The cheapest material for the house. What is the cheapest way to build a house? Frame type house building

Quite often, when designing a private house, the future owner thinks about the optimal choice of materials for its construction. What is cheap to build a house from, so that it does not affect the quality, thermal insulation, external attractiveness and durability of the building. The right selection of materials will help not only build the desired house with your own hands, but also save a lot of money.

Construction stages

From the very beginning, you should determine the order that you need to follow when doing construction with your own hands:

  1. The very first building of the foundation begins.
  2. The construction of the walls begins to be engaged after checking the readiness of the base.
  3. The next in order will be the conduct of communications (heating, water supply, sewerage, electrification, gas supply) and pouring the floor.
  4. The next step will be laying the floor.
  5. The last step is to build a roof. This type of construction work is carried out in spring or autumn.
The level of costs is affected by the design of the house, the foundation, materials for construction, materials for hydro- and thermal insulation, installation of doors and windows

The following factors influence the level of costs:

  • effective building layout;
  • the depth of the foundation, the materials for its construction and the technique used in its construction;
  • the use of inexpensive and high-quality materials for walls;
  • heat-saving and waterproofing materials;
  • type of heating system;
  • installation of door and window blocks;
  • the use of heat-saving and waterproofing agents.

Any construction must begin with a project. This approach makes it possible already at the initial stage to avoid unnecessary expenses and optimize the area of ​​the project. You should also decide what material the house will be built from.

Create a project

To reduce the cost of construction and materials, you can calculate the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe house in such a way as to comfortably place all the necessary premises in the smallest possible area and decide which material will become the basis for the walls.


To save money, when building a house, make an extension - a veranda, it will protect the building and will serve as a great place for summer holidays.

To reduce heat loss, you can abandon pillars, bay windows, as well as all kinds of decorative partitions, as well as insulate basements, roofs and walls. The fewer walls in a building, the easier it is to heat it.

An excellent solution would be the construction of verandas and balconies that will protect the building and serve as a place of rest in the summer. It is also recommended to combine the hall with the dining room and kitchen, in this case the total area will reduce heat loss, and minimal zoning will help create a cozy and original interior of a small room.

You can resist the cooling of rooms from the side of the roof by arranging the attic.

As roofing materials, it is recommended to use reliable tile materials or tiles. You should not save on roofing material, since the life of the building and the possibility of rational use of the attic floor directly depend on it. In addition, these materials look very decorative, improve the overall appearance of the structure and are very durable, which more than pays for their high cost.

Wall materials

Since inexpensive construction is designed not only to create beautiful and comfortable housing, but also to do it yourself in a short time with reasonable savings, modern materials for interior decoration should be used whenever possible.


The scheme of the insulated frame house

For the construction of a strong frame, concrete, metal, brick or wood are used. One of the options for economical construction is the installation of a wooden frame, which is then sheathed with soft insulation. This allows you to significantly lighten the design and save on the construction of the foundation, as well as significantly reduce energy consumption for heating.

Another profitable option for building walls is the construction of aerated concrete. A house made of such material is very quick and easiest to build, while reducing mortar and labor costs. The material is light and dimensional, and after finishing work it will take on any necessary form, and will not differ in any way from brick structures.


Wood is a favorite raw material for construction, but it can hardly be saved on it. The material itself is not so expensive, but since it is constantly subjected to deformation, shrinkage, the appearance of cracks and gaps from the effects of weather conditions, and also needs careful insulation, the cost of it increases significantly.

An economical material for a wooden house is only a type-setting system. It is assembled in production conditions by specialists from full-bodied structural elements.

In addition, such a house periodically requires sealing cracks as a result of building subsidence, as well as other expensive maintenance and control.

foundation type

You can reduce the cost of building a foundation by using highly efficient structures that can reduce the weight of the walls of the house and allow you to use a lightweight version of the foundation.

The ability to build a low-buried foundation is determined by the condition of the soil and the proximity of groundwater.


A low-depth foundation will save a lot of money

Under what conditions can a low-buried foundation be built:

  1. Such a foundation is used only on non-rocky soils. Coarse-grained sand is an ideal base for a low-buried foundation.
  2. Subject to the installation of a drainage system. This will prevent the rise of groundwater and protect the basement of the building from excessive moisture.
  3. It is also advisable to use waterproofing.

