What material is better for the walls of the house. What material to choose for building a house

The correct choice of material for building a house affects not only its strength and durability, but also the cost of the work. Today's construction market provides a huge range of various materials, ideal not only for prefabricated buildings, but also for solid structures.

First you need to decide for what purpose it is intended. future construction. If the house is intended for permanent residence, then the main qualities when choosing a building material should be durability, strength, resistance to moisture, as well as high-quality heat and noise insulation.

Houses made of foam concrete, brick, frame and wood have all the above advantages.

Pros and cons of building a country house from timber

A building in the construction of which timber was used will be reliable and beautiful. Material made from logs cut in winter is excellent for construction, as such timber shrinks much faster. There are certain advantages and disadvantages that can influence the choice of this material.

Wooden house from laminated timber

For example, the advantages include the smaller depth of the foundation required when building a house. In addition, timber walls have lower thermal conductivity compared to brick walls, so you don’t have to think about external or interior decoration walls Important point– a house can be built at any time, even in winter or summer.

Despite a large number of advantages, timber has a number of disadvantages. This material is subject to rotting, so it is short-lived, like any other wood material. Also, after the construction of housing, drying should be carried out for some time. In addition, the fire safety of the material is also not at the highest level.

For the manufacture of profiled timber they use conifers trees. The outer side may be flat, may look like a log, and inner side most often has a flat surface and is processed by planing. The remaining two sides are equipped with special tenons and grooves, which improves the fit with each other. The grooves are filled with jute insulation.

Profiled timber is a high-tech material that allows you to build a house in the shortest possible time.

Glued laminated timber does not have significant flaws and defects, because it passes special treatment during production. The material is protected by a special impregnation of fire retardant and antiseptic, which gives the wood a high level of resistance to rotting and fire resistance. , can serve you faithfully for several decades.

In addition, they are built quite quickly, which ensures comfortable conditions not only construction, but also further residence. Currently, many different companies can help with the construction of houses made of timber, however, if you wish, you can do the construction of a house made of timber yourself, since there are no particular difficulties in this matter.

Here you can watch a video in which the issues of building a house are discussed, but it is worth considering that it was recorded at the Forest Fair, and, naturally, the author is promoting the topic of construction wooden houses. But at the same time, the video contains very useful tips.

Read also

Construction wooden house in winter

Foam concrete houses: pros and cons

The choice of building material is largely determined by such qualities as ease of installation, environmental friendliness, heat and sound insulation. Foam concrete has all of the above qualities, which is why it is gaining increasing popularity among builders. To date mass developments housing is carried out using this material.

An important quality for many consumers is that this material has high level environmental safety. For the production of foam concrete only natural materials, such as cement, water, sand. Of course, it is also possible to add dyes with plasticizers, but their quantity is usually very small. Walls made of this material allow air to pass through perfectly, which ensures a favorable microclimate in the room.

Foam concrete has a fairly low price compared to other materials. In addition, it is very light, which undoubtedly affects the speed of installation. You can build a house in two to three months. In addition, building a house from foam concrete does not require the construction of a powerful foundation.

One of the main qualities of foam concrete is the presence of good heat and noise insulation, which leads to a reduction in the cost of heat energy and insulating materials. This material is completely fireproof and can easily withstand exposure high temperatures. Besides everything, finishing interior walls can be done using almost any materials.

But, like any building material, foam concrete has its drawbacks. One of them is insufficient strength, so the blocks may be damaged during transportation and construction. There is a possibility that cracks may appear on the walls after installing the building frame, which appear during the shrinkage process or under the influence of temperature changes. In order to avoid adverse consequences, you need to spend money on high-quality reinforcement of the structure.

Once it’s built, don’t try to immediately finish finishing the interior walls; it’s better to wait for a while. The reason is that there is a possibility of carbonation shrinkage, which can occur as a result of the formation of chalk inside the material. Such changes may occur due to chemical reaction between cement and carbon dioxide penetrating into it.

Pros and cons of brick houses

Brick houses are among the most popular in the construction industry because they are durable, strong and comfortable. If such a house is built competently and thoroughly, then it can easily stand for more than 100 years, delighting the residents cozy layout and the warmth of your walls.

Brick is the most suitable material for outdoor finishing works. For brick cladding you will need less funds than for a full-fledged arrangement of a building from the same material. Such cladding both decorates the building and protects it from harmful effects environment. The best option during the construction of reliable and warm home is a combination of foam concrete and brick.

Brick is ideal for building a house because it is completely natural.

A brick house will not burn down. Of course, the fire will destroy everything that was inside, but the frame of the house will remain standing, which contributes to the beginning of a new life.

If necessary, you can add additional rooms. A house with only one floor can become a comfortable cottage or a house with several floors.

Brick walls can support roller shutters or an additional attic. You can also line the walls with wood, wild stone or decorative brick.

Modern materials for building a house make it possible to simplify the technology as much as possible and reduce the construction time of the frame of the future building. But nevertheless, when planning the development of a site, you should take time to choose wall material. A lot depends on what materials are chosen for building a house. It's not only estimated cost, but also performance characteristics. Typically, the material for building the walls of a house is selected based on many parameters, such as: personal preferences, available amount of money, availability of stone or wood in a particular region. What material is preferable to choose for building a house is described in this material, where comparative characteristics the most common types (brick, blocks, wood, etc.).

When planning construction country house One of the first problems is the choice of materials for building a house in accordance with the given estimate and parameters of the future building. The next question that has to be resolved is what size should the building be? These two issues directly affect the budget construction work, and the larger the building and better quality material for its construction, the larger the budget. Therefore, compromises often have to be made.

Look at the materials for building a house in the photo, where they are presented Various types blocks and lumber:

However, the desire for large-scale construction is not so common now. Now the question of which material is better for building a house is decided primarily by calculating its thermal conductivity. After the arrival of new bills for heating, electricity and other pleasures of everyday life, many willy-nilly think that maintaining a palace today is only possible for very rich people. Therefore, the construction of houses with a reasonable layout, comfortable, but not large, environmentally friendly and not requiring large expenses has become fashionable.

When deciding which material to choose for building a house, be guided by the data given in the table “Main physical and technical indicators building materials" The main physical and technical indicators of standard building materials are posted there. It is worth noting that when choosing a particular material, many are based on local climatic conditions. However, no matter where you live, the warmth in the house will depend not so much on the material of the walls, but on its design, construction technology and finishing. So it is much more important to calculate how much you can spend and consider how often you will be living in country house. But still, when making a choice, you should keep in mind the following factors.

