For a number of centuries, the windows of wooden houses were traditionally decorated with carved platbands. Once upon a time, such an ornament could tell a lot, for example, about the we alth of the owners. In ancient times, people, being illiterate, could navigate by the carved architraves on the windows in a wooden house and find a certain place - present or green, the home of an official or the right artisan. However, now everything has changed. The platbands on the windows perform only a decorative function. But each of the patterns nevertheless carries its own special meaning.
A little bit of history
In the days of mass wooden architecture, windows were "glazed" with mica or fish bladder. The framing function of those times was purely practical. The platbands on the windows from the street acted as insulation and wind insulation, closing the gaps between the frame and the window.
Sacred patterns on them appeared for the first time in the dwellings of the ancient Celts. The heyday of the art of making carved wooden architraves fell on the period of the revival of Russiaand associations under the Moscow leadership after the overthrow of the Mongol yoke. In Russia in those days there lived many masters of wooden carving - true virtuosos of their craft.
The apron and teremets with kokoshnik had the main sacral meaning. Overhangs and heads most often differed in functional and informative load. The platbands were at the same time a kind of amulets against evil (in the form of a tympanum with an apron) or talismans that attracted goodness (kokoshniks with support, window sills). In different villages of old Russia, it was customary to carve specific figures as talismans and amulets. Images of the firebird, the sun, horses and fish were common. A stylized floral ornament was considered a universal amulet.
In Soviet times, the platbands were called by the Bolsheviks a relic of philistinism. They declared war. And only now amazingly beautiful architraves with decoration have returned to the windows of Russian houses. We can say that this decor element is experiencing its second birth.
Back to the present
These days there is a great variety of "advanced" materials. But, oddly enough, carved wooden architraves are still relevant. If you are the owner of a wooden house, then you should consider this option - decorating the facade with a beautiful carved frame. And we will tell you what types of it exist, and you can choose the right option for yourself. We will also give a photo of platbands for windows of various configurations.
Postructures, they can be overhead (attached to the wall), plug-in or box-shaped - designed to be fixed on the slopes of window openings or frames. Platbands-portals, often supplemented by visors, have an additional function - window insulation and insulation. Those platbands that act only as a frame are not suitable for protecting window insulation. They are usually placed on those windows that are protected by a canopy, for example, on the veranda.
About types of architraves
In the article we will talk only about wooden products. Agree, plastic platbands on the windows of a house made of wood, even if they are easy to use, do not look at all. It is unlikely that such a decoration option can be considered a sign of good taste. The same applies to products made of iron or polyurethane.
There are several options for carved wooden architraves, each is good in its own way. Any of them corresponds to a specific style of the structure. It is important to choose the ones that will work best for your home.
Let's talk first about ready-made platbands for windows. Standard products manufactured industrially can have a surface of various configurations. If it is made in the form of straight planks, then this simplest option is suitable for a wooden house built in a modern style. Such slats are always of high quality processed and have almost perfectly even corners. Clear lines emphasize the beautiful texture of the wood, while the products look quite modern. Wooden platbands on the windows, the photo of which is given below, are simple and concise.
There are ready-made platbands, consisting of elements with rounded edges. Most often they are used for interior decoration of apartments and houses, for example, they make out a doorway. But they are also suitable for outdoor use, provided they match the general direction of the design.
Products of a semicircular shape are convex surfaces. They are ideal for you if you are planning to imitate a beam or a log. Careful selection of products should be given special attention - any flaw on the oval-shaped element will be very noticeable. This type is suitable mainly for buildings in a modern style.
Figured architraves on windows in a wooden house are the most interesting of all standard options offered. They can have different profiles, widths, and curly (rather than straight) surfaces. They are suitable for those who do not like even simple elements. Original products can not only be bought, but also made to order. Of course, this will affect the price, but the framing of your windows can no longer be called standard. In the photo - platbands on the windows in a modern style wooden house.
How purchased platbands are attached
The workflow here is not difficult. Having bought ready-made products, you can immediately get to work. A big plus is the ability to use the casing both inside and outside the building.
How to get started? First of all, all necessary measurements must be taken and the number of elements needed and recorded in detail.their length. The standard size of products sold, as a rule, is 2.2 m. Knowing the size of the windows, you can easily calculate how many ready-made elements you need to buy. At the same time, some of them will inevitably go to waste.
Frames for windows in a wooden house are most often sold from pine. When buying, carefully inspect the surface. If there is no blueness, damage, etc., we can talk about the absence of marriage. Purchased platbands must be dry. By purchasing wet material, you run the risk of experiencing deformation later.
