How to make a pigtail in a house made of timber and not make a mistake with the choice

Finishing casing: appearance and technical requirements

The purpose of installing a frame in a house made of timber is to get warm windows for many years. To achieve this, you need the right casing. We have analyzed the offers of leading manufacturers, studied the forums and are ready to share with you conclusions, step-by-step instructions and life hacks.

Appearance

• Polished product impregnated with antiseptic. It is pleasing to the eye and pleasant to the touch.
• On the outside of the box, a quarter is selected for installing a window or door frame
• All parts of the installed casing fit together with minimal gaps.
• The width of the casing is equal to the thickness of the wall. This allows you to install the trim immediately after installing the windows.

Diagram of the casing of a window opening in a timber house.
Specifications

• The casing moves freely in the grooves selected in the walls and does not interfere with the shrinkage of the house
• Wood moisture content is within 12-14%. This moisture remains in the workpieces after forced drying.

The finishing butt is made from chamber-dried pine or spruce.

• The groove in the casing for installing plastic windows or doors is selected at the factory and corresponds to the width of the frames of future windows
• The points of contact with the wall are insulated with environmentally friendly insulation.
• The parts of the pigtail are connected to each other without nails, in a self-jamming lock. It will be good if the locks are additionally coated with sealant.
• There is a wind lock under the bottom board, also insulated, for example, with jute fiber.
• In 2022, a glued frame is considered more reliable, that is, made from individual bars glued together under a press.

Proper casing does not require finishing of slopes. That's why it is also called finishing.

The groove for installing a plastic window is clearly visible.

The window sill is part of the casing.

The window looks beautiful. Platbands will give the opening a finished look.

The seam between the casing and the wall is insulated. The lock reliably fixes the casing parts.

The finishing cap allows you to complete the work phase with closing the warm perimeter of the log house in a short time. The cost may be more expensive than the windows themselves.

Making a pigtail

Making a pigtail from solid wood with your own hands is possible!
To do this you will need a number of hand tools and the ability to work with them. It is much more difficult to properly prepare and dry the material for making casing. The same work on the production of pigtails, performed on production equipment, will take much less time and will give a higher quality result. Making glued sockets at home, without special equipment, is impossible.

Buying glued material, such as furniture panels or stair strings, and using it to produce casing is also not a good idea. The adhesive used in the manufacture of such products is not intended for use in areas of constant high loads and aggressive environments (heat and cold).

A glued load-bearing beam is ideal for performing these works, but due to the high cost of such material and the large number of scraps, the price of the blanks is higher than simply buying a ready-made socket from the manufacturer.

Rough casing

The only reason for the conscious choice of rough casing in a timber house, in my opinion, may be the desire to install a plastic window sill and plastic slopes to match it. You can only save on the type of wood. Because in all other cases, imaginary savings ultimately turn into greater costs.

A high-quality rough frame should also be made from a dry board. Unlike finishing, it does NOT select a quarter. The windows are mounted on mounting plates, just like in a stone house or an ordinary apartment. Then these plates are covered with extensions, and the end with platbands.

The option of finishing slopes with plastic additions together with a plastic window sill looks good.

Rough casing made of dry pine.

Embedding block

Unfortunately, out of ignorance, people often agree to poor-quality rough casing. It is a board with a bar nailed along it, which is placed in a groove selected in the opening. That’s why it’s called “embedded block.”

Poor quality casing

In addition to the costs of finishing the slopes, you can get hidden problems:

• will guide the board when drying, and it will pull the window along with it
• a screwed block may become bent and create a gap leading to the street
• the self-tapping screws of the fastening plates can go right through the casing and fix it to the wall of the house, thereby violating the very idea of ​​the casing

Lumber for casing is purchased on the market. The board sizes are limited in width. This means they can stick out from the wall or be narrower than it. In this case, you will also get access to the platbands.

Casing into the embedded block 1 year after operation. The block had come off, there was little or no insulation. A gap had formed from the house to the street; it was impossible to sit near the window - it was cold!

