Assembling a house into a bowl is very popular with our compatriots. This can be easily explained, the fact is that such buildings are distinguished by their environmental friendliness, good thermal properties and a long service life. But in order for them to be endowed with these advantages, you need to use the services of experienced professionals. The Dom iz Elya company has been assembling a log house into a bowl for many years, during which time our specialists have finalized the construction process from profiled timber to the ideal.
Connection types
The connection of the timber by this method, depending on the shape of the bowl, may differ. There are the following locks:
- Unilateral. This method of making a bowl is considered to be inefficient and the simplest corner connection. The bowl itself has a base in the form of a rectangle and is performed only on one side.
- Bilateral. The bowl is made at the points of corner joints, its depth is made equal to a quarter of the beam. To perform this work requires a master with a high level of skill. The corners of the log house with double-sided bowls have the same drawback as the previous view - they are blown through.
- Quadrilateral. This is the most perfect assembly of a house from a bar into a bowl, because it is characterized by insignificant heat losses through corner joints. It differs by cutting a groove on all sides, quite often there is a labyrinth-type lock (windproof), which has an alternation of bowl parameters.
Assembling a house into a bowl allows you to create country houses in a short time. If you use the services of Dom iz Eli, you can be sure of the quality of the work performed. All construction services are guaranteed.
Coniferous trees, such as spruce or pine, are used as material for the log house. It is very important when buying material to choose straight, even and not damp logs. If the wood is too damp, then when it dries, it will deform and cracks, gaps between crowns, etc. will appear.
Before starting work, the logs are prepared - the bark is removed from them, then the log is sawn from four sides and the resulting beam is directly profiled. To fasten the elements of the log house, wooden dowels, as well as metal studs and nails are used.
If you need a house made of profiled timber - the company "House from Eli" is waiting for you
The assembly of a log house into a bowl, made by professionals, will bring coziness and convenience to your life. Our specialists use only modern construction technologies, thereby achieving long service life and an attractive appearance of the building. Using our services, you can not worry about the freezing of the walls and drafts, as they simply will not be.
Question - "Assembling a beam into a bowl or into a warm corner - which is better?" - occurs not only among customers when analyzing projects of wooden houses. Discussions about the optimal scheme for cutting the joints of beams for a log house are also being conducted among professional builders, while there is no consensus on this matter.
Practice shows that in terms of energy efficiency, both the corner in the bowl and the warm corner are approximately the same. Their design reduces the risk of blowing, because the heat loss of the building at the joints of the walls is reduced. But at the same time, these types of connections have differences in design, which means in the complexity of installation. Therefore, you can choose between the two technologies only after analyzing all their pros and cons.
The technology of assembling a beam into a bowl
When installing a log house in a bowl, the edges of the bars (or logs, if cylindrical blanks are used) protrude outward on both sides. The connection itself looks like this:
- An indent of 30-50 cm is made from the edge of the part.
- At the selected distance, symmetrical recesses (cups) are formed, the dimensions of which allow two transverse beams to be tightly joined.
- Sometimes recesses are made with an offset, forming a labyrinth lock - in this case, the tightness of the joint increases and its mobility decreases.
Advantages and disadvantages of the bowl
The main advantages of houses from a bar in a bowl are an attractive appearance and good thermal performance. The protruding ends of the bars look organic, while the contact point of the parts is not blown through, and also does not release heat. Another plus is the simple technology: the formation of lock recesses does not take much time, and it does not require high qualifications from the craftsmen. This makes work go faster.
The connection of the beam into the bowl also has disadvantages:
- Firstly, due to the protrusions, the consumption of material increases, which means that more money will be required to purchase them.
- Secondly, the side protrusions make it difficult (or impossible) for the external insulation of the house. So you have to limit yourself to internal thermal insulation, which is less effective.
- Thirdly, the tightness of the angle chopped into the bowl directly depends on the accuracy of fitting parts and the moisture content of the timber. If damp wood was used during construction, then during the shrinkage process, gaps may form on the locks, through which the premises will actively lose heat. The main problem is that all the problematic joints are inside the wall, and it is impossible to caulk them without disassembling the log house.
