Brick-fill house

Varieties of frame houses

Scheme of the pediment of a frame house.

Depending on the construction of the walls, there are 2 types of frame houses: frame-backfill and frame-panel. In frame-panel houses, the walls are separate and completely finished panels, which are made in advance and mounted on the construction site. Wall assembly is usually carried out somewhere in a warm place in autumn or winter.

Manufactured with high precision, on layout according to a template, with careful laying of windproof materials and insulation, neat inner and outer cladding, they allow you to quickly assemble a house with high quality construction. The size of the shields is chosen according to the length, which is equal to the height of the wall. The required width is selected depending on the size of the available sheathing material.

Frame-fill houses have walls that are assembled at the construction site from start to finish. On the racks of the frame, the inner lining is carried out with the laying of a vapor barrier layer (glassine, plastic wrap can be used). The inner space of the wall is filled with heat-insulating material.

In such structures, loose heaters are usually used: perlite sand, peat, sawdust. During the build-up of the outer skin, insulation is laid. Loose insulation to avoid precipitation and voids is tightly rammed.

The type of walls that are chosen for the house determines the design of the frame. Wall panels by themselves cannot bear the load. Frame-fill houses require the creation of a more durable frame.

Building a foundation

Schematic of the wall structure.

Building a quality home requires a good foundation. To extend its durability, you must not forget to equip the waterproofing.

Since the weight of the frame house is small, most often a foundation of asbestos pipes is created under it. Along the perimeter of the future building, the location of the support points is marked. It is necessary to monitor the uniformity of the racks.

In the marked places, pits with a diameter of 200 mm and a depth of 1 m are pulled out. The pipe is inserted into the pit, its verticality is verified, and then the soil is carefully rammed.

After that, reinforcement is laid and the rack is poured with concrete. The same procedure is carried out with each column. After pouring, you need to give the pillars a few days so that they can get stronger properly.

With the laying of the lower trim on the foundation, work begins on creating a frame house. It can be made from round wood cut into 2 edges. It would be even better to use a beam with a section of 120x120 mm (it is more convenient to work with it). If there is no suitable timber and logs, the lower and upper trims (and other frame elements) can be made from 40x120 mm boards.

The scheme of the lower strapping.

Wood for the lower trim, which works in the most adverse conditions, is treated with an antiseptic. This will protect the wood from decay, and therefore extend the life of the structure. The simplest processing method is impregnation with a 10% aqueous solution of iron or copper sulphate. This impregnation does not clog pores - the wood will be able to breathe. Beginning builders often make the mistake of impregnating the logs and lower beams with used machine oil and painting over with oil paint. This leads to rotting of the wood and the formation of house fungus. This is due to the fact that the oil closes the pores and does not allow moisture to evaporate.

If the lower trim is laid on a continuous strip foundation, then it is necessary to lay a dry, strong board 50 mm thick impregnated with hot bitumen between the beam and it. If a columnar foundation is being erected, then a segment of the same board is laid between the pillar and the beam, wrapped with 2 layers of roofing material.

Between themselves, the beams are connected at the corners of the half-tree.At least at 4 points, the strapping must be fastened to the foundation using embedded metal anchors. It is necessary to strictly control the horizontal level using the building level.

Frame installation

The supporting structure is formed by pillars, columns and pilasters. The calculation of this system takes into account the load on the floors, as well as external influences such as wind. To provide the backfill house with load-bearing elements of the frame should begin from the basement. At the level of the basement, racks with internal walls are placed, which in this case also perform a load-bearing function, supporting the first and most critical floor.

The columns are fixed in the center of the foundation. External rods are additionally connected to the floors with anchor bolts. Usually they use metal and reinforced concrete structures, but sometimes the introduction of wooden poles is also allowed.

In such a system, it is important to provide for the isolation of the wood material from the concrete structure. This is done with plastic wrap.

Metal poles are indispensable elements of the supporting frame of two-story backfill houses. With your own hands, you can also make pillars of stone or brickwork. The normative parameters for such structures in width and depth look like this: 29x29 or 19x39 cm.

