Aspen boards application. Aspen as a building material: properties of wood. Density coefficient at different humidity levels

Starting to describe and characterize aspen as a building material (edged board, timber), I will start with the fact that many builders who build wooden houses dislike and try to avoid this type of wood, because aspen has a number of negative properties. The negative properties are as follows:

As a rule, this type of wood grows in the Middle Strip of the Russian Federation in wetlands, or in areas where there is a lot of moisture. Hence, the aspen has a very high humidity and, as a rule, in most cases a rotten structure (core). It is very difficult to select 1-grade aspen for sawing, because out of ten sawlog trunks, only one comes across that is not rotten and is ready for sawing and further processing. One cubic meter of freshly sawn edged boards and timber weighs 1:1 or 1m3 = 1000kg and is very heavy when loading. This becomes especially obvious when loading a beam, say 150x150x6000mm. On this, the vices of aspen do not end, but only begin.

Based on my own experience, I'll say that any drying of edged boards and aspen timber is a lottery (natural or chamber, it doesn’t matter) since 60% -80% of the boards will definitely be rejected because they will definitely be led or "unscrewed", i.e. they will be crooked. Only 20%-40% of the board is left ready for further processing. *
* There is even a pattern: the longer the board, the more likely it is that this event will occur.

When building, say, roofs (battens) where a 25mm thick edged board is used, builders prefer to work with coniferous boards, and this is understandable because what will happen to the roof after a short time when the aspen sheathing boards are unscrewed does not need to be explained, I think to disassemble the example with the roof truss not worth it.
That's actually all the main reasons why builders avoid working with aspen as a building material.

BUT:

Let us turn to the origins of Russian Construction Architecture, the history of wooden construction has more than one thousand years. After all, a century ago there were no such huge drying chambers, chainsaws and sawmills. The work was painstaking and time-consuming, the construction masters were less selfish, were not familiar with modern technologies and did all the work by hand (from harvesting, processing to construction). Therefore, the craftsmen understood more how and with what kind of wood to work, and what kind of approach this particular wood needs. It is for this reason that knowledge was passed to the master “through hands” with experience or by inheritance “from father to son”, therefore this profession was respected and in demand throughout Holy Russia.

Aspen edged board properties:

the material is very durable, and dry practically has the property of concrete (monolith). With age, this material only gains its weight, that is, it becomes stronger. Those who worked with dry aspen can tell how often it is necessary to sharpen the chain of a chainsaw (it gets stuck in the dense texture of wood, the chips are very large, it flies off in popcorn-sized flakes), how difficult it is to work with an ax or a hammer. That is why selected, large, dry aspen was used in the manufacture of inter-floor ceilings and roof rafters.

*Example:
I myself was not familiar with this property of aspen until I was 25 years old. Until he began to remake the roof of the parental house from a gable into a broken one. I decided to saw through the rafters with an ordinary hacksaw, after sawing a little, I realized that neither I nor the tool were suitable for this work. Later, I learned from my grandfather that the rafter part was made from cut aspen 150x50 and costs 30 years. When asked how he dared to put aspen on the rafter part. It was clearly explained to me in Russian that before putting this board on the rafter part, it had passed “natural selection”. That is, the board in the stack on the gaskets lay dried up for half a year, after which the normal boards went into business and led to the rough work. *

the material is not afraid of moisture, and being in a humid environment is not subject to decay, in addition, once in a natural dry environment, it restores all its properties.

*Here's a prime example:
I had aspen boards laid in the lower rows of the stack practically on the ground itself and lay for about 2 years in the open. I could not get to them due to the fact that the goods are constantly renewed. Pulled out and laid out in the sun, they turned white and took on the same shade as they were when they were brought to me.
That is why it is used for the manufacture of tables, chairs, benches, wells, decking, which will be open all year round. *

having gone through all the stages of sorting and processing, Russian craftsmen used it, no matter how strange it sounds, in the roofing (shingles). Aspen, not even planed in good sunny weather, has a silvery white tint. And in the rays of the sun it shimmers like “silver metallic” paint (this can be seen in the photo of the log house of the well). Those who have not seen, you are welcome to visit the city open-air museum - Suzdal, where houses and temples of wooden Russian architecture from all over Russia are collected.