If an architect decides in favor of building a low foundation and decides in favor of lightweight materials, then the amount saved will be quite significant.

In order to determine the appropriate type of foundation with your own hands, you should dig a hole about one meter deep. If there is no water in the pit, and the composition of the soil is represented by sand, clay and stones, then with all certainty it can be said that it is possible to build an unburied foundation (60-80 cm). If water appeared in the pit, then the occurrence of the base should be at a depth of more than one meter.


Roofing material is used to waterproof the foundation

The solution should be thick enough and consist of cement, sand and gravel. Before pouring, formwork is constructed from boards. The width of the base should be 20 cm more than the width of the walls. Be sure to use reinforcing mesh.

To ensure waterproofing, roofing material is laid in the foundation at ground level in two layers and then built to the required height.

After the completion of construction work, the foundation should be given several months to mature, and only after that the walls should be built.

Window systems

When choosing and installing window systems with your own hands, you should pay attention not only to the quality of the window block itself, but equally to the condition of seals and fittings. They must provide a snug fit, high-quality heat and sound insulation.


Poor-quality double-glazed windows will contribute to the cooling of the room and the formation of drafts.

The number of windows required for optimal lighting is calculated by the formula: floor area divided by 8. For example, for a room with an area of ​​40 meters, 5 windows are needed.

Heating system

The finished building needs the installation of a gas or electric heating system. Measures to insulate the walls, floors and basement of the building significantly reduce heat loss, but they are not able to provide a comfortable temperature at home during the cold season.


Underfloor heating is one of the most efficient ways to heat a room. There are two types of such a floor: electric and water. This system is quite cheap and provides pleasant warmth and comfort in the room. The acquisition and installation of such a system with your own hands will allow, without causing a significant increase in the cost of the project, to ensure savings and organically fit into the interior of the house.

Comfortable for this type of heating, the distribution of warm air from the bottom up, in comparison with other types, is the most correct. Whereas heating from radiators can be minimized by drafts walking inside the room.

Knowing what is cheaper to build a house from, you can save a good amount and bring your dream home project to life with your own hands. Tips for arranging an inexpensive home will help you build a comfortable, beautiful and ergonomic design with your own hands, in which you can pay maximum attention to the interior decoration of the room with the remaining funds.

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

What determines the value 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 - handmade?

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

This is economically justified in the following cases:

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

So, the cheapest construction options:

  1. Thatched walls with clay plastering. They are distinguished by good thermal insulation, but require repair due to rodents that settle in the thickness of the wall.
  2. Abrolite or sawdust concrete. You can make your own 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 - to build walls as quickly as possible and do the exterior finish, since the wood concrete is hygroscopic.
  3. Clay or cordwood. Dry logs and chocks, peeled from bark, are used. They are laid across the wall on a clay mortar. The ends of the wood must be impregnated with antiseptics or burned, otherwise they strongly absorb moisture.
  4. Backfilling with sawdust or expanded clay. To do this, a non-removable formwork is made from a cut board on the frame, into which the insulation is poured.

The appearance of the house of these materials is rather unsightly. And if it’s quite simple to beat straw walls or peeking logs, you will also have to make a coupler on top of the wood concrete. Another significant disadvantage of homemade materials is that they are not strong enough. But this is a problem of all frame houses. To hang shelves or install a kitchen set, it is necessary to provide mortgage boards at the construction stage.

Economical building materials - what are they?

If it was decided to abandon self-production by common sense, it is worth taking a closer look at the prices on the market. What is the cheapest building material? Paradoxically, almost any:

  • tree - can be purchased extremely cheaply in the forest belt, but in the steppe zone it is expensive;
  • brick - building in the neighborhood of a brick factory, you will be able to buy red brick at manufacturer's prices;
  • aerated concrete and foam concrete - lightweight and relatively simple material to build, has good thermal insulation;
  • frame construction is the most budget option, suitable for any climate, but requiring 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 work of builders. The same applies to a brick house - the skew of the masonry will result in a 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 on a special glue, due to which the gaps between the blocks are minimal.

