Sanding timber inside the house: tasks and special equipment, installation

Sanding timber inside a house is a mandatory operation that is performed after the construction and complete shrinkage of a wooden structure. The main purpose of this work is to level the surface, remove darkened and blue-damaged areas of wood and prepare the interior walls of a house or bathhouse for further painting or varnishing. Sanding is required not only for newly built wooden houses, but also for old timber buildings. Sanding allows you to remove a layer of old paint and refresh the color of the interior walls of your home. Which tool is suitable for the job and how to properly sand a timber and log house from the inside are questions that will be discussed in detail in this article.

Tools for grinding timber

The question of what is the best way to sand timber inside a house is far from idle. The speed and quality of work largely depends on the correct choice of grinding devices. Previously, sanding was carried out only by hand using a chisel and sandpaper of different grits. But manual sanding is a rather long and tedious process. Today, manual grinding is practiced only for processing hard-to-reach places in the corners of logs, and grinding the entire area, as a rule, is done with different power tools.

The most common method of grinding beams is using an angle grinder or grinder with attachments in the form of grinding wheels of different numbers. For initial processing and surface cleaning, nozzles with coarse abrasive No. 30-60 are used. Fine sanding of the wooden surface is carried out using an abrasive attachment with fine grain No. 80-120. An angle grinder is also suitable for processing the internal walls of a log house made of planed logs.
A belt sanding machine, which processes the surface using a rotating abrasive belt, does an excellent job of sanding a house made of profiled timber. The machine is well suited for removing old paintwork from a large area. The functionality of the device largely depends on the length of the working blade. It is better to process a large area with a machine designed for a belt length of 610 mm. Most models are equipped with a bag to collect shavings and sawdust, which allows for dust-free sanding.
To sand the interior walls of a log house, you can use an orbital sander with a rectangular base. Machines of this type are distinguished by high quality grinding, so they are most often used for fine finishing and polishing of wooden walls. Models with a triangular platform are suitable for processing hard-to-reach areas - corners and grooves of a log house.

During sanding, a large amount of dust is generated. If wood processing is carried out with tools without a dust collector, then it is necessary to take care of body and respiratory protection: a respirator, goggles, gloves.

Processing of a log house from timber inside

To treat internal walls made of timber, grinding and coating with special compounds are used. The main thing is to achieve two goals: to protect the wood from rotting and to make the walls beautiful. Grinding is painstaking work that requires knowledge and quality tools.

What tool is needed for grinding

For grinding timber, stores offer a variety of tools. But not every tool is suitable for such delicate work. The main criteria when choosing are power and lightness.

Building a house from timber has a flat shape and a belt sander is suitable for sanding. For example, a Makita tool with a dust bag is convenient for interior work. But not all models of grinding machines have dust collection bags.

For processing Finnish timber with a rounded side, a belt sander is not convenient. In such cases, use a grinder with grinding attachments. The grinding attachment for such a tool is a disk with sandpaper attachments.

In the most inaccessible places, grinding is done using a chisel.

When choosing an angle grinder, you should hold it in your hands. The tool must be light, otherwise the labor-intensive DIY work will become even more complicated. The power for grinding timber is 850 W or higher.

Among the most well-proven ones, it is worth noting the grinders from foreign companies Makita, Bosch, DeWalt, as well as the domestic Interskol. These cost from 2,500 rubles.

By purchasing cheap Chinese tools, the buyer receives a kind of lottery ticket. It’s hard to say whether it will be a winner or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpstERmfpV8&hd=1

How much does it cost to sand walls?

Due to the complexity of the work, grinding is not a cheap pleasure for specialists. In addition, sanding timber walls takes time, at least a week.

The walls must be treated in several passes. One-time internal grinding costs from 250-350 rubles/m2.

It is not difficult to make a calculation, for example, if the wall of a house is 3X4, then the area will be 12 square. Sanding in one pass will cost 12x300=3600 rubles. And this is just one wall.

It is better to do this work with your own hands, slowly. Moreover, you can work inside the house in any weather and time of day.

Log grinding technology: stages of work

Do-it-yourself sanding of profiled timber or logs is carried out in several stages:

Rough grinding (rough).
Processing grooves and corners.
End processing.
Final sanding (fine).
Decorative treatment of log house with protective compounds and impregnations.

