DIY drawings of frame houses. Do-it-yourself frame house - detailed diagram of construction stages
Prefabricated buildings have already won their place in the sun in the housing market. Warm, light, luxurious, they have two significant advantages in conditions of constant crisis - reasonable cost and the possibility of independent construction. To build a frame house with your own hands, you need to step by step understand the essence of the technology so that the object meets all the requirements for safety and comfort.
The principle of frame construction
As the name suggests, the object is built on a wooden frame. The walls consist of numerous stiffening ribs and insulation. Finish coating – panels, slabs. The advantages of a frame house are increased heat capacity, lightness and reasonable cost, especially for young families.
Before starting construction, it is necessary to obtain a professional project, since frame technology is difficult to implement. constructively. Drawings and plans are verified according to studies of the site, soil and area as a whole - the future facility must meet increased safety. This is the only point that should only be dealt with by specialists.
In addition, the document received in mandatory agreed upon with the utility services whose resources pass through the site, and registered with the BTI or a similar city office. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do without bureaucratic delays.
When all the necessary paperwork is completed, the construction stages begin.
Frame house foundation
It is impossible to deviate from the type of platform designated by the project - sometimes a poured base is required. But, as a rule, for a frame house they choose piles or steel, the pillars are reinforced concrete or self-assembled from brick.
Operating procedure:
- The area is cleared of vegetation with special care. Plants are uprooted and the root system is sprayed with chemicals in order to stop future growth - plant moisture is detrimental to the wooden frame. The soil is leveled and compacted.
- Marking. It consists of setting the perimeter according to the project and marks for installing piles or pillars. To do this, stakes with a stretched cord are installed in the corners. The pitch between the supports is from 0.7 to 1.2 m, depending on the dimensions of the residential building. The racks must be located under the load-bearing walls of the house.
- Installation of piles or pillars. For the first option, digging holes is not required. It is enough to set the piles at right angles to the ground and screw them to a depth greater than the freezing level - the length is selected in advance. The work is done independently or with the help of equipment. The second option of supports requires depressions in the ground, their depreciation, reinforcement and filling. They also work with bricks.
Harness
The lower beam must be of an impressive cross-section - from 150 mm, since it will bear the entire load of the object. Before laying, all wood is impregnated with antiseptic agents, and the heads of piles or pillars are waterproofed with mastic and covered with roofing felt.
Installation of timber around the perimeter is carried out by cutting down half a tree. Fixation and reinforcement - with nails and steel corners. The wooden beam is attached to the base with screws or anchor bolts - special grooves are provided in the piles for this.
The foundation is almost ready. A larch board is laid on top of the wooden beam - this species is generally insensitive to natural phenomena - precipitation, freezing, cracking - and will reliably protect the top wood.
Maintaining walls
The corner posts are installed first. Their standard size is indicated in the project - the timber for one floor should not be less than 100 mm in cross-section. They are secured with steel angles, the cutting method, and anchor bolts. Then stiffening ribs are installed - boards up to 5 cm thick. For their reliable fixation, each element is equipped with a jib - a diagonal strip.
Places for technological openings - windows and doors - are equipped immediately, since frame house gives low shrinkage, unlike log and lumber objects. To do this, shortened racks are mounted under the windows and a box is immediately installed for inserting future windows.
According to the project, the internal walls are built immediately in the same way as the external ones - racks, jibs. To save material and if the house is planned to be built on one floor, use timber or boards of a smaller cross-section. Otherwise, it is impossible to deviate from the overall project.
Install the upper trim beam. This is an equally important design, so a beam similar to the bottom trim is used for it and the lumber is fixed with a notch, corners, brackets, and self-tapping screws. For greater reliability, the methods are combined.
Construction of a gable roof
The roof is laid out in the same way as the walls. Of course, construction is not carried out alone, however, and does not require a large number of assistants. A couple of people will get by on their own.
The roof construction stage requires a separate description, since it includes a large amount of information. You can find the construction process in the article:.
Exterior finishing
When the frame has received visible outlines, it needs protection from natural precipitation - wood is sensitive to moisture - insulation and exterior finishing. The roofing material is laid first. It is chosen depending on the type of roof and the angle of inclination of the slope - flat ones require smoothness, steep ones - structural coverings are possible.
A variety of raw materials are used for work - siding, block house, fiber cement panels, lining. The materials are united by ease of installation - all units have locking grooves and ridges. Installation is carried out from below, and finally the house is decorated with corners, slopes, ebbs and other fittings.
Waterproofing, wind protection and vertical sheathing are laid on the walls - a wooden house requires as many ventilation ducts as possible to extend the life of the wood. Detailed instructions for installing siding are included with the building materials, so there shouldn’t be any difficulties.
Insulation and protection
Walls require special treatment. After finishing, it is important to protect them with a cake consisting of several layers in this order - the insulation itself, the vapor barrier and the finishing coating.
There is no need to hesitate - it is important to carry out the work quickly in order to avoid damage to the material, if it is traditional to use basalt wool for the main layer. It is dense, voluminous, not subject to burning and deterioration. However, it has a serious drawback - caking even from a small portion of condensate.
Therefore, if construction is delayed, it is worth considering other types of insulation:
- Expanded polystyrene boards. The air enclosed in the shell is securely retained by the 5-cm thickness similarly brickwork 30 cm. Disadvantage - it does not burn, but smolders, releasing toxic fumes into the atmosphere. The advantages, in addition to high heat capacity, are absolute inertness to moisture and durability.
- Sprayed extruded polystyrene foam. Reliably closes all joints and cracks. Only performed by professionals as automatic installation is required.
- Ecowool. Absolutely pure environmental material, applied with special devices similar to polystyrene. The disadvantage is the high price.
The time for interior decoration will come last. A frame house accepts any interior and materials for decorating walls, ceilings and floors. Creating a unique interior look of your own home is always interesting, so there is no need to rush.
Video on how to build a frame house with your own hands step by step
Building a frame house with your own hands is a very tempting business. There are entire settlements of frame houses, for example. Elbronn in Germany, on the left in the picture, has existed for more than 500 years. Nowadays, frame housing construction is widespread in countries with a rather harsh climate and high requirements for quality of life; on the right in Fig. – a residential area in Puulinnanmaa, Finland. And at the same time, calculating the cost of materials for the construction of a one-story residential frame house of 100 square meters. m gives an amount of less than 500 thousand rubles, and for a country house - less than 50,000 rubles. One hundred square meters of your own home for the price of half a room in a Moscow two-room apartment - yes, it’s worth thinking about. Moreover, if special equipment is needed, it will be at least for a short time, and you can do without industrial technologies altogether.
This article is intended to give the basics of what you need to know to build a frame house yourself. At least to decide, if there is not enough money for a brick building, to build a frame one or, say, a timber one. And, if a gap is found somewhere, know where and how to dig deeper.
Build or order?
The cost of building a turnkey frame house varies greatly even within one region of the Russian Federation, from $80 to $240 per 1 sq. m. of finished housing. What plays a role here is not so much transportation costs (in the middle zone - up to 100 rubles/km for delivery up to 100 km from the warehouse), but rather the connection of the house to the site, and the foundation to the ground. The first means the location of the house in accordance with sanitary requirements and convenience/possibility of supplying communications; the second is the selection and development of a foundation design for the bearing capacity, heaving and water content of the soil under the building. Both may require surveys at the construction site, which are very expensive. But in any case 100 sq. m. of a ready-to-move-in house will cost less than 1.5 million rubles, which is still quite attractive.
How much and how can you save here if you rely only on yourself? Maximum – with the involvement of specialists for certain types of work? Both relatively and directly in terms of money – very significant. If you know what pitfalls you may encounter and how to get around them. For example, frame house projects can be downloaded from the RuNet for free. But – the projects are sketches, without references, exact specifications and details. A “working” project without bindings costs about 10,000 rubles, but without the same bindings it is impossible to work on it. But just tying the foundation to the ground will cost no less than 30,000 rubles; complete, with communications - under 100 thousand. Moreover, “full” also means obtaining a lot of permits from state and municipal authorities; We won’t say what this will lead to; it’s better to read Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Similar inconsistencies are found at all other stages of building a house using the step-by-step saving method. In order not to overload the text with negativity, let us simply recommendations on how to build a frame house inexpensively:
- Residential with a permanently inhabited attic or 2-storey for yourself and children - order turnkey.
- Summer dacha or small residential one-story - build it yourself, guided by free projects And additional information, at least stated further in this article, followed by legalization. This will be easier and cheaper than collecting papers in advance. And the house is already standing, and no one can do anything with it, once the process of legalization has begun.
- A heated, comfortable dacha or house for a family for 10-20 years, until funds are raised for capital construction, should be assembled from a ready-made house kit. Prices for sets of SIP panels (see below) are within the range of 6-7 thousand rubles per 1 sq. m. m. Estimated service life – 40 years. On-site assembly by specialists will cost about 100% of the cost of the kit, and you still need to do the foundation with communications wiring yourself.
Note on item 3: The house kit includes a plan and preliminary design of the foundation with specifications for anchors, their location, etc. But what type of foundation to make is your own risk, because... the seller has no way of knowing in advance where and on what soil the house will be.