Comparative table of properties of building materials

This comparative table of building materials shows the most important physical and technical parameters that have a significant impact on the future operation of the building. The table of construction materials can be used to control the work of estimating and contracting organizations. All properties of building materials in the table are given taking into account performance characteristics in harsh climates.

Brick is the best material for building a private house

The best material for building a house has existed and been invented for a long time. This is a brick. Brick houses are quite expensive, but reliable, comfortable, warm in winter and cool in summer. The noise level is minimal, the level of environmental safety is high. However, a brick house, although considered durable, quickly falls into disrepair without residents, as it requires constant heating in winter. Otherwise, dampness accumulates in the brick, which gradually leads to its destruction. If the rules are followed, brick housing can last up to 150 years, if, of course, the material is of sufficient quality. To determine if there is a defect in a brick, knock on it - the sound should be clear.

You can also break it down and look at the color: it should be darker and richer on the inside than on the sides.

Despite good heat-saving performance, houses made of bricks still lose heat through cement joints, so in such houses it is necessary to insulate the walls with mineral wool or polystyrene.

In addition, one should take into account the difficulty of laying communications in the walls and the long construction period. Last but not least, the duration of the work is due to the fact that a heavy brick building requires a serious foundation, which, in turn, requires significant financial costs. When choosing the best material for building a private house, all these factors should be taken into account.

Concrete materials for the construction of a country house: foam blocks

Cellular concrete as materials for the construction of a country house has become quite popular in individual construction in recent years. They come in two main types. Blocks made by autoclave production are called gas silicate blocks, and non-autoclave blocks are called foam concrete blocks.

Foam blocks as materials for building a house are an ordinary cement mortar (water, sand and cement), into which foaming additives (synthetic or organic origin) are introduced under excess pressure, as a result of which air bubbles evenly distributed in the solution, when cured, create closed cells and material becomes porous. The resulting foam concrete is poured into special molds with partitions, where, when hardened, ready-made blocks are obtained. To harden, concrete materials are exposed to air.

Gas silicate blocks - materials for building houses

Gas silicate consists of quartz sand, cement, lime and water. Foaming and hardening of gas silicate, unlike foam concrete, occurs in an autoclave oven. There, the material is hardened with water vapor at a pressure of 8-12 atmospheres and a temperature of 2000 °C. This technology makes it possible to obtain blocks of the same quality at any point of the finished product, in contrast to foam concrete, the hardening process of which cannot be regulated. At the same time, gas silicate has a number of advantages compared to foam concrete - it is lighter, stronger and “warmer”, provides better sound insulation, and is easier to plaster.

In many respects, gas silicate blocks as materials for building houses are superior to brick in their consumer properties. Thus, one block of gas silicate weighing 15 kg replaces eight bricks, the total weight of which reaches 35 kg. Due to the fact that such blocks are large in size (600 x 200 x 300 mm), their laying is faster and easier than brick laying, and more masonry mixture is saved. Additional advantages include high fire resistance of the material, good sound and heat insulation, and low thermal conductivity. Due to the fact that aerated concrete blocks are easy to machine (they can be drilled, cut and sawed with a regular hacksaw), they are easy to work with and lay communications, you can implement any architectural delights. But these same properties make this material fragile, and even a slight bend can lead to serious damage to the structure. The construction period for a “box” made of gas silicate is only 2-3 months, but interior work and finishing can only be done after a year, since such houses shrink significantly.

The warmest material for building a permanent home

Wood is the warmest material for building a house, environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive. A wooden house is warm and cozy, it “breathes”, retains heat well, and does not require special interior decoration. Previously, the disadvantage of wooden houses was considered to be an increased fire hazard and a high probability of damage by insects. Nowadays these problems are easily eliminated with the help of special treatment. In addition, this material is lightweight and does not require a serious foundation.

According to construction technology, it is faster, but significantly more expensive, to build houses from laminated veneer lumber; it is more difficult, but cheaper, to build by hand cutting. However, when building a log home, you will face strict restrictions on architectural style and interior decoration. In addition, it is believed that this material for the construction of a house for permanent residence does not require insulation of the building; this is fundamentally wrong. This is only permissible in relation to seasonal housing.

If the building is intended for permanent residence in the middle zone, then it will still need additional external insulation.

One of the important disadvantages should be noted that a house made of timber will cost you more than any other of the same size. After all, you will not be able to cut a sufficient number of timber trees anywhere except in the remote taiga, so you will have to buy not at all cheap rounded logs or laminated veneer lumber. In addition, no matter how quickly the log house is built, it will be possible to complete all the work only within 1.5-2 years due to shrinkage caused by drying of the logs.

Eco-friendly and durable material for building a house

Frame houses are record holders in terms of construction time and low cost. Frame-panel systems are quite suitable for the construction of one- and two-story houses. Such systems are based on the sandwich principle: between two OSB or pine boards there is a durable material for building a house, such as polystyrene foam or mineral wool. Additionally, steam and windproof membranes can be used. As a result, heating costs for panel housing compared to a brick house are several times lower. Significant savings are also achieved due to the lightweight foundation and minimal internal civil works. After assembling the house, which takes no more than 3-4 months (along with the construction of the foundation), you can almost immediately live in it - carry out interior decoration and move in, since it does not shrink. Eco-friendly materials for building a house using frame technology make it safe and economical.

The service life of frame houses is up to 50 years. Despite the fact that they are considered economy-class housing, about 80% of all private housing built in the world is just such buildings. An undoubted advantage of such structures is also the ease of individual planning and the possibility of using the most modern building materials and technologies.

When starting to build your own home, you want to choose the cheapest material for building a house - in order to maximize savings. But the pursuit of low prices for building materials can result in both expensive maintenance in the future and an increase in the cost of construction as a whole. How to build a cheap house?

What determines the cost of a house?

The final price tag for construction depends on several factors. Materials play an important, but not the only, role here. So, the construction estimate will include:

If you do a monolithic fill, you will need a large amount of wood for the formwork. And working alone on weekends, construction is delayed indefinitely, which is also not always economically profitable.

The cheapest materials for building a house are those made by yourself?