The process of external and internal grinding of a log house requires frequent changes of working attachments due to the formation of a large amount of wood dust. To clean the nozzles from dirt, you can use a steel brush treated with an antiseptic.

When working with wood, do not forget about basic safety rules, using personal protective equipment - goggles, gloves, mask and overalls.

Sanding timber walls inside and outside the house is carried out in the following order:

Personal means of protection against the negative effects of wood dust are used. Sanding is carried out from top to bottom. The wall area is divided into equal sections, which will allow for better grinding. The material is checked for problem areas - old loose pieces are removed, and the affected areas are cleaned of mold and mildew. The quality of the caulk is checked, and any defects in the form of cracks and gaps are eliminated with wood sealant. Rough grinding of the surface is carried out using large nozzles. This will help get rid of existing unevenness and roughness. When using a grinder, it is recommended to grind disc attachments on remote areas of the log house - above window and door openings, near corners. In this way, possible sparking of the nozzle and damage to the wood can be prevented. In addition, when processing surfaces, it is better to move the tool with the shoulder joint, rather than with the hands, in order to obtain the most even surface possible. Next, fine-grain attachments are used to remove wood lint.

Processing the material with the tool is carried out carefully at medium speed, which will help avoid damage to the wood and the formation of grooves on the walls. The ends and grooves of the frame must be thoroughly polished, since they are more susceptible to the negative effects of external factors. To process the ends, you can use attachments with a grain size from 40 to 120. Hard-to-reach places, as well as internal and external corners, are ground with a chisel with a blade width of 25 mm. The surface is cleaned of dust with a vacuum cleaner and a brush with nylon bristles. The sanded walls of a timber or log house are treated with antiseptic compounds to protect against fungus and mold, glazing agents to refine the wood, fire retardants to increase resistance to combustion, acrylates to protect against the negative effects of precipitation

To prevent darkening of the wood, sanded surfaces are treated with protective compounds no later than 2 days after sanding. Painting of the log house is carried out 36-72 hours after completion of sanding and impregnation with protective compounds.

Sanding logs is a long and rather painstaking process, the organization of which will require high-quality equipment and minimal experience in working with wood.

Process steps

Sanding a house made of timber, when a dry surface is processed, including the ends, takes place in two stages:

Rough grinding . The walls are leveled using a belt sander or grinder with an abrasive wheel with numbers 40-60. At this stage, all significant defects are removed, and the surface is prepared for subsequent, finer processing. The attachment on the sander quickly becomes clogged with wood dust and needs to be replaced frequently.
Fine grinding and polishing . To perfectly level the surfaces, treatment is carried out with a vibrating or orbital sander using a fine-grained abrasive (up to 100). For fine sanding, hand sanding is used using sandpaper (numbers 120-180). Alignment of corner joints is carried out manually, using a narrow chisel. Unprofessional processing can leave scratches and grooves that will have to be corrected with additional polishing. After fine sanding, the surface of the walls becomes smooth, pleasant to the touch and ready for subsequent painting.

Preparatory stage

During planing, a so-called radial structure can form on the timber, which threatens the wood to peel off. Therefore, the first task is to carefully inspect the tree.

The solution must dry completely, for this you need to wait a day. As a result, small particles will stop “ruffling”. This will help prevent failure of the grinding wheels and protect normal areas of the timber from defects.

You can deal with this problem at the ends using a blowtorch. With its help, the pile is burned and removed. In addition, it makes the wood stronger and more durable. Since the ends are the weakest link of the structure, this approach provides better subsequent grinding and additional polishing with fine sandpaper.

Correctly carried out preparation and grinding of the ends will lead to the following:

the wood will dry quite slowly, due to which the shrinkage will be uniform;
painting and varnishing the timber will require much less material, which will make their consumption more economical.

Useful recommendations also cover other important points.

It makes sense to start sanding work only after the roof has been erected. After this, new irregularities and defects may appear.
It happens that the timber turns blue. Then, before sanding, you must first clean the walls with sandpaper and then polish.
The beams may darken 6-7 days after treatment if they were not previously coated with protective agents.