Pilasters can also be used as an addition. They are arranged in basement walls, the thickness of which is no more than 14 cm. Pilasters are provided at reference points relative to the floor elements. Fastening is carried out along the entire height at the junction with the walls of the basement.

Exterior decoration of the house

Since the walls are mainly calculated for the enclosing, and not for the load-bearing function, it is important to initially provide a solid foundation for attaching the external decorative material. As a rule, this function is performed by a crate - a structure of wooden planks and bars, which is mounted on the main wall cladding panel and serves to perform the subsequent fixation of the cladding

The following materials can be used as finishing:

• Wooden plank. It can be wide slats, and lining with locking grooves. Reviews of backfill houses with this design emphasize the advantages of natural texture, environmental friendliness and ease of installation. You can mount the board on a wooden crate with ordinary nails with putty and biological treatment.
• Siding. It is also an easy-to-install material, which is plastic, wooden or metal panels. It is more practical to use aluminum sheets, which weigh a little and look quite presentable. The only drawback is that aluminum is easily deformed, but it is also quite easy to restore it.
• Block house. Imitation of the textured image of a classic log house on a metal base. In essence, a combination of siding and boards - semicircular sheets are fixed to the crate with hardware and interlock with each other through a joint-groove connection.

The walls of the frame structure the importance of calculations

It is important to know exactly for what specific purposes the structure is being built.

Maybe this is a neat country house exclusively for summer living. Then the requirements for it will be peculiar, its walls may well be lightened.

If it is a solid structure, then the size and thickness of the walls are calculated in accordance with the bearing load.

If a solid building is planned for year-round use, or a two-story, or a house with an attic, then it is necessary to take into account, in addition to strength qualities, the mandatory need for insulation. In such a case, the thickness will depend on the massiveness and size of the beam, and on the thickness of the insulation used.

How to correctly determine the thickness of the walls of the future structure?
The calculations necessarily take into account such an indicator as the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the materials used.

There is another interesting version of the design of a frame house - Its meaning is that for the construction of such buildings, industrially manufactured ones are used. When using this technology, the thickness of the bearing walls will be determined by the size of the finished panels themselves.

Each frame structure is based on a well-thought-out engineering calculation, on the basis of which a specific device is determined, and the material from which it will be made.

General information about backfill buildings

The technology is based on the principles of the Canadian prefabricated frame method of building private houses. As a rule, these are one-story buildings of a small area. The construction process is carried out using a ready-made house kit, which includes all the necessary materials. The supporting structure is constructed according to the traditional scheme using frame racks. The fundamental difference between almost all frame houses is that walls and partitions do not perform the direct function of holding horizontal interfloor ceilings with the load placed on them. They serve only as building envelopes. In turn, the bearing function is separately transferred to the metal and reinforced concrete racks of the frame. Sheathing can be made from a variety of materials from chipboard or OSB sheets to brick and timber.

What is a backfill structure? From the usual frame construction, it is distinguished by the approach to the thermal insulation device. The fact is that the walls of backfill houses inside have a cavity for filling. Actually, this is where the name of the technology comes from. If a standard frame house contains mineral wool with film vapor and water insulators in the wall structure, then sand (perlite), peat or sawdust acts as a heater in backfill structures. It is tightly rammed so that there are no voids left. The walls themselves are made with sheathing from boards or other panel materials used in frame-panel construction.

In general, it can be concluded that a backfill building is a prefabricated structure, which is erected on a construction site from start to finish, has a system of load-bearing racks and provides for laying loose insulation in the walls.

Method for preparing moistened fillings

A binder and organic fillers are poured into the gap in layers. Then everything is mixed well and water is added. After 3-5 weeks, the backfill in the structures dries up with a slight compaction and sedimentation. Drying time varies depending on the air temperature. Such backfills should not be used in frame wooden buildings in conjunction with vapor barrier materials (roofing material, roofing felt, glassine, etc.). They dry out for a long time, and sometimes are the cause of the formation of fungus. As you know, the fungus is very harmful to wood.

