How are houses built in Texas? You may also be interested in projects with similar parameters Additional opportunities for the borrower

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So, the construction begins with the general plan of the area. The district is not only houses, the district also includes an irrigation system, sewerage, sewage treatment plants, roads, recreational infrastructure (walking, jogging and cycling paths, outdoor pools, tennis courts, football fields, basketball courts, children's playgrounds). playgrounds and simply open park areas with artificial lakes with fountains and water channels, as well as large fenced areas for walking dogs). The entire district, in turn, is divided into districts, approximately 90 - 150 houses each (we will see the district plan a little later). The infrastructure is created separately for several districts so that people do not “crowd”. The entire area will benefit from a pre-built system of shops, banks, hospitals and other public facilities that have been built in advance in response to the area's ongoing construction and population growth.

Construction begins with a clean field, in which all communications, gas pipes, water supply, electric cables, and telephone communications are laid. First, everything is connected to substations. Tractor for digging trenches (in the previous photo - a pipelayer).

Then, from the substations, all communications are brought to the switchboard houses. All electrics are hidden in such a box, which will be located in the corner of the backyard of the house. The red pipe does not mean hot water, cold water is supplied through it, and hot water is not supplied to the house, because. each house will have a gas or electric boiler. The green pipe with the cap is the gas line, it will be hidden later, but for now it sticks out like a marker.

After all communications are laid, the irrigation system is being prepared, and special attention is paid to it in Houston, because. Houston is prone to tropical rainstorms and hurricanes. Usually the depth of artificial reservoirs is about 10-12 meters. All reservoirs have a system of locks and canals for water drainage.

The banks of the artificial reservoir are concreted at the level of the pool to protect and prevent erosion. So that the water does not wash away the concrete, a part of the earth near the concrete tape is strengthened with clay and crushed stone. It has recently rained heavily, and water pumps are pumping water out of the canals.

Then roads and sewers are built. Roads provide quick and convenient access for construction equipment, and also do not allow dirt to be carried from construction sites. Sandbags are placed near all sewer drains, their purpose is to trap dirt during rains and prevent sewer clogging. Sewer pipes are plastic, the diameter of the pipe starts from 60 cm, increasing with the length of the sewer. Laying pipes begins at a depth of 1.5 meters, respectively, the depth also increases with the length of the system. Pipes are laid at an angle of 0.18%. As a rule, there are no sewer grates, instead of them there are open water intakes, inside them there is a sewer shaft, approximately 2x2 meters in size. By the way, I note that all the pipes, if possible, are not under the road, but next to it, although all repairs are carried out from mines.

Then all road signs are installed. There is no roadway marking in residential areas, because The speed limit here is 20 km/h. There are no speed limit signs either, the speed is registered in the traffic rules. Previously, I was asked about the height of the curb - it is 15 cm. The thickness of the concrete screed on the road is 21 cm.

It is very interesting to drive through such areas with all the signs, but the complete absence of houses. Let's pay attention to the grass tape laid along the curb, it prevents the dirt from washing out from the lawn to the street during rain.

Russian designer datated.

All surfaces that may be scratched, damaged, or contaminated during the construction process are covered.

In Russia, they still do not know how to make hatches on the roads. Oh no no no.

Then the sites for the houses are being prepared. 20-30 houses are being built at the same time. They are mainly built nearby, which makes it easier to clean up construction waste, and does not bother those who have already settled in and live in the built houses. Exceptions are houses that were bought in advance on some specific sites. To lay the foundation, one meter deep soil is taken out and covered with a layer of gravel, sand and clay, all this is compacted, then such a hat is obtained at the top. I note that such a focus is possible only in Texas because of the very clay soil. For example, in the north of the United States, a deep strip foundation is being laid.

Then communications are brought to the house (gas, cold water, sewerage, electric cable, etc.)

The formwork for the foundation is being assembled. All foundations are solid, monolithic, clay soil allows you to make them relatively thin, the thickness of the screed is about 25-30 cm, with “columns” of 1.5 meters.

The usual average size of the foundation is 20 by 15 meters.

Then the ground is covered with thick dense plastic, reinforcement with a diameter of 10 to 16 mm is laid. It is laid every 3-4 meters, “cross to cross”, with the exception of certain places, for example, the garage, the entrance to the house, the cut of the foundation, here it is laid a little differently, depending on the design of the house.

The rebar will be stretched before pouring, and the load will be slowly relieved seven days after pouring.

The pouring of the foundation is carried out without stopping until the completion of work. Permissible strength of concrete is from 60 to 90 MPa.

Freshly poured screed. The protruding plates are dural anchors (anchors) for walls.

Periodically, concrete is poured with water, thereby preventing the formation of cracks in it.

Then, on the flooded screed, the markings of the walls are applied and the assembly of the wooden frame of the house begins.

All load-bearing structures of the house are assembled from wood, usually boards 15 × 5, 20 × 7 cm are used.