Shuvoe.ru company specialists have repeatedly encountered reworking poor-quality rough casing - read this article https://shuvoe.ru/blog/obsada-v-zakladnoj-brusok.html

Didn't understand what was written? Want more information? in the comments and get an answer from a specialist at Shuvoe.ru LLC, a company that has been casing and finishing log buildings for more than 25 years. There are already +50 replies.Go to comments

Suitable formats and sizes

The edging of openings is necessary in houses made of ordinary, planed and profiled timber. Highly recommended for houses made of dry and laminated timber. The main reason for its installation is the phenomenon of shrinkage, that is, a decrease in the volume of wood when drying. When shrinkage occurs, the height of the cut openings decreases, and the timber in the walls can rotate and crack.

If you install windows without casing in a house built from freshly sawn or dried timber, then soon through gaps will appear between the beams on both sides of the window to the street - the timber will hang on the screws that secure the window. There will also be a suspended beam that rests on the frame from above. That is, the entire upper part of the house will rest on the window frame. She won't last long. At first the windows will open poorly, then they will stop altogether. The frame will most likely warp and the glass unit will crack.

To prevent this from happening, casing boxes are installed in the openings. For timber houses, T and P type sockets are suitable. It is easy to distinguish them, look at the end of the pigtail - it will look like the corresponding letter.

P-casing and a quarter.

T-casing made of solid wood with a glued tenon.

Recommended dimensions for walls made of 100 mm timber

Recommended dimensions for walls 145 – 150 mm

Recommended dimensions for walls 200 – 220 mm

Important! The dimensions in the tables are correct for standard window openings. If the length or width of the opening exceeds 2 meters, then install casing with a thickness of 90 mm or more.

Find out the price for lining your home!
Send window sizes to WhatsApp - click to start chat We ship casing throughout the Russian Federation, install it on a turnkey basis (with windows and trim) in Moscow and neighboring regions. Casing in an embedded block carries a lot of hidden costs and delayed problems. Therefore, I will not recommend it. Read more in the article “Basics of a warm house - once again about casing in embedded timber.”

Differences in casing for windows and doors

The lower part of the window opening casing can serve as a finishing window sill. Its appearance can be customized to suit your taste. For example, move the window sill inside the room and expand the protruding part to the sides. This is called “with ears.”

In another case, if the window has a plastic window sill, the lower part of the window casing is made thinner than the other parts. This way it retains its function and does not interfere.

Bottom with ears = excellent wooden window sill

Window option with a plastic window sill. It also looks harmonious.

The door frame can be supplied without the lower part. In this case, the bottom of the side panels is screwed to the wall with self-tapping screws - wood grouse. This method is optimal if you plan to have a threshold-free floor. Door casing without a threshold is often used. The technology has been proven and the guarantee remains in full.

Casing without threshold on internal doorways.

This is where the differences between window and door frames end. Their side parts and top are the same.

Pit from an array

Making a casing from solid wood does not take much time and effort, but preparing the material for such casing is quite difficult.

In the case of a rough casing, where appearance does not play a huge role, the finishing casing, on the contrary, should look flawless. To do this, selected carriages or timber must undergo a soft drying process in order to relieve internal stresses in the wood and, at the same time, the formation of cracks in the workpieces should be minimal.

This work takes a lot of time and not everyone takes it on. If the preparation of the material is not carried out efficiently, then be prepared for warping and cracking of such a frame. Of course it won't fall apart, but the appearance will be ruined.

The pigtail can be made of solid pine, larch or oak.

How to make a casing with your own hands

Making clean casing blocks for plastic windows yourself is difficult, but possible. To do this, you will need a planed dry timber or carriage with a thickness of 50 - 100 mm and a width equal to the thickness of the walls in your house. And also jute tape, PVA glue, self-tapping screws, wood sealant, antiseptic impregnation, brush. Construction stapler to secure jute to the wall.

