The origins of the American style originate in old European houses - because after emigrating to the United States, the British, Germans, Italians, Poles and other inhabitants of the old world imported their architectural styles and trends to America, which first took root, and then began to develop independently. It is the old European architecture, and in particular the English projects of the Victorian era, that is the foundation american style projects that combine simplicity and functionality. As a rule, American-style houses have light colors, large windows that provide natural light to the project, and a spacious covered terrace.

american house layout

The classic layout of American houses also has some distinctive features. The rooms are usually large and spacious, as a rule, the kitchen area is combined with a dining and living room. There is a wardrobe, a laundry room, a nursery, an office and personal bathrooms in such a house. American-style houses must have a garage for at least two cars, the entrance to which is possible both from the outside and from the inside.

Characteristic features of American houses

Classic American-style houses have some special characteristics:

1. Non-standard roofs. This characteristic is especially obvious if the house has several floors. In this case, projects have gable roofs with an acute angle of inclination of a complex broken shape at several levels.
2. The appearance of the building. A feature of this house is a bright facade, as well as the presence of a spacious terrace. The use of natural materials - wood for finishing facades and shutters, natural or artificial stone for finishing foundations and pipes.
3. The presence of a significant number of large windows. They help with lighting the house and visually increase the interior space due to the large amount of natural light. Due to the milder climate, a completely justified decision.
4. Very well maintained house territory with clear zoning.

The bulk of American housing is made up of cozy houses no more than two stories high. The projects of such cottages involve a large family living in them under one roof, where large living rooms and kitchens are located on the first floors, and bedrooms and children's rooms on the second (remember the movie Home Alone;)).

The layout of American houses has features that make it easy and quick to distinguish it from other types of residential buildings:

• wide porch;
• the presence of an equipped additional room in the attic;
• comfortable terraces for reading a newspaper and drinking morning coffee;
• tiled roofs;
• bay windows.

Modern projects adapted to our climate. Cottages are being built using frame technology, which involves the use of dry lumber. Next, the wooden frame is insulated and sheathed with OSB boards. This is the simplest construction method and does not require the help of large construction teams. There must be a garage for one or two family cars. The house itself must have good sound insulation, while all finishing materials are exclusively natural.

The style of buildings made using this technology can be called recognizable, but the facade decoration, which the customer chooses independently, will help to make them original and unique.

This construction technology allows you to implement any design ideas without involving complex construction equipment. Despite the absence of the need to use expensive equipment, the cost of houses remains at a premium level due to the implementation of original stylistic solutions and the use of high-quality building materials.

Order the construction of an American house

If you want a beautiful American cottage in St. Petersburg or Leningrad region, then our company is ready to help you with its construction. We offer you a large selection of ready-made projects with the possibility of their adjustment, as well as the creation of individual solutions from scratch on a turnkey basis. Photos of finished buildings can be viewed on the website in the appropriate section, which also indicates the approximate prices for the proposed housing.

Then proceed to the pouring of the foundation itself.

For it, you can use either a concrete foundation or piles.

Stage 2. Frame erection

After the work with the foundation is completed, the external finishing begins.

The final stage involves interior finishing, according to your design project - installation, plumbing, ceiling installation, furniture placement

The construction time of a conventional frame-panel house is from 1 to 3 months.

American home decoration

When you have chosen the technology you need, and have decided on building materials, you can proceed to the choice of finishing materials. There is already full scope for your imagination, because there are practically no restrictions here. Everyone can choose materials to their taste. Therefore, do not look for standards, but unleash your imagination.

In conclusion, I would like to say that such construction of frame houses using American technology is very profitable and justifies all hopes. And finding a project that suits your individual conditions is very easy.

we've looked at past posts. Now let's look at the layout of American houses.

In American homes, you almost never find a hallway or hallway. Instead, all front doors lead directly to the living room or other living room. The house can be entered not only through the front door. Most often there are at least two or three front doors. Front door or front door. The back door (usually glass) leads to the backyard. The third door is to the garage. Sometimes the door to the outside can be found in the most unusual place, such as in the toilet. This is explained quite simply - so that you can go to the toilet from the pool without entering the house.

When you ask an American about the size of a house, you will almost always hear three parameters - the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, and the total area. For example, 3/2 1600 sq. ft. means that this is a house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a size of about 150 square meters. m.

Private rooms

The interior space of American homes is divided into a private area and a public area. The private area primarily includes bedrooms. Bedrooms are divided into "master bedroom" and all other bedrooms. A separate bedroom is for the parent couple, and each adult family member. Children of the same sex, up to a certain age (12 years old), can share one bedroom, and then get their own. For example, a family of 4 will almost always live in a house with 3-4 bedrooms. The bedroom must have a window. If the room does not have a window, then it cannot be a bedroom. Also, almost always in the bedroom there should be a built-in wardrobe or pantry.