This allows you to save on fine finishing, but requires care from builders. Foam concrete does not differ in the quality of 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 globally save on construction?

Not only building materials can reduce the cost of building your own home. To save as much as possible:

  1. Think over the plan of the future building. The simpler the layout, the cheaper it is to equip it. You should not plant 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 tiered 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 attach an open terrace.
  3. Use building materials produced in your region, abandoning the popular and advertised ones. This will allow not only to buy them cheaper, but also not to overpay for delivery. So, houses made of shell rock in the Altai Territory are among the most budgetary, but Moscow cannot boast of a low price for this material.
  4. Lighten the truss system as much as possible 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, while not reducing the pitch of the rafters.
  5. Get rid of the basement. Filling, waterproofing and roughing out the basement will add another 20% to the estimate.

The choice 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 features to look out for:

  • durability - if the house is idle for a maximum of 10 years, saving on materials is rather doubtful;
  • ease and accessibility of installation - the need to use heavy equipment at a construction site can negate all the savings;
  • environmental friendliness - maintaining natural humidity in the house is achieved through "breathing" 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 of building materials, you can choose the most suitable option for yourself.

Wooden houses

Timber houses are considered the most environmentally friendly and one of the best in maintaining an optimal microclimate. A wooden building has the following advantages:


But such a structure also has disadvantages. So, the quality of literally every log is very important - an undried tree will begin to twist, longitudinal cracks may appear, the ends must be “plugged” with an ax to prevent waterlogging of the tree due to precipitation. If, however, to deviate from the classical processing of logs in favor of the use of modern antiseptic and flame 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 have to customize every 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 let the house "breathe", it cannot be insulated with polystyrene foam, only with vapor-permeable mineral wool. And so that the insulation does not get wet, be sure to arrange a ventilated facade. There are also certain limitations 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 windproof house, you need to regularly check and caulk the cracks in the walls. Particular attention is paid to the corner lock system - simply cutting 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 the heating is started, the house will warm up for a long time, but then cool down just as long. For permanent residence - a great option. But for a country house visited on weekends, this will become an irrational waste of money on heating. After all, while the house warms up, it is already necessary to leave back to the city.

For one-story buildings, walls of 1.5 bricks will be enough. But such a thickness of the walls 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 is especially nice when building brick buildings - you can use any insulation! So, by choosing foam plastic with a thickness of only 5 cm, you can reduce the heat loss of the house from 125 kWh per square meter to 53 kWh per heating season. In other words, you can halve your heating bills.

The disadvantages of brick houses include:

  • a large weight of the building - you will need a recessed strip foundation, which will significantly increase the cost of construction;
  • the duration of the construction - a team of five people can raise a box at home in three weeks, subject to continuous work, but alone, the time increases significantly;
  • finishing work - if you can live in a log house immediately after construction, a brick house requires a mandatory screed of walls and floors, followed by a fine finish.

Houses from a gas block or foam block

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


At the same time, the price per cubic meter of brick and gas block is almost the same. And given the need for insulation along the facade, the advantages of aerated concrete over ceramic bricks are rather 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 on a tight budget, frame construction is a real salvation. A house on a wooden frame with mineral insulation is many 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, approaching the construction of a frame house wisely and without saving on building materials, you can get a good and reliable structure that will last for decades. And in the future, the frame is just as easy to disassemble and put in its place a capital brick house.

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

Home is what we leave behind, what connects generations. What this memory of us will be depends on us. True, the construction of a house strongly depends on the amount of our money, and on the climate of the area where it is located. And now it is dazzling from the variety of building materials in the eyes. Therefore, in order for the house to be strong, cozy and stand for a long time, it is necessary to take into account not only the merits of this or that material, but also its shortcomings, so that our beauty does not decay and crumble in a few years.

Basic materials for building a house

With all the diversity and dissimilarity of houses, we build them practically from only two materials: wood and stone. In fairness, it should be noted that they are specially processed, they are given the properties necessary in each specific case.

Let's look at a tree: a rounded log, a simple and glued beam, a gun carriage. Everything seems to be from the same material, but the characteristics, for example, of glued laminated timber and rounded logs differ like heaven and earth. But there are still frame houses, also consisting of wood and insulation.