More about house kits
An innovation in the market for prefabricated individual housing, houses made of SIP (structural insulated panels) are classified as prefabricated panel houses, which will be discussed in more detail below. In addition to them, there are so-called frame-panel houses on sale. modern German technology. They are assembled only on site from panels on a wooden frame with windows, doors, communications and finishing only by teams of company specialists with the continuous use of lifting equipment: finished panels are very heavy, and the technology for their assembly is complex and requires solid professional training. The foundation of the house is also built by the contractor, because... Without a certificate of suitability for it, the manufacturer simply will not sell the kit. In general, the “new German” houses have only 2 advantages of frame houses: rapid erection (construction period - 2-6 months) and, on the scale of society as a whole, environmental friendliness, because The need for dirty cement-concrete production is significantly reduced. The price is turnkey prefabricated German houses comparable to that for brick and precast concrete.
About guarantees and insurance
Another rather slippery point is guarantees. According to point 2, of course, there are none. According to point 1 - from the contractor, but don’t be fooled by the 15-50 year guarantee, this company most likely will not last that long. A competent and conscientious builder will give a guarantee for 3-5, up to 10 years, until the settlement ends. And then - no one can really guarantee anything; suddenly, for example, a plant was built nearby, but it changed the local geology and landslides began. According to clause 3, subject to self-assembly, guarantees are given only for the quality of parts and completeness after delivery to the site; for pick-up - the same at the seller's warehouse. When assembled by branded specialists, guarantees do not apply to cases related to what they did not do: foundation, communications, nearby trees, the possibility of flooding, etc. As for insurance, according to point 1 it is quite possible, but the premiums will be much higher than for a brick house. And according to paragraphs. 2 and 3 – it’s better not to mess with this matter.
What is good and what is bad about them?
Before you decide whether to build a frame house or something else, you need to know their main advantages and disadvantages. There are more of the first, I must say. You already know about the cost; rest pros:
![](https://i1.wp.com/vopros-remont.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/546884.jpg)
Basic The disadvantages of frame houses are as follows:
![](https://i0.wp.com/vopros-remont.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/5468846.jpg)
Point 5 requires some explanation. The prevalence of frame houses in the USA, Canada and Scandinavia is explained rather by socio-psychological reasons. In America, where everything is money, and money is everything, children, having grown up, leave for their parents, even knowing that they will have to starve and live in poverty. And, if nothing will happen to them by inheritance, then they will most likely consider manifestations of family affection unnecessary. And having inherited their parents’ property, they will go into debt, but they will tear down the still quite suitable house of their “ancestors” and build their own. These prejudices do not apply to secondary products from strangers.
In Scandinavia, it is also customary for grown children to separate from their parents, but the reason is that the land in the north is poor and unproductive. To remain on one's feet and live on one nest means for the elderly to survive from the lands that provide food. The solution is to move to a temporary home in another place, and after receiving an inheritance, return and settle permanently. Now this is in the past, but the way of thinking does not change so easily.
A little history
Frame houses did not appear in the middle of the last century, or even when Elbronn was founded. The very first human dwellings - a primitive hut, tent, wigwam - are nothing more than frame buildings. During excavations of Neolithic (Late or New Stone Age) pile settlements in Switzerland and England, the remains of structurally quite perfect frame houses were discovered.
Without knowing the past, you cannot understand the present. In relation to frame construction, this means that you need to build wisely. The seemingly simple building has absorbed centuries of human experience. For a house to stand, you need to understand the purpose of each part and how it works in the structure. We hope that the material in this article will be useful to you.
Types of frame houses
According to assembly technology, frame houses are divided primarily into panel houses and frame houses. The first ones are assembled from ready-made boards (panels); to build the latter, a frame is first built from long parts, then it is sheathed and insulated. Let's consider both in order. Frame houses are more suitable for independent construction, so we’ll start with them.
Framework
The general diagram of the structure of a frame house is shown in Fig. on right. Structurally, it is a rigid box with a working, i.e. bearing operational loads, casing. The latter is not always true; there are structures where the frame holds everything. The roof with an attic, if any, is a separate module connected to the box. The roof can either work together with the box or simply rest on it. From here it is clear that the main thing in such a building is the frame. There are 3 main varieties of them:
![](https://i1.wp.com/vopros-remont.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/48648648648.jpg)
Features of Finnish
The Finnish frame has a number of features, as a result of which it has been seriously displaced by the “Canadian”. Firstly, for its casing to work, it must be internal, see fig. left. Any external cladding will not be strong. This technical paradox is interesting, but it seriously limits the possibilities of internal repairs and redevelopment.
Secondly, the pitch of the vertical frame posts should not be less than approximately 500 mm, otherwise the posts will interfere with each other’s ability to bear the load. The result will be something like an airplane or a ship with too many hulls, heavy and fragile. That is, to cover it with siding or plastic lining, which are unable to bear concentrated loads, the outside of the house will have to be sheathed with something like plywood or a sheathing with a counter-batten made, which will increase its weight, labor intensity and cost.
But the “Finn” racks, except for the corner ones, can be made of 150x50 boards, and not of timber. And the Finnish frame forgives rather serious mistakes of amateur builders, which the Canadian one does not tolerate. In general, it is best to build a small and inexpensive country frame house in Finnish style. What Soviet summer residents knew well already when the very concept of a “Finnish house” had not yet come into use.
Note: the half-timbered frame also has its own peculiarities. Houses on it are ordered by wealthy developers who cannot bear to live “in stone.” Or they are built for themselves by skilled, neat and resourceful carpenters, who, thanks to their qualities, have become quite wealthy people.
What is LSTK?
About 6% of frame houses in the world are built on a frame made of light thin-walled steel structures, LSTK, see fig. on right. The frame is assembled from galvanized C- and U-profiles, somewhat similar to those used for drywall. However, God forbid you build a house on a frame made of plasterboard profiles! Construction ones are completely different:
- Steel thickness – up to 3 mm.
- Zinc coating – 350 g/sq.m. m; for plasterboard – 120 g/sq.m. m.
- There are grooves in the shelves, due to which the thermal conductivity of thermal bridges is reduced by 80-90%, this is the so-called. thermal profile, see next. rice.
The estimated service life of LSTK frames is 70-100 years, but the technology itself has existed for a shorter period of time. Nevertheless, some conclusions can already be drawn from statistics: if wooden frame houses systematically change their lifespan, then LSTK are also systematically deficient. The reason is the sudden appearance of pockets of corrosion in the most unexpected places, which experts have not yet fully understood. In addition, houses built on LSTK are less repairable than wooden houses, and the cost of construction is 1 sq. m of housing in them is approx. $600/sq. m. In general, LSTK technology is an option for everyone in places where industrial wood is very expensive and the climate is dry. And even there, the fire resistance of LSTK is zero: in a flame, the thin metal instantly gets tempered, weakens, and a few minutes after the fire the entire building catastrophically collapses. However, if you are still interested in LSTK, the details are in the video.
Video: frame construction of houses using LSTK technology
Note: there are no standards for LSTK at all; According to SNiP, the minimum thickness of metal parts in building structures is from 4 mm, based on the same fire resistance. So the contractor’s guarantee is his only honestly, and we don’t have to talk about legalizing unauthorized construction and insurance at all. As well as about a mortgage for LSTK construction.
Bulk carriers
A bulk carrier in this case is not a dry cargo ship, but a technology for constructing a house frame. Its peculiarity is that only 2-3 standard sizes of boards are used, from which profiles similar to steel tees, I-beams and angles are assembled in production using a tongue-and-groove method. The frame is built from wooden profiles, see fig. on right.
Bulk technology saves wood and produces timber of better quality: from the same log there are more boards than beams, and they dry and soak faster and more evenly. Thanks to this, the calculated The service life of a bulk carrier can reach 100 years, however, the development of bulk carrier construction is hampered by the increased cost of work: a highly qualified team must assemble the frame.
Panel
Modern German prefabricated panel houses are mentioned above. Since the leitmotif of the article is “with your own hands,” this is enough. If you like it, you have the money, choose and order. No unscrupulous manufacturers or contractors have been spotted on the market. And that is to say, with people who are capable of shelling out such sums for a square meter of housing, it is somehow not customary to cheat: the usual period of a company guarantee is 10-15 years, and 25 is not unusual.
SIP
SIPs (structural insulated panels), or SIP (Structural Insulated Panel) come in several types; In construction, power or load-bearing structures are used. Such a SIP is a 3-layer cake made of OSB (oriented strand board; also OSB, Oriented Strand Board) of classes OSB-3 E1, OSB-3 E0, OSB-4 E1 or OSB-4 E0 (for more details, see below). p. about the materials of frame houses), between which foam plastic is laid, pos. 1 in Fig. The principle of construction from OSB is the same as that of a broom - individually it’s flimsy, but all together it’s oaky.
SIP house kits contain a set of parts for the house (item 2), including all the little things, right down to the fasteners. The phased construction looks like this:
- A base slab is mounted on the foundation.
- A ridge made from a complete wooden beam is placed on it.
- Panels with grooves are installed on the ridge and slide into each other.
- The complete beam of the upper trim is mounted in the upper groove of the box.
- The ceiling is being installed.
- The roof is assembled from the same SIP panels.
- Windows and doors are installed in the openings using complete connectors.
As a rule, 1 person works on the site, pos. 3 in Fig. To complete construction in 1-1.5 months, an unqualified assistant is needed. If you do not have a manual winch or hoists at your disposal, sometimes 2-3 more helpers are required to lift the panels. And the result after finishing looks very good (item 4), lasts up to 40 years and, with metal-plastic windows with 2-chamber double-glazed windows, requires heating costs half as much as a brick house of the same size.