The master bedroom is the largest bedroom, it usually has a walk-in closet, or even two dressing rooms, and almost always has its own separate bathroom with toilet and bath. In expensive homes, the master bathroom can be very fancy, with a Jacuzzi, multiple sinks, fancy showers, and so on.

The rest of the bedrooms usually have smaller wardrobes. The rest of the bedrooms may not have their own toilet and bathroom, and they can combine one toilet / bathroom for 2 bedrooms.

For children's bathrooms, a fairly typical layout is washbasin>toilet>bathroom. Also, very often in children's bathrooms, lower washbasins, toilets, and bathtubs are installed.

Here is an example of a typical plan for an inexpensive American home.

Sometimes there is a configuration where the toilet has two doors, and access from two different bedrooms is possible (this is called the Jack and Jill Bathroom).

There is almost never a chandelier on the ceiling of the bedroom. Often, instead of a chandelier, there is a fan (with or without a lamp). And the main lighting in the bedrooms, as a rule, is not very bright, and is arranged with the help of spotlights or floor lamps.

public rooms

If the house is two-story, then the private zone is located on the second floor, and on the first there will be a public zone - kitchen, living room, hall, dining room. If the house is one-story, then the public area will be in the center. Also, one room can be reserved for an office or a library. The basement, if any, will be equipped as a library, gym, bar or games room.

The public area, as a rule, is not divided into separate rooms, instead, the entire space is open and divided only by arches, partitions, and shelving. The kitchen is most often separated from the dining room only by a bar or not separated at all. For example, on this plan, the family room (family room), dining room (dining room), living room (living room / living room) and kitchen (kitchen) are actually combined into one space. It is worth remembering that in English, the word room means both a room with 4 walls and just a place / space, so a dining room can be either a dining room or just a place for a table.

In addition, there is often half the bathroom in the public area. What is half a bathroom? This is a toilet with a hand wash basin so that guests do not go to the toilet through the bedrooms.

The patio is not just welcome, but considered a must. There you can arrange a children's playground, a small garden, swimming pools are often found, and there will almost always be a place for a barbecue.

Auxiliary or working premises:
There are ba large number of built-in wardrobes, storage rooms, a basement and an attic equipped for storage, and a spacious garage attached to the house. The washing machine is installed not in the bathroom and not in the kitchen, but in a special laundry room. Sometimes they are put in the garage. Linen can also be dried and ironed here.

Inside American homes, you almost never see wallpaper on the walls. Interior walls are almost always painted. Light and plain walls dominate

Separately, it is worth mentioning the internal doors. In addition to conventional hinged doors, American homes have a wide variety of other options:
1. Barn door (barn door), moves sideways on the rail.

2. Folding doors, usually used for dressing rooms and other utility rooms.

3. Sliding doors

4. Pocket doors that go into the wall are also common.

A few more different plans

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The American colonial style, pronounced in the architecture of residential buildings, has recently become very popular among domestic developers. The reason for this is the combination of convenience, visual appeal and functionality of the building, where the living space is used with maximum efficiency. The American style home is ideal for active families, especially couples with children.

What is a private American home? Usually this is a spacious two-story frame-type cottage, with a roof of complex shape and a large number of windows. Most often, such houses have a symmetrical shape, many rooms, an open spacious terrace at the entrance. The second floor, as a rule, protrudes above the first, and is propped up by wide, even columns.

This style has other distinctive features:

• low foundation and lack of a basement;
• built-in garage;
• the presence of a spare entrance;
• lack of facade decoration;
• mansard roof;
• window frames have many bindings;
• a low porch, framed on the sides by a railing of a simple form.

The color scheme is rather restrained: pastel colors are most often used in combination with white. But bright contrasting colors in the decoration of facades are very rare. As for the exterior finish: the most popular material is wood of various species and its imitation. Most often you can see facades sheathed with clapboard overlap, the so-called "American". Well, since natural wood is a rather expensive material, many use siding that imitates the same American, timber, wood chips. Also, natural stone is used in the decoration, especially sandstone, decorative brick.

Great importance is attached to the landscape surrounding the house. As a rule, the house territory is very well-groomed, open, the lawn occupies the central part. Flower beds with low shrubs and flowers can be located close to the house, along the perimeter of the terrace, on both sides of the porch, giving the building a very cozy look. But climbing plants do not belong to the favorites, and it is possible to see walls completely entwined with decorative vines only in isolated cases.