There is an opinion that materials made with your own hands will be much cheaper than those purchased from the manufacturer. Of course, there are recipes for different brands of concrete; you can build the walls yourself from straw or even fill the frame with sawdust.

This is economically justified in the following cases:

• the presence of free assistants - it is difficult to stir, fill and press alone, which can lead to poorly performed work;
• no need to travel to work five days a week - otherwise construction will often have to be postponed due to weather conditions;
• opportunities to obtain equipment and raw materials for building materials at very low prices - delivery of sawdust from another region will not be cheap.

So, the cheapest construction options:

1. Straw walls with clay coating. They have good thermal insulation, but require repairs due to rodents that live in the thickness of the wall.



2. Abrolite or sawdust concrete. You can make it yourself or purchase ready-made blocks. In the first case, you will have to wait a long time for the sawdust concrete to dry, in the second, you will have to build the walls as quickly as possible and do the exterior finishing, since wood concrete is hygroscopic.



3. Clay burr or cordwood. Dry logs and logs, cleared of bark, are used. They are laid across the wall on a clay mortar. The ends of the wood must be impregnated with antiseptics or fired, otherwise they will strongly absorb moisture.



4. Backfilling with sawdust or expanded clay. To do this, a permanent formwork is made on the frame from edged boards, into which the insulation is poured.

The appearance of a house made from these materials is rather unsightly. And if it’s quite easy to beat up straw walls or peeking out logs, you’ll also have to make a screed on top of the wood concrete. Another significant disadvantage of homemade materials is that they are not strong enough. But this is a problem with all frame houses. To hang shelves or install kitchen units, you need to provide embedded boards at the construction stage.

Economical building materials - what are they?

If, out of common sense, you decide to abandon independent production, you should take a closer look at the prices on the market. What is the cheapest building material? Paradoxically, almost any:

• wood - can be purchased extremely cheaply in the forest belt, but in the steppe zone it is expensive;
• brick – when building next to a brick factory, you will be able to buy red brick at manufacturer prices;
• aerated concrete and foam concrete are lightweight and relatively easy-to-construct materials that have good thermal insulation;
• frame construction is the most budget option, suitable for any climate, but requires the organization of forced ventilation.

Not every carpenter can assemble a log house with high quality, so you will also have to take into account the cost of the builders’ work. The same applies to a brick house - the distortion of the masonry will result in large-scale alignment of the walls.

So when choosing materials, you need to take into account the cost of working with them. For example, aerated concrete is laid with a special glue, due to which the gaps between the blocks are minimal.

This allows you to save on finishing, but requires careful attention from builders. Foam concrete does not differ in the quality of its geometry - the blocks can be skewed and differ in size. It is unpleasant to work with such material; it is difficult to level the walls.

As a result, the cost of work is higher.

How to save money globally on construction?

It is not building materials alone that can reduce the cost of building your own home. To save as much as possible, you need to:

1. Think over a plan for the future building. The simpler the layout, the cheaper it is to equip it. You shouldn’t place bathrooms at different ends of the building - laying pipes will cost a pretty penny. Placing the kitchen next to the bathroom will also save on pipes. The even geometry of the walls, the absence of non-functional niches and differences in floor heights, although they look simple, do not require extra costs. Together this will give up to 20% savings on the total cost.



2. Refuse architectural excesses. Balconies, terraces and a multi-level roof can increase the value of a home by 10-15%. It is much more rational in the future to build a small gazebo or add an open terrace.



3. Use building materials produced in your region, abandoning popular and advertised ones. This will not only allow you to buy them cheaper, but also not overpay for delivery. Thus, houses made of shell rock in the Altai Territory are among the most budget-friendly, but Moscow cannot boast of a low price for this material.



4. Lighten the rafter system as much as possible by using lightweight roofing materials. Then, instead of a 10x10 cm beam, it will be possible to use a 5x10 cm board laid on the end, without reducing the pitch of the rafters.



5. Avoid the basement. Activities for pouring, waterproofing and rough finishing of the basement will add another 20% of the cost to the estimate.

Selection of building materials

If the building materials market offers several types to choose from, that’s great. Indeed, in this case, you can compare all the advantages and disadvantages and purchase materials that combine low price and good quality.

General characteristics to look for:

• durability - if the house lasts for a maximum of 10 years, savings on materials are quite doubtful;
• simplicity and accessibility of installation - the need to use heavy equipment at a construction site can negate all savings;
• environmental friendliness - maintaining natural humidity in the house is achieved through “breathable” materials, otherwise you will have to take care of forced ventilation;
• heat capacity and thermal insulation are two parameters responsible for future efficiency, because the house should not only be cheap during construction, but also during operation.

Having considered the most popular building materials, you can choose the most suitable option for yourself.

Wooden houses

Houses made of timber are considered the most environmentally friendly and one of the best at maintaining an optimal microclimate. Wooden construction has advantages:

But this structure also has disadvantages. Thus, the quality of literally every log is very important - an undried tree will begin to twist, longitudinal cracks may appear, the ends must be “sealed” with an ax to prevent the tree from becoming waterlogged due to precipitation. If you deviate from the classical processing of logs in favor of using modern antiseptic and fire retardant solutions, the house ceases to be environmentally friendly.

Ready-made kits are expensive, but only professionals can assemble an inexpensive log house from round timber. After all, you will have to adjust each log! In addition, in regions with cold winters, the thickness of the walls of a wooden hut should be at least 50 cm to ensure minimal heat loss during the heating season. Finding logs of this diameter will also cost a pretty penny.

To allow the house to “breathe”, it cannot be insulated with polystyrene foam, only with vapor-permeable mineral wool. And to prevent the insulation from getting wet, be sure to install a ventilated façade. There are also certain restrictions for interior decoration - it is better to use modern vapor-permeable membranes if you plan to cover the house with plasterboard or clapboard.

But the log house is beautiful in its original form. To get a cozy and draft-free home, you need to regularly check and caulk cracks in the walls. Particular attention is paid to the system of corner locks - a simple cut into half a tree will not provide the necessary insulation and will lead to the formation of cold spots.

Brick houses

Brick has excellent heat capacity. This means that when heating is started, the house will warm up for a long time, but then cool down for just as long. For permanent residence - an excellent option. But for a country house visited on weekends, this will be a waste of money on heating. After all, by the time the house warms up, you need to go back to the city.