Simple tools you will need are a hammer, a chisel, a construction level, a hacksaw, a pencil or marker, a ruler, and a corner. Power tools include a chain saw or circular saw, an electric planer, and a hand router. The help of one or two friends will not be superfluous.

Before starting work, decide which casing you will do - P or T type. The size of the opening depends on this.

How to cut a casing profile

In a timber house we will make a T-frame, as it is easier to make with our own hands. Here you can do without a router, just use one hand-held circular saw, which you can rent.

Cutting a T casing from solid timber is too wasteful. There will be a lot of waste left. Therefore, we will use the option of gluing a tenon into the sides. On the market, such casing is also called a monolith spike.

The final result of the work.

In a house made of profiled timber 150 x 150 mm, we will need a planed board 150 x 50 mm and a block 50 x 50 mm to make a frame. We mark the drawing as follows: on each part there is a quarter section with a width equal (!) to the thickness of the window profile and a depth of 25 mm, on the sides there is an additional 53x10 mm groove for the tenon.

Important: when marking a groove in the frame for installing a window frame, find out the thickness of the profile of this frame. For example, the Rehau profile comes in thicknesses of 60, 70 and 80 mm, Veka - 58, 70, 82 mm.

For the top we take a beam 150 x 50 mm.

Windowsill. With a wind lock made of 150x90 mm timber and without a wind lock made of 150x50 mm timber.

Longitudinal cuts are made with a circular saw. If the cutting depth is not enough, carefully cut out the remaining wood with a chisel. We also select the groove for the wind lock using a chisel or a router.

And this is what a drawing of the sides of a classic casing deck looks like. The top and window sill are marked in the same way as the T-view.

Dimensional tolerance table

Making the right casing is not easy. Leave it to the professionals. You can buy ready-made casing (custom made to your dimensions) and install it yourself. Send window sizes to whatsapp to calculate the cost - click to start chat We ship casing throughout the Russian Federation by transport companies (we are located in the Moscow region).

Installation of classic P-casing

The technology for installing a pigtail in a timber house is as follows:

• We mark and cut out openings
• We mark a groove at the ends of the cut openings. Let's choose it. Or we form a spike if you chose a P casing.
• We impregnate the openings and the adjacent part of the casing with an antiseptic, for example Veres Base
• We insulate the opening with jute tape
• We install the bottom part, then the sides and finish by installing the top
• Checking the geometry
• We fill the free space above the tops tightly with jute

It seems simple, but as usual, the devil is in the details. I’ll try to show the process of installing casing in a house made of 150x150 mm timber. If it is unclear, ask in the comments.

When marking openings, remember the golden rule “measure twice, cut once.”

Slowly and carefully form a tenon on the side walls of the opening.

Use a building level. The window sill must be strictly horizontal, the sides must be vertical.

When marking openings, proceed from the planned window sizes. Add to these dimensions the thickness of the casing (taking into account the selected quarter) and the gaps for the jute. The sufficient width of the groove for a wall thickness of 150 mm will be 55 mm. I wrote below on the page how to correctly calculate the dimensions of the opening.

The groove is always 5 mm larger than the tenon. It won’t dangle, you still need to insulate the opening with 1-2 layers of jute tape.

First, we insulate the lower part and install the window sill, then we insulate the remaining perimeter and install the sides. We close the casing by installing the top.

We coat the locks with wood sealant. No self-tapping screws!

At the final stage, we stuff the protruding jute into the seams. We also tightly plug the space above the top with it.

Let's check the geometry again. Profit!

The result of the work.

Installation video - very detailed

In the video, the house is not entirely made of timber. It is a fire monitor, but also with smooth walls. All stages of casing installation were well filmed. A bonus is the visual installation of plastic windows and doors.