By stone, in general, it is not meant wild stone (mostly it is used for filling under the foundation or for decorative finishing), but artificially created. Well, since it was created by the mind and hands of a person, then the properties of the stone were given such as the person needed. And no matter how frightening the abundance of brands and standards of such a stone, it easily fits into the following classification:

    Brick;

    Blocks where the binder is cement;

    Building blocks made without the use of cement, based on lime or clay.

The greatest variety of manufacturing technologies (hence, types) exists in the second group, that is, the group of building blocks made on the basis of cement.In housing construction, lightweight concretes are most often used, which differ in the brand of cement, the composition of the filler, and the composition of the heat-insulating component. And already, depending on these characteristics, it is possible to distinguish cellular concretes, where air or gas bubbles serve as thermal insulation, and blocks, where this role is played by expanded clay, wood chips or foam balls. However, in order...

Brick: pros and cons

Yes, the brick is durable, frost-resistant, not afraid of fungus and does not rot. It is not afraid of precipitation and does not burn, solar ultraviolet does not have any effect on the brick. The brick is durable, and also meets all environmental and aesthetic standards. The strength of the house is explained both by the quality of the material and the method of laying - each next laid row of bricks knits the previous one, that is, there are no vertical seams passing through at least two rows.

This masonry requires a certain skill, especially when tying corners and laying a wall more than one brick thick. Thus, the complexity of building a brick house requires highly skilled labor. Another significant drawback is the weight of the brick: you need a reinforced, solid foundation.Due to the high thermal conductivity of the brick, the house cools down quickly, and it takes several days to warm it up so that it does not seem that the house is damp. This is quite simply explained: when laying, the thickness of the solution is somewhere 1 cm , and with small brick sizes, such a thickness of mortar is no longer a "bridge", but a real "bridge" of cold. The deadlines for the delivery of brick houses are usually delayed, since they cannot be immediately plastered for two reasons: shrinkage of the house (and the house will certainly settle due to its significant weight) and the moisture in the solution, which takes several months to completely evaporate. In addition to all these shortcomings, a brick can collapse if it absorbs moisture before winter. And this can be possible even if all brick production technologies are followed, if clay with salts dissolved in it is caught: water will wash the salt out of the brick, and itself will occupy the voids. This is the beginning of a destructive process.

And one moment. The cost of brick production is at least one and a half times more expensive than the production of other materials from which walls are erected. Considering that a brick is several times smaller than any other building block, the labor intensity of construction increases significantly. Together, the price and laboriousness make a brick house quite expensive.

Properties of cellular concrete

Cellular concrete includes foam concrete and aerated concrete blocks. Inside the concrete in the first case there are cells with air, in the second - with hydrogen. In the first case, bubbles form as a result of foaming, the concrete hardens under normal conditions. In the second, aluminum powder or paste is added to the solution, which, when interacting with water, release gas (hydrogen). The solution "grows", it is sent to an autoclave, where it solidifies at a certain temperature and pressure. Let's look at the pros and cons of these materials separately.

foam concrete we knew in the middle of the last century, but they started building from it recently, when they started talking about heat saving everywhere. After all, air is an excellent heat insulator. At the same time, almost no sounds pass through the foam concrete. Since foam blocks are light and larger than bricks, laying does not become a time-consuming process. And it’s easy to ditch walls for communication systems. How easy it is to give the block various shapes, which means you can create bay windows, make an oval wall, etc. In addition, foam concrete does not burn and is easy to transport.

The disadvantages include a rather high moisture absorption (though at a shallow depth). The walls require annual settlement, and they must stand on stable slab foundations, otherwise significant cracks appear on the blocks as a result of deformations.

aerated concrete even lighter than foam concrete, perfectly processed (it can be cutwith an ordinary hacksaw, drill with ordinary drills, etc.). Heat-insulating and noise-protective functions are also on top. Lightness requires less labor, and good heat-shielding properties reduce the amount of material needed. With all this, one should not forget about high strength at a relatively low price.

