Chinking a log hunting shack?
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: SD
23-Oct-24
Anyone have experience chinking gaps on a small log shack? I know there are many diy recipes, and professional productions for sale. I'd rather not spend a fortune but want something that's easy and somewhat "good". Anyone have suggestions.
From: SD
23-Oct-24
Thanks GG. The wife says it's going to have to look better than spray foam. Needs to be closer to a "log cabin" than that.
From: Highlife
23-Oct-24
Trim and paint the spray foam. There's your redneck fix thank me later ;)
From: cnelk
23-Oct-24
Go down to the local hardware store and get some tile grout. Any color you want. Mix it up and get it done.
From: ILbowhntr
23-Oct-24
Check with PermaChink. We used them for 20 years when we sold and built log homes. All they do is log home products.
From: JusPassin
23-Oct-24
2nd PermaChink.
From: Bou'bound
23-Oct-24
Buy American!!!
From: Aspen Ghost
23-Oct-24
Wouldn't tile grout be expensive and not adhere well to wood (wood is going to move). I'd go with modern products designed for log home construction. It won't be that much and you won't have wasted the labor using something else that you'll just have to fix in a few years. But if you want cheap then clay and straw were used for hundreds of years......
From: Bob Rowlands
23-Oct-24
Cabin huh? Buy a roll of fiberglass batts. Cut 'rips' to size that fill the gap the way you want it. Stuff and tamp. Stuff and tamp. Wear full coveralls, gloves, a hat and a face mask. Take a very hot shower at the end of the day. Work fast and get the job done. It is NO fun. I did this work on two cabins as part of my weatherization job when my wife and I lived in Jackson WY 80-82.
Fiberglass is what it says it is. Glass fibers. You DO NOT want it in your lungs. It's >NASTY< stuff to install. But it is cheap and it works for chinking. Covering with wood strip chinking is ideal but that takes skill.
I haven't done it, but masonry mortar works and it is cheap. Drive 8 penny nails and bend into the gap. Mud it up.
From: Bob Rowlands
23-Oct-24
You can also fill the gap with chicken wire cut into strips with snips. Nail in place to secure. Push masonry mud into that.
And as was mentioned above, hay worked into mud was traditional chinking. I haven't done it so no comment.
Spray foam in the can for an entire cabin is gonna be extremely expensive. I'm a carpenter and used it occasinally around doors and windows. It expands to fill gaps incredibly well, adhers like a mofo to everything including you, and dries incredibly fast.
We shot foam WY but it was in a cylinder about the size of a 20lb propane tank. It was dispensed through a wand. I wasn't paying the bills but I'm absolutely certain it was not cheap. But that stuff is 'THE' ticket for filling big gaps fast and permanent.
Good luck.
From: ILbowhntr
23-Oct-24
Anything like grout is not flexible. Whatever you used needs to be able to expand and contract. Unless you really enjoy it and want to do it every couple years.
From: Bob Rowlands
23-Oct-24
2x6 walls filled with foam have an 'R' value of about a million. I've been at work trimming a foam insulated house in the winter, touched a foamed exterior wall that wasn't yet covered with drywall, and it is warm. For residential construction no insulation comes close to holding the heat like foam.
Anyway back to topic. lol
From: CFMuley
23-Oct-24
My girlfriend and I just rechinked a log cabin in Wyoming a few weeks ago. We first removed all the old loose chinking, then put foam in the larger gaps of the chinks and checks, and then filled the chinks and checks with a product called Log Jam. Let it dry and stained the whole thing. It was our first time attempting it, but I think it turned out fairly well overall.
From: cnelk
23-Oct-24
Every building moves with expansion and contraction, regardless of construction
From: RonP
23-Oct-24
i have some experience with this and would not use tile grout or a home brew. tile grout won't last and won't move with the expansion and contraction of the logs. if the openings and joints are not too wide, you can use caulk. i like a product from sashco called log builder. permachink makes something similar. otherwise, if the openings and joints are larger, you should use chinking. if you do it right it will last, and you will only need to do occasional maintenance.