We will install turnkey casing and windows in 1 day! Clean, beautiful and with a lifetime guarantee! There will be no draft from the windows, and there will be no need to finish the slopes either. Send window sizes to WhatsApp to calculate the cost - click to start chat We work in Moscow and neighboring regions. We ship casing throughout Russia.

Video timing:

• marking openings in the wall 0:20 - 1:07
• sawing 1:10 – 2:20
• marking the tenon at the end of the opening - 3:30 - 4:05
• sawing out a tenon - 4:10 - 6:11
• impregnation of the opening with an antiseptic - 6:13 - 6:55
• impregnation of the casing with an antiseptic - 6:56 - 7:06
• installation of casing with insulation of the opening with jute - from 7:08
• how the last part of the casing is mounted - the top - 7:54 - 8:05 and 8:20 - 8:30
• installation of doors and windows - from 8:35
• caulking seams with jute - from 11:06

Installation of T-casing in a timber house

The technology differs only in that a groove is selected at the end of the openings. And the spike is formed on the side of the casing adjacent to the wall.

It’s not difficult to make a groove in a beam or, simply put, a groove. In the drawing I showed the top view of the groove. After marking, you make two vertical cuts, then two more 45-degree cuts. Remove the cut triangles and clean the middle with the tip of the chain. Or a chisel if you are not confident in your abilities.

How and how to cut a groove in a beam - top view of the opening.

To make straight cuts with a chain saw you need experience, a good eye and strong hands. You can also cut the groove with a hand-held circular saw, and where it won’t reach, finish it with a chisel.

Both types of pigtails are equally reliable. P-casing is a classic, time-tested option. T-casing appeared relatively recently; it is used for installation in houses with grooves cut during the construction of walls.

Advice: The cost of installing a frame for 1 opening in a log house from different companies is now in the range of 3,500 - 7,000 rubles. At the same time, you can order the production of casing without a proprietary installation.

Thus, you will receive ready-made casing profiles of the shape and size you need. To leisurely install them in your free time, saving tens of thousands of rubles.

An additional bonus when ordering a ready-made joint is the choice of options, the independent implementation of which is very expensive. For example, you can order casing to widen the openings into the house - this visually enlarges the openings and provides more light. Or order a clean window sill.

How to connect the parts of a pigtail - lock options

The locks connecting the parts of the casing vary in complexity of execution. The correct lock prevents the parts of the box from moving relative to each other. Both during the installation of a window or door, and during the period of shrinkage of the house. It also prevents connections from blowing out.

Options:

• quarter connection. The simplest to implement, often used for self-installation. Requires additional fixation with corners.
• quarter joint with reverse corners. A more rigid option also requires additional fixation. Blown through
• dovetail or box tenon connection
• designer locks from companies that manufacture and install casing.

A quarter is the simplest and most unreliable lock.

On the left is a box plier, on the right is a casing with a designer lock.

The upper and lower locks in the casing are usually different in shape.

Factory cut top lock.

Preparing the opening for installing a window in a wooden house

Before cutting, we mark the window opening using a level, because the plastic window will be installed strictly level in all planes, therefore the frame must also be installed in the opening as accurately as possible according to the level initially.

The lower crown in the opening needs to be sawed through so that a flat horizontal platform is obtained.

We determine the dimensions of the opening based on the size of the plastic window, the thickness of the casing bars and the size of the required gaps.

We perform all calculations visually. Here is an example of a diagram for calculating the size of the opening for a rough T-shaped frame:

Accordingly, we take a beam with a cross-section of 100x150 mm and cut out a T-shaped profile.

The size of the shrinkage gap (H shrinkage) is not easy to determine, since the amount of shrinkage of the house, as mentioned above, depends on many factors. If we, for example, roughly calculate, taking everything to the maximum, then for a window with a standard height of 1400 mm (plus the thickness of the casing crossbars, plus installation gaps ~ 245 mm) with 15 percent shrinkage, the top gap will be 24.5 cm - a huge hole , the height of which will most likely end up being too large.