American style façade

It doesn't take much effort to make your home look like an American one. Even if the architecture of your home is extremely simple, with the help of exterior decoration you can give it a characteristic look that we see so often in American films. The greatest expressiveness will provide a combination of materials and the correct selection of colors.

The best option is the zoning of the facade with wood paneling and plaster.

How it looks in practice: the outer walls of outbuildings and bay windows are smoothly plastered, the rest of the walls are sheathed with an overlap board. The pediments of the house can also be distinguished by sewing up the siding “under the wood chips”.

Socle siding "under shingles"

If there is a high base, it is tiled with stone tiles or torn bricks. At the end, the sheathing is painted in beige or gray, the trim, corners, railings are painted white to give a contrast.

Now let's consider the finishing technology in more detail using the example of a brick house.

Price for decorative stone

Decorative rock

Preparatory stage

For a high-quality finish, no less high-quality preparation of the base is needed. They traditionally start with the dismantling of all attachments that may interfere with finishing work.

With a metal brush, you need to process the masonry seams, thoroughly clean the crumbling areas.

If the wall is old, and individual bricks also began to crumble, they need to be knocked out with a chisel and hammer, and the recesses should be carefully cleaned.

Next, whole bricks of the appropriate size are selected, a little cement mortar is kneaded (3 parts of sand and 1 part of M300 or M400 cement), and the masonry is repaired. Cracks in the walls, through holes, small potholes and empty seams are sealed with the same solution.

When the solution dries, the walls are treated with a primer with antiseptic additives. It is best to prime with a brush, so the composition is easier to distribute over all seams and recesses. If the surface of the bricks is dense and smooth, one coat of primer is enough, but for a porous, highly absorbent surface, 2-3 layers will be needed. After such treatment, the walls under the sheathing will be reliably protected from moisture and fungi.

Deep penetration primer prices

Deep penetration primer

Plaster surface

First you need to determine the areas that are not planned to be sheathed with clapboard. It can be not only the walls of extensions, but also the areas around the openings, along the terrace, the basement. It is also possible that the facade is completely sheathed with wood, and the back of the house is plastered. It all depends on the imagination of the homeowner and his financial capabilities, because the cost of plaster is much lower than lining.

To facilitate the task, it is recommended to draw a sketch of the future cladding in several versions and choose the most suitable one. After that, the boundaries of the sections on the wall are marked so that the wood paneling subsequently overlaps the plastered plane by 15-20 cm. Marking is performed using a level. You need to start work with the thermal insulation of the wall, and the best insulation for plaster is foam.

Step 1. They are attached to a clean primed wall, which will act as a support for heat-insulating plates. To do this, determine the lower boundary of the finish, beat off the horizontal level, mark the drilling points for fasteners in increments of 30-40 cm. Drill holes in the wall, insert dowels, fix the base plate with self-tapping screws. At the joints, the plank is overlapped by 20 mm.

Step 2 Prepare glue for insulation: pour the dry adhesive mixture into a container with water, stir with a mixer until smooth, leave for 5 minutes to swell and mix again.

Step 3 They take the first plate of insulation, on the back side apply glue along the perimeter with a continuous strip at a distance of 2-3 cm from the edge. In the center of the plate, the glue is applied in small strokes or blotches. Next, the foam is applied to the wall from the corner, the lower edge is supported on the plinth, the plate is leveled vertically and gently pressed against the surface with hands.

Step 4 The next plate is attached close to the first, trying to prevent the glue from being squeezed into the seam. After laying the first row, proceed to the second, shifting the seams by about half the width of the slab.

To cut the foam, use a sharp mounting knife or a fine-toothed hacksaw.

When the entire area is pasted over with slabs, they are additionally fixed with dish-shaped dowels, drilling holes in the center of the slabs and in the corners.

The method of fixing the foam plastic with the "drowning" of the cap of the dowel-umbrella

Step 5 Further, all corner protrusions must be closed with perforated corners: a solution is applied with a spatula along the entire length of the protrusion, a corner is applied, leveled, pressed into the glue. Excess mass is carefully removed so as not to leave sagging.

Step 6 The solution is applied in a continuous thin layer (2 mm thick) on the foam plastic from top to bottom, a reinforcing mesh is applied, it is smoothed with a spatula to evenly drown it in glue. You need to smooth it very carefully, avoiding the formation of folds and voids under the mesh. Adjacent mesh strips are overlapped by 5 cm. After completing the reinforcement of the section, leave the surface to dry.

Step 7 After about 2 days, plastering work can be continued. The surface is sanded with medium grit sandpaper, dust is brushed away and primed. After the primer has dried, the plaster mortar is kneaded and distributed in a uniform thin layer over the treated surface. You need to work very carefully so as not to leave stripes from the tool, streaks and other defects. The spatula should be periodically wiped with a damp cloth.