Vertical joints are tongue-and-groove (see figure below) with glue and nails. Horizontal - using Ecopan technology, see ibid. The stumbling block for novice builders - the roof - in a SIP house is also very simple: the strength indicators of the SIP assembly are such that a Mauerlat is not needed at all, see next. rice. on right.
The disadvantages of SIP houses are common to frame ones, see above. True, the danger in a fire is even greater: the foam begins to release huge volumes of toxic gases even before the fire reaches it directly.
However, the probability of a fire in a private residential building depends more than 99% on its residents, therefore, if, as they say, a full-fledged teapot intends to build a frame house for permanent residence, then the SIP house kit should be considered the closest to the optimal one.
The main difficulty here is checking the completeness of the delivery. The specification contains several dozen or the first hundreds of items, and for each of them – up to several thousand items. details. Sellers of cheap SIP houses for self-assembly, it must be said, are not shy: in case of a claim, one (1) non-original self-tapping screw was found, or the slot of the original one was licked off with the “wrong” screwdriver - that’s it, the warranty has expired, now it’s your problem.
Note: external and internal finishing of SIP houses - any at the discretion of the owner. But the possibility of redevelopment is completely absent. Prefabricated SIP houses are also unsuitable for stove heating.
What does it cost us to build a house?
This is worth it to start choosing the type of foundation, selecting and preparing materials. This is what we'll do for now. As for the construction of the foundation itself, this is a different conversation for each of its types. We will only touch on the features directly related to the construction of the frame on it. However, none of them will prevent you from subsequently building a different type of house on the same foundation.
Foundation
A frame house can withstand any foundation; we need to choose something cheaper and simpler, depending on the nature of the soil. Additionally, it is desirable that it would then be possible to build a stronger house on the same foundation and, possibly, with extensions and superstructures, which would require the so-called. tying the foundation to the house. The primary foundation must be suitable for anchoring another. Over the next 10-15 years, this will allow an average-income family to acquire housing for themselves and their children without getting into debt bondage. As a result, The foundation for a frame house is selected as follows:
- The soil is weak (bearing capacity up to 2 kg/sq. cm), i.e. silty, peaty, watered fine sand, etc. – shallow slab foundation. For future reconstruction/completion, it is best to use USHP - an insulated Swedish stove. This type of foundation is designed specifically for frames, but also supports a 1-story brick house with a light wooden attic, incl. Siberian is well suited for housing, see below. For a small and light country house - a metal grillage; you can - homemade.
- The soil normally bears the load, but is heavily or excessively heaving: plump wet clays, fine silty sands - pile-tape with a shallow reinforced concrete grillage. For small-scale dacha and seasonal construction - pile construction on bored concrete piles.
- The soil is medium heaving: lean clays and loams, sandy loams, wet and/or dusty loose and gravelly soils - columnar of normal depth with plinths and a brick plinth. For unheated country houses and similar buildings, a small-depth columnar structure is used, similar to the floor sheathing support columns described below.
- The soil is slightly heaving or practically non-heaving: hard dry clays, loose and gravelly soils with a dust content of less than 30% by volume, rocky soils - shallow or columnar as in the previous one. point, and for light unheated small-scale buildings, columnar with a base, which is completed after the construction of the building according to.
Note: The draft of frame houses is small, but still there. Therefore, in the latter case, the base is first made temporary from sheet materials, as long as the subfloor is not blown through, and the construction is completed next summer.
Anchors
As you know, the building is attached to the foundation with metal anchors: bolts, brackets, dovetails and wedges (to a foundation made of natural stone). The anchors are located in the middle of the tape or pole with a pitch of 1-1.5 m for the tape. slab foundation anchors are placed along its perimeter with an indentation (reference) from the edge according to the standard for this type of slab.
For reasons of overall strength, the anchors should be in the corners, but for a frame foundation this is not feasible, because There will definitely be main load-bearing pillars at the corners. Then the corner anchors are installed in pairs, as shown in Fig. on right. For ease of marking - on conditional extensions of the inner sides of the slab, but this is not critical; the main thing is that the anchors should not be closer to each other than 150-200 mm, otherwise they will weaken each other. Brick house then on such a foundation you can build, as they say, without anything.
Pillars
Supporting pillars are required for the lag lathing of the frame floor, because When the beam spans more than 2 m, the load-bearing capacity of the floor drops sharply. Recommended step for placing pillars inside foundation tape the length of the building is from 1500 mm, and the width is from 1800 mm, see previous. rice. The pitch is chosen in whole fractions of the length of the corresponding side of the building, and, importantly, the step in length should not be greater than the step in width. Thus, for example, for a 6x8 m house you will need 2 rows of pillars, 3 pillars in a row.
The second condition is that although the crosshairs of the joists do not all have to fall on the pillars, the center of each pillar must coincide with the crosshairs of the corresponding joists. And third, if the foundation is entirely columnar, the perimeter pillars should be located in the middle of the spans between the vertical posts of the frame. It is also possible for the post to fit under the post, but then you will have to bury 2 anchors in each post.
The pillars are laid out of brick (not silicate or adobe!) on a concrete base, see fig. For this, they most often take ready-made monoliths from 400x400x600 to 400x400x200. The depth of the base into the ground is 150-550 mm, depending on its nature. This does not apply to perimeter pillars; they need to be buried according to the foundation calculations! A 150 mm sand and gravel cushion is made under the base. The protrusion of the base above the ground is about 50 mm.
The pillars themselves are laid out in 1.5 bricks. Difficult ligation of seams, because the post bears only a vertical compressive load, it is not necessary, they are placed “fence-style”. Again, this applies only to internal pillars; perimeter pillars are laid as it should be for foundation pillars. The height of the masonry is 5 rows of single or 3 rows of one and a half bricks, which, taking into account the thickness of the masonry joint and the protrusion of the base, gives a subfloor height of 350-400 mm.
Surface
The frame is placed on the foundation dry. If there is a gap somewhere between the tree and the foundation, this will cause the so-called. capillary soaking: water will stay in the gap all the time, and the wood will rot, no matter what you impregnate or treat it with. Therefore, the maximum permissible general and local unevenness of the foundation is 3 mm. It is useless to correct holes and bumps with cement on a foundation that has gained strength: the lining will soon peel off, which will give the same capillary.
To withstand all these conditions, the tape must be poured very carefully, using tie-down cords and constantly monitoring yourself with a hose level. When the concrete has set, but is still wet, the upper surface of the tape is brought to evenness by ironing - sprinkled with dry cement from a sieve and rubbed with a trowel.
Internal support pillars are installed when the tape gains strength. Their surfaces are aligned with the tape along the berths, varying the thickness of the masonry seam; according to SNiP it is 10-12 mm, i.e. you can gain a whole centimeter on a single brick masonry or 6 mm on a one and a half brick.
Note: It’s clear from here that foundations for frames are not something to joke about. Collect his tape from ready-made monoliths? Under a light building on heaving ground, they will go, some into the forest, some for firewood. Conclusion: it is better to order the foundation from a proven professional.
Waterproofing
Immediately before the installation of the frame begins, the tape and pillars are covered with 1-2 layers of roofing material, regular, without topping. It will smooth out very small irregularities and prevent capillaries from appearing. Covering in advance, at least 2-3 light days in advance, can only be done with ultraviolet (UV) stabilized roofing material, but it is expensive. It’s better to keep the roll of plain in the shed until the time comes.
Materials
Frame
The main material of the frame - wood - must be impregnated with a biocide (antiseptic) and a fire retardant that prevents fire. Then the tree will not burst into flames, but will slowly smolder, maintaining its strength for a long time. Outside the fire it will go out on its own.
It is advisable to impregnate finished parts, cut to size and with selected grooves. Firstly, then the ends will be better saturated, along which it is easiest for mold spores to get into the tree. Secondly, unimpregnated wood waste is suitable for firewood and crafts, but impregnated wood waste is in no case suitable!
Of the standard sizes of scaffolding, you will need the most edged boards 150x50, timber from 100x100 to 250x250 (most often 150x150) and, for the floor, tongue and groove boards (100-150)x(30-40). If funds allow, it is better to take ready-made glued and impregnated timber. A homemade set of boards using cold-curing glue and nails is absolutely not suitable; then the house is unlikely to last more than 10 years.
For a two-story house, the choice of wood type is clear: dense, durable deciduous trees - oak, beech, hornbeam. Birch is not suitable; it rots very easily. Look in the forest, on which dead trees do tinder fungi appear first? It is impossible to save money on the second floor by using thicker wood: the frame frame perceives the loads as a single whole, and one weak point can act like the first fallen domino in a snake.
Note: Imported sets of house frames made from Scandinavian and American pine – hemlock – are available for sale. Their domestic analogues are Daurian and Tuvan larches and Siberian cedar. The former will cost more, and industrial harvesting of Siberian cedar is not carried out at all.
A one-story house can be built from ordinary coniferous trees. For a permanently inhabited building, you need selected wood, without knots, strands, or cross-layers. A simple timber frame will be used for an unheated country house. It is also suitable for a residential building measuring up to 5x8 m with ceilings up to 2.5 m, provided that all racks are supported by wind struts at the bottom and top, see below, and the estimated service life is up to 30 years. A house with a residential attic is equivalent to a 2-story house. From seasonal to 1-storey.