Slabs made of organic materials are considered to be a better insulation. Their size should be 50 × 50 or 70 × 70 cm, and the thickness should be from 5 to 10 cm. The ratio of components for their preparation:

• 1.5 parts of quicklime + 0.3 parts of cement + 2-2.5 parts of water;
• or 4 parts of clay dough + 0.3 parts of cement + 2-2.5 parts of water are taken for 1 weight part of organic aggregate;
• or 1-2 parts of tripoli clay + at least 0.7 parts of quicklime (you can fluff) + 2-3 parts of water;
• or 1.5-2 parts of gypsum + 2-2.5 parts of water.

If lime dough is used, then its amount is doubled, and the amount of water is reduced.

Dry materials are first mixed, then moistened with water and mixed again until a homogeneous consistency. After that, the mixture is put into molds, leveled, the molds are removed and dried under a canopy or in a closed room. Drying time will depend on temperature conditions and the binder used.Slabs made of gypsum, lime, tripoli dry for 2-3 weeks, clay products - an average of about 4-5 weeks.

Frame, frame-panel, panel and those walls that are assembled from factory-made elements are considered more economical.

A wooden frame is a kind of structure consisting of lower straps that are laid on the foundation. The elements of such a frame are connected with nails and bolts. If the frame is paving, then staples are used. The racks of the frame are sheathed with boards. The distance between the outer and inner cladding is filled with a special insulating backfill, straw or reed mats or other plate heaters. In prefabricated frame buildings, the plank sheathing on the outside is often covered with sheathing made of asbestos-cement sheets.

Often in our time, the walls in a frame house are not made of sufficient thickness, this is especially important in Siberian regions. What is the minimum and optimal width of the internal and external walls? Let's analyze this issue in more detail. The technique of building houses that is actively used today encourages many potential homeowners to be interested in their performance.

What is the minimum and optimal width of the internal and external walls? Let's analyze this question in more detail. The technique of building houses that is actively used today encourages many potential homeowners to be interested in their performance.

First of all, of course, everyone is interested in the question of how warm and comfortable such a frame dwelling will be.

Therefore, most questions come down to the main thing: how thick are the walls of a frame house?

It is impossible to give a specific and precise answer to this question. The problem is that there are many different technologies for building buildings and wall cladding with a variety of materials. It is clear that they all have their own performance characteristics, and have different thicknesses. The final thickness of a particular wall is the sum of the total size of all wall materials.

Let's consider various options for technological solutions and determine the numbers characteristic of different types of frame structures.

What is the structure of the wall of a frame dwelling?

You can conditionally represent it like this

• Racks are vertical;
• Strappings are horizontal;
• Warming material;
• Material finishing internal and external.

It should be noted that regardless of the specific type of construction, the main principle of the structure of all walls is the same.

Thanks to him, the structure turns out to be reliable and durable, protected from wind and moisture, having low heat transfer.
Even in the harsh conditions of the northern climate, a house built according to the aforementioned technology turns out to be warm, cozy and comfortable. At the same time, the thickness of the wall insulation in different cases can vary greatly.

Frame construction involves the use of various technologies. Depending on the characteristic features of each, various building and finishing materials are required. They are chosen not only taking into account external attractiveness and aesthetics, but taking into account their working and operational qualities.

Technology Disadvantages

You should also start with the general features of frame houses, which also apply to backfill buildings. The disadvantages will include low reliability, limitations in the implementation of various add-ons and high fire safety requirements. Like the advantages of a backfill house, its disadvantages are largely determined by the technology of using bulk insulation. Organic fillers are more susceptible to biological degradation, combustion and are often eaten by insects. In addition, they are fertile ground for the life of rodents, which can cause significant damage to the structure.Accordingly, there are additional requirements for the maintenance and maintenance of the structure of the house, which will include the need for regular flame retardant, disinfectant and biological treatment of surfaces.

Safety Rules

Features of the operation of prefabricated frame houses, among other things, are associated with fire hazards and low structural strength. Both factors, respectively, determine higher requirements for the prevention of such threats.

As for fire safety, it is provided in two ways:

Replacement or complete elimination of combustible or at least flammable materials in the main structure. The same OSB sheathing burns quickly, transferring the flame to load-bearing panels and walls, if they can, in principle, burn.

