When installing wooden floors, logs are always required as stiffeners. They are laid on the basis of any type - wooden, soil or concrete. Their function is to support the floor boards. Installation depends on the design of the house and the choice of flooring. In this article we will talk about how much distance should be between the lags. But first of all, the reader should be introduced to the essence of the issue and introduced to the basic concepts.
There are different options for the device of sexual logs. In addition, they themselves can vary in density and thickness. The distance between the lags depends on the thickness of the board that will be laid on top, and on a number of other parameters, which are discussed below.
More about lags
They exist in the form of a rigid beam - the base on which the floor covering is laid. Most often made of wood. But in some cases, metal, concrete or even hard plastic can serve as their material. True, the use of these options is not yet very common.
Blow-rise construction (construction of cottages and private houses) most often use a wooden beam with flooring on top of it.
What are the benefits of joist floors?
1. Provided that the distance between the lags of the floor is chosen and respected correctly, the coating comes out durable and very durable.
2. The installation process is quite simple and can be done with your own hands. Before starting repairs, using a special calculator, you will need to calculate the required amount of wood, then the floors are simply assembled by hand. The whole procedure will require several days of labor.
3. Lay and level the logs using a level. That is why the floor with leaning on them is more even than without them. Among other things, the existing curvature of the concrete floor of a panel house can be leveled by laying the log at an angle and eliminate unnecessary height differences.
4. A small gap between the base and the lags makes it possible to lay the necessary communications below the floor covering. It is not only about electrical wiring, but also about water pipes. It is even possible to install a warm water floor.
5. Even in the absence of an insulating layer below the floorboards, a wooden floor arranged with lags has good thermal insulation properties. If such floors are also insulated, then even in winter you can completely abandon indoor shoes and move around the room barefoot.
6. The arrangement of the floor on the logs further improves sound insulation, which is especiallyrelevant in an apartment building. If a layer of insulation is laid under the floorboards, then the noise from the upper apartments may not reach the ears of the residents at all.
7. If one of the elements of the entire structure is accidentally damaged, it can be easily replaced with a similar one without disassembling the entire floor.
The main thing is to prepare
Thus, without special material and time costs, thanks to a special calculator and a carefully carried out calculation, the owner of the house, laying the floor on the logs, receives a whole set of amenities - a remarkably warm and even coating with sound insulation and a guarantee of absence in the next 10-20 years any serious problems with the floor.
Sometimes homeowners complain about creaking from wood floors. In order to avoid this unpleasant phenomenon, in the process of preparing the base, the most careful attention should be paid to the careful removal of sawdust and any debris. The building materials used must be pre-treated with special tools that do not allow the timber to crumble. The wooden parts fastened together should also be only suitable, carefully selected dowels and nails.
Where and how are floors on logs used
Such a practical and versatile way of flooring as logs can be used in a variety of conditions and for various types of bases. But each of the options has its own characteristic features that should be considered.
The first option for their use is laying on a wooden base. The rough wooden coating, existing or newly laid, is very often strengthened and insulated thanks to the logs built into the frame of a wooden house. Sometimes it is based on large beams and large durable logs, on top of which the foundation of the future floor is made of wood. It is possible to lay such wooden beams even on support posts or a tape-type foundation.
Installation of floors on logs is technically quite simple, with it usually there are no difficulties even for inexperienced builders who are starting to install such a structure for the first time.
Other floors
The second type of installation, which is often resorted to by the owners of private houses, is laying a log on concrete. A self-leveling concrete foundation is one of the easiest and fastest ways to build a foundation for a house with your own hands. A floor on a concrete screed can take place in almost any room without restrictions on the floor or purpose. It is quite easy for the master to place wooden logs on it with his own hands.
The third option for flooring in a private house is to lay the logs on a tightly compacted soil base. The labor costs for choosing this option are quite high. Usually they resort to this method only in summer unheated houses and outbuildings for auxiliary purposes, where it is not necessary to maintain heat all year round.
As a basis for laying the log, a small pit is arranged, whichthey are cleaned of soil and soil and covered with sand and gravel for strength. Laying of wooden beams is carried out directly on a layer of gravel, and on top of that a wooden floor covering is laid. Due to the soil located immediately under the floorboards, insulating such a floor is a rather difficult task.