Then the boards are sheathed with chipboard 2 cm thick.

It is worth noting that all wood materials for building houses are pre-treated with certain mixtures and oils to protect against insects and water. At the same time, these chemical compounds are not harmful to human health.

All materials are fixed with nails and metal anchors. Screws, bolt ties are also used, mainly on critical “nodes”. The beam is practically not used, it is replaced by several boards hammered together.

After the frame of the house is completed, communications begin to be carried out inside. Future sink in the kitchen. For sewage, plastic pipes with a diameter of 6 cm are used.

Also, the house inside begins to “grow” with various elements, for example, a bar counter.

Communications are carried out inside the walls.

Electrical is being done.

Black wire - television, yellow - electrical, white - Internet.

A ventilation system is installed in the attic to heat and cool the house. In fact, it is a fiberglass soft pipe. On top, it has a shell of non-combustible fiberglass, under which glass wool is hidden, inside of which there is a soft aluminum tube. Today, such ventilation pipes are used wherever the air flow velocity does not exceed 30 m/s. At a higher air circulation rate, a more rigid ventilation system is used.

Conclusion to the room.

Water node. For water, plastic pipes with a diameter of 13 mm are used, which can withstand a pressure of 0.7 MPa and a temperature of 95 C.

Bathroom and toilet.

Then the fireplace is installed. In this house, all fireplaces were gas, they are much easier to install, because. they do not require brickwork and problems with valves. In some houses, by order of the buyer, real fireplaces are built.

By the way, the gas fireplace heats the house well. Although, of course, it cannot be compared with a real fireplace.

Then the walls are sheathed with chipboard on one side, on the other hand, min. cotton wool, after which the wall is also sewn up with plywood. Then the plate is sheathed with drywall. I note that the soundproofing in the house is very good, despite such an apparent fragility of the walls, and the screams of zombies from the nursery are not audible at all in the hall, as well as the loud TV in the bedroom. Thanks for the quality glass.

Then the drywall is plastered.

The future of the hot tub. Various structures are assembled inside the house.

Shower cubicle.

Then the windows are inserted. The outer part of the house is sheathed with additional soundproofing and insulating polystyrene panels (blue on the left), with an R value of 3, the thickness of these panels is 13 mm. From above, the panels will be sewn up with a layer of thick plastic and roofing material (black on the right).

Windows used in construction are "south facing" and can only be used in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The windows have a U value of 2, a heating factor of 0.23, and a light transmission of 0.43.

Finally, it's time for the brickwork.

Decorative brick, ASTM - SW standard. In addition to brick, stone is also used. The client can choose the color of brick and stone himself.

A 5-6 cm gap is left between the wall and the masonry for air circulation.

Accordingly, an outlet is left under the visor.

The quality of bricklaying is very good, it is not so easy to become a bricklayer, this profession is considered one of the most prestigious among Mexicans.

There is no molding on the facade and side walls, it can only be used on the front side of the house if there is a desire to save a little on the price of the house, although there will be no fundamental difference at all.

Then, inside the house, painting work begins, laying tiles, installing sockets and other little things. Everything that can be scratched or damaged in the process of work also begins to wrap up. The laid tiles are simply covered with thick thick paper, all windows are still in films, all bathrooms are covered with special covers.

At the same time, flexible ridge tiles are being laid on the roof. In different areas, all roofs are made in the same color, using the same material (tiles, roofing material, etc.)

Mexicans work with all conveniences.

In general, Mexican builders in Texas are like guest workers in Moscow, the only difference is in two things: firstly, the Mexicans work legally, and secondly, the quality of the work of the Mexicans is very high, tk. get fired for bullshit. It is not profitable for companies to build poorly, the declared warranty period for a house is from 15-50 years (for various elements), therefore, after each work, engineers check the quality, otherwise the company will have to repair everything at its own expense.

The cleanliness of roads is monitored, they are constantly cleaned and washed.

As can be seen in many photographs, I walked around the area in the evening. And most of the builders have already finished the work. But some material, equipment, tools - remained somewhere to lie, and the houses were open. But no one ever approached me and asked me what I was doing here late at night? Although no, two sales managers approached me and asked if they could help me in choosing a house? I replied that while I want to see it myself, they left me a business card and wished me a good evening. No one even mentioned the camera. Why is this happening, and why such carelessness? Everything is very simple - all areas are viewed by a large number of cameras. Of course, stealing a hammer or a sheet of drywall is easy, but I personally have no desire to talk to the sheriff after that. The shield shows the plan of the districts, which I spoke about earlier, and it is from them that the districts consist.

For several of these districts, swimming pools, playgrounds and other infrastructure are being built individually. Next time I'll show you the completed house, ready for delivery. Let's look at the house from the inside, talk about the conditions that the client has when buying a house and what builders are ready to redo if the client is capricious.

