While the snow is falling outside I’m working on repairing chinking inside the lodge.
Most of the chinking throughout the lodge is in great shape however there are a few spots here and there that are in need of attention. Some areas are simply cosmetic repairs and other areas are in need of being completely re-chinked. As you can see in the photos there has been damage to the chinking along the fireplace and chimney.
Throughout the lodge the chinking is white and uses the same recipe as I have used before except this time I’m using white Portland cement. White Portland may be a little difficult to find. You probably will not find it at your local ‘big box’ building supply. Your best bet on locating white Portland is to contact either a masonry supply or a local cement company.
The process of replacing the chinking is the same as before and I will be posting a video of the actual chinking in progress.
I followed the same steps as I have with previous chinking tasks:
- Gather supplies and materials:
- White Portland
- Masonry Hydrated Lime
- Masonry Sand
- Insulation
- Boric Based Powder
- Tools:
- Cement Trough
- Chinking Board
- Masonry Trowel
- Hammer and or Pry Bar
- Paint Stir Stick (for inserting insulation between logs)
- Spray Bottle (to help extend the raw chinking)
- Squeeze Bottle (for applying the borate)
- Paper Towel or a rag – (for basic clean up of the logs)
- Drop Cloths
Chinking was gently removed as well as loose nails. I certainly do not want to damage the logs so I use a cushion behind the pry bar when prying out chinking.
I dust the area with borate-based Timbor and loosely insert new insulation between the logs.
In some areas the electrical conduit runs behind the chinking. I check the integrity of the wiring if all is well I’ll continue however if the electrical needs work this is the time to do it. In this case the electrical was fine.
My next step is to place the nails – I use what ever nails I have on hand but I tend to look for 2″ finishing nails. I place them approximately ever two to three inches alternating the direction. Drive the nail in about half way and bend in the head so that your chinking will
completely cover the nail. Remember this is simply to help secure the chinking.
Once the area has been completely prepared I mix my chinking:
1 part white Portland
3 parts fine masonry sand
4 parts hydrated masonry lime
I load a chinking board and holding the board to the edge of the chink line I push the material between the logs being sure to get behind the 
nails. I leave space behind the chinking so as not to compress the insulation — I want to keep that gap between the interior and exterior chinking.
I move may way along the horizontal and vertical chink lines. After I have about five feet worth of chink line done I go back and using my trowel I simply smooth it out and wipe off the logs. Then I move onto the next section.
Where the new chinking meets the old chinking I do give the old chinking a bit of a spritz of water so that there is time for the new to bond with the old. Once everything is dry I’ll clean up the old chinking with a little detergent.
I’ll soon post a video of the entire process.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
In a remote corner of Upper Michigan, my late father-in-law built several log cabins. Several of his buildings feature “upright log” construction, and many of these are in need of chink repair, so I am struggling to learn this art. I have tried your recipe with mixed success. My patched areas are much darker, and tend to crack after they dry. Here are my questions:
1. CEMENT. I cannot locate “White Portland Cement” (at least that is not how the bags are labeled) except through Lowes, who said it was a special order so I’d need to buy a whole pallet load… (hah). In your experience, are White and Gray (the more readily available type of) portland cement interchangeable, in terms of their function? I can see that the old chinking he did in the 50s and 60s is far more white that any of the test batches I’ve made. I am not sure if that color is due to his cement, the lime, or the age of the chink?
2. LIME. There is still part of a huge bag of lime (very fine, like pastry flour) in our old outhouse, sealed inside a garbage can. Used for liming the outhouse, obviously. But no label on the brown paper sack. Is this product the same as “hydrated lime?” I bought a bag of lime at a garden store, for chink tests, and found that it contains more coarse particles, less flour-like. The label does not mention “hydrated” at all. I wonder if I am using the wrong type of lime entirely?
3. SAND. These cabins are located on a “sand plains” (a glacial outwash area) and I believe that my thrifty father-in-law always used his own sand (roughly screening it for pine needles, pebbles, etc) but I assume this must contain more organic impurities that clean masonry sand. How important is sand “purity” to the chinking?