In addition, there is the option of laying timber on brick or concrete columns (piles are driven directly into the ground). In this case, it is important to provide additional stiffeners in the design of the house. The fastening of the timber should be made more reliable than the classic one - with the help of dowels and self-tapping screws.
Choice of lags and beams
The purpose of a wooden beam or floor joists is a durable service for decades. But the wrong selection of materials or an error in the calculations can disrupt all plans. For the purposes of repair and construction, softwood timber is best suited. The best option is made of pine. Its wood can rightfully be considered the lightest, most inexpensive, but at the same time quite durable. Processing it is possible with your own hands.
Another species of conifers - larch - will require more serious costs. Its advantage is that larch wood is practically never subject to decay. It is also characterized by high rates of durability and strength. But compared to pine larch, larch will cost you an order of magnitude more.
Other tree species (deciduous) look good as decorative coverings and are often used inproduction of furniture items. But as a material for floors, they are used much less frequently.
Things to consider
When mounting wood flooring on logs, take care of wood impregnation with an antiseptic. The products produced today provide reliable protection of wood fibers not only from rotting and moisture, but also from all sorts of woodworm parasites. In addition, they reduce the risk of fire.
When calculating the distance between the lags and choosing their thickness, take the material, providing the necessary margin of safety. It is understood that the received values will not only be rounded up. It is required to purchase a bar slightly larger than the one whose size was obtained as a result of the calculation. These measures are taken as a safety net in case of an unpleasant situation - if the installation of the floor is carried out with errors and the distance between the lags is greater than necessary.
Arranging wooden floors, sometimes they do without timber at all. If you are building a small light house, perhaps thick boards placed on edge will serve as lags. By reducing the distance between the elements of the entire structure, you add reliability to it. The strength as a result will be no less than with the standard version.
The shape of the lags used in the repair and installation of floors is rectangular. The aspect ratio should be 1:2 or 1:1.5. Floors can also be mounted using a log with a square section, but this form implies a reduced margin of safety, and therefore they should be laid at a smaller distance relative to each other.
What is the optimal distance between floor joists?
In order to achieve the strength and durability of the laid floor covering, to prevent creaking and deflection of the floorboards, a preliminary calculation of the required distances between all elements of our construction without exception is necessary. Not only the service life of the coating depends on its correctness, but also the amount that the repair will cost us.
The size of the lag can be different depending on the place where they are to be laid. For example, when repairing a floor in an apartment building with an existing wood or concrete floor, you can get by with thin beams to fasten floorboards. If you are building a frame building, the logs most often serve as the necessary elements of this frame, that is, their function is the carrier. Since they have to withstand the weight of the entire structure, their size is taken much larger, and the distance between the lags also changes.
What factors should be taken into account when performing the calculation
1. The thickness of the material from which the floor is mounted (chipboard or boards). It is clear that the distance between the joists for plywood is not comparable with the dimensions when laying a heavy board.
2. The load at its maximum value per square meter of coverage.
3. The approximate distance at which the lags will be located.
Having decided on these parameters, you can begin to select the section and size of boards, timber and all other materials needed in the repair or construction process. Calculating the optimal numbers of distances from one elementto another, it is convenient to use either a table or a special calculator.
It should, among other things, take into account that they cannot be placed further than 30 cm from each wall. Because of this, the distance between the lags must be adjusted by the necessary amendments. When the results of calculations yield a fractional number of elements, rounding is performed to the larger side. For example, if the calculator showed the required number of lags - 9.5, then it is optimal to take 10 pieces and slightly reduce the gaps.
The table below shows which distance between lags should be chosen depending on the initial parameters.
Not worth saving
If you take only 9 lags in order to save money, the strength of the wooden floor will be reduced. The savings in this case will not be as significant as we would like, since the cost of materials in general is not too high.
You can ask about the price of logs and floorboards not only in hardware stores or on the Internet, but also at a sawmill, where you can buy any wooden products and materials much cheaper.
Saving by reducing the distance between the lags when installing the floor is not the best idea. In addition, it is important to pay attention to the dimensions of the logs themselves and the required density. If the distance between them is increased, then the floor boards may be subject to deflection. When the flooring is not made of boards, but, for example, of slabs, the latter can easily crumble or become covered with a network of cracks.
So bailsuccessful repair and a guarantee of the preservation of a high-quality wooden floor for many years to come - an accurate calculation of all the necessary dimensions (also thanks to a calculator), the choice of high-quality suitable wood species and a competent approach to preparing the base.