For one-story buildings, walls of 1.5 bricks will be sufficient. But this wall thickness is completely unsuitable for winters, where the temperature drops to -20 degrees.

In order not to increase the cost of brickwork, the house will have to be insulated from the outside. What’s especially nice when building brick buildings is that you can use any insulation! Thus, by choosing foam plastic with a thickness of only 5 cm, you can reduce heat loss at home from 125 kWh per square meter to 53 kWh per heating season. In other words, you can cut your heating costs in half.

The disadvantages of brick houses include:

• large weight of the structure - you will need a buried strip foundation, which will significantly increase the cost of construction;
• duration of construction - a team of five people can lift the frame of a house in three weeks, subject to continuous work, but working alone increases the time significantly;
• finishing work - if you can live in a log house immediately after construction, a brick house requires mandatory screeding of walls and floors followed by finishing.

Houses made of aerated block or foam block

These buildings have all the advantages and disadvantages of brick houses. At the same time, they have their own characteristics:

At the same time, the price per cubic meter of brick and aerated block is almost the same. And given the need for insulation on the facade, the advantages of aerated concrete over ceramic bricks are quite illusory. But due to the large size of the blocks, building a house is quite simple, which determines the low cost of the work.

Frame houses

For those who are really strapped for money, frame construction is a real salvation. A house on a wooden frame with mineral insulation is several times cheaper than all previous options. And that's why:

But, despite the obvious advantages of frame construction, preference is still given to brickwork. All because of no less significant shortcomings:

On the other hand, by approaching the construction of a frame house wisely and without skimping on building materials, you can get a good and reliable structure that will last for decades. And in the future, it will be just as easy to dismantle the frame and put a solid brick house in its place.

You can build a small and cozy house in a few months, and this video confirms this:

When a person thinks about his own home, the thought comes to mind: what is better to build a house from - bricks, blocks, timber.

The materials from which the house will be built must be strong, durable, and not have a negative impact on health.

There are many materials available on the construction market today. Choosing the best option is not so easy.

You need to start by analyzing the properties of each of them; you can choose the material whose price and quality will be optimal.

Before starting construction, you can look through a magazine, a catalog of construction companies with building options.

A house in which you plan to live permanently must be resistant to precipitation, be noise- and heat-insulated, and be a “fortress” for many years.

Brick, ceramic blocks, foam concrete, aerated concrete, logs and timber have similar properties.

A magazine with recommendations from a specialized company can tell you how much and what kind of material will be needed for construction.

Characteristics and properties of brick

The Building Materials Magazine is of the opinion that brick is durable and strong.

If you start construction according to all the rules, then it will last 100 years, and its residents will enjoy comfort and warmth.

The most common material for construction is brick, which has many properties:

• Completely natural;
• During construction work there is no need to use additional additives - “disintegrants”;
• The brick is not flammable; in the event of a fire, the brick box will remain intact. On its basis it will be possible to rebuild a new house;
• Brick is highly durable. Walls made from it will be able to withstand heavy shutters and an attic;
• Over time, on a one-story brick house, you can install several more floors and add additional rooms;
• The masonry is not subject to shrinkage or rotting;
• The rooms of the house always have a comfortable temperature - in the cold season the walls will retain heat, and in the heat they will protect from the heat.

When building a house from brick, it is worth considering not only the properties of this material. It is important to pay attention to the quality of the cement composition, the nature of the masonry, and insulation.

The magazine will be able to tell about the properties and types of materials. A set of indicators of all components will influence the quality factor of the house.

There are disadvantages to using bricks to build a house. The construction of the structure will take a long time, since the time of year and weather conditions play an important role during construction work.

In summer, the solution will dry out quickly, and in winter it may freeze. If it rains, construction will have to be delayed until it stops.

The construction magazine notes that it is important to pay attention to the masonry. The bricks must be laid evenly. Otherwise the house will not be strong.

For this reason, it is worth entrusting the construction of permanent residence to professionals, and this will cost the home owner a lot of money.

You can make the use of this type of building material cheaper - use it as cladding. The brick will decorate the walls of the building and protect it from adverse natural influences.

After all, you need to dilute the cement mortar, lay down the bricks needed for construction, and collect the waste that is inevitably generated during the construction of a house.

If the site already has a landscaped garden or beds, this will complicate the work.

Features of foam blocks

When choosing materials for housing construction, ease of construction, environmentally friendly properties, thermal insulation, and sound insulation are taken into account.

Foam blocks have such qualities, which is why magazines and catalogs of construction companies often suggest choosing this particular material.

The blocks have advantages due to which they have conquered the market:

• Environmentally friendly - natural materials are used in its production. The proportion of plasticizers and dyes is so small that it will not harm health;
• Able to allow air to pass through, so a favorable climate will always be maintained in the house;
• Lightweight, which affects the speed of housing construction. In addition, there is no need to build a strong foundation;
• It has high levels of noise and heat insulation. There is no need to spend a lot of money on purchasing insulating materials or additional wall insulation;
• Able to withstand high temperatures;
• Its price is lower than other materials. Building a house will cost less than, for example, from brick or timber.

Walls made of foam blocks can be finished from any materials. The construction magazine offers options for decorating walls with plaster, decorative panels, and wallpaper.

A feature of foam blocks is its fragility. When transporting blocks to the construction site, they may be damaged, so it is worth paying special attention to the quality of transportation.

After they are laid, the blocks shrink. Its percentage is affected by the temperature difference during construction. To reduce it to a minimum, you need to use high-quality reinforcement during construction.

After installing a box made of foam blocks, you should not immediately begin finishing. It's all about the chemical reactions that will take place between carbon dioxide and cement.

Otherwise, cracks will form, which serve as cold bridges. As a result, the room will not retain heat.

Wood is an environmentally friendly material for building a house

A house for permanent residence, built from timber, is distinguished by its beauty and solidity.

Wood has many characteristics due to which it is most often chosen as a building material:

• high thermal insulation rates;
• environmentally friendly material - will not harm health;
• high heat resistance, thermal conductivity of timber;
• long service life.

Wooden beams can be cylindrical and glued. The magazine of specialized companies will tell you about the properties of each type. Masonry made from cylindrical timber will shrink over time.

As a result, the geometric shapes will change slightly, and thermal insulating material will need to be added to the joints and seams.

Glued laminated timber is resistant to deformation.

It's all about its production: several layers of timber are placed under the press so that their radial rings of life are directed in opposite directions, and with the help of glue they are fastened together very firmly.

