Comparison of building materials for walls. Modern materials for the construction of a private house

Anyone who wants to build a house is concerned about the question of what material to choose for building walls. After all, the strength, durability and comfort of the home depend on it.

The choice of wall material directly affects the cost of building a house.

To choose a wall material that you can handle, let’s turn to FORUMHOUSE specialists for clarification.

Where does the choice of wall material begin?

Aerated concrete or warm ceramics, timber, wood concrete or frame technology... Any novice developer when choosing a material for building a house under permanent place residence is faced with an abundance of conflicting information. There seem to be so many materials that choosing the right one seems like an impossible task. We have to narrow the scope of our search and select exactly what is needed!

According to a forum user with the nickname Abysmo, It is enough to understand just ten things to decide whether to build a house. Namely:

1. What kind of housing do you plan to build - for permanent residence or for short-term visits;
2. What requirements do you have for strength and environmental safety wall material;
3. How quickly do you want to check in?
4. What fuel is planned for heating;
5. How much will it cost to operate?
6. How much money are you willing to spend on construction?
7. What building materials are available in your area;
8. Is it possible to carry out independent work, or will workers be involved?
9. What construction technologies and mechanization tools are available in your region of residence;
10. Are you considering the possibility of selling the building on the secondary market?

There are no universal wall materials suitable for every project. A large or small plot, the characteristics of the region of residence, climate, personal preferences require the use of their own materials.

Construction consultant's opinion Romana Nikonova:

– When choosing wall materials, it is necessary to take into account a number of technological features And protective properties material: fire resistance, durability, thermal conductivity. In addition, you should be guided by your feelings - whether you like the material or not.

In conditions middle zone Russian walls should provide good thermal protection. They must also be strong enough to withstand the weight of floors, roofing, snow and wind loads.

Snow in the conditions surrounding Moscow can give a load of up to 180 kg per 1 sq.m. roof surfaces. Don’t forget about the fire resistance of structures.

The point of view of an expert from our forum Alexey Melnikov(nickname on the forum Lyokhin ):

– In case of violation building codes and technology can ruin even modern and expensive wall material.

And vice versa - a competent approach and careful planning make it possible, with a very limited budget, to build a reliable, practical and not so small comfortable house for permanent residence.

For your information: the cost of constructing a box (relative to the total construction budget) usually does not exceed 20-30%.

The following example is indicative:

If the house is planned to be used as a “dacha”, then erecting stone walls is not profitable for the following reasons:

1. Economic component. If the stone housing has cooled down, then upon arrival it needs a long heating. It is not profitable to do this for the sake of one or two trips per week.
2. Operational component. Irregular heating of a stone structure in winter negatively affects its durability.

What kind of house to build? ABOUT features of wall materials

Among the most well-known materials used in the construction of walls are the following:

• brick and warm ceramics;
• foam concrete and aerated concrete;
• tree;
• frame technologies;
• wood concrete

Let's consider their main features.

1. Brick and warm ceramics

Advantages of this material:

1. Strength – denoted by the letter “M”. The number after the letter indicates how much load the brick can withstand. This value is expressed in kg per 1 sq. cm.

2. Durability. Brick buildings are among the most durable.

3. Environmental friendliness. Brick is based on clay, sand and water. Due to its structure, brick allows air to pass through well. Therefore, a favorable microclimate is established in the room, and excess moisture is removed outside. In addition, the walls accumulate heat well and then release it into the room.

4. High frost resistance. The higher the frost resistance, the more durable the building. Frost resistance is the ability of a building material to withstand freezing and thawing in a water-saturated state. The frost resistance of the material is indicated by the letter F. The numbers after the letter indicate the number of freezing and thawing cycles that the material can withstand without losing its qualities.

5. Aesthetics. A cottage built of brick can be made in any architectural style, and the masonry technology itself has been developed for decades.

6. High degree of sound insulation. Brick walls dampen both street and interior noise well.

Despite a number of undoubted advantages, simple brick also has significant disadvantages.

Alexey Melnikov:

– Traditional ceramic bricks measuring 250x120x65 mm do not comply with modern thermal engineering standards.

Calculations show that the required thickness of homogeneous brick walls(even for the southern latitudes of our country) is at least 1 meter.

It is possible to build a house for permanent residence with such thick walls, but it is not economically feasible. Therefore, the brick received its further development - in the form of this modern solution like warm ceramics.

Roman Nikonov:

– Ceramic block, or porous ceramics, is a high-tech clay-based material.