4. I’ve found references to historic buildings with fibrous material in their chink: straw, animal hair, possibly even wood pulp. Wouldn’t the addition of something like finely chopped straw cause moisture issues down the line? I have examined loose bits of chink from his various buildings, and sometimes find fibrous materials, but can’t identify them (perhaps small roots from his local sand source?).
This past summer, I built a tiny building (mostly screen), using his “upright log” technique for three short walls. I’ve filled the log gaps with galvanized hardware cloth, and nails as you suggest. In the spring, I’ll be doing my first real chink job. Trying to learn a bit more before then….
Love this website and have read some of your articles multiple times. Terrific work; incredible resource. Any advice welcome. Again, your site is a wealth of info! THANKS.
Kathleen — thank you so much for your comments and questions —
I have emailed you both my direct email address as well as my phone number so that we can discuss your questions — Please feel free to call me at any time — I sent to your gmail address
Hi. you can learn more about packing nails. how often they drive? how long? in any of the logs, bottom or the top?
Serhii from Russia/Nigniy Novgorod
from what I have read roughly every 3″ or 10cm. About 1″ or 3cm long finish nails, put in half way. Alternate the logs you put them in, some nails in each.
Hello Jack – You are correct. One other item – after you tap the nails in about half way then bend the exposed half up or down so that they are vertical or perpendicular to the plane of the wall. This will provide the proper “grab anchor” for the chinking.
Hello there,
I’d first like to thank you for writing such good informational articles.
I’m building a small building on the corner of my property out of landscaping timbers. Right now it’s going to be a play house for my daughter,but will later become a guess house. The timbers are about 4″across (flat side) & 3″ thick. I’m wondering if your chinking recipe will work for this? They have small gaps in the between the timbers now,as they are not milled to fit very tightly together. When I nailed them together,I put strips of insulation (fiberglass) in between them. Then nailed them together tightly with 6″ pole barn nails. It looks pretty good so far. Just looking to keep the moisture out. As the timbers are treated pine.
Thanks for your input.
Joseph
Hello Joseph — thank you — I appreciate it.
I’m curious as to how wide the gap is between timbers. Check out this article: Simulating a Chinked Log Wall. I have a feeling that the gaps between boards maybe a bit tight but that does not mean that there are not options.
Im going to chew on this for a little bit and email you with some potential options. In the mean time check out the article linked above.
Ok I’ll look over & read that.
If I mortar out so that it is flush with the outside (round part) of my timbers it will only be about 1/2″-3/4″ in depth. My consern is that since it’s only 1/2″-3/4″ deep will the mortar be thick enough to stay in?
You have a email address you can send me? If so I can get you some pictures posted.
Thanks again for all you do.
Joe
Joe — I tend not to have the chinking flush but set in a from the logs — you will see on some of the articles how I have inset the chinking. I am sending to your email address both my direct email address as well as my phone number so that we may discuss.
I am going to build a log cabin, out of pine. I am planning to chink it using your recipe. Just wondering how many sacks of each material I would need, if there is any way to tell. The basic dimensions of the cabin will be 15 x 30.
Hello Doug – Great to hear – Send photos — would love to see the progress. As to your question – how many sacks of material you will need for chinking? — This is a very difficult question to answer – but Ill do my best to give you at least some basic ways to figure and get a general estimate.
One problem in calculating this as that there are other questions that come up to help figure materials – Much of this depends on how wide of a chink line you are planning – so bear with me – there are a few ways to get a good idea as to the material you will need and cross reference them to check your accuracy.
I myself tend to take a few steps back, look at the project and after a few sips of coffee figure its going to be x number of bags of portland – x yards of sand and so on – as I’m familiar with how far my materials would go based upon the chinking lines here at the lodge.
Here are some basic calc methods:
The cabin is 15 x 30 – ok. What is the diameter of your logs? let’s say your logs are between 8″ and 10 – 12″ diameter. Lets assume (scary word) that the chinking will be approximately 2.5″ deep -(that would be the thickness of the chinking measured from the surface or face of the chinking line that is visible to you and the back of the chinking which extends into or between the log above and log below. So 2.5″ is the depth you have pushed the chinking between the logs up to the sill seal. The seal sill is approximately 3/4″ thick and behind the sill seal is the horizontal void of at least 1″ dead center between the very bottom of your top log and the very top of your bottom log. So that means that from the inside center of the wall or log is a total of 2.5″ comprised of void and sill seal (1″ either side of center) so half of that for the interior is 1.25. This clarifies us our starting point for the back of the chinking. the average thickness of chinking on the back side we’ll say is .75″. – This of course will vary depending on the variation in your logs, their curvature and variations in the gaps between the logs as a result – that’s why we are using the average.
