks for insulation. Cut one in half. What you'll find looks like Styrofoam. They would bind the stalks with twine into mats and then layer several mats on the wall as insulation. But if you just bound 3 or 4 together you might have a some dandy chinking with similar r-values as styrofoam.
 
Anyone else have their mind blown staring at the shingle pattern? Just realized they overlap like regular (American) shakes but are also overlapped side to side and alternate in direction each course. Thats pretty damn cheeky.
 
How did I miss this cool thread?! Only watched part of the video so far, but it sure looks awesome!

G-pig said:
Steve (or anyone for that matter), any ideas for alternative chinking material that is relatively free?
Click to expand...
Yes, in fact I do. Raw wool; an amazing insulation, and sometimes possible to obtain for free. If anyone in your area keeps a flock of sheep (that are shorn twice a year) and doesn't make any use of the wool, you should be able to get enough to chink a cabin. Wool can also be used in the "chinkless" method, and this was our plan with the yet to be finished log cabin. We just so happen to have dozens of bags of raw wool stored in our barns... with more getting shorn off our sheep every year! Anyone in need of some wool? :)

Cattail stalks might work well, but I imagine that it would take many times as long. I recently visited a friend who had built a wigwam using cattail mats as the covering, and as I was admiring the walls, I asked how many hours it took to bind all those cattail mats. He said that he stopped counting after 80 hours. Hmm.
 
G-pig said:
Steve (or anyone for that matter), any ideas for alternative chinking material that is relatively free?
Click to expand...

When my uncle built a cabin by his farm he used very fine/long shavings of wood bunched up into balls (I think). I'm not familiar with the process but while on a vacation to Poland many of the cabins were made like that too. Next time I'm out there ill snap a few pics.
 
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