Sheathing
The next material is cladding. Waterproof plywood 24 mm thick road. Cement particle boards (CPB) hold plaster well, but are heavy and quite fragile. In general, the best material for sheathing is OSB. In essence, this is multi-layer plywood, but not from veneer, but from chips, see fig. Its layers are oriented in mutually perpendicular directions, due to which phenomenal strength is achieved. For example, a car drives onto a supporting SIP made of OSB and EPS, laid on supports, but the slab does not bend.
For house cladding, boards of OSB-3 or OSB-4 classes are needed. A large number means greater load-bearing capacity and cost of the slab. OSB-1 and OSB-2 boards are not load-bearing and water-resistant and are only suitable for interior decoration of permanent buildings. The next point is the class for the release (emission) of phenolic compounds; OSB is glued together with phenol-formaldehyde resins. Boards with emission class E1 or E0 are suitable for residential buildings. Here, on the contrary, the lower the number, the lower the emissions and the higher the price.
Cheap Chinese OSB with E2 emissions can be used for cladding summer country houses. Then they build the frame over the summer, and in the fall, while it is still warm, they sheathe it from the inside. Over the winter and early spring, the phenol will wear out, then the next summer the house will be insulated and finished. But you can’t live in it for the first summer!
Insulation
The best home insulation in terms of heating technology is polystyrene foam, which is also inexpensive. But it has a serious drawback: when it burns, it emits huge volumes of deadly poisonous gases. In addition, simple granular foam, if the wall warms up to 50 degrees or higher in the summer under the Sun, soon begins to crumble, and all insulation is reduced to nothing.
It is preferable to make the insulation of a frame house from mineral wool slabs. Precisely slabs, not mats. The difference in design is clearly visible: if the stove is placed on its butt, it stands. And the mat bends and flops. Mats, as cheaper ones, are used to insulate floors and interfloor ceilings.
There is also a nuance with mineral wool: it can be short-fiber or long-fiber. Short-fiber dust produces microneedles, which can be anything but beneficial for your health. Long fiber is safe; In addition, it is weakly saturated with condensate and easily loses it.
As for the so-called eco-mats and slabs made of flax, hemp, sisal, then sellers charge eco-friendly prices without hesitation. But in fact, “eco” is only sisal, they do not generate dust and do not rot. Adobe, by the way, is also not “eco” at all - it generates dust, and no infection can be found in the straw crumbs. Among the homemade “eco” ones, reeds have been well tested in practice, but they are flammable.
There is also an interesting option for homemade insulation: dry sea grass zoster (aka damask, stress on the last syllable, or eelgrass). In addition to the fact that damask is an excellent insulator, it does not rot for centuries, prevents wood from rotting and disinfects the air in the room. Fisherman's huts with damask insulation stand for 150-200 years under the rotten salty winds. Unfortunately, although the reserves of damask, at least in winter storm emissions on the shores of our seas, are huge, insulation boards made from it are not visible on sale.
Roof
Roofing materials for frames are generally used as usual, with one exception. Due to the fact that the thermal resistance of its walls from the roofing pie is high, flexible tiles - ondulin - on the roof in the off-season experience thermal shocks, soon lose their plasticity and crack. And so – cover it with whatever (sorry, whatever) you want.
We are building a house
Now we can already say: that’s it, we’re building a frame house! Which? We leave the half-timbered one alone; not every pro can do it. That leaves a Canadian and a Finn; prefabricated SIPs were sorted out earlier. We will also assume that we have decided on the purpose, size and number of floors of the house.
Canadian platform
For those who want to build the Canadian way, we suggest just watching the film that made carpenter Larry Houn world famous. Its 4 parts, with a total duration of about 4 hours, contain detailed step-by-step instructions for building a large residential building using the “Canadian platform” technology:
Base, platform and floor
Bottom trim, walls, top trim
Roof and roofing
The last part is not so easy to find in open sources, but it is very useful for those who really want to build. We will deal with a Finnish house, for which there are no such detailed instructions from an experienced carpenter.
Finnish
By by and large As they say, the installation of a Finnish house is carried out in a certain sequence. It must not be violated, otherwise the house will turn out to be fragile and unstable.
First of all, a box of frames is assembled on the foundation. This stage is divided into 4 substages, see Fig. on right:
- The lower trim is mounted on the foundation;
- Corner posts (beams) are installed, and intermediate posts are installed between them. All of them are accurately aligned vertically and supported by temporary jibs nailed on the outside, in Fig. conditionally not shown;
- The top trim is laid on the vertical braces and attached to them, and the ceiling beams are installed;
- Permanent wind braces are installed, temporary jibs are removed, and window and door openings are formed.
Note: remember, that total area door and window openings should not exceed 18% of the area of the corresponding wall. The distance from the corner is at least 1 span between the posts. The width of the openings is 1 or 2 spans.
After assembling the box, a lathing is made from the floor joists. The next step is to make the crossbar (supporting structure) of the roof, without a roof yet. Next is the internal power lining made of OSB. Then - insulation of the walls, their rough outer cladding. Now we lay the floor, with insulation, and sew up the ceiling. We lay, with insulation, the floor of the attic or attic. We make roofing pie and roofing. While all this is being done, the house has already settled (the frames settle very quickly); This means you can install windows and doors. All that's left is finishing, interior and exterior, and - housewarming!
Bottom harness
The bottom trim is made of timber. We will not talk about the fact that its rectangularity needs to be verified by diagonals and measurements of all sides; the reader, presumably, is already familiar with the basics of construction. The main thing here is connecting the corners, because... wind loads on the frame will tend to pull the frame to the sides. The simplest way- half a tree, on the left in Fig. - in this case, it is not entirely reliable: you will have to hammer in so many nails that the angle will weaken.
It is much better to mount it in half a tree with a dowel in the center. A pole is placed on the protruding part of the boss (the socket in its end is selected with a brace) and the entire corner begins to work as one whole. Even stronger and more reliable if you have some carpentry experience and a template, a claw connection, on the right in Fig. Under the post, so that it would be generally “wow!”, it is better not to be lazy and additionally reinforce the paw with a dowel.
Poles and racks
Making cuts in the lower beam in the old-fashioned way, as shown on the left in the figure, is unnecessary in our time: the work is labor-intensive, and the strength of the most loaded unit is reduced. And such fastenings do not hold horizontal loads “inside-out”, just like all fastenings on obliquely driven nails.
It is best to fasten with corners, but not simple ones, but reinforced ones, with a stamped stiffening rib, on the right in Fig. Metal thickness - from 4 mm, galvanizing or chrome plating is required. Self-tapping screws - phosphated (black) for wood with a diameter of 6-8 mm and a length of 3/4 of the thickness of the counter part, 3 per angle leg.
Note: temporary jibs from magpie boards are placed on 100-150 mm nails.
The installation step of racks made of 150x50 boards should not exceed 800 mm. A whole number of spans must be laid along the length of the wall; it is important that the frame is loaded evenly. It is customary to take the installation step of racks to be 500-600 mm, this gives its multiplicity in whole fractions of a wall of any length. In walls longer than 5.5 m, it is permissible to install 1 window 3 bays wide; then between the window sill and the lintel and the corresponding lower and upper beams of the frame, permanent struts are placed, as in the corners, see below.
About imposts
Sometimes you can find recommendations to form nests for poles and racks using imposts; in Russian - inserts. Take 2 pieces of board, nail them to the beam with a gap, and insert a stand or post into the groove between them. So, they say, it’s cheaper and easier. In fact, this is not the case at all:
- We need additional boards, which cost money.
- The highest marking accuracy is required, because, unlike cut-out nests, the installation error accumulates as installation progresses. If you cut the imposts in place every time, everything will go awry.
- The groove between the imposts does not support the “inside-out” load. You can’t really grab it with nails at an angle; the insert board itself doesn’t allow it. The corners remain, but what do imposts have to do with it then?
Upper harness
It is best to connect the corners of the bars of the upper harness into a paw. Now there is no need to fool around with dowels, because... can be mounted from above to the end. The frame is attached to the pillars at the corners from above with 8x250 self-tapping screws (for timber 150x150), and reinforced from below with corners. The racks are attached only with corners from the bottom, 2 for each.
Ceiling beams
In ceiling beams (beams 150x150), only a little bit of wood is chosen for installation, as long as it doesn’t crawl, see fig. on right. They are attached with corners from the sides, because There should be a beam for each pair of racks. It is unacceptable to place beams between the posts!
Permanent braces
Permanent wind braces in the corners are placed flush with the posts/beams from the inside. They are fitted with a 150x50 board spread out lengthwise, for a total of 75x50. They are fastened with 100 mm nails at an angle, this is enough. In the same way, if required (see above), the frame posts are reinforced, see fig. below. The height of the struts in both cases is 1/5-1/8 of the height of the racks/pillars.
Wind connections - house frame struts
Joists and floor
The step for installing the logs along the length of the house is 300 mm, and in width - 1.8-2 m. Then, for example, for a 6x4 m house you will need 19 transverse 4-meter logs and 1 longitudinal 6-meter log. The grooves in them for inserting half a tree are selected in advance, and the logs, like the subfloor boards (see below), are treated with bitumen mastic in advance.
The main problem when installing the sheathing is the ends of the joists. It is unacceptable for them to hang; they must rest on something. It is not advisable to cut the strapping into the beam for reasons of strength of both. It is generally impossible to attach corners to beams; such fastening is not capable of holding a large constant shear load for a long time.