Purchased blanks should be cut according to the dimensions of the openings checked again. This is done with a special device called a miter box. The platbands are cut at an angle of 45 degrees to obtain perfectly matching joints. Even before installation, it is recommended to apply protection in the form of a special coating on them. Why before installation? So the elements can be processed from all sides. In addition, you do not risk staining the window and wall. Both paint and a certain special composition are taken as a coating, which allows emphasizing the beautiful structure of wood. The main requirement for the coating is weather resistance.
The trim, ready for installation, is attached to the intended place with self-tapping screws or finishing nails. The latter are not striking and can be matched to the desired color to match the selected color. Carefully placing the product, it is nailed. In this case, it is worth using a finisher to drive the nail to the end without damaging the wood.
Another option is the simplest do-it-yourself window trims
Lovers of simplicity and natural lines, as well as those who want to save money, can advise products made by their own hands. The lightest option is made from unedged boards with one uneven side. It should be cleaned of bark, polished and in this way an element of any chosen shape should be obtained. Edged boards are also suitable, on one side of which bumps are randomly cut out. You will get a very original design that emphasizes the individuality of your windows.
Framing wooden trim on windows can be done with curly ends, carefully trimmed to enhance the stylish effect. The material can be artificially aged using special tools.
If you want something more complicated, we can advise you to create a stencil of any profile. The drawing is transferred to the material, and then cut out with a jigsaw. This process is completely simple, and the result will be a frame for your window of the original form. When choosing boards suitable for home-made platbands, it is better to stop at processed ones. But simple boards are also suitable, you just have to do their own grinding. In this case, the thickness should not be large, because the cut elements will not bear any load.
Perfect smoothness of the elements is achieved through careful processing with sandpaper. As a decorative coating for your platbands, choose a varnish or paint of the intended shade. If you plan to pre-age the surface, this is done with a wire or plastic brush placed on a drill. After suchprocessing, the soft layers are removed, and only the textured surface remains. It is best to apply a protective composition in a couple of layers for maximum reliability.
Home-made wooden platbands are attached to the windows in the same way with finishing nails, the number and length of which are selected depending on the weight and thickness of the elements.
How to choose a tree for architraves
Wood must first of all be of high quality. In addition to the pine mentioned above, you should pay attention to larch without knots. The thickness of the boards should be taken from 30 mm. It is better not to take a knotted spruce. The contours of the knots will be outlined very quickly under any type of coating, and then they may fall out.
The wood of carved architraves must be suitable for the carving process - viscous and dense enough. Good, but rather expensive breeds are beech and oak. Alder, linden and aspen can be used after impregnation carried out twice, and the wood is impregnated through the first time. It is best to do this with a water-polymer emulsion, as well as silicone, oil or mineral impregnation. It will protect the wood from decay. You should not take a birch tree, even high-quality impregnation does not save it from fungus. The simplest option for a carved platband is ordinary cheap plywood impregnated twice with a water-polymer emulsion.
Third option - slotted architraves
This solution is more complex. In its original appearance and laboriousness of manufacture, it differs greatly from those described above. Appliesthis decoration option is to the traditional folk style and is not suitable for every home.
Ornaments of carved platbands for windows have long been created on the basis of rapport - elements located linearly, with the help of which a seamless pattern was formed. By varying the number of rapports and their size, any type of platband is easily developed. By a combination of two or three rapports, it is possible to obtain a large number of very different patterns. Various stencils can be matched with broken or curved lines, turned upside down or rotated 45 degrees.
It can be implemented in a wide variety of options. There are ready-made templates, and nothing prevents you from creating your own fantasy drawing. Just remember that overly pretentious elements will not be easy to translate into action. The manufacturing process, although not super complex, will take you enough time. The main thing is to be patient and have everything you need to work.
In the photo below - hand-made wooden architraves for windows.
Getting Started
What do we need? It is advisable to take boards of the required width and length already processed to facilitate the task. The main working tool is a jigsaw. It should be supplemented with blades for curly cutting with a fine tooth (for better work quality). The holes into which the jigsaw will be inserted will need to be drilled with a drill with a drill, the main requirement for which isit should be wider than the jigsaw blade. The pattern is applied using ready-made patterns or made by hand in the desired scale.
What does the workflow look like? First, as usual, the workplace is prepared. To free your hands and not hold the workpiece, it is better to firmly fix the material at a convenient height, for example, using a clamp or simply pressing it with something heavy. Trim patterns for windows are drawn on a computer (or ready-made options are selected), enlarged to the required scale and printed out. If you have to create a lot of elements, it is preferable to cut them out of cardboard - for strength.