All these shortcomings can be compensated for by professional design of the house with the correct thermal calculations, as well as the involvement of qualified builders in the assembly of the log house.
The technology of assembling a log house in a warm corner
A warm corner is a technology that is more difficult to implement, but at the same time more reliable. When assembling a beam using this method, there are no protruding parts - the ends of the parts are in the same plane with the wall. Approximately according to the same scheme, log cabins are laid (assembly of the beam “in the paw”).
To form a lock, a groove is cut on one beam (in the form of a rectangle or half-trapezoid), at the end of the second - a symmetrical spike. When assembling the beam, the spike is inserted into the groove and adjusted as tightly as possible, which completely eliminates blowing. Additional sealing is provided by laying sealing material. Jute or linen fiber is used for sealing.
Semi-trapezoidal locks ("dovetail") are more reliable - they minimize the horizontal mobility of the beams in the log house. Therefore, when forming the corners of wooden houses, they almost completely replaced rectangular configurations that were easier to install.
Pros and cons of a warm corner
The assembly of timber in a warm corner today is considered as the main option for the installation of wooden log cabins. There are two reasons - the high versatility of the design and good thermal insulation:
- When assembling the castle (especially the semi-trapezoidal dovetail), a labyrinth joint is formed, which is not blown even in strong winds. The configuration of the joint contributes to the retention of the seal, which does not move even with shrinkage and movement of the bars.
- Lock connections securely fix the parts, preventing them from moving in the longitudinal plane. This also allows you to compensate for deformations when the wood dries.
- The high strength of the joints makes it possible to refuse additional mechanical fasteners using metal parts. Thus, zones with high thermal conductivity - "cold bridges" - are not formed at the corners of the building.
- The shape of the log house itself is also different: the absence of protruding ends facilitates further work on the outer cladding with heat-insulating materials, followed by decorative finishing.
The main disadvantage of assembling a warm corner is the high complexity of installation. The formation of tongue and groove locks requires high precision and is time consuming. At the same time, it is important to strictly control the quality of the timber that is taken into work, otherwise cracks may occur in the bases of the spikes (the narrowest places), which greatly reduce the strength of the structure as a whole.
Which option is better when building a log house?
It is impossible to say unequivocally which assembly technology - a warm corner or a bowl - is better. With qualified installation in terms of thermal performance, they will have approximate parity: both options are characterized by low thermal conductivity and are not purged.
Therefore, the microclimate in the house, if it depends on the choice of the timber assembly method, does not depend too much.
But there are other aspects too:
- When installing the bowl, the cost of purchasing material increases due to the formation of a protruding part on each beam. The increase in cost is not too big, but on a large-scale project it can be noticeable.
- A house or cottage assembled in a warm corner is more economical in terms of material. But the construction itself will take longer, and a more qualified team of builders (with a corresponding difference in wages) will need to be involved in the work.
- It is also worth considering whether your own thermal insulation of a log cabin is enough for you. If the thickness of the walls is not enough to keep the heat in the house, you should choose a warm corner. So you can mount external insulation - either immediately at the construction stage, or later, if it seems to you that the effectiveness of thermal insulation is insufficient.
When choosing a technique for assembling a log house between a bowl and a warm corner, one must also take into account the appearance of the building. The option with the protruding parts of the beams is closer to the classic log house, while the design with even joints of the planes looks more modern. But in any case, the final result - both externally, attacks and in terms of performance - will depend on the quality of the design and assembly of the structure.
Our customers, before the final choice of the project or the conclusion of the contract, often ask the question: “Which way of felling is better: in a warm corner or into the bowl for a house from a bar?
We immediately answer that both methods of cutting corners are windproof from the outside. The quality of the house, its reliability and ability to retain heat, are not affected by the types of felling: a house made of timber and into a bowl, and into a warm corner will equally warm you in winter.
Of course, provided that the felling is carried out by professional carpenters, subject to all the rules for assembling a log house from a bar.