Disadvantages can appear in two cases. The wall breathes and therefore gradually accumulates moisture. To eliminate this phenomenon, you need a wall finish with good waterproofing. The second minus is the fragility of aerated concrete, that is, the wall should not experience any movement in order to avoid cracks. And for this you need a solid strip foundation.

Other lightweight concretes

These concretes are heavier than cellular ones: instead of gas or air, which change the properties of the wall material, they contain heavier components. Therefore, these concretes are approximately 1.2 - 1.5 times heavier than water, while dry foam concrete and aerated concrete can be held on the surface of the water. Nevertheless, these components are not crushed stone, gravel, but wood, expanded clay, that is, compared to heavy concrete, this material has a much lower specific gravity.

Expanded clay concrete contains a relatively light component(foamed and baked clay). With a low weight of the blocks, this material is durable, versatile (not only load-bearing walls are laid from it, but also partitions, and they also fill frames in monolithic housing construction). The material is an excellent sound insulator, it is more moisture resistant than concrete, better resists aggressive environments, and is not inferior to cellular concrete in other best qualities.

The porosity of expanded clay concrete, improving its thermal and noise-protective qualities, reduces frost resistance, due to the ingress of moisture into the pores. Porosity also affects strength: you always have to accurately calculate whether the lower blocks can withstand the load of the rest of the structure (does our private developer know the strength of materials?).

AT polystyrene concrete the role of a heat and sound insulator is played by polystyrene balls evenly distributed in concrete. It seems that the material is good for everyone: it is both warm and durable, it retains noise well, it is light and not expensive, but everything crosses out one drawback. But what...In a fire, polystyrene begins to melt, releasing toxins.

slag concrete The name is more collective than specific. The point is that inas a filler in this building material, there can be both slag and coal, ash, an admixture of expanded clay with something, screenings, etc. Specifically, slag is used from the waste of metallurgical production. To comply with environmental standards, it is aged outdoors for a year. For external walls, blocks with a large fraction of the filler are ideal, for internal walls - with a fine one. Voids to improve thermal properties are created using special molds for the production of this type of concrete. The material is strong, cheap, very durable. The high speed of the construction of cinder block walls is also important.

The disadvantages include low sound insulation. It is understandable, a denser material - higher sound conductivity. Also, the material is afraid of water ingress, so it is desirable to veneer it. But if you overlay a house of cinder blocks with bricks, then this significantly increases the cost of construction. In addition, it is bad to lay communications in cinder concrete, and if some kind of groove or hole is needed, it is better to foresee them in advance and put a bar in the right place in the cinder block blank.

Arbolite blocks is a building material, the main components of which are concrete and organic filler: wood chips, flax fiber or seed cake, from which oil has already been squeezed. Of course, most often it is wood chips. A characteristic feature of wood concrete is that, unlike other lightweight concretes, there is only 10-20% concrete in it, everything else is wood chips.A house made of such blocks in terms of properties is more like a wooden house, but unlike it, it is practically not susceptible to microorganisms and fungi. One of its interesting material properties is that a block of arbolite is able to restore its shape when ultimate loads are stopped. It keeps heat in and keeps noise out. It does not burn, but when exposed to an open flame, it begins to smolder. It is necessary to remove the source of the flame - smoldering stops. Eco-friendly, breathable material.

The disadvantage of arbolite is increased moisture permeability, and therefore inside the room the relative humidity cannot exceed 75%, but outside there must be a cladding. The foundation must rise above the blind area by at least half a meter so that the spray does not fly onto the wood concrete blocks. For the same half a meter, the roof overhangs should extend beyond the walls so that water rarely hits the wall.

Blocks without cement

When choosing a material for building walls, you can come acrossgas silicate . Attention! Do not confuse it with aerated concrete. We already know that cement is needed for the production of aerated concrete. In the production of gas silicate, lime acts as a binding element. The porous structure is acquired due to gases released during the interaction of quicklime with aluminum particles. And what is the difference between the qualities of gas silicate and aerated concrete? Aerated concrete due to cement is more durable, gas silicate due to lime reduces heat loss and better protects against noise. With all the high qualities of gas silicate blocks (lightness, insulating properties, low cost, etc.), in them, as in foam concrete, the formation of a fungus is possible due to the porous structure.

ceramic blocks also does not contain cement. In addition to clay, their composition may include sand and sawdust. The voids inside the blocks resemble honeycombs. Outside, on the side faces, the blocks have grooves and protrusions. This allows you to do without vertical seams when laying. As a building material, ceramic blocks are durable, they can be used to build multi-storey buildings. They are very light,good soundproofing and thermal insulation. A significant drawback of walls made of this material is the impossibility of perforating (and often just drilling) and fixing something on the walls, since the abundance of voids and the fragility of thin partitions do not allow even a cork to be installed.