Technology

It is necessary to grind the dry timber; if it is not dry enough, you will have to wait until it dries and the walls shrink. If you work with damp wood, then scratches will form on the surface of the walls and there will be no effect from the specified work.

The work can be done either with a grinder or with a grinder, using attachments with different grain sizes. The first time the wall is rough processed, for this purpose sandpaper with a roughness of 40-50 is used.

The speed of work will depend on many factors: the skill of the craftsman, how resinous the wood is, the characteristics of the tool used, and the quality of the surface.

In hard-to-reach places where it is impossible to approach with a power tool, work is performed with a wooden block onto which sandpaper is attached.

Glued laminated timber is initially smooth, so it does not need to be sanded with coarse-grained sandpaper; sanding is done with fine-grained sandpaper, starting with a grit of 120 and higher.

It is most convenient to process grooves and ends with a grinding attachment for an angle grinder or a circular sander; in hard-to-reach places, grinding is done manually.

When sanding walls, a lot of dust is generated, so it is necessary to use safety glasses and a respirator.

Sanding the walls of a log house is carried out in stages and includes three types of processing: rough, fine and finishing.

At the first stage, rough processing of the timber is performed, the task of which is to remove all significant irregularities from the surface and prepare it for finer grinding. For this work, the abrasive with the largest grain size is selected. During initial processing, the nozzles very quickly become clogged with dust, and they have to be changed frequently.
For basic sanding, fine-grain sandpaper is used. After processing, the result should be a flat and smooth surface, ready for subsequent painting.
Final sanding is not always performed, but in cases where it is necessary to bring the surface into ideal condition for the subsequent application of a transparent varnish coating. The walls are polished using the finest abrasive to make the surface as smooth as possible.

Building a house from laminated veneer lumber involves sanding immediately after assembly. If it is natural humidity, then you need to wait until shrinkage and drying are completed. Otherwise, the wood fibers will lift up and you won’t get a smooth surface.

To work with your own hands you will need the following tools:

Nozzles with different coarse sandpaper.
Tape train - machine or grinder.

The first time sanding is done with sandpaper No. 40. It will remove all the unevenness. In the future, No. 80-100 is taken to obtain a smooth surface (for example, domestically produced Fera paper).

Do-it-yourself processing moves on average 60 cm in 5-10 minutes. The speed depends on the skill, the type of timber (building a house from profiled timber from coniferous trees takes longer due to the high resin content), and the power of the tools.

You can sand it the old-fashioned way using a block wrapped in sanding paper. But your hand will get tired quickly, and such grinding of a room of 15-20 m2 will take more than a month. This method is good to use when you need to sand small parts and areas where the tool cannot reach.

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All work is carried out in a respirator, since there is a lot of wood dust and it easily gets into the worker’s nasopharynx. You can use tools with special bag attachments, but these are more expensive.

After sanding, the timber walls must be treated with antiseptics and glazing compounds, or simply painted with varnish or paint. The coating work is not difficult and you can do it yourself. You can find out more about how to do this here.

The main mistakes that a beginner makes when doing the work with his own hands:

It puts too much pressure on the machine, which leaves grooves on the beam.
The work is carried out at high speeds, the grinding is uneven.
If you leave the walls uncovered for a long time after sanding, they will darken and you will have to start the work all over again.

Without sanding, the timber looks untidy even after painting. And a real owner loves his home and takes care of it.

Basic mistakes

If a person sands walls for the first time, he may make certain mistakes, as a result of which the quality of the work is significantly reduced:

The work is carried out at maximum tool speeds, which often leads to the formation of deep grooves.

If there are resin residues on the surface, then during sanding it is smeared on the wall, which significantly complicates the further process.

If there are defects in the radial wood, that is, its peeling, then first the surface must be treated with glue, allowed to dry, and only then proceed to sanding.

If water-based paint or varnish is used, then after the first painting the pile may rise and therefore it is necessary to re-sand.

If paints and varnishes based on chemical solvents are used, then in such cases the pile usually does not rise.

It is recommended to carry out the specified work in a new house after installing the roof, but before installing doors, windows, ceilings and floors.

Please note that over time the wood hardens and it will be more difficult to sand.

Often, to speed up work, inexperienced craftsmen use large and powerful grinders or grinders, but they quickly tire the hand, and therefore damage the surface.

