Let's try to calculate how much it costs to build a small country house with your own hands. Such a need to build a house for temporary residence arises quite often, since the number of gardening and dacha partnerships in the country is quite large. Such a small house will serve you as a shelter from the rain, a place to spend the night, a warehouse for storing garden tools, and the cost of its construction is not so high.
House project
Before you build a beautiful house, you need to design it. This will save time and money. If you are able to develop such a project (calculate the type and parameters of the foundation, roof slope, etc.), then you can do it yourself.
Another option is to purchase a ready-made standard project for such a house. (photo of small typical houses). It costs much less than an individual project, and there are a great many options.
Standard projects are not immutable. At your request, for example, the dimensions of the walls of the house, the location of openings, etc. can be changed. Taking into account the characteristics of the soil on your site, the foundation will be adapted, which guarantees the reliability of the structure. Before you build a beautiful house, you can draw up an estimate for its construction, including the quantity and cost of building materials used. Let's make an approximate calculation of how much it will cost to build a house with your own hands.
Foundation calculation
Before you build a beautiful house, you need to decide on the foundation. Its selection and calculation is extremely important, since it determines whether the building will stand for a long period or whether its service life is short. The cost of the foundation for a small house can cost you from 15 to 30% of the total amount of the structure being built. For light buildings there are the following types of foundations:
- Columnar foundation. It consists of columns made of bricks, blocks, asbestos pipes or concrete, buried in the ground. They are located in the corners of the future house, at the intersections of walls and partitions, along the walls in increments of 1.5-2.5 m. Before building a small house on such a foundation, careful leveling of the site is required. It is installed on dense soils that are not subject to seasonal heaving. The approximate cost of its construction (with a column height of 50 cm): for a house with dimensions 6x6 is $375 (with column dimensions 25x25 (smallest possible)) and $530 (with column dimensions 50x50), and with dimensions 8x8 - $470 and $700 respectively.
- Strip foundation. This is a reinforced concrete strip buried in the ground. For light buildings on non-heaving and low-heaving soils, a shallow strip foundation is used. Its depth ranges from 30 to 70 cm. Despite many advantages, this type of foundation has a number of disadvantages: high cost, labor intensity, and inapplicability in flooded areas. The cost of a shallow strip foundation averages from $46 per linear meter. It directly depends on its dimensions: height, length, width.
- Pile foundation. This is a set of piles united at the top by an iron, wooden or reinforced concrete grillage. Driven piles are driven into the ground, screw piles are screwed in, drill piles are installed in wells, and concrete is poured into drilled holes (drive-in piles). This is an ideal foundation for light buildings for all types of soils except rocky ones. Cost per linear meter of this type of base: $30.
- Slab foundation. It is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab laid on a sand and gravel bed. Used on heaving and floating soils. Due to their high cost, they are rarely used for light buildings.
House frame
After tying the foundation with beams (fastened with anchor bolts), the frame of the house is installed from beams with a section of 100x100, 100x150, 150x150 and fixed with metal corners. They are tied from above, and floor beams are laid.
Roof rafters, crossbars and struts for it are installed. The lathing is made from 100x25 mm boards with 20 cm gaps between them. It is laid with ondudilin, metal tiles or corrugated sheets. The frame of the house is insulated, steam and wind protection is laid and sheathed with 16 mm boards or plywood.
For your information! The cost of building a house frame (excluding interior decoration, windows and doors) ranges from $1,250 to $3,150. This range in prices for a built house is due to the size of the building and the variability of the building materials used.
Frame prefabricated structures
Small standard frame prefabricated house structures are available for sale. This house can be easily assembled with your own hands, with minimal construction skills.
In order to understand how much it costs to build a prefabricated frame house, let’s consider the cost of houses measuring 5x5 and 7x7 m. The walls are imitation timber, the interior decoration is lining. Double glazing. Floor made of tongue and groove boards. The roof covering is corrugated sheet.
- Option 1. Frame house, 5x5 m in size. The price of the structure itself is $2930.
- Option 2. Frame house, size 7.2x7.5 m. Construction price – $4610.
The assembly of such buildings is paid separately and usually amounts to at least 25% of the total cost of the prefabricated structure. The purpose of this article is not to tell you how to build a beautiful house for a summer cottage, but to orient you in the wide price range of its construction.