Since your logs are anywhere from 8″ to 12″ in diameter the outer curvature of the log in a 2″ space is really not that significant but for our purposes lets figure that your average thickness for the face of the chinking is 2.5 to 3″ – or just 3″ — SO… .75″ (the average thickness of the backside of the chinking)+ 3″ (the average width of the face of your visible chinking line) / 2 x 2.5″ = 4.69″ sq . or about 0.39 sq ft multiply that with the number of linear feet of chinking as well as well as chinking thickness to get cubic feet. If you divide the total by 27 that will give you cubic yards. – I’ll show that in the example further below:
A much easier way to calculate just how much you need to experiment. Get a small amount of material – make the chinking – start chinking a wall and see how far it goes. Pick up a 90# bag of white portland, a 50# bag of hydrated lime and about a 1/2 yard of sand and make single or double batches following the ratio and then apply the chinking till that batch is used up. Make another batch – and continue chinking and making single or double batches until the portland, sand or lime is exhausted. Now go back and measure the total linear feet of chinking you were able to complete with that bag of portland or which ever material that you ran out of first. Since your chinking on the rest of the cabin should be fairly consistent with the portion you have already completed it should be easy now to figure your material needs based on the linear feet completed and the materials you used.
Measure the linear feet of chinking yet to be done. Just measure the total length of the walls and multiply by the number of chinking lines yet to complete this gives you total linear feet — add a few feet for chinking the corners around windows and off the like.
Figure for every 90# bag of portland you will use 7 times or so that amount in sand and lime. When you have mixed the mortar using the ratios given in the recipe – with the volume of material used in the chinking example above – thickness, depth and width of the chink line I figure that I should get about 390 linear feet of chinking done per bag of portland.
Depending on the diameter of your logs and the width and depth of your chinking you may get less or about the same. I’m going to guess but for a 15 x 30 cabin (450sqft) with 8 ft walls and 15 chinking courses per wall Id rough it at about 1,350 linear feet of chinking… one bag of chinking should last you (with the chink lines above) about 390 linear feet so I figure 3 1/2 90# bags of portland, a yard and a half of sand and about 50 to 75 pounds of lime. — Hydrated lime usually comes in 50# bags at your local farm supply, masonry supply or stone yard. Remember this is the amount needed for the interior. You will have to double the materials to include the exterior.
You can also measure the total length of all the chink lines in this case: 1,350′ or 16,200″ (total length) x 2.5″ (width chinking front to back) x 2″ (average thickness) = 81,000 cubic inches = 46.8749 cubic feet = 1.736 cubic yards. This roughly come up with the same amounts as seen above.
To make roughly 2 yards of chinking you are looking at 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 yards sand – so if you need 4 to 5 90# bags of portland for each yard of sand – thats still 3 to four bags of portland and again about 75 to just shy of 100# of lime.
Sorry to ramble but there are a lot of different ways to calculate materials needed but a lot depends on how wide and thick you make your chink lines. I have a feeling though I might be on track with the above calc of 3.5 bags portland. But do yourself a favor and pick up only a bag or two at a time and take every precaution to keep it in dry conditions till you need it. Make your chinking material in smaller batches as you move along. – Also – You may want to start at the back of the cabin where no one will notice –that way, by the time you get to the front door where all the scrutiny will be you’ll be chinking like a pro and your lines will be perfect.