To simplify the task and avoid mistakes, you should not rack your brains over GOSTs that regulate the shrinkage values ​​of building materials of various wood species, comparing this with local climatic conditions, etc. You can do it simpler, namely:

• If you are building a new house, then start installing windows in it no earlier than a year after the construction of the log house in order to wait out the period of the most active shrinkage. Then, when manufacturing and installing the frame, the size of the shrinkage gap (H shrinkage) can be safely made 60-50 mm for a log house, 50-40 mm for a timber house and 40 mm for a house made of laminated veneer lumber;
• if your house has stood for more than five years, then the shrinkage gap (H shrinkage) can be made minimal - 40 millimeters, just to compensate for possible seasonal changes in the geometric dimensions of the opening;

So, we calculated the size of the opening, marked it and cut it out. Now you need to cut out a tenon at the ends of the logs (beams) on the sides of the opening. The tenon is also marked using a level in the center of the log (beam).

How to calculate the size of openings if there are window/door sizes

Let's take as an example a 1.4 by 1.2 meter window in a house made of 150x150 profiled timber. We will calculate the width and height of the opening for a P-casing with a thickness of 90 mm. The wooden window sill is the lower part of the frame.

Calculation using the example of a window 1400 x 1200 mm.

Initial data:

• window width 1400 mm, window height 1200 mm
• thickness of side panels - 90 mm, top and window sill - 60 mm
• depth of the selected quarter for the frame - 25 mm
• drank above the tip - 70 mm

Formula:

Opening width = window width + two casing thicknesses - two quarter depths + 5 mm for the gap between the casing and the wall on each side and 10 mm for the gap between the casing and the frame, also on each side.

1400+90+90+30–50 = 1560 mm

The height of the opening = the height of the window + the thickness of the window sill + the thickness of the top + 25 mm for gaps - two quarter depths + the gap above the top.

1200+90+90+25–40+70 = 1435 mm

The principle, I think, is clear. If anything, ask in the comments.

Calculate the cost of installing windows in a turnkey log house. Send window sizes to whatsapp - click to start chat Your benefits:

1. Finish casing with lifetime warranty
2. Veka or Rehau windows
3. Installation in 1 day (up to 7 openings)
4. Painting the casing in the color of the windows
5. No additional finishing work with windows is required

We work in the Moscow region and neighboring regions. Travel to other regions is possible.

Turnkey okosyachka

Turnkey installation of a frame includes the following stages: manufacturing of the casing, installation, installation of windows, caulking of the outer perimeter of the frame, manufacturing and installation of the casing. Caulking the gaps between the window frame and the wall must be done.

Otherwise, the only thing that works to preserve heat in the house is the shell of the socket, the thickness of which is 5-7 centimeters.

This work is carried out before installing the casing and a couple of years after installing the casing, when the house settles and the sliding of the side logs along the risers of the frame stops, check the seams and repeat in places if necessary.

It is advisable to treat the caulk seam on the outside with yacht varnish to protect it from moisture absorption.

Conclusions on self-installation

1. Many people install the casing with their own hands. So you can too.
2. Always keep in mind that you need warm openings. The window frame is not an end in itself, but an intermediate stage when installing windows and doors in a wooden house.
3. Remember that a house built from timber with natural moisture shrinks by 10-15 cm per year. Leave enough free space above the top.
4. The lifespan of the windows and doors of your home depends on the quality of the frame.
5. If possible, avoid rough casing in the embedded block.

U-shaped pigtail

U-shaped pigtail is a classic type of pigtail. Someone claims that this is a special development of their company and only they install it this way. Not true. The U-shaped casing appeared a long time ago and it will not be possible to reinvent it again.

The production of the pigtail is carried out from solid wood or laminated veneer lumber with a large cross-section by mechanical processing. The result is a rigid, reliable structure that can withstand high loads in any direction.

Ideal for large plastic and wooden windows as well as for installation of metal entrance doors.

In our company you can buy a U-shaped window frame and install it yourself