Stage-by-stage work

During planing, a so-called radial structure can form on the timber, which threatens the wood to peel off. Therefore, the first task is to carefully inspect the tree.

Correctly carried out preparation and grinding of the ends will lead to the following:

the wood will dry quite slowly, due to which the shrinkage will be uniform;
painting and varnishing the timber will require much less material, which will make their consumption more economical.

Useful recommendations also cover other important points.

It makes sense to start sanding work only after the roof has been erected. After this, new irregularities and defects may appear.
It happens that the timber turns blue. Then, before sanding, you must first clean the walls with sandpaper and then polish.
The beams may darken 6-7 days after treatment if they were not previously coated with protective agents.

Sanding is carried out in strict sequence and involves several main stages.

First, you need to process it with a coarse abrasive with a grit size of No. 40. This helps eliminate unevenness and roughness. You need to be prepared for the fact that the nozzle will quickly become clogged with small particles of wood and will have to be constantly replaced. The main thing is to position the grinding tool correctly. The machine should be at an angle of 45 degrees to the direction of travel. You should not press it hard or sharply; you should work without delay in one place. With rough processing, up to 1 mm of thickness can be removed in the most prominent areas.

Finer sanding, which removes lint and precedes painting, is done using sanding wheels with sizes 80-120. Ideally, the surface of the beams should be leveled with the general plane of the wall. For a beginner in this business, the processing process may take a long time, since in 10 minutes you can polish only about 60 cm of area. But speed depends not only on skill and experience. It is often influenced by the type of timber, the resin content of the wood, and the power of the grinding equipment.
Then, using a grinder, they polish the ends and grooves down to the deepest recessed beams, eliminating all remaining errors from the previous work. For these purposes, abrasive No. 180 is used. The goal is to make the wall as even and smooth as possible.

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Corners and hard-to-reach places are processed manually at the very end. To do this, leave a strip of the required width (from 3 to 10 cm). The work is carried out using a chisel or a wooden block with abrasive paper wound on it.

It should be noted that working with profiled softwood timber is the most difficult, as it requires a lot of time due to its hardness and high resin content. Sanding of glued material should be carried out immediately after the construction of the house, because compared to a solid product, it is more susceptible to atmospheric influences.

Grinding, despite the apparent ease of the process, has its own subtleties and requires some effort. Therefore, in some cases it is better not to carry out the work yourself, but to use the services of qualified craftsmen.

To learn how to sand timber inside a house, watch the following video.

Useful tips

Sanding timber walls is a labor-intensive and painstaking process. To ensure high-quality and long-lasting results, the following rules are followed in our work:

Timing . Sanding is carried out after completion of the drying process (for profiled timber), before installing windows and doors, and before installing a clean floor and ceiling. The limitation is due to the dustiness of the work.
Preparing the walls . Before sanding the timber inside the house, remove the resin that has appeared on the surface. The work is completely manual: the resin is removed with a scraper or other suitable tool, and the resin pockets are treated with a solvent. This moment is an important stage in preparing the walls for sanding - the resin can very quickly render the abrasive unusable, clogging its structure, and besides, the remaining resin will not allow the paint to lie flat on the wall.
Technique parameters . A grinder used for processing timber walls must have a power of at least 1 kW. The operator, working on a weaker machine and trying to involuntarily speed up the process, can increase the pressure. As a result, grooves remain on the surface, which are not easy to remove.

Working methods . In order for sanding to proceed smoothly and give a high-quality result, the stroke of the sanding machine and the direction of the wood fibers must match.
Work planning . Sanded wood quickly loses its freshness and darkens, which can affect the quality of the future paintwork. To avoid having to repeat sanding (and waste additional time and money), you should stock up on paint in advance.

Why is timber sanding necessary?