In a fairly large residential building, as a rule, the top of the foundation is solid and the strip width is more than 300 mm. Then an additional board is placed under the ends of the joists, see fig. The logs are attached to it with corners, and the board itself is attached to the beam, between the logs. In this case, the gaps between the ends of the logs and the timber act as expansion joints without compromising the overall strength.
There is another way to pair the logs with the frame: its lower belt is made of boards, the floor sheathing is mounted, and the upper belt of timber is laid over the logs. This allows you to increase the longitudinal pitch of the lag to 600 mm, because The upward play of their ends during deflection is counteracted (they are sandwiched between the board and the timber), but the most stressed parts of the frame - the outer lower corners - turn out to be weakened. Plus, or rather minus, inside the floor around the perimeter after exterior finishing Pockets form that can become condensation traps.
In a small country house on columnar foundation and there’s nothing you can do about the hanging support frame; you have to cut the logs into the beam a quarter of the way, on the left side of the trace (Fig. But here the load is less. However, if you plan to lay a brick kitchen stove in the house, then at its future angles you will need to make additional supporting pillars of a simplified design, from a concreted asbestos-cement pipe. These pillars, of course, should also each be located under the log. They are cut to size in height using a grinder using a stone circle. If the slab itself is in the corner (taking into account the 60 cm distance from the walls required by the PB), then only 1 additional column under the hanging corner of the slab will be enough. For a Dutch oven up to 3.5x3.5 bricks in plan, 1 column is also enough, under the geometric center of its outline.
Next, under the subfloor, the so-called. cranial beams, visible in the same fig. The rough flooring is made from 30 or 40 mm tongue and groove boards. To prevent the formation of local pockets of condensation, a groove is cut off on the first board in the order of installation, and a tongue crest is cut on the last one. Each board is nailed to the joists (not to the headers!) with a pair of 80 mm nails on each side diagonally.
How hydro- and vapor barrier of the floor is performed can be seen on the right in Fig. But in general, for a frame house, floor insulation is a very important matter; the dew point should always be in the underground. You can watch the video below for more details on this. The finishing (top) flooring and its decorative covering in a frame house are the same as in any other wooden one.
Video: insulated floor for a frame house
Note: waterproofing, insulation and vapor barrier of the floor should be done before, and finishing flooring and covering should be done after the internal wall cladding, see below. In order not to trample on the mats and film, boards, some kind of shields, pieces of plywood, etc. are temporarily laid on the joists along the walls.
Ceiling
With the ceiling and floor of the upper floor, the situation is easier: you can work both from below and from above, the joists have somewhere to rest, and the loads are already an order of magnitude less. Therefore, there are no insidious subtleties in the frame ceiling; how it is structured can be seen in Fig. on right. Just one caveat: to prevent the ceiling from getting wet, the ceiling in a house with a cold attic must be done according to the full scheme with insulation, as shown in Fig.
Roof
Formation of condensation in wooden house it is also unacceptable under the roof, so the roofing pie frame also needs a rather complex one, see fig. left. It is insulated with mineral wool mats. The roof turns out to be relatively heavy, so it is better to reinforce its frame with additional crossbar ties, see fig. on right.
The pitch of the rafters is taken equal to twice the pitch of the frame posts. That is, here another design “bully” comes to light: the walls along which the roof ridge is oriented must have an even number of spans between the racks.
Note: additional living space in the house without significant extra investments will be provided by the so-called. Siberian attic. It can also be arranged in an existing house, but how is a separate topic.
What kind of roof should I make?
Without being a builder-designer with the appropriate education and work experience, the roof of a Finnish house can be made pitched, gable or hip; the latter - in places with strong winds. For each roofing material, there is a certain range of acceptable slope angles, so a single-pitch roof (α = 5-30 degrees) is covered with corrugated slate, UV-stabilized roofing felt or modern flexible coverings, corrugated sheets or metal tiles. The remaining 2 roofs can be covered with anything if α = 30-45 degrees. But in general, the construction of the roof is the same separate topic as for the foundation. For more details, see part 3 of the film by L. Hohn; a Canadian-style roof is also suitable for a Finnish house.
Sheathing and insulation
The internal cladding of the house is made of OSB-3 or 4 with a thickness of 24-30 mm. First, the frame is covered from the inside with waterproofing (namely hydro-, not steam-); the slabs are installed on 4.2x(80-100) self-tapping screws in increments of 100-200 mm, with a distance of 50-60 mm from the edge of the slab. There should be a self-tapping screw for each corner of the slab.
For the maximum achievable strength of the box, it is better to mount the slabs with horizontal chords, then you will get intersecting power connections: racks/pillars - vertical, slab belts - horizontal, which is what was required. Hanging, i.e. loose horizontal seams between the slabs do not have a noticeable effect on the overall strength of the box, similar to the spaces between the boards of the roof sheathing. However, if slightly more expensive tongue-and-groove slabs are included in the construction estimate, it won’t get any worse.
Firstly, the vertical seams of the slabs should not coincide in adjacent chords. To do this, it is best to carry out the cladding in a mutually opposite manner (shuttle method), applying the first solid slabs of chords alternately from one or the other corner. Secondly, the vertical connections of the slabs must be made either tongue-and-groove or half-wood wide, 2-3 times the thickness of the slab, i.e. 50-75 mm. In this case, they are reinforced with self-tapping screws in increments of 100-200 mm. The long walls are sheathed first, and the sheathing of the short ones should fit tightly between their edges, almost into space.
The most important and most loaded places remain - the corners. In our case, the corners of the sheathing correspond to the corners of the pillars. We get out of the situation like this:
- From the outside, “from the street,” we fasten the sheathing box at the corners with self-tapping screws (3.5-4.2)x70; they are screwed with a screwdriver (not by hand!) through the slab of the long wall into the end of the short one, the pitch is 100-150 mm. For the self-tapping screws, you need to pre-drill blind guide holes with a diameter of 2.5-3.3 mm, respectively, and a depth of 40-50 mm, so that the self-tapping screw does not go at random and the end of only 24 mm in thickness does not delaminate.
- To internal ones, i.e. Facing along the wall, we fill the edges of the pillars with zigzag nails with 70 mm overlays from 150x50 boards. There is no need for the overlays to overlap the corners securing the posts; it is enough for the overlays to be close to the edges of the legs of the corners.
- From the inside we attach the corners of the casing box to the linings, with the same screws, with the same pitch, also into the same blind holes drilled in advance. We “self-tap” the cladding of short walls straight, and the long ones – obliquely at an angle of 20-45 degrees. We drill guides for self-tapping screws on long walls directly into the corner of the joint of the plates, because half the thickness of the lining is eaten away by the thickness of the cladding slabs.
Insulation is carried out according to the diagrams in Fig: on the left - for the LSTK frame, in the center - under durable outer cladding, on the right - under plastic lining.
More information about insulating a Finnish house can be gleaned from the video below. As for decorative finishing, in this respect a frame house is no different from any wooden one.
Video: insulation of a Finnish frame house
Note: The described method of building a frame that works in Finnish is not the only possible one. Here, for example, is a comparison video:
Video: assembling a frame house using Scandinavian technology
Shall we learn?
On mistakes. In such an important matter as building a house, you need to know where you can make a mistake, and there are plenty of opportunities for this. Quite a lot of errors are discovered after some time during a home inspection, but most of them can be corrected. So let’s just give a selection of videos:
Mistakes #1
Mistakes #2
Revision #1
Revision # 2
Revision #3
There are already 5 rather voluminous parts, as you can see. And each of them is full of information.
Dirigible house
There is another technology for constructing small frame houses, up to approximately 4x6 m in size. It is not Canadian, not Finnish or German construction, old or new. It is sometimes called aerostat, because. Zeppelin frames were assembled in a similar way under the Kaiser. Although an airship is not quite a balloon. It dangles in the air, wherever the wind takes it, and that’s why an airship is an airship because it’s controllable.
But to get to the point, a short video gives the concept of aerostatic technology for assembling house frames:
- The truss parts are assembled by cutting into half a tree using self-tapping screws, followed by laying plywood gussets on both sides with nails.
- The truss leg shoes are replaced with fittings made from sections of square corrugated pipe.
- The thrust bearings are welded from a 100 mm angle.
And what will it be?
That is, what kind of frame can you really assemble on your own, knowing all this wisdom? Even a 2-story building with the 2nd floor removed, as in Fig. left. Its dimensions in plan can be increased to 6x9 m without deteriorating strength indicators by adding 1 section to each wall. And 120 total squares is not bad at all. The thing is that the middle posts of the long walls are made not of boards, but of 150x150 timber, just like the corner ones. In essence, these are 2 houses connected into one. The work, of course, is not for a beginner, but it is possible to do it yourself.
An example of the opposite kind is a mini country house-shelter; more like a micro-house. The author once built one for himself, its description circulated among the people for a long time until it ended up in the “Modeler-Constructor”. Drawings - in Fig. on right. Concrete pillars from grape trellises, laid horizontally with the wide side up (the cross-section of the trellis posts is trapezoidal) in trenches with a sand cushion, were suitable for the “foundation”. The soil is medium loamy loam with a layer of humus of approx. 15 cm.
The hut stood for about 10 years until my hands and wallet got around to building something more serious. It was heated in the off-season with a potbelly stove using an OU-5 fire extinguisher. Then it was willingly purchased as a gatehouse by another dacha association that had just been organized in the neighborhood. They tore it out of the ground with a crane along with the “foundation” and plopped it in a new place directly onto the gravel backfill. There he remains safely in the same capacity to this day. Only a satellite dish and air conditioning were added, the 21st century after all. And the insulation is original, damask.