Hope that helps
Hello,
First let me say thank you for this site filled with enormous amounts of info. I have no past experience with construction or log home building, but decided to embark on this journey a couple of years ago and started building a log cabin addition 6 months ago to make room for my growing family. I basically used the internet and books for details on “how to” construct a log home/cabin. Although there is nothing exactly explained out there for what I am trying to accomplish, the internet has been the biggest help by far. Your site has been an extremely helpful teacher through many phases, for example I used your log treatment recipe with great results, and I am now ready to begin chinking. I will be using your recipe, but after reading through some of these chinking discussion I am a little confused… You say 1 pt portland cement, 3 pts, sand, 4 pts lime…is a “part” measured by a shovel full? Also in the discussion above you referenced that individual needing about a yard and a half of sand? I called around to price out the materials and someone told me a yard of sand is 2600lbs??? Is that correct? For a few bags of cement, and little less than 100lbs of lime, you would need 2600 lbs of sand? Once again even though I now know how to debark, cut and set logs, build a roof, shingle a roof, pour a foundation,etc..I am still completley new to all of this especially the chinking which is about to begin. Please advise in anyway you can, thank you so much for your time and dedication.
Dave
Hello Dave — Thank you so much for visiting the site and Im so glad that you have found it useful. In a separate email I will send you my telephone number so that we can have a conversation and I will do my best to either answer your questions or get you headed in the right direction.
Been using your chinking mixture and like it. I use a material called Flex Con which adds elasticity and stickiness for adhesion to the logs.
I am addressing the hairline crack issue by wetting the area where the chinking is to be placed with water per the distributor’s advice.
Thank you for the web site information.
Hello Allen – Glad that you like the chinking mixture.
Interesting. Are you adding the Flex-Con to your chinking mix? I am aware of Flex-Con – the acrylic latex bonding admixture made by Euclid Chemical and some of their other products however I have never added any of their products to the mix.
The chinking material I make was never intended to stick to the logs but rather to be held tightly in place against the logs as a result of the nails. When chinking the mortar is pushed past the placed nails thereby surrounding and securely anchoring the material in place. Since the chinking is not actually sticking to the wood the wood is then more free to naturally shift with changing temperatures without compromising the mortar.
If necessary I have addressed hairline cracks by making a loose batch of the mix. I make a small batch of chinking but add just enough water to achieve a consistency similar to that of a thick house paint. I will then slightly damped the area with a spray bottle (water) and then touch up the area using the loose chinking mix and a paint brush. There is just enough flow to seal the hair line crack.
Allen – I would be curious to know the chinking mix with the Flex-Con performs over time compared to chinking mix without it.
Thanks
I added the flex-con for better adhesion to the existing chinking and areas where I used wire per the distributors advice.
The one thing I learned early on was keeping the flex-con mixture cool or I would end up with hair line cracks. I had to place a bag of ice in the mixture one day to keep the temp under 80.
Will let you know how it holds up.
I am restoring a ranch house and cabins that were built by my grandfather in the 20′s. The interior chinking looks to be some sort of paper mache` product. My brother remembers my grandfather having bags of a product he used for the chinking. Do you have any idea what it is and if anything similar is available today?
Hello Judy — I have no idea what might have been used – It could in fact be some sort of ground paper product used for insulation but I really have no idea. — Im sorry I wish I could be of more help to you on that — Perhaps one of our readers might know the answer to that.
In the meantime I will do some research and see if I can find any information.
Best you could change the blog subject title Log Home Chinking: White Interior Chinking and Recipe to more generic for your blog post you create. I enjoyed the post nevertheless.
hello my name is randy moore i live in east tennesee i am biulding a but and pass log home. on my land, ten min from knoxville tennesee.i am cutting and skinning my own logs.i am using yellow pine sixtyfooters.cuting them to length,spaying them with a borate recipe i got on your site. the borate recipe is great saving me lots of money,thankyou!!!!!. i have a big problem it is taking me some time to biuld this cabin.i am so close to finish ican see it. it has been raining here alot so much i cant keep up. my logs are getting black and green like a type of mold and fungus .i have pressure washed them but the stain is still there the funny thing is, not all the logs are turning green or black .i am spraying the borate and letting it soak in and making sure it has at least to days to soak in.please help me!!!!. thankyou for your time
Hey Randy — WOW 60′ logs – Glad to hear that the the borate mix is helping to save.
Stop pressure washing them — water is the enemy of logs. You are washing away the borate as well. Keep your logs off the ground. Elevate them by some meansso that they are not in direct contact with the ground. Provide air space around your logs to promote air flow. This will also help to keep them dry. If possible, using a waterproof tarp cover your logs so as to keep the rain water off. Tenting the tarp above your logs would help keep adequate airflow.