In this article, we will understand which materials for building a house are best for various purposes.

Today, many people dream of a big, beautiful and comfortable home. But before you make a decision and start building a building, you need to think carefully about the purpose for which the construction of the house is planned. One format is suitable for a seasonal building, the second for permanent residence. After planning, you should think about the material, because safety and convenience depend on quality material.

On the modern market there are various materials that have certain properties. Usually the most important selection criteria are:

  • strength, reliability of raw materials;
  • the ability to isolate noise;
  • preservation, isolation of heat;
  • frost resistance;
  • moisture impermeability.

Of course, before construction, all the parameters indicated above should be taken into account, especially if the building is individual. But still, the most important point is strength, as it forms the structure of the building and affects its functionality.

Materials for construction are divided into several categories:

  • stone and brick;
  • ceramic;
  • concrete;
  • wooden (from a log and a bar).

Buildings made of stone and brick

Structures made of stone and brick are distinguished by their massiveness. They are not afraid of the elements, while they have a stylish appearance. However, these durable materials are expensive.

The characteristics of a house built of stone or brick are not inferior to concrete.

Brick and stone structures are suitable for both small country houses and multi-storey buildings. Their main advantage is resistance to fire, moisture, and also such a building will not settle over time.

The disadvantage of brick and stone houses is low energy conservation. In order to build warm housing from this material, it is necessary to lay out walls 120 cm thick. Therefore, today brick and stone houses are losing their popularity, and raw materials are used for cladding.

Another significant disadvantage is high cost of material. Those wishing to build themselves a stone or brick house must calculate their finances and plan everything in advance before proceeding with the implementation of the plan.

Ceramic structures (ceramic blocks)

Bricks and ceramics are made using the same technology from clay. The difference is the savings on the construction of the building, because the ceramic blocks are larger in size, they need less, in addition, the protrusions at the ends suggest connecting the blocks to each other without a mixture. It is only needed to fix the horizontal rows to each other.

concrete materials

To date, brick is no longer as popular as it used to be, it has given way to a modern concrete block.

The advantages of this material are its affordable cost and speed of construction. One concrete block can replace several bricks. You can build a house from a gas block, foam block, cinder block, shell rock, wood concrete, expanded clay concrete. All of them are similar in characteristics, most subspecies practically do not need complex finishing, but the disadvantage is that concrete materials are brittle, have high water permeability, and there are chemical elements in the composition of the material.

Wooden houses

Wooden houses are built from logs and beams. They have a low load on the foundation, as a result of which it will not settle over time, moreover, this is a good savings at the initial stage of construction. An important advantage is that, using wooden materials, you can build a house, regardless of weather conditions or seasons.

Timber buildings are a profitable option for those who want to become the owner of a neat individual building. Its cross section is both rectangular and square, with a smooth, even side. For such houses, shrinkage is minimized as much as possible, and the production of log cabins occurs without the use of special equipment. The tree is aesthetic, does not require finishing, therefore it is an economical option.

Positive aspects of using wooden beams:

  • eco-friendly material;
  • fast building;
  • good sound insulation, thermal conductivity;
  • design safety;
  • installation regardless of weather conditions and temperature;
  • does without expensive foundation and finishing;
  • pleasant smell of wood.

Disadvantages of timber houses:

  • requires additional processing from insects, prevention from rot and cracks;
  • easily catches fire, it is necessary to use fire-fighting means;
  • long idle time of the foundation;
  • well passes cold and water, so the cost of heat is inevitable.

Log buildings are traditional, well studied and quite attractive. You can build a small house or a huge, comfortable cottage. Such structures are natural and environmentally friendly, in addition, they do a good job with the natural ventilation of the space. Just like log buildings, log buildings do not need a massive foundation.