Particular attention is paid to insulators and insulating filler. If wood chips or sawdust are used, the sheathing must be non-combustible

The second way to increase the fire safety of a backfill house on a wooden base involves the creation of protective fire-resistant barriers. These can be special impregnations for the wood structure, and quite functional structural elements. For example, there are modifications of drywall sheets and basalt wool that do not support combustion and serve as full-fledged layers of interior cladding.

Advantages and disadvantages of a stone house

The use of stone makes it possible to build massive, beautiful castle-like houses that combine a noble aristocratic spirit with reliability and high quality construction. Such structures are built to last for centuries (high strength is one of the main advantages of this material), and after a long time they do not lose their attractiveness. One of the advantages of stone houses is that such buildings and their individual parts can be given almost any shape, and due to this they will look especially impressive. Natural tile looks good on the roof of a stone house, it gives the structure even more solidity. In some cases, it is only suitable for a stone house, because natural tiles are a very heavy roofing material, and weak walls on a light foundation simply cannot withstand it.

   

Another plus of stone houses is that they are not afraid of exposure to fungi and other microorganisms. Such a structure will not burn to the ground in a fire and perfectly resists the adverse effects of the environment (temperature changes, strong winds, precipitation).

Also, the advantage of stone houses is the high thermal conductivity of stone materials. In practice, this entails effective wall insulation. In ancient times, builders had no idea about insulation, so stone houses had very thick walls to keep it warmer in winter. It was also comfortable to live in them in the summer - the stone is slowly heated by the sun's rays. True, for the winter period this is a minus - a stone house is very difficult to warm up.

One of the main disadvantages of stone houses is their large mass, reaching several tons per 1 m3 of material. This requires a strong, well-buried foundation capable of supporting the weight of a massive structure. As you can see, the minuses of stone houses are much less than the pluses.

The main elements of frame walls

The frame includes:

• top harness;
• bottom harness;
• walls;
• braces (struts) of rigidity;
• additional components, such as intermediate crossbars and posts.

Between the racks design door and window openings.

When building two-story houses, two main types of frames can be used:

• With floor racks (when one house, as it were, stands on another). This type of frame is easier to build as it allows the use of smaller material.
• With through racks on two floors. This type of frame is more stable. It uses long material.

The supporting racks of the frame are mounted in the range of 0.5-1.5 m, focusing on the desired size of doors and windows. Ordinary racks of the frame are made of boards measuring 5 × 10 cm or 6 × 12 cm. Corner racks of the frame are made of composite boards or beams.

The base of the frame is the lower trim. It is made up of logs, boards or beams. The corners of the lower strapping are performed using the “straight half-wood lock” technique. If floor beams are cut into the strapping, then it is made of two crowns. If the floor beams simply rest on the pillars, then the strapping is made from one crown. Usually frame elements are fixed with nails, sometimes spikes are used.

To make the frame more stable, wooden struts are attached on both sides between the racks. They are cut flush using a frying pan or a semi-frying pan. From above, on the racks, the upper harness is fixed and the ceiling beams are cut into it. The top harness is best mounted on straight spikes. Next, rafters are placed on the beams. Sometimes log (blocked) beams are replaced with boards (planks) with a section of 5 × 18 cm or 5 × 20 cm and placed on edge. Outside, the assembled frame is sealed with wooden planks and nailed to the racks with nails measuring 7-7.5 cm. The thickness of the boards is 2-2.5 cm. They can be replaced with asbestos-cement slabs or any other materials that are durable and resistant to precipitation.

Advantages

Frame construction technology has gained popularity due to its high efficiency

The advantages of frame houses are represented by the following characteristics and features:

• no wet processes during construction;
• the ability to perform work at any time of the year, independence from the temperature regime;
• no need for strong foundations;
• you can perform installation work alone and with minimal labor costs;
• good thermal insulation, saving on heating;
• comfortable microclimate when choosing a heater with good vapor permeability;
• high installation speed;
• ease of finishing and repairing the building;
• stability of the structure to small deformations during heaving of the soil and shrinkage;
• the possibility of changing the interior layout.

We will find out all the pros and cons of a frame house, which will give you the opportunity to decide whether this technology is suitable for your own construction

It is important to note that the owners of such buildings note that the costs at the construction stage were approximately 30% less than they would be if the structure was built of brick or concrete.