Transferring a pattern from cut patterns is a simple task. If the drawing is simply drawn on paper, then marking can be done using a carbon paper placed under a sheet with a pattern. Outlining curly lines, you will get a fairly accurate markup. In the absence of carbon paper, the paper is simply pierced along the outline of the drawing, then the points are connected by smooth lines.
After finishing the markup, we proceed to the main work. Elements from the edge of the board are cut out quite easily. But internal patterns require a different approach. We choose the place where it is most convenient for us to start, drill several holes, then insert the blade of the jigsaw there and carefully cut out the pattern, observing the accuracy of all lines.
Having completely finished cutting out all the elements, let's start bringing our window casing to perfect shape. Using sandpaper, carefully grind all the cutouts, level the surface, round the edges. Finished items must not haveno protruding wood fibers. After that, the casing is covered with a protective material. You can paint it in one tone or make it multi-color. This will emphasize the different parts of the pattern.
Fourth option - overhead thread
This type of carved window frames also belongs to the traditional solutions that have been popular for many centuries. What is the difference between it and the previous one? This product consists of two parts. The base is a flat or figured board on which carved elements are attached. They can also be placed on the side. This design looks much more voluminous and expressive and allows you to get the maximum decorative effect.
Simplifies manufacturing by using a large number of small-sized elements. That is, the casing does not require cutting out entirely. Wood for such a product can be taken differently. The base is made of pine or other durable and reliable species. It is best to make overlay elements of the window trim from cherry or apple - these types of wood are easily processed and, being cut with high quality, serve for a very long time and reliably.
These days, cutting out the overlays from plywood sheet has become a popular solution. This reduces the labor intensity of the work and at the same time saves money. A variety of carved elements can be arranged in one product - sometimes an openwork frame can look downright luxurious. The only big drawback is that the manufacturing process is very, very laborious.
Carved wooden architraves for windows with overlays
If you try to stack elements one on top of the other, the result can look amazing. The manufacture of such a window design is carried out similarly to the above options. We will only mention the differences inherent in the workflow. Having chosen the option (with a flat or carved base), make it as described above. The top decor is cut either from plywood or from a board of small thickness. To speed up and simplify the workflow, plywood is necessarily moisture resistant. If you take an ordinary sheet (even with a high-quality coating), after a couple of years it will definitely swell and warp.
Unlike board, the strength of plywood is almost the same in all directions. If you cut out the platbands from it in several layers, it is possible to give each level its own decoration. Visually, such a window trim will look no worse than the old masterpieces of the masters of the last century.
Do not forget to carefully sand all the elements. Then they are dyed. The most expressive decorative effect is achieved by painting the base and top overlays in contrasting colors. To do this, as in previous cases, is required before assembly, because it is very problematic to paint such an elaborate design on the spot. A win-win solution would be a light pattern made on a dark background. You can install such platbands in the traditional way or make it easier for yourself by using one of the modern adhesivematerials.
The most difficult option is carved platbands
This look is very, very difficult to make. But the window decoration will look simply luxurious. Photos of carved platbands on the windows amaze with their beauty and originality.
There are two main types of products:
- The ones that are made with cutters by hand. This is the most expensive option. After all, from beginning to end, it is done by the hands of a master. You can make such a casing on your own, only with some practice. Only those who are familiar with the technique of wood carving will succeed in successfully coping with the work. A custom-made platband like this will cost quite a lot.
- A platband made using a special machine - a milling cutter. It will look no less luxurious. Any conceived pattern or composition in the form of a picture is entered into a computer program that controls the machine. At the same time, it is possible to implement almost any ideas. Of course, few of us can boast of having such equipment at home. Such options are usually made to order, and quite quickly.
With the help of a milling machine, real pictures on wood are created. It makes no sense to cover the workflow in this article (thread technology, including on a machine, is a separate topic). Let us focus only on the features of the installation, since, if done incorrectly, it can lead to damage to a very expensive decor.
The finished item is usually issuedcustomer without any coverage. The structure of the wood should be protected with a high-strength compound. One of the suitable options is yacht varnish, which is resistant to atmospheric precipitation and retains its consumer qualities for a long time. The treatment should be carried out in two layers for reliable protection of absolutely any surface area. Especially pay attention to the bends and indentations - the compound must get there.
After drying all the elements, they are tried on with the location of each of the parts determined. If the design is already assembled, you can immediately start assembling. Marking is more convenient to conduct with chalk. The platband is lubricated with carpentry glue, carefully installed in the intended place and pressed well. This work can be considered finished.