Its environmentally friendly properties are not inferior to cylindrical logs. Chemical antiseptics and varnishes are now being replaced with impregnations based on natural ingredients.

It can be beeswax, turpentine, propolis, patchwork wax. The last component is produced by domestic companies and is a high quality product.

Impregnations protect the surface of the timber from rotting, prevent the attack of insects, and increase the level of fire resistance.

One-story cottages and houses for permanent residence with several floors can be built from timber.

A variety of profile types of wood will allow you to create houses of various geometric shapes.

Options for buildings are presented in catalogs and magazines of construction companies. The building on the site will look modern.

For a wooden house it is not necessary to build a massive foundation; you can start by making it shallow. The walls also do not require additional external treatment.

The main advantage of wooden houses is the possibility of their construction at any time of the year.

Features of frame construction

Before building a frame house, you should start by forming the frame. It can be metal or wood.

More durable are metal frames, but their construction requires a lot of time. Wooden structures are assembled cheaper and faster.

The thickness of the wood blank depends on the insulation material and its thickness.

For external cladding, one of the following options is used: cement-bonded particle board, moisture-resistant plywood, or oriented strand board. Mineral wool or polystyrene foam is suitable as insulation.

One-story cottages are built very quickly. After the foundation has gained the necessary strength, you can assemble the home.

There is no need to wait weeks or months to complete finishing work. The frame structure does not shrink, so the construction of such a house will not take much time.

Frame houses have their advantages:

• Ease of construction - you can do without the help of builders. Using the instructions and recommendations, the frame house will stand on the site in a short time;
• The elements of a frame house are light in weight, so there is no need to use special devices or technical means;
• Due to the fact that the construction of such a house does not require the involvement of workers from construction companies or special equipment, the construction of housing will cost several times less than using other materials;
• Frame houses are highly stable. They will withstand not only foundation subsidence, but also earthquakes;
• They can be built at any time of the year. Frost and heat do not affect the quality of the finished structure;
• High heat and sound insulation. A frame house will be cool in summer and warm in winter. During the cold season, you can save on additional heating of the room. Layers of insulation will prevent the penetration of sounds from the street.

Such houses are suitable for permanent residence, but you need to be prepared to change the insulation of the building every 30-35 years.

A new way to build houses - monolithic construction

In modern construction, the construction of houses using a monolithic method is not yet common. The basis of the technology of this method is pouring concrete into the foundation and walls.

The structures are quite durable and have uniform properties.

The main advantage of monolithic houses is strength and durability.

The aesthetic component is very high. The magazine of construction companies that are engaged in the construction of such houses offers a lot of options for decorating a home with a variety of materials.

The house will be distinguished by its individuality and fully correspond to the tastes and needs of the owner.

Monolithic buildings have disadvantages. Their construction requires the use of special equipment, the formation of complex formwork, and when installing floors, it is necessary to create supports and stairs.

Criteria for choosing material for building a house

To build a house, you can choose any material option.

Each of them requires certain skills and technologies. The magazine will offer the shape, number of floors, and construction of a house made of blocks, bricks, and timber.

It is important to answer the question: “what is the best material to build a house from” before the start of design and construction work.

In this case, you need to pay attention to the following points:

• price of materials, the ability to purchase them in a specific region;
• how well the thermal insulation characteristics correspond to the climate;
• level of fire safety, environmental friendliness;
• how many floors will the house have?

With a correct analysis, the thickness and depth of the foundation, the load on it, what building material needs to be purchased and in what quantity will be correctly calculated.

Particular attention should be paid to the material capabilities and personal preferences of the owner.

Only by analyzing a set of characteristics can you find out which materials are best to build a house from - blocks, bricks, timber, frame.

If you are seriously considering the option of moving to the countryside, the question of which is best to build a house for permanent residence comes to the fore. The choice of materials for construction depends on the preferences of the owner of the future home, his financial capabilities, and in some ways, on established local traditions. Of course, the specific climatic conditions of the region and the characteristics of the soil on the site acquired for the construction of housing are taken into account.

Today, both traditional and new technologies are used for the construction of private houses. In order to choose one of them, you need to understand what problems will be encountered during large-scale construction work and during the operation of the finished building.

When choosing a material for building a house, you should take into account a number of important criteria:

• To make the house comfortable to live in at any time of the year, when choosing material for construction, it is necessary to take into account the average winter temperatures of the region where it is planned to be built, comparing them with the thermal insulation qualities of future walls and ceilings.

• In addition, most potential owners strive to make their homes energy efficient. That is, with minimal energy costs, obtain a comfortable temperature in the premises both in winter and summer.
• The ability of a building material to become an effective barrier against external noise is especially important if the building is being built near a busy highway or railway tracks.
• The durability and reliability of a residential building will directly depend on the strength of the selected material.
• The appearance of the building also plays an important role. Therefore, it is immediately necessary to decide which material option is preferable - one that requires or does not require additional finishing.
• Of course, an important criterion is always the affordability of the material. It largely depends on the region of construction.
• If the owner plans to carry out construction on his own (in whole or even partially), then the priority criteria may also be the degree of complexity of working with the selected building material.

Main types of materials for building a private house

Today, both traditional materials that have been used, without exaggeration, for centuries, and those developed relatively recently, but which have already managed to show their positive side, are used to build houses.

So, when deciding on the materials to build a house, you need to know that they are conventionally divided into four groups:

• Natural wood (log or timber).
• Brick, stone and shell rock.
• Porous blocks.
• Wood-based composite materials.

To determine which of the listed materials is best to choose for a particular case, it is necessary to consider their physical and technical characteristics and other features.

Brick

Sand-lime and ceramic bricks are used to build houses. Both one and the second option are produced in two types, which differ in the internal structural structure - the brick can be hollow and solid.

Both types are widely used for the construction of house walls. However, different bricks can have very different characteristics.

Solid brick has higher strength and can therefore withstand high loads. However, it has high thermal conductivity, and because of this, walls made from it usually require additional insulation and cladding.

Hollow products retain heat in a house better, so they are often used to cover a wall built of solid bricks, leaving a space between the walls that is filled with heat-insulating materials - slag, expanded clay, foam concrete or expanded polystyrene.