A frame house is a great opportunity to acquire your own comfortable housing for reasonable money and in short term. But to prevent the first strong wind or heaving of the soil from collapsing it like a house of cards, you need to know a clear sequence of work and some secrets of frame construction. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to do it correctly.
Design project and drawing of a house
Design will help you significantly reduce construction time, avoid many mistakes and reduce material consumption. But this is not only about designing the interior of the rooms. The design project includes blueprints. They are simply necessary for the foundation, rafter system and wall frame.
To develop a design project and drawings, you can turn to professional designers or try to master specialized programs. For example: ArchiCAD, Arcon, WoodEngine, CadWork. However, please note that some programs require the purchase of a license key and time to master.
Laying the foundation for a frame house
A frame house can be erected by you on a slab, pile, column or strip foundation. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages and is suitable for a certain type of soil. How to determine which one to choose?
Soil analysis at the construction site
A foundation selected in accordance with the characteristics of the soil is not just a reliable foundation for the entire structure. It is also a rational use of your Money. A frame house does not always need an expensive slab or deep foundation.
Helps you make the right choice earth analysis, taken from the construction site. What it will help determine:
- Depth of groundwater. If they flow close to the soil surface, you will have to abandon the construction of a cellar.
- Qualitative composition of the soil (fine sand, gravel, clay, etc.). The best option for construction is gravel soil, the worst is fine sand.
- The depth of soil freezing. The larger it is, the more labor-intensive and expensive the foundation work will be.
For research, you can dig a hole yourself, at least one and a half meters deep, take soil samples and take them to the laboratory. A less labor-intensive option is to invite geological engineers directly to the construction site.
Features of strip foundation
The strip foundation is a closed loop made of reinforced concrete. It is laid under the load-bearing walls of the house along their entire length.
Despite the labor-intensive and expensive installation, a strip base is the best option for a frame house. It has a large load-bearing surface, allowing you to equip a basement and carry out construction work even on heaving soil.
Sequence of construction of a strip foundation:
- Digging a trench and laying a sand cushion on its bottom.
- Waterproofing trench walls.
- Installation of wooden formwork.
- Assembly and installation of reinforcing mesh.
- Pouring the formwork with concrete and compacting it.
Height of strip foundation should be at least 2 times its width. Under such conditions, transverse deformation does not occur in it.
Pile-screw foundation - a simple and affordable foundation for a house
A pile-screw foundation allows you to build a residential building on weak areas and areas with uneven terrain without construction experience. It becomes a reliable support for the walls, since the piles firmly cling to hard rock below the freezing level of the soil.
Screw piles– metal rods, onto the pointed ends of which blades are welded. This design allows you to simply screw them into the ground like a drill. This can be done using special equipment or manually. But in the latter case, at least three people will be needed.
Laying a columnar foundation
The columnar foundation is erected only on stable soils with high bearing capacity.
The work is carried out step by step:
- Round holes are drilled in the ground along the selected perimeter.
- They install a metal frame connected from reinforcement.
- Formwork made from casing pipes is lowered into the wells.
- Above-ground elements are cut one level at a time.
- The wells are filled with concrete and compacted.
The height of the heads (the above-ground part of the pillars) should not be less than 400 mm. Otherwise, the wood flooring will rot from constant exposure to moisture.
Slab foundation - when considerable investments pay off
The slab foundation is rightfully considered the most expensive. This is due to the large load-bearing area, which is the main advantage of a monolithic foundation.
A house built on such a slab is protected from distortions, because even when exposed to the forces of frost heaving, it moves along with the foundation.
The base laying technology involves
- Removing the top layer of soil (fertile).
- Laying geofabric, backfilling the sand and gravel cushion and compacting it.
- Flooring waterproofing material.
- Installation of wooden formwork.
- Installation and installation of mesh knitted from ribbed reinforcement.
- Pouring concrete and its subsequent compaction with a special vibration machine.
The height of the slab base is usually 100 mm.
Bottom frame of the house
If you are planning to build a frame house with your own hands, you cannot do without the bottom frame. It unites all the elements of the foundation, if it is columnar or pile-screw, connects the base of the house with its walls, and serves as a support for laying the floor.
For device bottom trim use 150x200 mm timber or a bunch of boards placed at the end. Lumber must be pre-treated with an antiseptic and fire retardant.
They are fixed to the foundation using anchor bolts with a wide nut. The beams are connected to each other using panels or “half a tree”, “in a paw”, additionally strengthening them with nails and steel corners.
Laying and insulating the subfloor
The base of the subfloor is the basement beams. Their function is performed by beams with a cross-section of 140x180 mm or boards measuring at least 160x50 mm. The ideal option is material with the same cross-section as the elements of the lower trim.
The floor beams are fastened “in half a tree”, making appropriate cuts. For additional fixation, use two nails at each junction of the beams.
Then the flooring and its insulation are carried out according to the following scheme:
- Attaching the cranial bars to the bottom of the beams.
- Fixing subfloor boards on them.
- Waterproofing beams and decking using dense polyethylene.
- Laying insulation in cells formed by beams.
- Installation of vapor barrier.
- The flooring is plywood, floorboard or OSB board.
This “pie” is ready for finishing at the final stage of independent construction of a frame house.
Stages of construction of the frame of walls and roof
The subfloor with its rigid base is the reference point for the construction of the wall frame and installation of the rafter system under the roof. This is one of the most labor-intensive stages of building a frame house.
Installation of vertical racks for external walls
Using the existing lower trim, markings are made for fastening the vertical frame posts. Their length determines the height of the ceiling on the floor minus its finishing.
Work begins with the installation of corner elements with a cross-section of at least 100x100 mm. They are fixed in two main ways:
- Using a wooden dowel, which should rise 80-100 mm above the corner connection of the trim. In this case, the stand is literally strung on it.
- Using galvanized metal corners with reinforcement.
For racks on straight sections, timber with a smaller cross-section – 50x100 mm – is suitable. Its connection to the harness is made by complete or partial cutting or using steel corners. Here you can use fasteners without reinforcement.
When determining the pitch of the racks, be guided by the width of the insulation or sheet material of the wall cladding. To prevent the vertical elements of the frame from tilting, they can be fixed with temporary jibs.
Upper frame frame and interfloor slab
Only after fixing the racks strictly vertically and in a stationary position do they begin to work on the upper trim. All grooves and fastenings in it must be similar to those in a similar lower chord. This will give the structure good spatial rigidity.
Note! The width of the top frame beams should be equal to the width of the vertical posts.
Mounted similarly to the basement. Logs from boards 50x200 mm with a pitch of 600-800 mm are fastened with nails to the beams of the upper frame.
If the ceiling is not an element of the roof truss system, but the floor of the second floor, it must be additionally reinforced with spacers. Their function is performed by edged boards, which are lined up between the joists in one line and fixed with nails. With a second floor span of 2.5-3 m, one line of spacers is sufficient. For a larger span you will need two parallel lines.
Assembling the rafter system
The rafter system determines the shape of the roof of a frame house built from scratch. Most often it is gable.
Suitable for rafters boards with a section of 50x150 mm or 50x200 mm. They are installed on the bars of the upper trim in increments of 0.6-1.1 m.
The rafters are also connected to each other, which gives the roof appropriate rigidity and determines its load-bearing capacity. To do this, use the following elements:
- longitudinal runs;
- lathing;
- crossbars;
- racks;
- sill;
- puff.
If the span of the second floor or attic is less than 10 m and there are no load-bearing walls in the house except external ones, hanging rafters can be installed. This system involves fastening each rafter with one end to the frame, and the other to the counter element. Tightening in the form of a horizontal beam allows you to strengthen the structure.
Layered rafters appropriate where there is an intermediate support for them in the form of a load-bearing wall or a columnar element. They are reinforced with internal middle pillars.
Thermal insulation of walls and roof
Work on insulating walls and roofs should begin only after all windows and doors have been installed.
In a proper frame house, the technology for their implementation is similar and comes down to creating a “pie” consisting of several layers.
- External cladding. It can be fiberboard, OSB, DSP or facade board.
- Waterproofing. Necessary to protect the insulation from moisture from the street.
- Thermal insulation material. This can be polystyrene foam, extruded polystyrene foam, mineral wool, etc.
- Vapor barrier. Typically, a membrane film is used to remove moisture from the room.
- Internal lining. Suitable for these purposes: plywood, OSB, drywall.
The roof is not sheathed on the outside with sheet material. His place is taken sheathing, which serves as the basis for the roofing material.
The insulation of the interfloor ceiling is similar to the thermal insulation of the subfloor.
Frame house engineering systems
Without engineering communications a frame house will be a dark and cold box. For this reason, it is necessary to know where and at what stage they are laid.
- Heating and water supply system pipes are mounted inside frame walls. This is done before they are insulated. The cold water supply pipe is placed in a corrugated moisture-resistant “sleeve”, which is associated with the constant formation of condensation on it.
- Sewer pipes are installed in walls and under the floor. Their supply to septic tanks is provided at the stage of laying the foundation.
- Electrical cables are located inside the walls, under the suspended ceiling or in the channels of the baseboards.
- The laying of hidden electrical cables can only be carried out in special pipes and ducts. These works are also carried out before the walls are thermally insulated.
Video: unacceptable mistakes in construction
The technology for constructing quickly erected buildings is very popular. This topic is constantly discussed on construction forums and causes a lot of controversy. The pros and cons of frame houses will help you form a general idea of the method and become familiar with the stages of construction.