From: Knifeman
23-Oct-24
Logjam in a large caulk tube. Get a battery milwaukee caulk gun. Use a small tuck point trowel to smooth it out, then a small wet foam brush to finish it off. I have used it many times as a painting contractor, its super easy. You can tape areas you dont want it to stick on the logs.
From: SD
23-Oct-24
Lots of large gaps. CFMuley mentioned filling in gaps with foam then chinking outside of that. The other method for filling in the large gaps is to tack in mesh wire. Other methods?
And thanks for the help guys. Google can give info overload.
From: Norseman
23-Oct-24
Lock this racist thread! I mean, really….some of you!
From: ILbowhntr
23-Oct-24
Closed cell foam backing rod or tape. Why would you use something that’s made for something else. We used to make good money going in and repairing homes that people were told that this or that will work. Do what you want, just do it right.
From: scent
23-Oct-24
Bou, I have to admit I get everyone of your comments the way they are designed... and it pisses me off! lol You are humorous.
From: Bruce
24-Oct-24
Dryvit synthetic stucco. Flexible and sticks like crazy. Use foam board backer or mesh and chink like masonry or permachink. It is way cheaper than the log home stuff and many colors. I have put it on cabins 30 plus years ago and still holding.
From: BTM
24-Oct-24
"Anything like grout is not flexible. Whatever you used needs to be able to expand and contract. Unless you really enjoy it and want to do it every couple years." So true!
From: SD
24-Oct-24
Does the foam backing have to be a certain type such as the "closed cell backing rod", or can I run down to Lowes and get a sheet of that pink foam board and cut it to fit? Or does Lowes carry the backing rod? To be honest I'd love to be able to find the materials at the local hardware store rather than having to order online, just don't know what I'm looking for yet.
Forgive my ignorance on this stuff. I've done some remodeling and basement finishing, but only on stick buildings. This log stuff is new to me. And no, I don't want to do it again in a couple of years.
From: OTC_Bowhunter
24-Oct-24
Bou, you da man!
From: cnelk
24-Oct-24
Just think of all the drywall mud in your house. It’s not flexible. It doesn’t crack, when the house moves a little ;)
From: ILbowhntr
24-Oct-24
Not the same dynamic movement. Studs are vertical, logs are horizontal and more mass to absorb and lose moisture.
From: ILbowhntr
24-Oct-24
Not the same dynamic movement. Studs are vertical, logs are horizontal and more mass to absorb and lose moisture.
From: APauls
24-Oct-24
Whatever you use make sure it's flexible.
From: Bob Rowlands
24-Oct-24
I've seen cabins built with green logs that dried out. The gaps could have been chinked with cats.
From: cnelk
24-Oct-24
Some of you guys dont even know when your chain is being yanked :)
From: Redheadlover
25-Oct-24
Then let your wife decide what to use.
From: Archer Ontario
25-Oct-24
Spray foam
From: Altitude Sickness
25-Oct-24
My mud room I did years ago
My mud room I did years ago
Use a modern flexible product, as mentioned. A backer of some kind to do most of the filler. Minimizing the amount of chink material needed. Buy the correct material and cry once. Instead of cracking crumbling junk. That will need to be cleaned out and replaced.
From: Al Dente Laptop
25-Oct-24
When my buddy built his cabin, he used insulating foam ropes, I think they come in100' rolls at Home Depot and Lowes, etc... He stuffed that in first before chinking.
From: GrantK
29-Oct-24
Sealant/chinking contractor here, use any of the synthetic latex based chinking, brand doesn't matter, it's more of a regional thing what is easily available, Permachink, Log Jam, Weatherall are all fine. you can apply over pink board if the gaps are too big for backer rod, Permachink has a flat backer called grip strip that's real easy to use, use water on your trowel to get it nice and smooth, and if you are working in the summer keep the sun off of it while it dries or it will bubble.
From: Two Feathers
29-Oct-24
I used some expanding foam stuff and it filled and sealed the gaps etc. Cheap, easy but not the prettiest without finishing anything off.
From: luckychucky
29-Oct-24
Up in the North people have been chinking with sphagnum moss since time immemorial
