not chinking a log wall

[Fredishostile]

hello and everybody and please dont hate me for what im about to ask lol. i own a 200 year old log home that i am currenttly remodeling. i knew the house was log when i bought it and so i have decided to expose some log and other will be covered with drywall. so heres my question :D
this particular wall is an outside wall and the logs on the out side are covered with clap board and aluminium siding with some kind of foam backing ( i saw it in a crack if the clap board). i have removed all chinking from the wall and now its just the logs and the clap board and the siding (just like the frame portion of the house except horazontial instead of vertical) and i was wondering if i could instead of chinking the logs sinice the gaps are a good 4-7 inches wide if i could threat them like horizontal bays and put fiberglass insulation between the logs R30 9 1/2 inch thick pink pather... i can hear the yelling a screaming already :D...
i know the chinking helps with the structural integity of the home and make the logs more soild and keeps the weather out but there is no sign of mosture with the clap board and the siding there and i want to put 2x4 scabs to level the wall and hang the drywall so this could act as a reinforcer to the log and make them as soild as if they had chinking right?
so in the end the wall would be as follows outside to inside: aluminium siding with foam backer, then clap board, then 9 1/2" inch think logs with 9 1/2" insulation between the logs, then a vapor barrier, then 2x4 scabs to hang drywall and reinforce the logs, and finially drywall .... soo i ask with quivering voice do u think this would work well ?????
and i wish to stress that the wall is the same set up as the frame portion of the house but just horizontial bays instead of vertical ones and the same clap board and siding on the outside ooo and the studs are 9" thick and 9" wide of coarse :/ lol

[rreidnauer]

I don't see a problem with that. As long as you're fairly confident insects/animals won't get into the fiberglass, it's fine what you are intending. If the type of log wall I think it is, the chinking doesn't really provide any significant structural support. I'd doubt nails in shear of a scabbed on 2x4 would have much effect of providing support. If you are concerned about providing support to maintain log spacing, I'd suggest you install a "shim" between the logs every so often. (Sort of like using stickers when drying freshly milled boards)

[Basil]

yea, it doesn't sound like a problem to me either. Chinking won't provide much in the way of structural support, and if moisture isn't capable of getting in, as well as mice, and other critters, you are good to go

[Fredishostile]

as for the critters i want to put a backer of heavy mesh with small holes this should keep the big critters out ... and i was wondering if i should dust the logs or the fibberglass with a bug repelent say borax or boric acid .... if i did this assuming it stays dry how long would this deter insects??

[loghousenut]

From your name I'da thunk you were a crazy thinking, hostile sort of a fellow. The more you post, the more I think you oughta finish the building you're working on, take the class, and become one of us. Seems like you already think like us.
PS... I think you are dead-on course with the project you posted about. Dust with boric acid and metal lath to hold the chinking and that place will last another 100 years or so. Where's the photos?
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/Wow/5thcourse10-6-09037.jpg

[Fredishostile]

PS... I think you are dead-on course with the project you posted about. Dust with boric acid and metal lath to hold the chinking and that place will last another 100 years or so. Where's the photos?

im confused now as i stated above my plan is to not chink the wall and put fiberglass insulation between the logs with mesh backer between the clap board/siding and the insulation to keep out vermin... no motar or synthetic chinking material at all and i like the idea about 2x4 bracing between the logs
ps cant figure out how to upload pics .. unless test test
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs545.snc3/29861_121868177839974_100000503784359_230739_18082 03_n.jpg
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs525.snc3/29861_121884067838385_100000503784359_230969_56452 11_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs525.snc3/29861_121884144505044_100000503784359_230980_42717 75_n.jpg

[rreidnauer]

. . . . .dust the logs or the fibberglass with a bug repelent say borax or boric acid .... if i did this assuming it stays dry how long would this deter insects??
That's a permanent fix.

[Timberwolf]

so in the end the wall would be as follows outside to inside: aluminium siding with foam backer, then clap board, then 9 1/2" inch think logs with 9 1/2" insulation between the logs, then a vapor barrier, then 2x4 scabs to hang drywall and reinforce the logs, and finially drywall .... soo i ask with quivering voice do u think this would work well ?????

