The following insightful infrared images were taken of a home in Connecticut. The owners elected to have the interior of their home restored during the winter months prior to having the exterior done in the summer.

As you will see by these images, chinking not only protects your investment from moisture, water, and damaging insects, it will save you money. It does not matter what type of logs you have. During the winter months the cold gets in-between the logs and heat loss occurs.

Some background on this infrared (IR) photo session: The home is a 25-year-old log home in Connecticut constructed with six inch logs using a spline and double gasket system. At the time the images were taken only one bedroom interior had been cleaned, sealed and chinked. The temperature was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It was about 8:00 pm.

The infrared camera model used is the PalmIR 400D by Raytheon.

Interior 8 year old addition (No interior or exterior chinking)

Here we made adjustments to reduce the sensivity between cold and warm. The camera still sees the temperature difference. Look at that cold getting in.

Interior corner (No interior or exterior chinking)

Same settings. Here you can see cold coming in the corner depicted in blue and green while the hot water baseboard heat has kicked on and is radiating nice and hot in white, red.