Advantages of log houses:

  • natural raw materials;
  • strong, safe and beautiful design;
  • warms up quickly, reducing the cost of heating;
  • available material;
  • short construction time.

Cons of log houses:

  • tendency to decay, attacks of insects;
  • easy tanning in a matter of seconds;
  • the foundation should be defended for about a year;
  • the design warms up quickly, but does not hold heat, it is necessary to insulate.

What is better to build a house for permanent residence (permanent residence)?

A classic for suburban housing construction is baked clay brick and has good wear resistance, strength, durability. The material is considered environmentally friendly, not afraid of high and low temperatures, resistant to all weather conditions. They are massive, but require insulation.

There are several times more positive aspects in such material than negative ones, so a brick house is considered the most successful option for permanent residence. He and the fire is not so terrible, and will last much longer than concrete and, especially, wood.

What materials are suitable for a summer house in the country?

Traditionally, summer cottages are built of wood. Log buildings or houses made of glued laminated timber- any of these options will be successful for a comfortable summer. Such constructions are environmentally friendly and safe, they ventilate the premises well, and besides, they have a pleasant smell.

Wooden cottages are especially appreciated, which can be easily built on an individual order. Such a house needs processing and care, but its availability, reliability and comfort are important advantages when choosing a summer house for a summer residence.

What is better to build a house in the Urals or in Siberia?

Such cold corners of Russia as Siberia or the Urals need warm houses. It is important to choose the material that will warm up quickly and not lose heat. Of course, in such regions, the house will still have to be well insulated, but if initially the raw materials are already “warm”, the owner of the building will save on cladding. The ideal option would be a concrete building, namely with cells.

Initially, porous concrete was used for insulation, and a little later, whole houses began to be built from it, which were distinguished by excellent heat retention. In addition, the construction of a fire-resistant building will take a little time. After construction, for more insulation, the house should be plastered, covered with panels.

What is suitable for the warm corners of Russia (house by the sea)?

A house by the sea is the dream of many romantics. Mostly, such buildings are made of stone. The increased humidity of the coast will quickly destroy the wooden structure. Still fit ceramic blocks who are also not afraid of water.

There is no need to build a house right on the beach, because a lot of money will be spent on the foundation for a house on the sand, very close to the coastline. It is better to start construction work at least 200 meters from the beach. In addition, a thunderstorm is a frequent occurrence near the sea. A wise decision would be to get a lightning rod and eliminate a large number of metal structures in the building.

What materials are cheaper to build a house from?

Nowadays, many people want to run away from the city and build their own house, but there may not be enough money for a massive structure. The current great financial difficulties do not leave the possibility of a big flight of fancy, so you have to choose from cheap materials, given that the house must be reliable and safe.

The cheapest houses are made from concrete and wood. Aerated concrete is refractory, does not rot, it needs a simple foundation, it is also warm and needs light processing. But when laying the material, it is necessary to adhere to a certain technology. While wooden houses are easy to build without certain nuances, they are prone to rotting, burning, and the foundation should stand for about a year.

The choice between these two cheapest materials depends specifically on the future home owner.

Country house - photo

How to almost single-handedly renovate a 23 m² garage or mini-house and turn it into a decent home.

Dream house in the suburbs - We are going to visit: a house of 320 m² for a large family with an English bar, a swimming pool and pandas.

We visited a charming house that mixed a lot of styles. Loft style kitchen, Provence bathroom and English style bedroom.

This house is proof that you can create a beautiful interior without going to a designer. Do-it-yourself design - what is it?


It's time to explain why aerated concrete is the most correct material for the walls of a country house and no other material can compete with it in terms of its characteristics. I propose to consider together all the building materials currently on the market (including rare and exotic ones) and make sure that there is no better material than aerated concrete for low-rise construction.

But in any case, a frame house made of wooden wall materials is the best thing to choose in our time. Thus, we actually get that with all the variety of existing building materials, we are left with only two options:

House made of cellular concrete (aerated concrete)
Frame house

All other building materials, in principle, are not consistent and it makes no sense to consider them if you are building a house for the long term for long-term and comfortable operation. And now is the time to make a direct comparison of a house made of aerated concrete and a frame.