Brick houses have a respectable appearance and a long service life, which sometimes exceeds the deadlines set during the design of the building. Buildings made from this material compare favorably with other buildings due to their strength and reliability. That is why, despite the emergence of innovative materials, brick has not lost any of its popularity, as it has successfully stood the test of time. Proof of this is that buildings, sometimes erected several centuries ago, are still in use.

However, despite the large number of positive qualities of brick, this material has not only advantages, but also obvious disadvantages.

To the main benefits brick, and therefore houses built from it, include:

• Environmentally friendly material.

Nowadays, future home owners always pay special attention to this quality of the material. Brick buildings are impeccable in this regard, since the mortar from which the products are made does not contain artificially produced or toxic components. Ceramic bricks are made from purified clay, and silicate bricks are made from sand and lime.

• The strength of the structure built from it has a long service life.

Over the centuries, in different countries, both one-story and multi-story buildings have been erected from brick, some of which are still in use today, without even requiring restoration of the facades. Walls built from bricks made without violating technology and laid on high-quality mortar are resistant to ultraviolet rays, moisture, wind, and biological damage.

In addition, brick buildings are able to withstand various natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, etc.

• Frost resistance.

This quality indicates that the material is able to fully retain its operational and decorative qualities during numerous cycles of deep freezing and thawing. Today there are different brands of bricks on sale, the frost resistance of which may vary. Therefore, when purchasing this material, you should pay attention to the F indicator, which precisely shows this number of cycles. The higher the indicator, the more durable the material.

• Natural regulation of humidity in the building.
• Fire safety.

Unlike wood, brick is resistant to open fire, since it is made of non-flammable material, which is also hardened at high temperatures during firing. Brick does not ignite and does not support the combustion of adjacent building elements. True, when exposed to open fire for a long time, it loses its safety margin. This means that the service life of walls that survive a fire is significantly reduced.

To the list of essential shortcomings brick buildings include the following factors:

• Cost of material.

Having chosen brick to build a house, you need to be prepared for quite a lot of expenses, since, given the “modest” size of the products, you will need a lot of them. In addition to the brick itself, you will need to carry out interior finishing of the walls - this is plastering followed by putty, painting or wallpapering. All these processes are also quite costly and require some time.

• High thermal conductivity of brick. If the house is being built in a region with cold winters, where the temperature drops to -35÷40 degrees, then the brick walls must be thick and be at least 640-770 mm. Another option could be a “sandwich” wall, that is, made according to the “well masonry” principle. In this case, two relatively thin brick walls are simultaneously erected at a certain distance from each other, the space between which is filled with thermal insulation materials. Sometimes another method is used for insulation - a lathing is fixed on the front side of the wall, between the elements of which mineral wool or expanded polystyrene is mounted, and then the walls are lined with one of the decorative materials.
• Massiveness.

Brick houses are a very heavy structure. This means that it is necessary to build a reliable and solid foundation for them. Otherwise, under high load, it will sag, and with it the brick walls, resulting in deep cracks along them.

Therefore, to build a high-quality foundation that can reliably cope with high loads, you will also have to spend a lot of money.

• The design of a brick building should only be carried out by a professional. Errors in foundation calculations and determination of the thickness of load-bearing walls are unacceptable. The project and calculations will also be expensive.
• Hygroscopicity of the material.

This quality is especially pronounced in bricks made in violation of technology, that is, insufficiently hardened or too porous. In houses made of such material there is always high humidity, and getting rid of it is quite difficult. Therefore, the walls have to be etched periodically, which takes a lot of time and causes discomfort in the operation of the home. It’s good that today there are many products that will help protect brick walls from moisture - surfaces are treated with them at the very beginning of the building’s operation. It will help protect brick walls and the high base of the house, separating them from ground moisture, rain splashes or contact with snow drifts.

Sand-lime brick is more hygroscopic than ceramic brick. Therefore, it is not recommended to use it to build a house in regions with a humid climate. And it is completely excluded when laying the base.

In digital terms, the main characteristics of the brick are as follows:

The cost of a brick is deliberately not indicated in the table. This parameter varies very widely, depending on the type, brand, size, manufacturer, and region of construction. Even among one seller, the spread of prices for seemingly identical products, but coming from different factories, can be very significant.

Cement-based masonry blocks

In recent years, cement-based building blocks are increasingly being chosen for the construction of a private house. Such masonry materials have a number of advantages over traditional brick, and the first of them can be called affordable cost. In addition, the blocks have impressive linear dimensions - one can replace from 4 or even up to 14 standard bricks, so building a house will go much faster.

Manufacturers today supply cement-based blocks to the construction market, but manufactured using different technologies and with different physical, technical and operational characteristics:

• Foam blocks and aerated concrete blocks.
• Cinder blocks and expanded clay concrete blocks.

To understand what each of these materials is and how they differ from each other, let’s take a closer look at their characteristics.

Aerated concrete and foam concrete blocks

These building materials, at first glance, are similar in their characteristics. However, their manufacturing technologies differ somewhat.

Aerated concrete is made from cement, lime, sand and water with the addition of aluminum powder. Thanks to these components, during the manufacturing process of the composition, a chemical reaction is activated, accompanied by the release of gas, which ensures the creation of a porous structure with an open cell. This determines the very high hygroscopicity of the material.

Foam concrete products are made from cement, sand and water. But the main thing for the formation of the structure of the material is the foaming agent, which is added at the stage of mixing the solution before pouring it into molds. The cell turns out to be closed.

Both some and other blocks can have different densities, and are divided into brands. The numerical indicator in the brand indicates the density of the finished material (kg/m³):

— D 1000– D 1200 - structural products, that is, intended for the construction of load-bearing walls. Their insulation qualities are not the most outstanding.

— D 500-D 900 - structural and thermal insulation materials. They are the ones most often chosen for individual construction, combining, so to speak, “business with pleasure.”

— D 300- D 500 - thermal insulating blocks. For load-bearing structures, the strength qualities of such a material are clearly insufficient.

Foam concrete is also produced in another version, which is marked D1300 to D1600. These are structurally porous blocks that have a high density, but also very significant thermal conductivity. As a rule, material of this brand is made to order and is practically not used in residential construction practice.