If you need to clean the logs. Use a lysol product to kill the surface mildew, mold and fungi. Clean the area with a combination of Cascade automatic dishwarer powder and warm water – this will brighten and clean stained areas without raising the grain. Apply with solution and let it stand for a few minutes and then clean it off.
Use as little water on your logs as possible. Let your logs get dry
Hi. What is the exact purpose of the lime in the chinking recipe ? Thanks. Great video.
Hey AJ — Hydrated lime in the chinking recipe helps to provide elasticity and softness to the chinking. Without it the chinking would be come too hard and would crack extensively.
Thanks – Glad you liked the video
As a follow up to my earlier post on mixing paint with the concrete, it really made no difference in appearance, texture, or flexibility. Just makes for a very messy way of applying chinking.
Hey Ted – well it was an interesting experiment.
is the chinking recipe by volume or by weight?
I handle the chinking material by volume
We just have bought a 1920 square hand cut cedar log home, the logs are between 8″ to 1 feet wide. There is no chinking since it was covered with plywood on the inside and cement with small pieces of glass and metal mesh on the outside. All of that had been removed and now we would love to chink the inside and outside. In between the logs they had put a kind of moss that is now really dry and very had to get to, unless we would use a knive or screwdriver. Before we chink, should we remove that moss, or should we leave it and chink on top of it??? Or would it be better to use a kind of sealer first and then chink??????What would you suggest???and can we use one of your recipe for chinking????We live on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada and our winter is mild and very wet (rainforest), we rarely see snow. Thank you for your help.
Hello Josee – I would try to remove as much of the moss as possible – although it may be dry I would think that should it get moist then it may stay moist for a longer period of time. In addition I would eliminate potential homes for bugs. A great insulation for between logs is wool. It dries quickly and bugs do not like it. I generally seal after chinking.
Beautiful are in which to live by the way!
On your lodge you said the the chinking was 100 years old. When you removed the old chinking I did not see any nails did they use nails 100 years ago or had they rusted away?
Hey Mark — Yes — most of the chinking here is original to when the lodge was constructed. I have had to replace very little of it. When I have had to remove original chinking I have found not so much nails as what appears to be nail-like spikes and yes some nails. – they were mostly intact. – Some I have left in place while others I pulled and replaced with nails.
I have a recent construction square timber home, built from re-used logs from the 1850′s, and in the process of restaining, I found that the chinking is a very thin layer of perma-chink, with a Drywall/Plaster backing-filler… this filler is obviously retaining water wherever the perma-chink has been lifted.
I am going to try your recipe for chinking, but was wondering if you had tried to substitute the water for white-latex paint? My thought is that might help keep the chinking a little bit softer, and flexible. Has this been tried? Or am I completely in left field?
Hello Ted – Interesting project. I have had numerous email stating similar problems with synthetic chinking. I have never tried to substitute the water for any other substance. There is the potential that it could keep the chinking softer – I don’t know however, I would be concerned with the ability for the chinking to breathe. If the chinking is unable to breathe then you may find it trapping moisture.
Why does chinking crack? We used the recipe 1,3, 1/2, but still some of the chinking cracked. Any ideas?
Any mixture we can use to repair the cracks?
Thanks!
Hello Robin – With mortar chinking there may be hairline cracks – this happens as the chinking dries. I generally leave it be — however if you wish to get rid of the hairline cracks you can make chinking mixture that is very loose – about the consistency of a thick house paint and using a utility paintbrush paint over the cracks giving it a skim coat.
If you are experiencing a great deal of cracking increase the amount of hydrated lime that you are adding to your mix.
I am thinking of doing a faux log wall in my basement. I will be using rough (maybe cedar boards), or something resembling logs. I will space them out and want to fill in the gaps with chinking. I thought if I was using ordinary drywall mud it would probably end up cracking, so thought I would check out the internet on what was used for chinking logs. Your site is very helpful. If you have any ideas I could use on the best way to do this I would appreciate it. Thanks, Bev
Hello Bev — Sounds like a cool project – Someone had contacted me about dong something very similar and I wrote an article about this called Simulating a Chinked Log Wall. Clink on the link. I hope that helps to answer your question.
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