it has a subtle pleasant smell that is not "tart" like needles and does not hit the nose when the temperature rises with its sharpness and does not emit resin, moreover, it does not burn when touched. It is for this reason that aspen and not needles are used to finish the steam room, or even to build the entire bath.

very cheap, because of its mass growth. At the moment, the price for 1 m3 of an ordinary aspen edged board in Moscow is 3900-4200 rubles, while needles do not exceed 5500 rubles. for 1 m3. . Selected aspen is very expensive and perhaps not worth comparing with needles.

aspen wood is used as a chimney cleaner. That is, soot is removed. And they are often or usually mixed with birch bundles.

Based on the foregoing, I strongly recommend that the first crowns of the log house (beam or chopped log) be made from aspen. It is expensive and it will take a long time to find the right aspen in sufficient quantity, but it is necessary, because this house will outlive you and your children will get it without major repairs.

TorgLes LLC Sergey

Bath from aspen timber.

If you are going to build a bath on the site, you need to choose the right material. Usually, favorite wood species are used: pine, spruce, linden. Some people prefer aspen to build a bath. What will be the aspen bath, the pros and cons of such a building, we will consider in this article.

The question may arise from people familiar with the quality indicators of aspen. Let's talk about the different properties of the tree, paying attention to the minuses and pluses. Let's start our review with the disadvantages inherent in aspen:

The tree grows in wetlands. This contributes to the rapid decay of the inside of the trunk. You can notice looseness when cutting aspen, although it is difficult to determine externally.
Aspen harvesting is rarely done. Tops of aspen up to 4–5 m in length are business. The rest of the barrel is unusable and the harvesting process becomes too expensive. Basically, the tree is cut to order.
Aspen has high moisture content, which softens the wood. This property is both a minus and a plus for builders. When dried, aspen shrinks a lot, unlike pine, linden, birch. The trunk becomes thin, with improper drying it can crack, twist.
But a wet tree is easier to process; after drying, it is impossible to manipulate the tool. Aspen becomes hard as a stone. This quality allows the aspen bath to stand for many decades without repair. The more years the log house, the denser the structure of the log.
Having decided to build a bath from aspen, be prepared for the costs, because only the second or third tree is good. When ordering wood for self-building a bath, you will have to carefully select each log. If this is not done, the rotten tree will quickly infect the logs - the log house will rot in a few years.
Having selected high-quality material, provide yourself with a bathhouse for many years, if the price becomes affordable for the budget.
The disadvantages include the appearance of the workpiece. If pine, linden, does not require additional decorative processing, then aspen does not look presentable. Spots, darkening appear on it. The log house for the bath needs to be sanded, sanded, and given a white tint. Work is carried out in the presence of moisture in the trunk.

The seasonality of wood harvesting for the construction of a bath does not allow you to order material at any time. Harvesting is carried out in the spring with the advent of tree sap. Aspen is easily processed from March to May. Later preparation is not possible. This affects the price of a bath from this tree.

Positive qualities of aspen

An aspen log house for a bath can be purchased ready-made.

Despite such a number of disadvantages, wood species also has positive qualities that contribute to the demand for this building material for a bath. Many appreciate aspen for the following characteristics:

Durability. With the right choice of material, the bath will not require replacement of logs. A dried and properly assembled log house becomes stronger every year. Moisture, pests are not afraid of aspen, it is hard as oak.
Healing properties. Many attendants note an increase in tone and an improvement in their general condition after visiting an aspen bath. It disinfects the water. This is evidenced by the fact that earlier water wells were made of aspen, the water in them did not become cloudy. A good tree does not rot, does not emit decay products that cause the appearance of fungi, microbes, and mold. There are, of course, people who experience headaches, loss of strength. Aspen is considered a mythical tree that takes energy from a person. These are all speculations. Not many people get negative feedback. Often people with weakened immune systems visit the aspen bathhouse, enjoying the aroma of the tree.
Temperature resistance. The material does not heat up like other wood species. It is well used for sheathing walls, constructing shelves, benches, if the bath was chosen to be made from a different material. Aspen does not emit resins, there is no possibility of sticking or burning, as in a bathhouse, cut down from pine without finishing.