Aerated concrete and foam concrete blocks have the following characteristic features:

• Easy to process. The blocks are easily sawed using a regular wood saw. Thanks to this quality, anyone, even an inexperienced builder, can handle adjusting the material during wall construction. Moreover, the block can be given any intricate shape.
• Strength of the material. The indicators of this parameter may vary depending on the porosity and brand of the product.
• Low thermal conductivity. This figure averages 0.08÷0.22 W/(m×˚С). Brands D300 and D 500 have a particularly low coefficient, so they are excellent for additional insulation of houses for permanent residence. Walls made of this material perfectly retain heat in the house during winter cold and coolness on hot summer days.
• Soundproofing. Aerated concrete and foam concrete have significant noise absorption properties, and the final parameters depend on other characteristics of the material, as well as on the thickness of the walls. According to SNiP II-12-77 standards, in private houses the level of noise insulation should be 41÷60 dB, and the sound insulation qualities of aerated concrete usually exceed these indicators:

• Environmentally friendly material. Industrial production of blocks is carried out under strict control (this is especially true for aerated concrete). The laboratories check for the presence of radioactive materials and toxic components - they are completely excluded.
• Mass of blocks. This parameter depends on the density of the material:

As you can see, this parameter can vary somewhat in one direction or another. It must be remembered that the higher the density of the material, the higher its thermal conductivity and the worse the sound insulation.

Along with the positive characteristics, these building materials also have their own flaws , about which you also need to have information:

• Foam and gas blocks are fragile, so during work, if the material is handled carelessly, it can crack or split. In addition, this can also happen when the foundation shrinks. Therefore, the base for the walls should be as reliable as possible. To avoid subsidence and cracking, every second to third row of masonry must be reinforced with metal rods.
• The hygroscopicity of aerated concrete can be considered a serious disadvantage. This feature predetermines an increase in the volume of work that includes waterproofing measures.
• Mandatory interior and exterior finishing involves additional costs.

What to choose - foam concrete or aerated concrete?

Despite a lot of common features, these materials also have significant differences. By what criteria can you compare? More detailed information can be found in a special publication on our portal.

Expanded clay concrete blocks and cinder blocks

These blocks, like the materials described above, can be classified as very affordable and have decent characteristics.

Their frost resistance and strength are comparable to similar parameters of brick walls. The blocks have very large linear parameters and relatively light weight, so they can be laid in a short time.

Expanded clay concrete blocks are made from cement mortar with the addition of fine expanded clay of 5÷10 mm, or coarse expanded clay sand.

Cinder blocks are also made from concrete mortar, to which various fine-grained materials with low thermal conductivity, such as blast furnace or boiler slag, are added as a filler.

If you plan to choose one of these materials, then you need to compare their technical characteristics and determine the “pros” and “cons”:

• The standard linear parameters of cinder blocks and expanded clay concrete blocks are 188×90×390 and 188×190×390 mm, with possible deviations of 10÷20 mm. Blocks with a smaller thickness are intended for the construction of internal partitions, and wide products are intended for the construction of load-bearing walls.
• Blocks made from expanded clay concrete are divided into ordinary and facing products. Ordinary ones are used to build walls, which are subsequently planned to be plastered or lined with decorative facade material. Surfaces removed from face blocks do not require any additional finishing.

Cinder block walls definitely require additional finishing, otherwise the house will have an unrespectable appearance. In addition, unfinished surfaces will actively absorb atmospheric moisture.

• Both types of material are produced in two versions - hollow and solid. Hollow blocks have through vertical voids, due to which their mass and thermal conductivity are reduced. Solid products are characterized by greater weight and strength, so they are used for the construction of load-bearing walls that bear high loads.
• Density of the material. The strength and thermal insulation qualities of the blocks depend on this parameter. The density of expanded clay concrete blocks can vary and be 850÷1800 kg/m³, and cinder blocks 500÷2000 kg/m³. The density of the material depends on the size of the filler fractions that are used in the solution for making blocks.

• Thermal conductivity of blocks. Cinder blocks have a thermal conductivity parameter of 0.3÷0.65, and expanded clay concrete blocks 0.4÷0.8 W/m˚C, which indicates that cinder block walls will more reliably retain heat in the premises of the house.
• Fire resistance and frost resistance. Both materials are resistant to open fire, they do not melt and do not emit toxic substances when heated. Walls made from these blocks can withstand the pressure of fire for 8-10 hours, without destroying the material itself. The frost resistance of cinder blocks and expanded clay concrete blocks is somewhat different. So, for the first it is 15 ÷ 35 cycles, and for the second from 50 or more, depending on the quality and some technical characteristics of the materials.

Summing up the characteristics of expanded clay concrete and cinder blocks, it is necessary to briefly highlight their positive aspects and disadvantages.

So to merits Such masonry materials include the following features:

• Affordable cost of the material compared to brick and wood.
• Quick laying of blocks due to their impressive linear dimensions, which saves time and masonry mortar.
• Relatively light weight of blocks.
• Quite low thermal conductivity - this quality will help you save on heating your home.
• Reliability, strength and durability of the building.
• Fire resistance and lack of release of toxic substances when exposed to high temperatures.
• Frost resistance.

Disadvantages materials are their following qualities:

• The hygroscopicity of cinder blocks, due to which the walls require mandatory external finishing - priming and plastering.
• The fragility of the material - blocks require very careful handling when laying.
• Insufficiently high aesthetic qualities.
• Due to the presence of specific fillers, they are difficult to process - when cutting, an uneven edge with cracks is often formed.

When purchasing one of the types of this material, you need to know that some unscrupulous manufacturers, saving on cement, add synthetic adhesives or other artificial additives to the solution, which worsen the environmental characteristics of block products. In order not to run into low-quality products, you should request a quality certificate from the seller before purchasing it. If such a document is missing, it is better to refuse to purchase blocks from this seller.

At the end of the section, there is a table of comparative characteristics of various masonry blocks that are popular nowadays among private developers:

Houses made of natural wood

For many centuries, wood has occupied a leading position among the materials used for the construction of private low-rise houses.

Previously, wood was chosen for construction mainly because of its availability. Today, many people put environmental safety first. Of course, wood also has its positive and weak sides, and it is necessary to have information about them when choosing this material.

To get a “healthy” wooden house, you need to choose properly dried wood of a certain species, which also plays an important role in the durability of the structure being built.

For the construction of houses, different types of wood are used, which have their own characteristics and have their own “pros” and “cons”. Coniferous trees are used for construction: pine, spruce, cedar and larch, and deciduous trees are aspen, alder, birch and oak.