Carpenters from the company "Chukhloma estate" have the necessary qualities and skill to cut a house from a bar with locks into a bowl or into a warm corner, as it should. Therefore, we do not face the problem of how to cut a log house - the choice is up to the customer.
The difference in locks in a warm corner and in a bowl lies in the external design and shape of the castle itself, in the price of a log house in a bowl and in a warm corner.
Let's take a look at what a corner in a bowl is, a warm corner, so that you decide which of the cutting methods to stop at, make your choice.
1.Angle into the bowl
The method of cutting corners or "with the removal" is the most expensive method of cutting. This is due, first of all, to the additional expenditure of timber during the construction of the house.
The corners into the bowl are the protrusions of the rows protruding 30-50 cm beyond the main contour of the frame, they intersect with each other in the lock knot and continue in the form of extensions.
Making corners into a bowl has been used since antiquity, when cutting. Carpenters with an ax cut grooves in the log in the form of a semicircle, in the shape of a log, so that the logs of the log house, stacked in rows, were fastened together in locks, crossing.
The shape of the castle in a log with releases, in the form of a semicircle, reminded the ancient carpenters of the shape of a cup, so the name of the castle in the log house at the corners came into use - "into the bowl" or "with releases", "with takeaways", "with remainder".
Locks with releases in a log house from a bar have nothing to do with the shape in the form of a bowl, because they are made not for a round log, but for a square bar in the section, but by tradition it is called “into a bowl”.
The lumber "bowl" has a different configuration of the lock on the corners, this is the so-called. "Labyrinth Castle". The labyrinth lock has an offset on both sides, which ensures the stability of the log house due to these special offsets. The labyrinth lock also provides complete tightness of the closing of the beam at the corners, which excludes the ingress of air from outside.
Construction of a house from a bar according to the project into a bowl, washed down the corners into a bowl:
2.Lock a log house from a bar to a warm corner
The lock of a log house from a bar without outlets is called "in a warm corner". This method of cutting corners is also called "without a trace". In appearance, it is similar to a castle in a log house made of hand-cut logs, because it does not have outlets in crowns outside the walls.
A house made of timber is cheaper, because it consumes less building materials.
Making a castle in a warm corner occurs according to the principle "dovetail". At one end of the beam, a spike is cut in the form of a half-trapezoid, and at the other end, a groove for a half-trapezoid is cut. The rows of timber with sawn ends are tightly closed in the corners, thanks to the "thorn-groove" system. And so it is done on all four sides of the log house, from the first to the last crown.
"Dovetail" for a warm corner is made according to a single template, which is always at hand for carpenters. Such a complex closure at the corners and "flashing" of the timber in the rows ensures the stability and strength of the entire log house.
A well-made warm corner ensures complete closing of the beam in the locks and eliminates the blowing of a cold draft from the street.
Carpenters from the "Chukhloma estate" are building a house from a bar for two families according to the project, the video shows how they drill holes for wooden dowels, make grooves in the wall "into a cut" and cut a lock into a warm corner in a bar, making spikes and grooves for closures:
3. Which is better: a warm corner or a bowl?
Both types of lock in a log house are reliable, keep heat well from the inside and do not let the cold in from the outside, thanks to their complex configuration: a “labyrinth lock” in a bowl and a “dovetail” in a warm corner.
A log house in a bowl with extensions looks more embossed. It looks emphatically stylish, in the tradition of making log cabins, when wooden houses were cut down with the help of one more axe.
A log house from a beam into a bowl does not imply additional wall cladding from the outside, because. offsets at the corners will interfere with this. Bowls on the corners are a sign of making a house out of wood.
But for corner offsets there is an additional consumption of timber, approximately one meter for each bar, so a house from a timber into a bowl is more expensive.
No additional building materials are spent on a house from a bar in a warm corner for the sake of "beauty", so its production is cheaper.
A log house with a warm corner is even at the corners on all sides, so it can be sheathed from the outside if necessary.
Thus, which log house suits you best, make your own choice: with bowls decorating a log house, but more expensive or with a warm corner - cheaper and allowing wall cladding.