Today, in suburban construction, profiled timber with natural humidity is often used. Being part of a log house, the initially smooth (planed) surface of this material ceases to be so - a decrease in its humidity affects it, as a result of which not only shrinkage of the house occurs, but also a change in the quality of the surface of the timber. Simply put, the walls are no longer as smooth as they used to be. To a lesser extent, such processes are typical for log houses made of glued material. But if your plans include a spectacular design for a house made of laminated veneer lumber, sanding the laminated veneer lumber simply cannot be avoided. The following work is required:

to give the walls a smooth surface, which has a positive effect not only on the aesthetics of the building, but also on reducing the consumption of paints and varnishes applied when painting the walls of a log house;
to reveal the wood texture. By “cutting off” the top layer of the timber, it is possible to emphasize the natural beauty of the pattern of this material;
for better penetration of coatings into wood, thereby increasing the service life of the coating and providing the necessary degree of protection for the walls

In some cases, sanding is used to remove layers of wood damaged by fungus.

A little about the technology of sanding the walls of a wooden house

It is optimal to carry out such work before installing windows and doors, because The sanding process is very dusty. For the same reason, workers must use respirators and safety glasses. Only the dry surface of the lumber, as well as the ends of the timber, are processed. For these purposes, special grinding machines are used, as well as sandpaper with different grain sizes, which is selected based on the current state of the wall surface. Some models of sanding equipment can be connected to a vacuum cleaner, thereby reducing the amount of dust. Usually start with a grit of 40-60 and end with 90-120. All work is carried out before caulking the timber, if this is required by the technology of constructing a wooden house. Experienced workers can use a grinder as the main tool; it is most often used to process the ends of the material. Hard-to-reach places, as a rule, are processed without the use of power tools.

Obtaining a perfectly smooth surface - polishing a timber - is a process similar to grinding, only in this case an even finer-grained abrasive is used, up to 180. The complexity of the work and the price of sanding walls made of timber depend on the initial state of the log house, as well as the planned result.

Cost of sanding timber

Average market prices for polishing timber vary between 200-350 rubles. for 1 sq. m. wall surface. As a rule, the same area is processed twice (first with coarse, then with fine sandpaper) - all this is included in the above cost of sanding walls made of timber. Prices for polishing services range from 170-250 rubles. for 1 sq. m. In this case, the surface is processed once with sandpaper 180 or even smaller grain.

What determines the prices for grinding? Let's figure it out together:

from the initial state of the wall surface. The most expensive service will be if they were once covered with paintwork - you will have to remove the coating layer;
on the result that the developer needs. The ideal here is difficult to achieve, and everything depends on the number of “passes” and changes in abrasive grain size. In addition, the cost of services does not include the cost of “consumables”;
on the height of the building and the need to install scaffolding;
from the total area of the walls. Discounts are available for sanding large logs;
from related services. Complete finishing services, such as sanding + painting, are cheaper than individual jobs

Finally

On average, work on polishing the walls of a timber house, the area of which (internal and external) does not exceed 300 m, is carried out within 1-3 weeks. As you already understand, they can be very expensive. So think again, maybe it’s better to just sheathe the walls with imitation timber?

Profiled and laminated timber: differences in the process

Sanding allows you to improve the appearance of walls and prepare them for high-quality painting, waxing or varnishing. For profiled and glued material, the process is different:

Profiled timber . Usually processed in two steps. The first time is sanded with a coarse abrasive (a wheel with a grit size of No. 40), even at the construction stage. The second treatment (final polishing) of the walls is carried out after completion of the shrinkage process.
Glued laminated timber . This building material is carefully processed at the production stage, does not shrink strongly and therefore does not require preliminary deep grinding like its profiled counterpart. To process walls made of laminated veneer lumber, use nozzles with a wheel starting from No. 80. Sanding should be carried out with caution - excessive force can damage the outer lamella.

Grinding

Why is this necessary?

The difference between treated and untreated areas is very noticeable

Reasons for the need for grinding:

Currently, glued material is often used for the construction of country houses, treated with antiseptics. But, nevertheless, even it darkens and loses its original beauty if it is not immediately varnished;
in addition, even laminated veneer lumber, not to mention a solid profile, after the construction of the box has a shrinkage of up to 1-2% of the total height (for a solid one - more than 5%), therefore, the surface is deformed;
It follows from this that it is not advisable to carry out painting work immediately after construction - the instructions recommend doing this only 1-1.5 years after the construction of the walls. But a deformed surface requires a very large waste of materials;
in addition, if you remove the darkened layer, the texture of the wood “reveals” - its natural pattern becomes visible, and covering the wood with colorless varnish only accentuates its charm;
also, sanded timber (solid or glued) adheres better to paint and varnish materials, therefore, its service life increases.