When using any wood, the durability and comfort of living in a house can be guaranteed not only by the correctly selected material, but also by compliance with construction processes, as well as periodic preventive operations during operation. If all the necessary measures are taken, wooden buildings can serve faithfully for more than one century, and there is a lot of evidence of this.

As practice shows, the most popular material for building houses is pine. This is due to its affordability and prevalence in different regions, which are quite suitable for the technical characteristics of wood.

Logs and beams are used to build wooden houses. These materials, although they have the same internal structure, since they are made from the same types of wood, require a different approach during construction. And during operation, buildings behave differently.

A wooden house made of high-quality wood, built in compliance with all technological requirements, is distinguished by the following advantages :

• Absolute environmental purity of the material.
• Healthy microclimate inside the building.
• Durability and reliability.
• The low thermal conductivity of wood makes the house warm and cozy.
• Aesthetic appearance of the facade and interior.
• It is quite possible not to apply additional finishing to the external and internal surfaces of the walls.
• Quite fast construction of a log house.
• There is no need to build a bulky foundation, since a shallow strip, pile or even columnar version of the structure is quite suitable for wooden buildings.

TO shortcomings wooden buildings, the following factors should be included:

Comparative characteristics of natural wood materials used for wall construction:

Frame houses

Frame houses can be called combined buildings, since several materials are used in the construction of their walls. Such buildings can be built in different ways - these are the traditional frame-frame, panel (frame-panel) and half-timbered methods.

To understand what they are, it is necessary to briefly consider each of them.

Frame-frame construction

The traditional frame is assembled from timber, the space between its elements is occupied by insulation. The external surfaces of the walls are sheathed with sheet materials (OSB, plywood, etc.) or boards, and moisture-resistant plasterboard can also be used for internal surfaces.

The construction of a frame structure of this type consists of several stages. And all of them can easily be produced independently, since all the material used to build the house is light in weight.

• Any type of foundation can be used as a basis for a frame house - pile, strip, slab or columnar.
• The lower frame and first-level floor beams are fixed to the foundation. All this is done from timber with a cross-section of at least 150×150 mm.
• Then, at a distance of 550÷600 mm, vertical frame posts are installed, which are connected to each other by crossbars and diagonals for rigidity. When creating the frame of walls and partitions, openings for windows and doors are simultaneously formed.
• The rack part of the frame is strengthened by the upper trim.
• The attic floor beams are secured to the top frame, and then the wooden frame of the rafter system is assembled.

• Then the roof is insulated and covered. It is recommended to carry out roofing work at this stage so that the frame of the house and the materials mounted on it are protected from rain.
• Next, insulation material is installed between the frame beams. Most often, mineral wool is chosen as it, although polystyrene foam or environmentally friendly insulation materials such as ecowool, linen or reed mats can be used.
• The walls of the structure are covered from the outside with a waterproofing membrane, and from the inside - with a vapor barrier membrane.
• Then, the outside walls are sheathed with boards or (sometimes both materials are used). From the inside, vertical surfaces can be covered with the same OSB sheets, plywood or plasterboard.
• Vinyl or metal siding, natural lining or other material can be used as external decorative cladding.

Half-timbered method

This method of constructing frame houses also involves the formation of a frame for the walls and subsequent insulation, but in this case a completely different technology is used.

The frame on both sides, starting from the bottom trim, is temporarily sheathed with sheet materials, for example, OSB - it will create a kind of formwork for poured insulation. Sheathing is first done to a height of approximately 1000 mm.

Then, the formwork is filled with insulation specially developed for the given structure - rufalit. This is a gypsum-based mixture with a natural filler (for example, chopped straw) and special modifying additives.

After the insulation hardens, the formwork is removed and moved higher. All the walls of the house are drawn in a similar way. Floors and attic floors can also be filled with such an insulating composition.

The convenience of this frame method is that you can choose any wall thickness, depending on how much the building needs to be insulated.

Frame-panel structures

This method of constructing a frame house allows you to complete the process of building walls on a prepared foundation literally within one day. Everything is simple - ready-made panels are installed and fastened together.

Panels for a specific project are supplied tailored to size, already have window and door openings, and can be insulated or consist only of a frame covered with OSB sheets. If the structure is not insulated, then it can be insulated independently by choosing one of the types of thermal insulation that can be used to fill the cavities.

The finished wall structures provide all the necessary layers of hydro- and vapor barrier, as well as thought-out channels for laying communications.

The disadvantage of this method of building a house is the very high price of factory-made kits. In addition, it is impossible to do without using special equipment to lift, carry and install the finished panel in the place provided for it.

Is it difficult to build a frame house yourself?

Yes, the task is not so simple, but it is quite feasible for real male hands. A special publication on our portal will help you see the volume of upcoming work and assess your capabilities.

Now, having figured out what frame house structures are, it is necessary to highlight their positive and negative sides.

TO merits Properly built frame houses include the following:

• Possibility to do the work yourself.
• The low thermal conductivity of the walls helps retain heat inside the house.
• Relatively quick and fairly simple installation of structural elements.
• There is no need to arrange a massive foundation, since the construction is easy.
• The design does not shrink, so you can move into the house immediately after finishing work.
• There is no need to level the surfaces of the walls and ceiling, since they are already ready for decorative finishing both outside and inside.
• Relatively low cost.

However, the frame structure also has a fairly large number shortcomings , which can bring disappointment to future residents of the house during its operation:

• Low tightness of all frame structures, except for half-timbered structures.
• Insufficiently long service life due to low strength and reliability of the structure.
• Frame houses must have a proper ventilation system, otherwise mold may appear on the walls and underground due to insufficient air exchange.
• Low quality sound insulation.
• High fire hazard.

• Insulation material in the floor and walls can be used for housing by rodents and various insects. And it will be very difficult to get rid of such a “neighborhood”.

So which is better, timber or frame construction?

If you have to decide which form of wood is best to choose for construction - timber or logs, or to give preference to a frame structure, then it would be useful to refer to a special comparative publication. The recommended link leads to it.

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Above we figured out what materials can be used to build houses for year-round use. Taking into account their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, and approximate prices in your region, you can decide which one is best suited for a particular case based on a combination of all evaluation criteria.

If desires and possibilities coincide, then you can settle on the optimal option and begin developing a house project.

The information reflected in the article will be supplemented by an interesting video on the same topic:

Video: What material is better to choose for your own residential building?