Let me remind you that in both cases we are guided by the fact that the house will be built on a monolithic foundation slab, that is, the low heat capacity of the walls of a frame house is not relevant in our case. If you decide to build a frame house on a pile foundation, then soberly understand that the heat capacity of such a house will tend to zero and any shutdown of heating in winter will lead to almost instant freezing of the whole house. If we are talking about a house for permanent residence and year-round operation, it must have an extremely high heat capacity of the building envelope, because. it is on this parameter that the comfort of operating such a house directly depends.

The main advantage of a frame house is the ability to get an incredibly “warm” wall at a minimum cost. This is directly related to the fact that for light insulation, the resistance to heat transfer per centimeter of thickness is 2-3 times less than that of solid wood or even aerated concrete.

The second predominantly frame houses is the speed of erection of the supporting frame of walls and roofs. In fact, the advantage is rather doubtful if you approach the house as a complex object. Because the subsequent finishing of the frame house, firstly, will no longer be so fast, and secondly, you will also have to tinker with the engineering systems. But if you want to get a roof over your head here and now (it doesn’t matter that you still have to work and work under this roof so that the house finally looks like a house), then you can agree to a frame house. The same applies to the recently popular modular houses assembled in production. Their manufacturers position the assembly in the hangar as an advantage for the customer, although in fact the customer should not care at all, because. This does not affect the production time in any way. But for the performer, the assembly under the roof of the hangar is a big plus, because. allows to reduce costs and downtime associated with the unpredictability of the weather, if we consider the option of building on the customer's site. But on the other hand, the customer becomes severely limited by the too small dimensions of individual modules, which are completely uncomfortable for subsequent operation (for example, ceilings in a normal house should be at least 2.8 meters).

This is where the advantages of frame houses end and the disadvantages begin.

First, and most important. Frame houses are now being built by everyone who is not too lazy (because the cost of building a frame house is extremely low and you can “weld” well), which requires special control over compliance with construction technology. Otherwise, you can get such a barn, which will collapse at the slightest gust of wind. According to the link in the video, everything that could be broken was broken, but in fact, during a hurricane, it is very likely that a well-built frame house will collapse to one degree or another, and one must be prepared for this. The calculation of loads for a frame house must be done more carefully than for a stone house, paradoxical as it may seem.

The second disadvantage of frame houses is the expensive finishing and laying of engineering systems in an open way. After all, it is forbidden to lay electrical wiring in combustible structures, and therefore it will have to be conducted in an open way, which is very doubtful from an aesthetic point of view. In a house made of cellular concrete, everything is much simpler - all communications and wires are laid in the walls, which are then plastered. Absolutely the same as they do in apartments.

By the way, about ventilation. If you “forget” to do it in an aerated concrete house, then the high vapor permeability of the walls will allow you to somehow cope with excess humidity in the house, and in a frame thermos house without ventilation with a microclimate, everything will be very bad.

What else?
The sound insulation of a frame house is just as bad as that of an unplastered cellular concrete house.
Hanging heavy objects on the walls is possible only on the supporting frame.
Mice and other pests can start in the walls of a frame house.
Fire hazard. Stone houses also burn, but this rarely leads to the collapse of walls and ceilings. The frame house burns down instantly, despite various impregnations for wood (remember that the electrician in the frame house can only be carried out in an open way).
The durability of a frame house rests on the service life of a wooden frame (and without protection, the tree will begin to rot). While stone building materials (including cellular concrete) are eternal, cement-based materials only become stronger over the years.

If we compare completely finished houses of the same area, with engineering systems and finishes, we can make an amazing discovery. The cost of work and materials for a frame house is almost identical to the cost of work and materials for building a house from aerated concrete. Of course, an aerated concrete house will turn out to be a little more expensive, because. during its construction, mechanization will be required, but this will be less than 10% of the total cost of all work.

Thus, we can conclude that aerated concrete is an ideal building material, which has no alternatives in principle. A frame house should be considered only if, for one reason or another, you do not have the opportunity to build a house from cellular concrete.

In the next part, we will choose the perfect roof for a country house. Don't switch!