Based on the experience of European countries, there is no doubt that frame-panel houses will soon become leaders in low-rise construction. Compared with traditional systems construction technology has its advantages, the main one being cost-effectiveness. The financial aspect is one of the stimulating factors for acquiring your own home. Cost of 1 sq. m less than one and a half times foam concrete blocks, 2.4 times less brick walls, 1.4 times less timber.
The frame-panel constructor is assembled by the efforts of 4 people in 1.5 months. According to this principle, it is permissible to build an object of any complexity up to 3 floors. In addition, building a frame house with your own hands will allow you to save on the foundation, equipment, and a team of workers.
The disadvantages include:
- Moisture absorption.
- Risk of fire.
- Poor ventilation.
- Sensitivity to vibration.
- Fragility.
There is a misconception that only brick, panel or wooden walls retain heat well. However, according to current thermal protection standards, modern buildings Some regions do not meet standard requirements. Canadian houses with 150 mm walls have a thermal protection coefficient equivalent to double block masonry and are quite suitable for living. In cold weather, when the heating is turned off, the rooms remain at normal temperature for a long time.
Temporary or permanent residence determines the thickness of the frame house. If housing is planned for seasonal stay, there is no need to purchase expensive insulation. Accordingly, the thickness of the walls will be slightly less. For a comfortable microclimate, a substrate of 10-15 cm is sufficient. If we're talking about For permanent housing, the material is laid in a thick layer - more than 15 cm. Ultimately, the wall turns out to be 20 cm without taking into account the outer and inner cladding.
How to correctly calculate the thickness of a frame house
For this purpose, there is a special table with indicators for each region. Insert into the formula:
- insulation thickness parameters;
- thermal conductivity coefficient of the material;
- calculate the parameter.
You can carry out the calculations yourself using our construction calculators.
When ordering a house kit from a factory, calculations are performed on site and the customer is offered slabs with an increased safety margin. Many people believe that if they are thick, there is no need to lay insulation. This is a misconception - without a high-quality substrate, heating costs increase significantly. The walls of the frame building should resemble a layer cake. Thanks to the air cushion between them, the house remains warm even in frosty weather.
They build a frame house with their own hands according to Finnish or Canadian technology. The process algorithm is the same and consists of several stages:
- Purchases of materials.
- Filling the base.
- Bottom frame of the foundation.
- Construction of walls, roofs.
- Installation of windows and doors.
- Wall cladding and insulation.
- Interior finishing.
To avoid heat loss and ensure good ventilation, it is important to adhere to adapted technology when constructing a facility.
How to build a frame house: pouring the foundation
The prefabricated structure is lightweight, so there is no point in building a powerful base. Depending on the type of soil and number of storeys of the building, choose between:
- columnar;
How to make strapping and joists
Next, the transverse joists are installed. Boards with a cross-section of 150 x 50 mm, turned on their sides, are nailed to the end and bottom beam on the left and right in increments of 40 cm with 9 cm oblique nails. If they are long, but a transverse beam is laid, jumpers 45 cm long are stuffed on top.
Flooring
After installing the sheathing, a waterproofing film is laid between the cells, and insulation is placed on it. A budget option— expanded polystyrene from 15 kg/m3 with a thickness of 150 mm. The insulation is cut with a hacksaw and laid in 2 layers. The material is distributed so that the edges of the second row of sheets do not coincide with the first, otherwise the sheets will move. To fix the foam at the bottom of the grate, a 50 x 50 mm cutting beam is stuffed around the perimeter. The seams are covered with polyurethane foam.
The material is covered with a vapor barrier membrane, then a flooring is constructed. For the subfloor, choose plywood, tongue-and-groove boards or cheap OSB-3 boards. The canvas is laid across the grate. For reliability, the sheets are laid in a checkerboard pattern or perpendicular to the joists.
The flooring is secured to the joists with 50 mm self-tapping screws or rough nails. First, glue is applied to the back of the sheets, then nailed every 15 cm along the edge and in increments of 30 cm in the middle. A gap of 3 mm is left between the segments on all sides.
Now to build walls you need a frame: wood or steel. A popular solution is oak timber, larch or other wood with a dense structure. Such designs are one third cheaper than their metal counterparts. Before installation begins, they are planed and treated with impregnations to prevent fire, rot, and pests.
Installation of vertical racks
How to build a frame house so that you can live in it for a long time without repairs? Follow the sequence of stages and take into account all construction nuances. First of all, this concerns the fastening of parts. When constructing the frame, the corner posts are first installed. If dowels are chosen for the connection, step back from the edges up to 10 cm, make holes in the end that are 1 cm longer than the length of the dowel, and attach the timber vertically.
Now choose the method of attaching the intermediate longitudinal struts. The first is fixation to the harness with partial or complete cutting, or connection with galvanized corners. The second method is simpler and more reliable, although it increases the cost of the project.
The principle of installing the upper bars is similar to the installation of the lower trim. Horizontal structures are joined at the corners with vertical posts, connected with 2 nails and corners.
How to build walls
How to make a frame house: first assemble the spans on the ground, then lift them up or assemble them on site? Usually they are already ready-made attached to the lower base. The first span is nailed to the floor and supported by jibs, the second is connected to the rack of the first, and so on around the perimeter.
Regardless of the principle of connecting the racks, they are strengthened with temporary jibs. This strengthens the lower frame until permanent supports are installed, giving the frame rigidity and resistance to wind loads. After installation of all structures:
- the skeleton is measured with a plumb line and level;
- temporary supports are removed;
- 2 strips are screwed to each support at the top and bottom.
Windows, doors
Door and window openings are installed in places according to the design. First, the racks are fixed on the sides of the niches, then the lintels at the top and bottom. The internal partitions are mounted in the same way as the frame, tied with boards for rigidity.
Ceiling
The process consists of several stages:
- Grooves for beams are cut into the timber.
- Transverse structures are inserted into the openings, nailed, and steel corners are screwed.
- Inside, supports are installed along the partitions and connected to the upper and lower beams.
- Lay a ceiling panel made of tongue-and-groove boards.
- A vapor barrier layer is laid, insulation and a waterproofing membrane are placed on top.
- Constructing a subfloor.
Roof
For the device choose: attic, multi-gable, single-pitched or multi-pitched roof with a slope of 10°. To calculate rafters and step sheathing, use construction tables or ours.
- The rafters are assembled from timber below. To do this, 2 boards are spliced together at the top at an angle, then lifted into place.
- First, rafter pairs are installed on gables with an overhang of 400-500 mm.
- The slope of the slope is adjusted, the structures are mounted to the upper frame.
- The remaining parts of the system are installed in increments of 700 mm.
- Then they are integrated with a ridge beam, which serves as a support for the upper rafters, and are attached to the floor of the paws.
- They build a continuous or thin sheathing with a cross-section of 25 x 30 cm, and fix it to the rafters with side counters. The pitch of the beams is the same as that of the rafters.
A vapor barrier membrane is stapled to the inside of the rafter legs. The joints are sealed with tape, the space between the beams is filled with thermal insulation boards, then with diffuse film. At the final stage, the roof is laid. The process algorithm is clearly presented in the picture.
Wall insulation
Choose a protective material with a thickness of 50 mm: polystyrene foam, mineral wool or polystyrene foam.
- Lay mats between the vertical posts of the frame. With double flooring, the joints of the canvases should not coincide. To protect against moisture, waterproofing is laid on the outside.
- Then the sheathing is filled with thin slats corresponding to the thickness of the insulation. This will ensure air movement.
- From the side of the rooms, the vapor barrier is stretched and fixed with a stapler. The walls are lined with thick plywood, gypsum fiber sheets or clapboard. The base for finishing with plasterboard is ready.
- The walls are sheathed on the outside finishing material: block house, siding, eurolining.
All that remains is to decorate the inside of the house and celebrate the housewarming. Nuances in the construction of prefabricated buildings frame-panel houses- a great many. Experience and knowledge will come along the way.
Full video on how to build a frame house
Frame house projects
Number of projects 39
Warm and inexpensive house which can be erected in one season is the dream of any owner. Frame house construction meets these requirements. Light weight all structural elements make it possible to do without the use of lifting and other special equipment, and modern thermal insulation materials make frame houses suitable for living even in harsh northern winters. But it is not enough to know how to build a frame house; it is necessary to comply with all the requirements of the technology and take into account the phased features of the construction of the structure.
Finished view of a frame house
Basic rules of frame construction
To ensure that the final result of construction does not disappoint, before construction you need to familiarize yourself with simple rules:
The main criterion when choosing lumber is quality. It is better to give preference to laminated veneer lumber than naturally dried wood, which can crack when drying out. A good option There will be technical drying of the timber, which minimizes the amount of moisture in the tree.
Entrust the work to professionals. Building a house in which you will live is not the most suitable platform for experiments; if something is done wrong, then at best it will lead to uncomfortable living conditions, and at worst to emergency situations. And this is not even taking into account the fact that construction is not only the construction of walls, but also many narrow-profile types of work: wiring communications (sewage, electricity, heating), roofing work at heights and much more.
A professional team builds a frame house in a short time
Every little thing matters. Trying to save money on fastening materials, insulation or wood impregnations can be expensive. Low-quality but cheap insulation can emit harmful substances that are hazardous to health. Unreliable fastening of elements can lead to damage to the integrity of the frame.