Thanks to the smallest pores filled with air, ceramic stone is very warm and has high mechanical strength. The dimensions of a block of warm ceramics exceed the dimensions of a standard brick several times, which increases the speed of masonry. But warm ceramics are a rather fragile material. Therefore, to fasten any structures in a wall made of a ceramic block, you have to use special anchors.

Alexander Toporov(nickname on the forum 44alex) :

– Warm ceramics have a thin-walled structure, so it is not easy to attach any heavy objects to it, and sawing it requires expensive special tool. After laying warm ceramics, it should either be plastered on the outside or additionally filled with vertical joints. Before the purchase ceramic stone I recommend paying attention to the geometry of the blocks and making sure there are no cracks.

When scoring and drilling walls made of warm ceramics, you need to be very careful, otherwise you can split the block.

The main disadvantages of brick:

• 1. High construction costs. Brick is an expensive building material, which leads to an increase in construction costs;
• 2. The large mass of a building built of brick requires the laying of a carefully calculated, powerful and expensive foundation;
• 3. Seasonality construction work.

Wet processes (cooking building mixtures and water-based solutions) impose restrictions or make it impossible to lay bricks in winter.

2. Foam and aerated concrete

Today, gas and foam concrete blocks are the most common materials for wall construction. This is due to a good balance in the price-quality ratio.

Alexey Melnikov:

– The advantages of such blocks are their relatively low thermal conductivity (as a result, high thermal resistance), high fire and biological resistance, ease of processing with hand and portable power tools, as well as their lightness.

It was these qualities that allowed the user of our forum with the nickname Dimastik25 independently, in one hand from aerated concrete.

– I chose aerated concrete because it makes it possible to carry out the masonry independently, without using auxiliary force.

The size of the block allows it to be laid by one person, but due to the large format of the block, the work is done quite simply, quickly and without unnecessary labor costs.

Even an untrained person can lay blocks on their own. No need to knead a large number of cement-sand mortar, masonry is progressing quite well thin layer glue. Also a significant advantage is the uniformity of the wall, a large selection of blocks and their good geometry.

Alexander Toporov:

– Gas silicate is easy to process, it is easy to saw. It is also easy to organize various armored belts, lintels, arches, etc.

One of the main advantages of aerated and foam concrete as wall materials is their good heat and sound insulation, which leads to reduced costs for heating and insulating materials.

Aerated concrete blocks are produced by large enterprises. Therefore, the quality of such materials corresponds to the declared characteristics, and geometric deviations are minimal.

But this material is not without its drawbacks.

Alexey Melnikov:

– Gas and foam concrete blocks are a very fragile material. Low bending strength requires the use of a relatively expensive and powerful foundation (usually a monolithic reinforced concrete slab), and additional elements reinforcement - armored belt.

Foam concrete, although cheaper than aerated concrete, can be produced using so-called “garage” methods. Therefore, when purchasing it, you need to carefully consider the issue of choosing a supplier and not chase the lowest price.

You can familiarize yourself with all and.

3. Wooden houses

Wood is a classic building material, but despite its widespread use, it also has a number of advantages and disadvantages.

Roman Nikonov:

– The wooden house breathes and is beautiful. It is very flexible, "homey", universal material, easy to transport and install. But it is less durable than stone.

Because When constructing a log house there are no wet processes, then such a house can be erected at any time of the year.

When starting a construction project, we think about which log is best to build a house for permanent residence from. Experts believe that it is better not to build a wooden house from logs!

Alexey Melnikov:

– Timber is more practical in terms of cost-energy efficiency ratio, but for connoisseurs of log facades, the aesthetics of a log house usually come first.

Rounded logs and profiled timber (incl. chamber drying) - all these are modern types of logs aimed at increasing aesthetic properties and simplifying the construction of a house.

Well made wooden houses can last 200-300 years.

Among the disadvantages of wooden houses are:

1. The installation of “wet” rooms in a wooden room is associated with certain difficulties.

2. Based on the standard dimensions of logs (6 m), covering rooms over 5 meters in width is difficult to implement. Interfloor ceilings in wooden houses are usually wooden beams. This reduces the degree of sound insulation in the house (wood conducts sound well) under shock loads.

3. Wood is susceptible to shrinkage and cracking.

4. A wooden house must be caulked and painted regularly. Thermal protection sufficient for a comfortable life in the house is provided by a wall made of wood with a thickness of 200 mm.

5. Wood can rot and requires treatment with antiseptic agents to protect against mold and wood-boring beetles.

That's why next step development of wooden house-building was the development of laminated veneer lumber - a wall material devoid of the disadvantages of conventional timber.