Both methods of cutting corners are reliable and time-tested, which shows that in terms of quality characteristics, one is not inferior to the other.
4. Construction of houses from a bar into a bowl and into a warm corner, examples with photos and videos:
House from a bar in a bowl according to the project
House from a bar 8x12 in a bowl according to the project  The beginning of the construction of a house from a bar into a bowl according to the project "Patriarch" for shrinkage |
 Continuation of the construction of a house from a beam into a bowl according to the project "Patriarch" |
 The construction of gables and roofs on a house from a bar into a bowl according to the project "Patriarch" |
 Roof installation and completion |
 Interior finishing after shrinkage next year |
 Finishing a house from a bar into a turnkey bowl after shrinkage |
A house made of timber in a warm corner 12.5x12.6 for two families according to a project for two families
 House from a bar in a warm corner according to the project |
 The beginning of construction of a house from a bar in a warm corner according to the project "Forest Ponds" for shrinkage |
Before starting construction, there is a difficult choice: which beam assembly is preferable? What you want to see in the final result plays a big role. Therefore, it is worth considering what these two methods are, and decide what you should focus on.
Corner "into the bowl"
The corners into the bowl are usually protrusions from the main contour of the log house by 30-50 cm. A longitudinal recess is made in each log, in the corners it is made larger, in the form across the lying log. They form a crosshair and are interconnected in the lock knot. If there is a choice between two methods, it is worth drawing an analogy and talking about the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.
Advantages of the angle "in the bowl":
· This method is often chosen for aesthetic reasons, it looks attractive, embossed, in Russian traditions.
· Thanks to the labyrinth lock in the bowl, such a log house holds heat well inside and does not let cold outside.
· The cost of erecting a bar in this way will be less than a “warm corner”, due to simple technology. But the volume of the timber is needed more, therefore, the amount for the materials will increase.
Disadvantages of the angle "into the bowl":
Sufficiently large consumption of materials. The ledges in the corners take about 30-50 cm for each log, and this significantly increases the cost of construction.
Any beam has residual moisture, and after drying, cracks may form at the joints (in the corners) if the recess was calculated incorrectly or non-professionals worked.
· In the case of the "bowl" there is no further possibility of warming the house from the outside, as with other log cabins.
Log cabin in a "warm corner"
The connection of the beam into a "warm corner" is considered the most heat-insulating and dense of all log house options. In order to achieve the most dense docking, a groove is made on one of the joined bars, and a spike of the appropriate shape on the other. As a result of this installation, an almost hermetic docking is obtained.
Advantages of the "warm corner":
Installation in this case will be carried out without any additional fasteners. This will ensure that there are no metal parts that form cold bridges.
· With the correct work of the masters, the joining of the spikes and grooves is very tight and reliable.
· Due to the tight joint, the possibility of a cold draft from the street is excluded, so it will be warm and comfortable in such a house.
· A log house with a “warm corner” is flat on all sides, so in the future there is the possibility of sheathing the house from the outside, if necessary.
Disadvantages of a "warm corner":
· This technology is more difficult to install than the “bowl”, therefore the cost of the work will be higher, as the qualification of specialists is higher.
· If you turn to unskilled craftsmen, there is a high probability of cracks on the beam due to improper manufacture of the spike. The technology of erecting a "warm corner" is not easy to implement.
"Bowl" or "warm corner"?
Having decided on all the pros and cons of the two technologies, the choice does not become easier in terms of price. If for a log house in a "bowl" more timber is required, which will be much more expensive in the final cost, then for a "warm corner" specialists are needed whose work is valued above others. That is, in the "bowl":
· More expensive materials;
· Cheaper installation services.
For the "warm corner":
· Cheaper materials;
· Expensive installation.
Here, the choice is more likely only in appearance and in what the developer wants to see as a result. The “chalice” looks embossed, in the old Russian traditions, and many people like this representation at home. "Warm Corner" has smooth walls, and if desired, they can be insulated from the outside or sheathed with vinyl, metal siding, facade panels, etc.