Without the financial resources to attract professional builders, you can, armed with special literature and patience, build a house yourself. In practice, this requires effort, but can save up to half the construction cost.
Many self-builders invite others to view their projects and provide detailed reports, accompanying the process of building a house with detailed photographs.
Features of the house layout
Through the efforts of two men, a cheap house for permanent residence with an attached garage was built. Initially, the project did not include a garage and was added after the house was completed.
In general, the project changed as the discussion progressed on the advice of other builders and the requests of the wife. The original layout of the house included 6 rooms on two floors.
During construction, it was decided to equip two bathrooms, while on the ground floor the toilet and bathtub should be separate. The area of the living room and the location of the stairs have also changed. Compared to the initial project, the living room was too narrow and elongated. The stairs were also planned to be awkward and steep. After the changes, these shortcomings were eliminated.
The cost of building a house with your own hands
In May 2010, the father of a small family planned to build a cheap house with his own hands for the amount of 300 thousand rubles. This amount included costs not only for materials, but also for connecting gas and electricity. According to the estimate, the following expenses were incurred:
- Concrete - 20,700.
- Edged and unedged timber - 70,000.
- Foam plastic - 31,200.
- Plywood - 8023.
- Metal profile - 16,200.
- Siding - 22,052.
- Used windows - 4000.
- Nails, screws, etc. - 15,000.
- Delivery of material and excavator services - 5200.
- Septic tank - 10,000.
- Plumbing, radiators - 35,660.
- GKL and finishing costs - 21280.
- Design and installation of a gas pipeline, connection fee - 37,000.
- Gas equipment (stove, boiler) - 29,000.
- Electrical connection with materials - 3000.
- Water supply connection - 2000.
According to the builder himself, the estimate lacks a number of small items. However, this also requires additional costs. It should also be noted that some of the windows were received from friends and did not require financial expenses. In total, 327,315 rubles were spent on the construction of the house without any small details. This amount does not include the attached garage. It was added later according to a separate estimate. Additionally, the construction of the garage required an amount of about 34,000 rubles. Taking into account unspecified expenses, the house cost no more than 400 thousand rubles.
Installation of a shallow strip foundation
The foundation is pre-planned with a width of 35 cm and a height above the ground of 25 cm and 20 cm below the ground. A die-cut section of 2.5x100 mm was chosen as a reinforcing element. The reinforcement of the tape was planned in 2 layers, top and bottom, with three connected sheets of die-cutting in each.
On the advice of experienced builders, vertical elements were added, and the number of sheets to be connected was increased to 5 pieces. Additionally, the height of the foundation above the ground increased and amounted to 45 cm.
reinforcement with die-cutting - you can’t do that! 
After the foundation was poured into concrete, 20 anchor bolts were installed to install the lower frame.
Construction of the first floor
Before installing the walls of the first floor, the platform was installed and insulated and pipes for the sewerage system were laid. The bottom of the platform is left open, the insulation is fixed by means of fixed cuttings of boards. 3 layers of foam plastic, 15 cm thick, were used as platform insulation. The subfloor is made of 150x50 mm boards.
The walls were installed in a horizontal position. Foam plastic and 8 mm plywood protection are laid between the racks, and windows are also installed. The windows in the project were used second-hand. Installation of the assembled wall into a vertical position was carried out by two men. It was decided to abandon the installation of jibs in the construction of the walls. The builder assumed that the frame would be sufficiently rigid due to the plywood sheathing.
After assembling the walls of the first floor, the installation of internal partitions was carried out. Polystyrene foam was also used as insulation.
The principle of assembling the second floor
After installing the frame, a temporary floor from unedged boards was partially laid and the walls were assembled horizontally and installed vertically. Second-floor windows were also used.
To increase sound insulation in the interfloor ceiling, non-woven cloth was laid on the floor joists under the boards. This allows you to partially dampen vibration from steps.
Installation of rafters and roofing
Upon completion of the assembly of the walls of the attic floor, the rafter system was installed. The rafter overhangs were not extended. An inch board was used as lathing. The roof was covered with corrugated sheets 4 m long.