Having considered the characteristics of aspen, someone will doubt the advisability of using such wood for a bath. Some attendants will still choose aspen for the construction of a bath, relying on its resistance to internal and external influences of moisture and temperature.

We build a bath from aspen

Choose a tree that grows in a less wetland area. The trunk must be about forty years old. These conditions will reduce the risk of acquiring heavily rotted trunks.
Harvest during the period of sap flow. At this time, the tree is easy to cut down, it is easier to process. Leave branches and bark on the trunk to dry the wood properly. The buds will absorb moisture, the leaves will bloom, the first natural drying of the log will occur. The bark will not allow the log to deform.
Clean the blanks under a canopy, avoiding the sun. Direct beams will quickly draw out moisture, leading to deformation or cracking of the trunk. This is undesirable during the drying phase.
Leave the aspen in this state until next spring, treating the ends with clay. With the first warm days, remove the bark, which will peel off easily.
Start processing logs and felling a log house. The longer the wood lies, the more difficult it will be to work with it. The ax or saw will fly off the hardened surface.
Experts recommend cutting the bath into a “paw”, and not into a “bowl”, in order to avoid cracking the logs.
Polish the logs, treat with bioprotection. Additional lining inside is not required. The aspen frame does not tar, does not heat up, creating comfortable conditions for bathing procedures.

When preparing aspen material, do not be too lazy to check each tree for rot, preventing marriage in the construction of a bath with your own hands. This is hard work and time consuming, but worth it.

What is better for an aspen bath: a solid log or timber?

Bath built from rounded aspen logs.

The bath is built both from a solid log and from a bar. In the production volume, aspen is harvested by both methods, making a thorough drying in the drying chamber. Raw materials have high humidity up to 80%, which increases the costs of the manufacturer. With complete drying, up to 50% of the material is lost. This cannot but affect the price. The labor costs for the production of timber are even higher, so the price is higher. The quality of the wood is not reduced.

You can choose ready-made, well-dried aspen for a bath to avoid the problems inherent in this type of wood. How to choose the right aspen for a bath, look at the photos and videos presented in the article.

One of the aspen baths can be seen on the video:

If an aspen log cabin is not affordable?

Aspen is often used in the decoration of the bath.

Many people choose pine or spruce for building a bath on the site. It's more accessible and less problematic. It is not necessary to abandon the aspen completely. Use it for the lower rims of the log cabin of the bath. They are more exposed to the external environment and internal humidity/temperature fluctuations. Over time, the logs will become as strong as concrete.

Make the interior trim with a pair of clapboard or aspen board, creating a comfortable environment. Aspen does not emit resin, exudes a pleasant aroma, relieves fatigue and stress.

Purchase aspen furniture. This will allow you to avoid the hassle of harvesting wood for a log house, and will make it possible to enjoy the pleasant and useful properties of aspen for many years.

Aspen barrels for cold water will disinfect it from germs. Even water left for a long time will not turn sour in such a container.

Having received information about the pros and cons of an aspen bath, draw the right conclusion on the choice of building material. In former times, this tree was valued for its hardness and durability. Many used it to build baths. Become the owner of an aspen sauna if you are ready to bear the costs, which may be higher than when choosing coniferous tree species. Such a choice will be justified by long-term operation.

Aspen has a lot of properties. But not every builder will be happy if he receives an order to build a building from this tree.

Positive properties of aspen

However, not everything is so bad. Aspen also has positive qualities, thanks to which it can be used in construction.

The first positive property of aspen is good strength. If the tree is well dried, then according to this very important indicator, it can even be compared with concrete. And over time, the aspen building only grows stronger, becoming heavier.