The only thing that would concern me about your plan is the vapor barrier. To me, logs are meant to breathe, and this (again to me) would stop that from happening properly. I would avoid that part.

[Fredishostile]

the reason why i want to put a vapor barrier is so when its cold outside (and hopefully very warm and cozy inside !!!!) ... the moisture in the warm air (as warm air holds alot of moisture compared to cold air) when escaping through the walls doesnt condence when i hits the colder environment between the insolation and the siding, which could lead to molding of the insolation and evenually the rotting of the logs since the wet moldy insolation would be making contact with the logs (wood + water = rot , rot + time = very bad things).. plus the insolation already has a vapor barrier on it but putting one on the whole wall would protect from moisture escaping through and condensing on/ in the logs and by proxy the insolation since they make contact... the logs will still breathe but this with the use of the vapor barrier they must breathe towards the outside ;) ( im not a meany i would never tell anyone they werent aloud to breathe :D )... if my logic is flawed please let me know
thank you
fred

[donjuedo]

This brings up a topic that has often confused me. I definitely understand that warm moist air will lose water as condensation when that air comes in contact with a cooler surface. I even understand dew points.
I get that moisture can accumulate in exterior walls, when there is a temperature difference, and the moisture leads to mold. What confuses me is that most explanations I've seen focus on Summer or Winter, depending on the part of the country the home is in. Wouldn't moisture flow into the wall from inside, in the Winter, and from outside, in the Summer? So if it goes both directions, when there's no barrier, how do you choose the side for the barrier?
I may not have a clear idea of what that barrier is doing, exactly. Is water going to condense on the barrier, instead of the wall interior? The barrier is still behind sheetrock, but not as deep in the wall as fiberglass, for example. Or maybe with the barrier just behind the sheetrock, moisture getting to the barrier hasn't reached a cold enough temp to condense. I like the logic of that, but it only makes sense for Winter. That scenario almost seems counter-productive for Summer.

Maybe I'm confusing a barrier I've seen on the interior side of studs, before sheetrock, with barrier I've seen on exterior sheathing (like Tyvek house wrap).

Peter

[Fredishostile]

well Don this is just me thinking and dont take my word on it cause im just in my earily twentys and am still young, dumb, and think i know everything according to my dad :D but going back to moisture content in the air ... warm air can hold a huge amount of moisture and cold air not so much thats why when hot air meets cold air you get moisture and even condensation ... now lets reverse the process its now summer time and hot as megan fox in transformers when she is leaning over that yellow 1976 camaro ... but i digress .. lets say you got your AC blasting that sweet heaven that is cold air into your home (i dont have AC so this is a mute point be lets say i did) cold air can hold less what? ... "anyone anyone bueller anyone" thats right u got it moisture. so now you have that precious cold air trying with all its might to leave your lovely home (what a bitch) but since the warm air can hold alot of moisture and since the cold air can hold hardly any... when they meet the warm air simply takes on the moisture of the cold (which isnt much) and continues out of the wall and they live happily ever after!!!! KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS WITH NO VAPOR BARRIER
hope this helps like i said im young and dumb so i could be wrong im not a carpenter or a builder or very handy for that matter... this is just me trying to use some common sense!!! ..... HEY WAIT A MINUTE i was the one suppose to be asking to questions here lol
hey while i was typing this long winded explanation i thought about looking up a diagram picture are so helpfull (worth a thousand words and all)
http://insulationinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/vapor_barrier-1024x705.jpg
and with out going all john madden on the picture just change the cold and warm on the picture with a correct vapor barrier and as long as it is working properly no moisture
just keep in mind that the vapor barrier should alway be towards the living space and the insolation between the vapor barrier and were the hot and cold would meet and your set!

[helenk579]

I don't see a problem with that. As long as you're fairly confident insects/animals won't get into the fiberglass, it's fine what you are intending. If the type of log wall I think it is, the chinking doesn't really provide any significant structural support. I'd doubt nails in shear of a scabbed on 2x4 would have much effect of providing support. If you are concerned about providing support to maintain log spacing, I'd suggest you install a "shim" between the logs every so often. (Sort of like using stickers when drying freshly milled boards)
I also think so.