Exterior decoration of the building
Siding was used for the exterior of the building. It was mounted with a ventilation gap of 25 mm. Also at the stage of exterior finishing, a vestibule was added. The foundation for the vestibule was not installed; the structure was installed on pieces of concrete laid on the ground and sidewalk curbs.
Features of the staircase and its installation
The location of the staircase in the project caused a lot of controversy. Initially, its location suggested excessive emphasis on the attic ceiling. After changing the location and design of the staircase, it was made without a platform with slight turns.
The staircase is made of boards 50x150 mm, the width of the steps is 30 cm. The staircase was installed after the rough finishing of the first floor. Under the upper span there is space left for installing a toilet there. According to personal feelings, the staircase turned out to be comfortable and compact.
Interior decoration of the house
Before the finishing of the premises began, insulation of the interfloor ceiling and flooring of the second floor were completed. To increase the level of sound insulation, felt is nailed between the joists and floor boards. After this, rough finishing of the interior of both floors of the cheap house was completed.
The rough finishing included three points:
- Installation of fiberboard as a wind barrier.
- GVL installation.
- Puttying joints and chips of GVL.
In the finishing process, water-based paint was predominantly used. The living room, kitchen and bedrooms are painted in different colors. The floors in the rooms are covered with linoleum, the ceilings are decorated with expanded polystyrene tiles.
A small house will be an excellent option not only for a country house, but also for permanent residence. In this article we will look at which layout is popular for a small house.
Features and Benefits
Small houses are now quite common. They look attractive, and every person inside feels the comfort and coziness of a warm home.
Let's consider the main advantages of such buildings:
- Cost savings. It is compact houses that will allow you to save your family budget. You won't need to purchase a lot of materials to build a comfortable home.
- Simple foundation without reinforcement. This is also a clear advantage.
- Construction will not be delayed. Therefore, you can complete your project in the shortest possible time and enjoy living in a beautiful home.
- People will also be pleasantly surprised by the costs of heating and air conditioning. Since the house is small, you will not spend a lot of resources.
- Easy to care for. This important indicator will be appreciated by all zealous owners. You won't need to clean a large area. A small compact house will be easy to wash and clean at the time you need, unlike a large room.
- Stylish option. Often mini-models are quite simple and at the same time stylish and beautiful. You can create an attractive interior of your house to please not only yourself, but also your guests.
- Practicality and durability. I use high-quality materials in construction, you can create a durable and reliable home. Your home will serve you for a long time. At the same time, you can create the most successful project for a private rural house that you will fall in love with at first sight.
Building options
There can be a variety of options for compact buildings. These include models for permanent residence, which have a stylish interior design, and options for a pleasant pastime with the whole family.
If we are talking about a house where you will live permanently, then it will include more requirements for layout and comfort. Respectively, the model should be developed based on sanitary standards– more than twelve square meters per person.
In general, an area of up to one hundred square meters is enough to accommodate a family of four to six people. At the same time, you can plan creative architecture, balconies, attics, original windows. You can create any decorations for your own home to feel comfortable and cozy there.
If this is a simple country house, then you should take care of useful infrastructure. This way you can spend your time efficiently and pleasantly in your garden.
Layout
First of all, the layout of a compact home should be convenient for all family members. Residential and domestic premises should be harmoniously combined here. Experienced designers advise to provide one or two bedrooms, and sometimes more, as well hall, living room. This way you can perfectly delimit all the necessary zones - for your own relaxation, receiving guests, and so on.
Sometimes, to save space, the hallway is connected to the kitchen or living room. In this version, the kitchen will be allocated a small corner - 2-3 square meters. You can separate this area from the hall with a bar counter or install a plasterboard partition.
Often the kitchen is made separately from other rooms and has a door. Its area will be from six to fourteen square meters. As for the bedroom, its area is also generally nine to eighteen square meters. This will be enough to accommodate all the necessary accessories for relaxation.
As for the living room, experts advise setting aside 16-24 square meters. Here you can comfortably accommodate guests, meet your relatives, and also just have an interesting and fun time in front of the TV, for example. It is recommended to allocate three to four square meters for the toilet. But the bathroom can be allocated a little more - four to nine square meters. 2-6 sq. m. can be allocated to the hallway. This footage is optimal for small houses.