After a day, the surface must be wiped again until it is perfectly smooth. For the best effect, you can make a liquid plaster mortar, apply it very thinly on the wall and smooth it with a polyurethane trowel. The movements are performed counterclockwise, with the same pressure, processing the wall in squares.

On this, while the finishing process is completed, painting will be done later.

Prices for popular types of plaster

Plaster

Wall cladding

For such sheathing, you can use both a simple edged board and an “American” lining, which is distinguished by a wedge-shaped plank.

They are fastened in different ways, but the crate is placed in the same way in both cases. When choosing an edged board, you need to make sure that the material is of good quality and its moisture content does not exceed 16%, so stock up on a moisture meter in advance.

Also, you should not buy wood if mold and blue stains are visible on it, there are cracks, a lot of knots. All boards must be even, have the same thickness and color.

The optimal width of the boards is from 130 to 180 mm, and the thickness is about 20 mm. For the frame, you will need a dry, even beam with a section of 50x50 or 60x40 mm.

You can mount a frame from a galvanized profile, but it will cost more, while a wooden beam will perfectly cope with the task assigned to it.

Advice. Before starting work, all lumber must be treated with an antiseptic primer and air-dried.

Step 1. Make markings on the wall under the frame fasteners. Since the sheathing is horizontal, the frame guides must be strictly vertical. If the sheathing will border on the plastered surface on the same plane, the extreme timber should be located close to the plaster. So, they take a plumb or level, determine the vertical, draw a line on the wall with chalk, and so along the entire wall in increments of 50 cm.

Step 2 Further, holes are drilled on each line at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other, dowels are inserted. They take the first beam, put it against the wall, control the vertical level. If the surface is uneven, pieces of wooden slats are placed under the timber until it is leveled. After that, screws are screwed in and the guides are fixed to the wall. The extreme bars are fixed first, then a nylon thread is pulled between them at the top and bottom, and the rest of the guides are leveled according to these landmarks.

Step 3 The next step is warming. It is advisable to use the same insulation for the whole house, because each material has different heat capacity characteristics. Therefore, if we used polystyrene for plastering, then we also choose it for cladding. Styrofoam sheets are tightly inserted between the guides, cut to size if necessary. Next, the material is fixed with fungal dowels, approximately 5 pieces per sheet. If there are gaps between the insulation and the beam somewhere, they need to be blown out with mounting foam.

Step 4 Start plating. To give it the desired angle of inclination, a wooden lath with a section of 20x20 mm is stuffed along the lower edge of the crate, having previously beaten off the horizontal level. After that, they take the first board, apply it to the crate so that its lower edge completely covers the rail. Nail the board along the top edge to the guides.

Overlap sheathing - block diagram

Step 5 Sheathing boards should overlap each other by 20 mm, and in order not to measure the required distance each time, you can use a template from trimming a wooden lath of the appropriate thickness. This template is applied to the already fixed board in the upper part, an indent of 20 mm is marked with a pencil, and the same is repeated on the other side. Now it remains only to attach a new board to the marks and nail it to the frame.

Step 6 Before attaching the topmost board, the border of the sheathing is determined, the horizontal is beaten off and a 25x75 mm rail is screwed along this line. They try on the edge board, if necessary, cut it in width and mount it end-to-end with the rail. At the end, the joint line is closed with a board with a section of 150x25 mm. If the roof overhangs are hemmed with spotlights, the edge board is attached close to the spotlights, and the joint is closed with a wooden lath.

Step 7 Two wide boards with a section of 150x20 mm are stuffed vertically in the corners, closing the gaps at the ends of the sheathing. Window and door openings are also sewn up on the sides with boards of the appropriate width in order to completely cover the end part of the sheathing.

If the factory lining "American" is chosen for finishing, the workflow will be even easier. The design of the panels contributes to a quick and convenient fastening of the sheathing on self-tapping screws or with the help of clamps.

Finishing the gables

Gables can also be sheathed with clapboard, but it is better if they are slightly different. And one of the finishing options is siding with wood chips imitation. Chips and shingles give the building a special flavor, they are perfectly combined with other materials, but the process of their manufacture and installation is quite laborious. For this reason, natural chips and shingles are almost never used, but their imitation is very popular and in demand.

Woodchip vinyl siding is a lightweight panel 46-48 cm wide and up to 1.23 m long. The thickness of the material varies between 1-4 mm, depending on the type. Plinth panels are thicker and stronger, but wall siding is predominantly used for sheathing gables.