Another equally important positive property of aspen is moisture resistance and, accordingly, resistance to decay. If the tree itself grows in a humid environment and this inevitably rots right during its growth, then its wood can just withstand the negative effects of moisture for quite a long time. If dried aspen boards accidentally fall into a humid environment, they may temporarily lose their properties. But then, when they become dry again, all the lost properties will be restored.

Another positive property of aspen is the ability to exude a pleasant aroma. It is less tart than the smell of coniferous trees, and does not increase when the air in the room is heated. Therefore, baths are often built from aspen, and the walls of the steam room are lined with aspen boards.

And, finally, one cannot fail to mention such a property of aspen lumber as a low price. True, there is also a more expensive high-class aspen, and not everyone can afford it.

Negative properties of aspen

Often, professionals even refuse to work if they know that they have to deal with aspen. After all, many properties of wood of this species are negative.

First of all, it is worth mentioning such a negative property as an excessive amount of moisture contained in the structure. The core of the aspen trunk, as a rule, rots because of this. Moreover, the process of decay occurs even before the tree is cut down. But this is only the beginning of all problems. When deepening into the processing process, it turns out that only the top of the tree trunk is suitable for this. It can reach a length of four meters. All the same moisture contained in the structure makes aspen wood dry. As a result, one edged board has a very large weight.

In any case, if a person chooses aspen wood for building his house or for repair work, then more than half of the purchased boards will simply have to be thrown away, since they will not be suitable for work at all. Many of them will be crooked. And only a small percentage of the aspen board can be further processed.

For wood, known in Russia as "trembling poplar", a lot of ambiguous opinions have been fixed. You can’t build a house out of aspen, the tree is unfriendly, cold, crooked. You can cut down a small bathhouse. Is it only necessary in modern realities? The view of the aspen is painfully unsightly. It is undesirable to be guided by beliefs in antimicrobial and disinfecting properties (this is with a persistent smell of rot).

Tree Aspen - comes from the genus of poplars (willow family). Its value in the bud, as commercial wood, is questionable. The quality is very different even on the same type of soil. Every second tree is rotten from the inside. Therefore, aspen is bought at the price of firewood. The cost of the cube is 700-1000 rubles. A significant number of trees suitable for construction (age 30-40 years) have a rotten trunk from the inside or damage in the process. For example, for a small chapel near Lake Peipus in 2004, carpenters took a month to select aspen timber. A slight plus of aspen is the moderate taper of the tree trunk due to its strong curvature, which is not very pleasing. This breed, unlike conifers, is never straight.

We must pay tribute to the aspen - a fallen tree does not become weaker over time. Provided that it was originally healthy. Aspen can be buried in the ground. Not very afraid of water, just covered with a slimy coating with an unpleasant odor. The walls in the aspen log cabin will need to be scraped off from time to time. In fairness: under the outwardly unsightly "protective coating" that appeared when exposed to moisture, there is a white, poorly flammable wood. Aspen log fire bioprotection is not required. Street walls acquire a characteristic gray-silver hue over time. An aspen frame cracks in the same way as a pine / spruce frame. Needs a caulk. After polishing, the log looks much more attractive.

It is believed that it is better to harvest aspen for a log house in the spring, when the buds swell, which means the beginning of sap flow in the trunk. Moreover, first to stain the logs for a month in the shade or in stagnant water. Aspen, unlike oak (which is also washed, though without access to oxygen), this only makes it stronger. The carpenter's ax bounces, so the tree stiffens. The chainsaw dulls quickly on fresh aspen, dust rather than sawdust flies from under the tire.

In practice, log cabins from this breed look much more profitable (more tidy, snow-white, smell of grass) in winter. In winter, by analogy with conifers, aspen is easier to plan than debark. The debraker takes it badly.

There is a misconception - supposedly pests do not spoil the wood. The Great Aspen Longhorn Beetle Xylotrechus rusticus (pictured) and the Great Aspen Skipper Saperda carcharias specialize in aspen and poplars. With their larvae.