Of course, you should start from your own home and your own needs, and build your own concept.
Materials
Your own small home can be built from a variety of materials. Let's look at the most basic ones:
Tree. This raw material is environmentally friendly, which means it will not harm the health of your family. This material also retains heat well. The miniature house made of wooden beams is well heated and provides unhindered air exchange. Thus, a comfortable microclimate is formed. However, there are also disadvantages, among which are a high fire hazard and the need to actively care for natural wood in order to preserve all its performance properties.
- Brick. Houses made from this raw material will be durable and strong. This material will serve you for decades. Such a building will retain heat well; it has a high level of thermal insulation. As for the disadvantages of such structures, they include heaviness. Accordingly, more effort will be required to build the structure. The construction process itself will take considerable time.
- Foam blocks. Such buildings are reliable, frost-resistant, and easy to finish. In addition, such a house will be quite cheap compared to other models. This raw material is a cross between expensive brick and affordable frame houses.
Regardless of the construction of any house you are engaged in - country house, Finnish or other, it is worth paying close attention to the layout of the house. Be sure to be patient and careful. All calculations must be accurate, because the space will be small. Determine the financial resources that you want to spend on creating your own home.
Consider the main criteria: the number of people who will live in the house, the area of the room, the presence of small children. Also decide whether you will live in it for a long time or will visit the house temporarily. First, you need to determine the number of floors of the building, then select high-quality materials that will help implement the project. Now you should draw a layout diagram inside the rooms, select the most optimal porch design, and determine the configuration of the roof and roofing materials.
Traditionally, the living room is considered the central place. At the same time, it can serve as an additional sleeping place for guests, or a playroom for children. It is better to choose furniture here that is practical and functional, without cluttering up the space. Transformable sofas and folding chairs can be an excellent option. Each element should give the room comfort and unique style. The central part of the room can be a fireplace.
A miniature house is a housing option for city residents who do not have a large plot of land for construction, but want to live in their own home. Additionally, compact cottages are affordable and have many other benefits. Our catalog presents various projects of small houses: cozy country cottages and interesting city houses.
Characteristic features of houses up to 40 sq. meters
Residential buildings with a modest area are usually one-story, less often they have a second floor or attic. All free space inside is used as rationally as possible, therefore in such buildings walls and interior partitions are installed with right angles. Materials used for this type of structure:
- aerated concrete;
- tree;
- a combination of several building materials.
The project of a small house, although it is designed to be miniature, does not lose its coziness. The dining area is grouped in the form of a studio, and the most remote place is allocated for the bedroom:
- at the end of the hallway;
- in the attic;
- on the opposite side of the kitchen.
The compactness of the design also affects the layout - all functional spaces are minimized, and built-in furniture and appliances are used to save space. In bathrooms, instead of a bathtub, a shower is most often installed. As an alternative to conventional cabinets, there are modules and sliding wardrobes hidden in the walls.
The small cottage is designed for two or three residents. This project option is ideal for a young family with a limited budget or an elderly couple who find it difficult to care for a large house. Building a small log house for a summer cottage will cost less than building a brick building. And with a larger budget, you can build a modern small castle made of wood.
The attractiveness of small house projects
A micro-house is economical, lower costs for construction and finishing materials and labor, lower prices for repairs and maintenance. This type of building is beneficial for other reasons:
- versatility - it is suitable for any size and shape of plots;
- ease of adaptation to customer requests;
- speed of design and construction;
- practicality in operation;
- low utility costs.
Choosing a small house project allows you to implement the construction of an economy class cottage in a short time. Depending on the purpose of the structure, heating costs can be easily optimized due to a small insulation area or the choice of materials that retain heat. If the developer wishes, the country house project can be supplemented with a small extension with a sauna or an outdoor swimming pool.
Among our selection of original projects of small residential houses with photos, there are layouts for young people with a modern facade design and discreet classic solutions for mature owners. In addition to plastered facades, in the catalog you can find projects of small houses up to 50 square meters. m. with unusual stone cladding or wood panels.