How it's done

Sanding set

You can use different tools for grinding timber with your own hands - it depends mainly on their availability.

So, for this you can use:

a grinding machine that processes the entire part at once, but can only be used for single profiles;
belt machine - it is used quite often and it is very productive for such work, angle grinder (grinder);
electric drill;
in most cases, sandpaper is used as an abrasive;
although you can also use a turtle disk and a metal brush for a grinder and drill.

For the most part, windows and doors in a wooden house are installed only after the building has settled, that is, after 1-1.5, and sometimes 2 years. Therefore, it is best to carry out such work before their installation, since sanding the timber inside the house means getting a large amount of dust in the room.

As we have already said, the process is very labor-intensive and harmful to health - wood dust can get into the respiratory tract and eyes, so it is strictly forbidden to work without protective equipment! Only dry timber with a moisture content of no more than 19% is processed. The end part of the profile, which is most susceptible to deformation and darkening, is also ground.

Draw machine

It is noteworthy that some models of belt and angle machines can be connected to a vacuum cleaner. Consequently, there will be much less dust, but most often a drill and grinder are used, as the most common and cheapest options.

The grit of sandpaper used for such work is usually from 40-60 to 90-120, but in any case, such processing should be carried out before caulking the timber, if this is provided for by the project or necessity.

But there is one more question - what is the best way to sand walls made of timber at the ends, and a grinder is very suitable for this, but here, instead of sandpaper, it is often more convenient to use a metal brush to properly process the cut. In addition, there are hard-to-reach places, for example at the corners, when timber or logs are connected to the rest - here you cannot reach everywhere with a disk (brush), so you will have to use a chisel for processing.

In the photo on the left is a two-year log house, on the right is an eight-month one

The age of construction of a timber or log building is of great importance when processing - the more it costs, the more difficult it is to polish it. In addition, a long period of operation affects the quality.

In the top photo you see two examples - on the left is a log house that is 2 years old, and on the left is 8 months old and after removing the top layer, the wood structure looks different - on the right it is much better, so you should not postpone such work for long after building the house. Of course, a certain tone to the structure of wood can be given with the help of varnish for a wooden surface, but its natural structure still looks more beautiful, and it is almost impossible to imitate it.

When is wall sanding done?

Sanding is the process of treating a wooden surface before finishing, painting or varnishing. Sanding removes defects and makes the wood smooth, allowing you to achieve an even paint layer; it is used in the following cases:

When building a new house . Sanding walls made of timber is done by waiting for the timber to dry, after the building has settled. During the work, irregularities that appear after the wood has dried are eliminated; work can be carried out at any time of the year.
During the restoration of an old house . This grinding renews the color of the timber walls, after which they are re-coated with paint and varnish.

Why do internal timber walls need to be sanded?

Sanding timber walls inside the house solves several problems:

Prepares the surface for painting . Before construction begins, any wooden material is treated with an antiseptic and fire retardant. Since most antiseptics are water-based, after getting wet and drying, the wooden wall becomes covered with lint. Sanding removes lint and simultaneously levels the wall, some of the crowns of which may protrude above the surface (sometimes by 1-2 mm). Smooth walls mean easier painting and savings on materials, which can be a noticeable amount if the house is large and the paint is high-quality.
Emphasizes the beauty of wood . During operation, coatings become obsolete, so wooden walls require periodic treatment. Sanding removes the old paint layer and reveals the texture of natural wood.
Extends the life of the house . Protective impregnations are absorbed deeper into the newly sanded wooden surface. This is especially true for buildings with irregular winter heating.

Peculiarities

This process solves several problems:

removal of mold and mildew stains;
elimination of minor damage to timber received during installation;
lightening the wood surface;
removing lint after using antiseptic impregnations;
giving freshness to the pattern and texture of wood.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with Cleaning products for composite pools. Polishing also involves the removal of a layer damaged as a result of external influences, renewal after several years of operation of the premises. In addition, this removes old varnish and antiseptic impregnation from the surface, which are no longer relevant. Sanding helps restore the timber to the look and color of fresh wood.