There is no resin in the aspen trunk. Which is good only for the operation of a freshly cut bath. In coniferous pine / spruce, for some time after the first heating, the contents of the resin pockets are melted. As a result, it smells strongly of turpentine. There is no such smell in the aspen steam room. Therefore, the atmosphere of the steam room is regarded as soft, the steam is not burning, enveloping, as if covered with a warm duvet.

This breed does not conduct heat well on the walls. The bath does not warm up for a long time, independently distributing heat from the heating zone along the wood fibers throughout the log house. But the canopy of aspen does not burn the skin. The tree does not breathe, in order to avoid dampness of the premises, it is necessary to ventilate well after visiting. What are the advantages of a log house made of spruce for a bath, unlike aspen - the ability of wood to independently remove excess moisture to the street + natural convection of air through the walls.

In everyday life, common aspen - a cursed tree (perhaps due to the characteristic whisper of leaves) during its use has acquired a trail of plausible and not very myths and superstitions. From the ability to take away mental anguish and draw illness out of the human body, to the fight against evil spirits (aspen stake). In the old days in aspen baths they ruled, guessed, steamed to protect against damage and the evil eye. Get rid of sadness and depression. As actually happens in any Russian bath. It is considered useful to lean against an aspen tree. Pain and anxiety go away. If only every tree was healthy itself ...

Aspen (Populus tremula). This tree is the closest relative of poplars. The Latin name of aspen, translated into Russian, means "trembling poplar". Aspen really has trembling leaves. A small breath of breeze - and all the foliage on the tree starts to move.

The tree can reach a height of 30 meters, has a very extensive root system. The trunk is covered with a gray smooth bark, the wood is white with a greenish tint. The tree has small brown buds. The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped, rhombic or rounded. In autumn, the leaves turn a deep golden red. The tree blooms with earrings, on which small flowers are located. The fruits are small boxes containing seeds with a puff. The tree is fast growing, but rather painful. The average age is 85-90 years.

History reference

Slavs from ancient times did not like this tree. There were many bad beliefs and legends about him. They didn’t plant it near houses, they didn’t heat the stove with wood firewood, and they didn’t even use the shadow from its crown. In Ukraine, wood was not used to build houses. However, aspen was used to fight all kinds of evil spirits, they made charms from it. It was believed that it saves from unclean thoughts and fear. And in the wells with aspen log cabins there was always the purest water. Nowadays, the tree is mainly used for practical purposes. It is planted for beauty in settlements, parks and gardens. The bark is used to make dyes and tan leather. Plywood, roofing materials, matches and containers are made from wood. Houses are built from aspen logs.

Aspen properties:

Its wood is practically not amenable to a wormhole.
Aspen wood in a dry state has high elasticity and in this indicator surpasses not only conifers - pine, spruce, larch, but also hardwoods - oak, ash, hornbeam, poplar, etc. Aspen beams and rafters bend much less than, for example , oak, and at the same time much lighter.
Aspen boards are white, so builders willingly use them for laying floors and ceilings.
Aspen wood, upon contact with water after drying, does not collapse, but becomes even stronger, therefore in Russia it was traditionally used for making shingles on roofs, water pipes, and for finishing cellars and building baths. The juice that appears on the surface of the raw material shingles, when dried, makes it look like varnished, due to which rainwater rolls off such shingles better.
When heated to 100 ° C, aspen does not emit resin, like conifers, and also does not heat up much, like birch, oak or beech wood, therefore it is the best material for building and decorating saunas and baths.

Scope of aspen wood:

It is used in rural construction - fellings of wells, cellars. Roof shingles (shingles) are made from aspen. In addition, aspen wood is used for the so-called plowshare - a special form of a plank in Russian wooden architecture for covering church domes. Along with linden, aspen is widely used for interior decoration of Russian baths and saunas, for turning and carving products. Aspen wood has a very light weight after drying, becoming very buoyant, making aspen a popular choice for making oars. Aspen wood is widely used for the production of barrels, containers for those foodstuffs that cannot be contaminated with impurities. Aspen has been widely used in the past and is now in the production of various consumer goods - furniture, window frames, dishes, garden tools, toys, jewelry and other products.