Chinking and Daubing
Chinking is the process of filling the gaps between the logs with anything that is handy. Historically, this could be sticks woods chips, grass, clay. In our cabin as we deconstructed it, we found mainly wood chips likely from an adze axe in squaring off the logs.
At first we purchased “backer rods” from a log home restoration company. Bad idea as they were very expensive and really meant for new log cabins for which all logs are similar with consistent distances between logs. That is certainly not the case for hand hewn log homes. We tried packing type Styrofoam but that was messy and difficult to cut to required dimensions.
Instead we settled on chicken wire mesh. This was inexpensive, could be cut and formed to the space required, left an insulative air gap, and was great to receive the daubing mixture.
Daubing is the process of sealing the spaces between the logs. It needs something to adhere to or theoretically one could use only that mixture alone on both sides of the logs. Daubing is a laborious process.
Daubing mixtures that are historically accurate consists of a cement, like today’s Portland cement, lime, sand, and a binder such as hog bristles. The relative quantities on a volume basis are ¼ cement; 1 lime; 4 sand (see for example Donald A. Hutsler, "Log Cabin Restoration: Guidelines for the Historical Society," American Association for State and Local History, Technical Leaflet No. 74, "History News," Vol. 29, No. 5, May 1974).
Add water for the consistency that is easy to apply and sticks well to the logs and the backer you have used – that can be challenging. Oh, we didn’t seem to need the hog bristles which was convenient as there are hard to find other than as the bristles on paint brushes. This is the mixture we used for most of the cabin.
That is until we discovered a much easier alternative: acrylic elastic mortar. We found this at Lowes and, unfortunately, I cannot locates it now (it has been many years ago we used it). However, a similar product is Sashco’s Log Jam Chinking. It is a water based chinking that applies easily and tools and cleans up with just water. Sashco claims it “handles joint movement up to 100%, even in joints up to 4 inches wide.” It is a little expensive but saves lots of time.
At first we purchased “backer rods” from a log home restoration company. Bad idea as they were very expensive and really meant for new log cabins for which all logs are similar with consistent distances between logs. That is certainly not the case for hand hewn log homes. We tried packing type Styrofoam but that was messy and difficult to cut to required dimensions.
Instead we settled on chicken wire mesh. This was inexpensive, could be cut and formed to the space required, left an insulative air gap, and was great to receive the daubing mixture.
Daubing is the process of sealing the spaces between the logs. It needs something to adhere to or theoretically one could use only that mixture alone on both sides of the logs. Daubing is a laborious process.
Daubing mixtures that are historically accurate consists of a cement, like today’s Portland cement, lime, sand, and a binder such as hog bristles. The relative quantities on a volume basis are ¼ cement; 1 lime; 4 sand (see for example Donald A. Hutsler, "Log Cabin Restoration: Guidelines for the Historical Society," American Association for State and Local History, Technical Leaflet No. 74, "History News," Vol. 29, No. 5, May 1974).
Add water for the consistency that is easy to apply and sticks well to the logs and the backer you have used – that can be challenging. Oh, we didn’t seem to need the hog bristles which was convenient as there are hard to find other than as the bristles on paint brushes. This is the mixture we used for most of the cabin.
That is until we discovered a much easier alternative: acrylic elastic mortar. We found this at Lowes and, unfortunately, I cannot locates it now (it has been many years ago we used it). However, a similar product is Sashco’s Log Jam Chinking. It is a water based chinking that applies easily and tools and cleans up with just water. Sashco claims it “handles joint movement up to 100%, even in joints up to 4 inches wide.” It is a little expensive but saves lots of time.