Lining of alder: the pros and cons

Lining of alder - a fairly common option for finishing living space. This is due to the high quality of this type of wood, combined with a very affordable price. The board from an alder meets the European requirements and standards, is more often used for finishing of a bath and a sauna.

For finishing the steam room is better to use the species of deciduous trees, since most coniferous trees are unable to warm up the room to the maximum.

Alder belongs to the family of birch and includes about 30 species. Not every option is suitable for the production of lining. The most common material is black alder. This rock is mined in northern latitudes on watery and marshy soils. The difficult conditions in which the tree has to grow harden it, and therefore the wood is resistant and endurance.

The production technology of alder lining includes cutting the blanks and forming them into pellets, shipping them to a drying chamber where the wood is up to two weeks, after which it goes through the stages of planing, grinding and trimming to size. Nowadays, the production of boards is debugged to the smallest detail, even small-sized plants produce quite high-quality finishing materials.

Alder is often used in the manufacture of furniture, in the manufacture of doors, elements of stairs, but still most often panels of this breed are used in the decoration of rooms, especially baths. The clapboard can be used to decorate individual parts, for example, to sheathe a section only above a working table or to use as inserts in interior items. Many owners can see the decoration of alder clapboard in the bath or sauna. In this material, they are attracted by the ratio of high quality and affordable prices. Among the main advantages are the following:

• The alder has a peculiarity to absorb moisture, since it has a low hygroscopicity, for which it is even used in the production of hydraulic objects;
• low thermal conductivity does not allow the material to overheat and protect from thermal burns;

• raw materials have high levels of noise and thermal insulation;
• at the planing stage in the production of panels, modern technologies provide high-quality processing, resulting in absolute smoothness and evenness;
• Alder board has a small amount of drying, due to which it easily tolerates fluctuations in temperature conditions, does not undergo deformation and does not crack;
• This type of wood has an attractive design.

One more advantage of alder, for which it is highly valued, is worth dwelling in more detail.

Alder contains tannins that prevent the growth of microorganisms. When heated, the material highlights elements that provide hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects due to disinfectant and astringent qualities. Thus, a visit to the bath, decorated with clapboard from alder, has a beneficial effect for various ailments: rheumatism, colds, gout.

Despite the wide distribution of alder lining, this raw material has some disadvantages:

• because of the heating, the alder can blush, in the future it will take a very dark shade, and then there will be a need to improve the lighting in the room, decorated with alder clapboard;
• The presented type of wood has a specific aroma, some call it cognac, although after a while it almost completely disappears;
• The alder is beautiful in its appearance, but still inferior to some other deciduous species;
• the trunk may have dark spots and damage to rot, it does not affect the strength of the wall panel and its aesthetics, but it affects the price, more precisely, this tree has a small percentage of board output that can be allowed for the production of wall paneling.

By quality, the wall paneling is divided into the following classes:

• Extra;
• BUT;
• AT;
• WITH.

The highest is Extra class. The panels are free from defects. Usually used for plating luxury private homes. The price is available to wealthy people.

Slightly behind in performance category A. Allows a small amount of shallow cracks up to 9.5 cm in length, captive knots of a light color no larger than 1.5 cm and a diameter of maximum 0.5 cm.

Class B may include any defects, chipped no longer than 5 cm per meter linear material. Presence of blue is allowed up to 10% of the area, knots, pitches, cores. Unacceptable rotten and falling knots. Existing damages should not interfere with the installation; they can be hidden under dark paint. The most common option.

Category C mainly used for roughing. Before finishing requires adjustment and additional coloring. On the most part of the coating there are falling out knots, through cracks, core, remnants of bark, chips.

To calculate how much alder lining will be required for covering the room, you need to consider the option of the location of the slats - horizontal or vertical, as well as the dimensions of the selected products. Further, for the calculation, we follow the following principles:

• multiply the height of one wall by its length;
• repeat the counting procedure for the remaining walls;
• calculate the area of ​​the ceiling by multiplying the length of the room by its width;

• we add all received areas;
• the total area is divided by the area of ​​one board and we get the number of lining, which is required for plating.

Standard dimensions of alder finishing board: thickness - 12-25 mm, width - up to 15 cm, length - up to 6 meters. The average price per cubic meter of such lining is 6-10 thousand rubles. Knowing this data, you can now calculate the approximate amount of material needed and ask the price. Usually, experts recommend purchasing 5-10% more lining to include in the amount of breakage or unforeseen waste of lumber.

When choosing alder lining use the following recommendations:

• learn how to cut the rails, it should be made along the growth of the tree;
• make sure that the annual rings do not show through the surface, this can provoke a smash of the lining;
• boards should have perfectly smooth edges;
• make sure that the number of knots and cracks corresponds to the specified class of wood;
• if cracks are found, and their number and depth do not meet the requirements, then it is possible that you have over-dried wood;
• make sure that the color and texture match the breed, for example, black alder has a pleasant light coffee shade, and the classic alder has a chocolate-reddish color.

If the owner of the bath decided to self-finish the alder lining without the help of specialists, you should heed the following installation tips:

• it is better to place the panels vertically or diagonally, this method will prevent the ingress of splashes into the grooves between the boards;
• lathing for alder lining is made only from wooden beams;
• iron products quickly rust, so galvanized materials should be chosen as fasteners;
• if you slightly sharpen the mounting angles and strips, then the drops that fall will quickly flow downwards;

• between the base and the bar a gap of 4–5 cm is necessary in order not to block the ventilation;
• in order for the alder to last longer, a well-designed ventilation system is required;
• membrane liner should be installed under the wall panel as a vapor barrier;
• in order to prolong the life of the wood, it is recommended to treat it with wax or mastic based products;
• if the alder began to darken, then a whitening compound should be applied to the surface.

If you examine the reviews of those who used alder clapboard when finishing the bath, most of them are positive. The owners of the pair emphasize the texture of wood and its pleasant cognac aroma. However, some of them are inclined to buy a low class just because the presence of knots contributes to the atmosphere of the bath.

According to buyers, the alder does not need special maintenance, although, of course, to protect against rotting, the surface should still be systematically treated with special compounds. Wash off the coating easily. There are no negative reviews about the appearance of alder; all owners note the aesthetic design of baths decorated with alder clapboard.

Nevertheless, the difficulty in finding quality raw materials is noted, and the price of the material does not suit everyone. Some sauna owners notice a rapid darkening of the surface, although this process is peculiar to any wood species, not only alder.

In one buyers converge - Coniferous trees are not suitable for covering baths and saunas, it is better to use linden or alder for these purposes. Some people prefer to combine several materials in their steam room, in their baths the ceiling can be trimmed with aspen, the walls with alder, the shelves with lime.

See how the wide alder paneling looks like when mounted horizontally, see the following video.