Frame house construction technology - step-by-step work, which in itself will help save budget funds. Therefore, you should not save on building materials.
Choosing a location on the site
Two groups of factors that influence the location of the future home are recommendatory and obligatory.
The latter include:
Fire regulations. They regulate the rules for the location of buildings depending on the fire hazard. For example, the distance between buildings made of non-combustible materials is at least 6 meters, for wood and other combustible materials - 12 m.
Sanitary standards. They regulate the distance from the house to outbuildings, power lines, trees and other things.
To choose the right location for your home, you need to take into account many factors.
Horizontal orientation. Windows facing south or east will allow for maximum natural light.
Accounting for prevailing winds. There is no need to install additional windows and doors on the leeward side.
Distance to roadway. The greater the distance to the road, the quieter it will be in the house, but it will increase the access road.
Exterior view from the window. It is preferable to have windows overlooking the garden rather than those overlooking the estate's courtyard and outbuildings.
To comply with all standards and select the most suitable location, you must contact the design organization.
The foundation for a house is the basis
A strong foundation is the key to a strong and durable home. For frame buildings, a foundation of one of the following types is usually built:
shallow belt;
pile-screw.
In the first case, they will first be carried out excavation so that there is somewhere to pour the foundation, then formwork is made and a reinforcing frame is laid out in it.
The second stage is pouring concrete. It is technologically correct to do this in one step, but sometimes layer-by-layer filling is allowed. As the formwork hardens, it is removed - the foundation should gain strength within 30 days. After this, waterproofing work is carried out, and the assembly of the lower trim begins.
Scheme of a strip foundation for a frame house
The pile foundation, in turn, is considered one of the most inexpensive and quickly erected.
The pile is a thick metal pipe, the end of which is equipped with a screw blade. They are twisted into the ground using special equipment. There are some types of driven piles, but they are rarely used.
With advantages and disadvantages screw piles You can see it in the video:
Piles are an innovative method of foundation installation that has recently appeared on the domestic market. Therefore, for now it enjoys the distrust of consumers. However, correct installation in compliance with all requirements will ensure the reliability of the building and a long service life.
Bottom rail and floor
To protect the piping from moisture from below, roofing material or waterproofing is laid on the foundation. You can use bitumen mastic, but it will be more expensive than roll material. Sometimes materials are combined: once the foundation is covered with mastic, and waterproofing is laid on top.
The assembly of a frame house begins with strapping. For it, boards with a section of 15x5 cm or timber 15x10 cm are used. The boards are laid around the perimeter and aligned along the outer edge of the foundation. Holes for the studs are drilled in the required places. The second layer of boards is laid in such a way as to cover the bottom joints of the boards. This gives the structure additional strength. Installation of timber is easier and faster, but its price is higher than that of boards. In addition, the overall load-bearing capacity of a double board will be higher than that of a single beam.
This is what fixed joists look like
A 15x5 cm board is installed on the harness on the edge. It is also aligned along the outer edge of the foundation and secured with ordinary nails. The logs are mounted from boards of the same section. Fastened with nails or special corners. Installation step – 40–60 cm.
Important! The longer the lag, the smaller the step. This will ensure even weight distribution and eliminate sagging.
The next stage is insulation. The simplest option is polystyrene foam. It is easily cut with a hacksaw and fits tightly between the joists. This will eliminate the need to install a subfloor underneath, which will hold the insulation.
To support the insulation, you will need to fill two 5x5 cm bars along the joists. Two layers are laid at intervals - the top layer overlaps the seams of the bottom one. Joints and seams with joists are treated with sealant.
Joints with joists must be sealed with sealing materials
Important! Polystyrene foam is a flammable material, which makes it undesirable for insulating wooden structures. Therefore, sheets of stone wool and expanded polystyrene are most often used for thermal insulation of floors.
To install the subfloor, a 10x2.5 cm edged board is used. Plywood 0.5–0.6 cm thick is laid on top of it. Sheets of plywood can be laid immediately without a flooring of boards. In this case, the thickness of the sheets should be at least 1.5 cm. This option is faster, but in some cases more expensive. Like brickwork, plywood is laid in staggered patterns. A gap of a few centimeters between the sheets compensates for expansion when air humidity increases.
On our website you can get acquainted with the most popular projects of frame houses from construction companies presented at the exhibition of houses “Low-Rise Country”.
A strong frame is the key to a strong house
There are two possible schemes for building a frame house:
construction of a wall on the floor and its subsequent installation in a vertical position;
assembly of all elements immediately on site.
The first method is usually used in factories for the production of modules of frame-panel houses. In some cases, assembly on the floor is easier than on site, but the resulting structure will have considerable weight, so several people will be needed to lift and install it.
Installation of an already assembled wall
Even one person can assemble the elements vertically at once. This method is slower, but will help to avoid inaccuracies in dimensions - the parts are assembled “in place”.
For one-story buildings, corner posts are chosen with a section of 10x10 cm. If another residential floor is planned, then the dimensions increase to 15x15 cm.
The intermediate posts must be as deep as at the corners, and at least 5 cm wide.
To calculate the pitch, there are special formulas that take into account the load on the structure. But in practice, most often the pitch between the racks depends on the width of the insulation. The distance between them should be several centimeters less than the insulation. This will ensure a tight fit to the racks and retain heat.
Racks are most often fastened using metal corners - one corner on each side. It is possible to mount it with a cut into the bottom trim board, but this may compromise the integrity of the entire structure.
Another ancient method is dowel fastening.
Scheme of fastening the rack with a dowel
On our website you can find contacts of construction companies that offer frame house design services. You can communicate directly with representatives by visiting the “Low-Rise Country” exhibition of houses.
A hole is drilled diagonally through the rack to the middle of the lower boards or timber - a wooden pin is driven into it. This provides reliable fastening, but this method is difficult to implement. In addition, if the material is wet, the dowel may dry out and lose rigidity.
Depending on the type of outer cladding, permanent or temporary cuts are made. If the outer part is sheathed with sheet material with sufficient strength, it will add additional rigidity to the structure and constant mowing will not be required.
If the exterior finish is hard, this option for installing slopes is possible.
If the finishing material is composite - siding or lining, then the installation of permanent slopes will be required.
The best option would be to install four small slopes on each rack - two on top, two on bottom.
The installation of corner posts requires special attention. The technology is simple, but simply installing a vertical beam can freeze. If the cross-section is 15x15 cm, then for a moderate zone this may be enough to not allow heat to pass through.
Vertically installed racks are secured with bevels
If lumber of a smaller cross-section is used or the owners additionally want to insulate the corner elements, then several options are possible:
To increase the thickness, two boards with a depth equal to the depth of the post and a width of 5 cm are nailed to the corner posts. After external finishing, a special platband is placed on the corner, which provides an air gap between the corner and the platband board. This will reduce heat loss.
Before starting the outer cladding, a counter-latten is installed that will hold the waterproofing. Typically a beam of 5x5 or 5x4 cm is used. 5 cm is the optimal size for the ventilation gap between the wall and the finishing material. The selected material is attached to the counter-batten - lining, siding, imitation timber.
Attaching the counter-batten to the posts of a frame house
Overlap
Ceiling beams are attached to the top frame using the cutting method or to metal corners. The notch should not exceed 50% of the thickness of the top trim beam. The cross-section and pitch of the beams depends on the purpose of the second floor.
If the presence of an attic or a full-fledged residential floor is assumed, then the construction of the floor is similar to the floor of the first floor.
If there is only an attic above, then the beams are taken with a smaller cross-section.
For ease of work, a subfloor made of 10x2.5 cm boards is laid on the floor. This will make moving easier and make work safer.
If the house assumes a one-story structure, then the upper beams are mounted with a 30-centimeter extension beyond the walls of the frame. This is done to secure the rafters.
Fastening beams using the cutting method
Installation of the rafter system
An important stage in the construction of a frame house, as with any other technology, is the selection of the type and installation of the roof. Frame construction is positioned as fast construction. Therefore, most often they choose a conventional gable design. If all construction standards are observed, the roof of a frame house can be constructed of any configuration and complexity, but this will require more time.
For good snow removal, the roof slope should be more than 28 degrees, but should not exceed 50 degrees - the wind load on such a roof increases several times.
To construct the rafters, boards 15x5 cm 6 m long are taken. The first pair of rafters is assembled from two boards and installed on the edge of the frame. The same pair is installed on the opposite side. Cords are stretched between two pairs of rafters on both sides to control the plane of the roof. The rest of the rafters are set along them. The step between them varies from 60 to 80 cm depending on the choice of insulation. For strengthening, wooden crossbars with a cross-section of 15x5 cm are used. They fasten a pair of rafters like the letter “A”.
How to make a rafter system for a frame house is shown in the video:
The nature of the lathing depends on the selected roofing material. This can be soft tiles, corrugated sheets or metal tiles. The limitation will be the weight of the roofing material. For example, the use of clay or clinker tiles is not recommended - heavy weight will create additional stress on the frame of the house.
Photos of frame houses
Frame house with balcony
Frame house with classic German exterior decoration
Original frame house with a small roof slope
Frame house with veranda and sloping roof
Factory-assembled two-story frame house
Construction of a frame house in winter
Frame house with a 4-slope combined roof
Conclusion
A frame house is a technology that is only gaining popularity in domestic housing construction. Short construction times and cost savings are significant advantages over other construction methods. But the technology for building a frame house will require strict adherence to all technological processes and stages of construction, which will allow its advantages to be fully appreciated.