Frame construction can be carried out at any time of the year

At the same time, heating costs during operation are very small. But this is true only with a competent choice of the thickness of the insulation. It must meet the standards for a certain climatic region.

What are the benefits of straw houses?

Many readers will surely have a question - why today more and more people who decide to acquire their own home are choosing a house made of straw and clay, and not classic wooden, brick or frame? This question should be answered in as much detail as possible.

1. Light weight. Any person understands that pressed straw weighs several times less than an ordinary tree, not to mention a brick. Thanks to this, work takes less time. It also eliminates the need to install a monolithic foundation, the pouring of which is very expensive and takes a lot of time.
2. Raw materials are as accessible as possible and easily renewed. A tree, in order to grow to a size suitable for construction, must grow for decades. The manufacture of bricks in general is a complex technological chain. But the straw grows in a matter of months. And the cereal plants necessary for obtaining straw grow in almost all regions of our country. This makes building straw houses a very easy and affordable option.
3. The thermal conductivity of straw bales is very low - about 0.05-0.065 W/m*K.
   To make it more intelligible, it is worth giving similar indicators for brick and wood. Different types of building bricks have thermal conductivity from 0.56 to 0.7 W / m * K. For wood, this figure is 0.18 to 0.23 W / m * K - depending on the species. This means that even on the most frosty winter days, you can comfortably live in your straw house, spending a minimum of money to maintain a high temperature. In the summer heat, it will be quite cool in such a house - the external walls will heat up in the sun, but will not transfer heat to the inside of the premises, which makes it possible to refuse the use of air conditioners.
4. Straw easily maintains an optimal indoor climate. Therefore, it is very easy and comfortable to be in such, one of the most environmentally friendly houses.
5. Low cost. As mentioned above, the price of this material is many times lower than the cost of other building materials, due to its availability. Replacing an expensive foundation with a simpler and cheaper one (pile, sometimes tape) allows you to further save money.
6. Compared to classic frame houses, straw houses do not need frequent replacement of artificial insulation (its service life is usually from 12 to 25 years), without which it is simply impossible to stay in a frame house during the winter months.

And this is not a complete list of reasons why people are increasingly choosing straw bale houses.

Pros and cons of lightweight concrete houses

Some experts believe that it is possible to simplify and reduce the cost of building a country house as much as possible without compromising its performance by using lightweight (cellular) concrete as materials for walls. They are a mixture of a binder (mainly cement) and a filler. From such material it is possible to make both monolithic walls, pouring it into the formwork, and casting a block. Moreover, both operations can be done independently, without the involvement of highly qualified specialists. Consider the main pros and cons of lightweight concrete houses: it is immediately worth noting that such structures have much more advantages.

The advantages of lightweight concrete products are their low cost, fire resistance, good sound and heat insulation properties, resistance to mold and decay. In addition, being made from natural mineral raw materials, they are environmentally friendly and do not have any adverse effects on the indoor microclimate. Speaking about the pros and cons of concrete houses, it should be noted that lightweight concretes usually have good vapor permeability, due to which, according to homeowners, houses made of them breathe as easily as wooden ones.

   

Nowadays, there are a large number of types of lightweight concrete, which differ depending on the filler material and manufacturing technology. Previously, slag concrete, expanded clay concrete, wood concrete, expanded polystyrene concrete were the most popular. Now, higher-quality and technologically advanced products made of gas silicate, foam and aerated concrete are widely represented on the construction markets. They have a lower mass (more than 3 times lighter than ordinary concrete) and improved thermal insulation characteristics (thermal conductivity of the wall is 2-3 times lower than that of brick).

Industrially manufactured blocks of gas silicate, foam and aerated concrete can have a dimensional accuracy of about 1 mm. This tolerance allows masonry using adhesive solutions, so there are no cold-letting seams in such a wall.

The disadvantages of almost all types of lightweight concrete are their tendency to crack and shrink. Therefore, despite the lightness of the walls made of these materials, they still require a strong foundation.In addition, facades made of aerated concrete blocks need an exterior finish that provides protection from moisture.