The process of building a house from any material is always very labor-intensive and includes several steps.

Sanding is one of the important stages of finishing logs, allowing you to protect the wood from such factors as:

rotting;
the appearance of mold and fungi that destroy natural building materials;
darkening;
uneven logs;
exposure to moisture and insects.

It is worth noting that sanding is needed regardless of the type of log. Thus, rounded and chopped logs must be sanded, despite the aesthetic and presentable original appearance.

Sanding a log frame has the following advantages:

additional material protection;
improving the penetration of antiseptics and paints into logs;
savings in paint and varnish consumption;
removing dirt from wood that invariably accompanies transportation.

And yet, some unscrupulous craftsmen neglect grinding, because this process is quite labor-intensive, time-consuming and energy-consuming. In addition, it can be carried out only after complete shrinkage of the logs, which on average ranges from six months to a year, depending on the type of structure. You can reduce time costs by purchasing laminated veneer lumber, which is thoroughly dried during the manufacturing process, so it practically does not shrink. Sanding wet wood will certainly cause scuffing and damage.

So, having decided to build a house according to all the rules, you should refuse tempting offers to build turnkey log houses. As a rule, they are not aimed at long-term quality, but at speed of implementation, which, one way or another, affects unpleasant surprises during the operation of the building. And you shouldn’t skimp on the services of professional log sanding craftsmen, because it requires not only the proper skills, but also special tools and means to protect your health.

Do I need to sand profiled timber?

When transporting a wooden beam and its subsequent unloading, various contaminants may fall on it, which cannot always be wiped off with a regular damp cloth.

It is worth noting that the drying process of the wood mass occurs unevenly. Since summer trunk rings are looser, they lose moisture much faster than winter ones, whose density is much higher and humidity is lower. Even on surfaces treated by planing, this feature will certainly appear after just one year of use of the log. The smoothness of the wood material is significantly reduced.

The destruction of wood by insects, fungi and various microorganisms always manifests itself superficially at first. Therefore, removing the top layer of material can be regarded as an additional protective measure.

During the process of sanding the wood surface, the cellular structure in this place is significantly disrupted. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Thanks to the use of this technology, fire retardants and antiseptics used to process wood penetrate as deeply as possible into its structure, which allows for the highest quality protection of the material.

Recognized advantages and disadvantages of a log house

Wooden design

environmental friendliness;
security;
durability;
wear resistance;
resistance to deformation;
low thermal conductivity;
frost resistance;
excellent sound insulation;
natural ventilation;
ease of care;
healing aroma;
amazing appearance;
favorable energy.

A wooden structure also has disadvantages - these are:

change in natural shade;
biological activity;
flammability.

The disadvantages are quite serious, however, proper processing of raw materials will not allow them to overshadow your life in such a beautiful structure.

When should you sand timber inside your home?

Nowadays, there are different opinions about when to sand wood. Some believe that this should be done after the house has settled, others - immediately after installing the roof. There is still a consensus on wood moisture content, which should be no more than 20%. In all other cases, there will be no benefit from grinding the surface.

The first option is considered correct here, but supporters of the second argue its advantage as follows:

during the shrinkage process, the wooden beam may become infected with fungus;
By waiting for the frame to shrink, the shade of the wood may change significantly during this time.

The latter will, of course, happen, but the material will quickly recover after sanding.

Shrinkage of the frame of a wooden house occurs for one reason - due to loss of moisture from the wood mass. If the estimated rate of shrinkage of a structure is in the double digits and measured in centimeters, then the moisture level of the wood was at least 20%.

Do-it-yourself wood sanding

There is often a statement that doing grinding yourself and with your own hands is difficult and time-consuming. This statement is not entirely correct and is connected with the purpose of selling services for polishing a house, its walls, and sometimes the floor and ceiling.

In fact, the procedure itself is not complicated; it can be done with your own hands. Another thing is the complexity of the procedure. Outwardly, it may seem that grinding is done quickly. In fact, this takes a lot of time. For example, a person who is constantly grinding manages to make up to 20 square meters of a log house wall in a working day. But the log cannot be properly leveled the first time, at least not by hand cutting. The procedure must be carried out a second time, and inside a third.

In addition, the question arises with the tool.