About the author: My name is Oleg, I was born and raised in Moldova, but at the age of 30 I decided to move to America. This simple decision completely turned my life around and turned into the biggest adventure in it! In my blog, I write about my path to the USA, as well as about what America appeared before me.

Frame house Texas 136 © CC BY Vladimir Pustokhod, 2017

The drawings were based on one of the projects from the exhibition area. Having stopped by with his family and “trying on” all the projects, Vasily decided that this is it, the house of their dreams. The dream turned out, of course, not small, but there was enough space for everyone in it: for mother, and for him and his wife, and for an adult daughter with her husband, and there was also a place for two grandchildren.

Also arranged a set of premises and sizes of rooms. Also a big plus was that the house had two full floors. And even the cost of the house in general suited.

Only one moment did not suit him - Vasily wanted the house to be built for him in stages: first a box, then they laid a heater and laid out communications, and then they did the interior decoration, since he did not have enough money to pay for everything at once, and for that time while they were building the box and while it was standing, he wanted to save up the missing amount.

And three times more important - he wanted the frame to stand for several months - to get rid of excess moisture.

This is where the main snag was ... First, the contractor was not interested in breaking down the construction into stages, and they offered to take out a loan for the missing amount at a rather high rate. Having not found mutual understanding, Vasily decided to build a house not only on his own, but to hire a team to build a house. Of course, with this approach, the drawings were not particularly required, but still he wanted to understand what was what, why and how much material might be needed at one stage or another. Yes, having drawings in hand is much easier to discuss certain changes with the team or send out some decisions on facades and decoration for miscalculation.

As for the design solutions, screw piles were chosen as the foundation, due to the speed and ease of installation. Although, of course, with their number of about 50 pieces, one could think about the MZFL tape, but I really did not want to get involved with concrete and reinforcement.

Overlappings are assembled from a board 50x200mm. with insulation 200mm. Of course, for such a house, I would like to lay a little more, say 300mm, but since the house is planned to be used in summer cottage mode, and the financial issue still had an impact on the preparation of estimates, we decided to limit ourselves to such a layer. External and load-bearing walls are assembled from a board 50x150mm. with insulation 150mm. Maybe another 5 cm. insulation will be added by finishing the facade with the so-called thermal panels. And the partitions are made of boards with a section of 40x100 mm. with sound insulation 100 mm.

The assembly of frames and ceilings is facilitated by the fact that the house has two full floors, and each ceiling can be used as a kind of workbench for assembling the frames of the next floor. Some difficulties can be caused by assembling the attic floor and installing diagonal rafters (by the way, they are made composite), but a little patience, accuracy and following the instructions will allow you to cope with this stage. To facilitate the assembly process, the cuckoos above the balconies are assembled on top of the main rafters.

Total area: 87 m²

from 1 392 000 rub.

Possible installment for 12 months!

1. Foundation
2. frame
3. Warming
4. Floor insulation
5. Plastic windows
6. Interior doors
7. Roof (metal tile)
8. drains

1. Exterior finish
2. Interior decoration
3. Installing email boiler
4. Wiring
5. Sewerage

The suite includes:

1. Plumbing installation

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Basic equipment

The basic package of the house includes:

1. Foundation (tape monolithic with reinforcement, tape width - 200 mm, height - 600 mm. Foundation height from the ground - 400 mm. Bored piles - 12 pcs., depth - 1700 mm. With backfilling of the pillow with sand and vertical reinforcement with binding to the strip foundation)
2. frame (all structural parts of the frame are covered with an antiseptic)
3. Warming external walls - 150 mm, interior walls - 50 mm. A vapor barrier is applied on both sides and gluing the joints - a liquid nail or a mounting adhesive sealant.
4. Finishing of internal and external walls
5. Floor insulation
6. Plastic windows
7. Entrance door (metal)
8. Interior doors
9. Walls and ceiling in bathroom. knots, bathroom and boiler room are sheathed with TsSP-9 mm, floor DSP-24 mm through depreciation. gasket.
10. Roof (metal tile)
11. drains

Full set

The complete package (turnkey) includes:

1. Exterior finish (blockhouse, timber imitation. Door and window slopes. Color coating according to the design of the house and the customer's request)
2. Interior decoration(lining of softwood species A-B with sealing of slopes and moldings, skirting boards and fillets, installation of locks and latches-handles on the doors)
3. Installing email boiler with wiring around the house for heating and installing batteries and a pump.
4. Wiring with output for lamps, installation of boxes, switches, sockets and mounting block.
5. Sewerage (Wiring around the house - bathrooms, bathrooms, kitchen. Without installation of sinks, bathtubs, toilet bowls, faucets, showers, jacuzzi and other equipment)
6. Installation of a septic tank, overflow well, bleed pump
7. The device of the blind area around the perimeter of the building

Luxury equipment

The suite includes:

1. Plumbing installation (faucets, sinks, toilet bowls, bathrooms, showers, as well as installation of tiles in bathrooms, boiler rooms according to the texture and color scheme at the request of the customer)