Quality is more important than size. Most likely, these are the words that guide people who review small house designs and decide to build them. In fact, there can be a huge number of reasons for building a small house: some decide to save a little on building materials, others want to stand out from the general background of classic houses and surprise their neighbors with their taste and originality.
Is there accurate information about how many square meters will make a person happy? It’s hard to disagree with the fact that a small house can look attractive, and sometimes even fabulous.
Why are tiny houses popular?
Small private houses are becoming more and more popular every year, which is mainly due to the fact that people decide to make their lives simpler, but brighter.
To meet the needs of young people, designs for small houses are constantly being improved in various ways, and today a real breakthrough has occurred - designers, together with designers, have turned small houses into a single style, calling it eco-life.
In the United States of America there are already several companies whose main specialization is beautiful small houses built on an area of ten to fifty square meters.
It’s hard to believe that you can really fit all the necessary things in such a small area, but this is true. With a small area, it is very important to pay due attention to the organization of the internal space so that it is used as efficiently as possible.
Young people, of course, are no strangers to living in real Spartan conditions. For them, the main thing is to have a roof over their heads when it rains.
Many of the students have already appreciated the interesting work of the popular architect Van Bo Le Mentzel, whose house seems to lack only one thing - a rope so that it can be carried with you when traveling. His houses look so unusual that people even come from other cities to see him live.
It is worth noting that the largest area of this type of house is approximately 40 sq.m., however, in practice, almost all buildings are much smaller. In addition to the attractive price, buyers are also lured by the interior of a small house, which is usually incredibly neat and comfortable.
Looking through photos of small houses, you can see one of the most original options proposed by Californian artist Gregory Kloehn. Almost all of his houses are made from either trash containers or recycled materials, and after construction, he hands over the keys to them not only to buyers, but also to the homeless.
Not all home owners are happy with their minimal living conditions, so they try to make the most of small rooms, resorting to the use of modern technologies.
In this regard, it is impossible not to mention the Egg House, built by dmvA. It accommodates a kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, as well as several niches in which it will be convenient to store various things. When opening the nose of the house, it can be used as a very ordinary veranda.
Bedroom design in a small house
One of the most important rooms in the house, regardless of its size, is the room in which you fall asleep and wake up. After all, the bedroom is the place where you can restore your strength after a difficult day at work. Of course, it is much more pleasant to spend precious and long-awaited hours of rest on a comfortable bed in a room where you can also arrange all the most important things.
Even if the room is very small, it is necessary that it be equipped according to all the requirements of the homeowners. There is no need to worry if the design of a small house allows only a bed to be placed in the room, since in this case you can use wall cabinets instead of the usual cabinets installed near the bed.
It is worth noting that the fewer various distracting things in the room, the better you will be able to relax in it and restore strength for the next fruitful day.
If there is a little more space, then it is better to opt for a medium-sized bed. In this case, the space you save can be used as additional storage systems. This is especially important in houses and apartments with a small area.
How to arrange a kitchen in a small house?
Cooking is an integral daily process for any woman. Even if the size of the room is quite modest, it will be necessary to prepare food, so it is important to use every centimeter effectively.
When choosing a kitchen set, special attention should be paid to ensuring that each cabinet has its own purpose and performs its functions.
If a separate room was not allocated for the kitchen during the construction of the house, then it is worth using any free space. For example, to place various kitchen attributes, you can use the passage area located next to the exit from the house.
When space is limited, country houses do not have to be filled with huge kitchen units. Today, in almost any hardware store you can find excellent helpers, namely, high-quality hanging shelves and rails at an affordable price.
Bathroom design in small houses
Having a bathroom is always a necessity. Even if there is very little space, it is very important to create an atmosphere that will truly promote relaxation.
In order to use space ergonomically, you should never clutter the room with various non-essential items.
It is better to turn to brands of sanitary ware and bathroom furniture that offer excellent solutions, such as shelving installed directly above the toilet.
You can build a small house made of wood yourself in a short time, since it will require quite a few materials, as well as free space. It is worth noting that such houses are very often built not for themselves, but for guests.
The interior of a small house can be the most ordinary - use more wooden furniture in the design, pay attention to interesting ideas for storing a wide variety of small things, and in order for the rooms to have the right accents, use accessories in bright colors.
Photos of small houses