Let's name the advantages of laminated veneer lumber:

• The material is durable and, thanks to its special profile (the toothed connection protects the wall from blowing), better retains heat in the house;
• Glued laminated timber has a clear geometry, which facilitates and speeds up the process of building a house;
• The material practically does not shrink, which allows you to begin laying communications and interior decoration immediately after the construction of the house;
• Thanks to factory fire-bioprotection, laminated veneer lumber is highly resistant to fire, mold and fungi;
• The walls of a house built from laminated veneer lumber do not require interior or exterior decoration.

The main disadvantage of this material is its high price, as well as the need to attract highly qualified specialists to build a house.

4. Frame technology

Frame houses are considered one of the most rapidly erected and warmest houses. Therefore, if you need housing urgently, and you are wondering what temporary resources and what material to build a house from, feel free to choose this option. Main advantages frame house construction economical and high - in a matter of months - speed of construction.

Because Since a frame house is lightweight, it does not require a strong foundation to be built under it, which also greatly reduces construction costs. The absence of wet processes allows a frame house to be built all year round.

Denis Reznichenko(nickname on the forum silent):

– If you are going to permanently live in a frame house, keep in mind that heating costs will be noticeably lower compared to wooden or stone houses, because The ability to retain heat in modern insulation materials is higher than that of traditional materials.

Advantages of frame houses:

• high speed of construction;
• frame technology does not require the use of heavy construction equipment;
• the construction of such a house can be carried out independently;
• due to the lack of shrinkage, interior and exterior decoration frame house can be done immediately after construction is completed;
• wall thickness in frame houses usually does not exceed 30 cm, which increases the usable area of ​​the house;
• during the cold season, frame houses quickly warm up to a comfortable temperature.

The disadvantages of frame houses include:

• High demands on the quality of materials used. To build a frame house, first of all, you need well-dried and planed wood, treated with fire and bioprotective compounds that protect it from damage and rotting. When constructing a frame, it is unacceptable to use raw wood, because It warps as it dries. This leads to a change in geometry wooden structures;
• Construction carried out by low-skilled workers with deviations from technology entails a significant reduction in the operational characteristics of the house;
• Compared to stone houses, frame houses have a lower degree of sound insulation.

Alexey Melnikov:

– Also among the disadvantages is the low heat capacity (heat storage capacity) of frame walls.

A frame house with the heating turned off quickly cools down. However, there is a way out - you can use an insulated Swedish stove as a foundation.

5. Arbolit

Wood concrete is a material made from cement binder (concrete) and organic fillers obtained from wood processing waste.

Sometimes wood concrete is called wood concrete, because this wall material absorbs the advantages of both concrete and wood.

Arbolite has high thermal insulation properties.

This is an environmentally friendly material that does not require additional insulation. It does not dry out like wood, does not rot and does not burn.

Arbolite walls “breathe” (the vapor permeability of an arbolite wall is more than 35%). This regulates the humidity level in the room. This ensures good air exchange in the room.

Alexey Melnikov:

– Arbolite is an old and, at the same time, undeservedly forgotten material. Attempts to implement it were made back in Soviet times.

However, the segment of individual low-rise housing construction was not developed in those days; mainly panels of high-rise buildings were built, and over time, wood concrete gave way to other wall materials.

However, now wood concrete is experiencing a rebirth.

After all, it is devoid of a number of disadvantages inherent in gas and foam concrete blocks, the material is relatively light, and the construction of a house does not require the construction of a powerful foundation.

Also, wood concrete has high bending strength and will not crack when the foundation moves or settles.

Arbolite, like wood, is easy to saw, drill, arbolite wall Nails are easy to hammer in, and the material itself holds heavy objects well without the use of special fasteners.

Among the disadvantages of wood concrete, two can be distinguished: its high cost and an insufficient number of house designs designed specifically for these blocks. Therefore, when choosing arbolite block(in order to avoid purchasing low-quality material with poor geometry or strength characteristics), you must carefully consider the issue of choosing a supplier.

On our portal they will help you find out everything a novice frame builder needs to know, what kind of house, understand what is better,. We will help you choose best material for walls and how to build

Watch a video on building a house from wood concrete blocks. And after reading our next video, you will learn how to build your own in six months

To choose the right material for building a house, you need to know a few key points:

• heavy houses require a strong and deep foundation;
• lightweight buildings are less durable and require additional insulation;
• the heavier the material, the more expensive than work with him;
• Sometimes transport accessibility has the greatest influence on the choice of material.

When choosing materials, you need to proceed from the financial feasibility and construction time frame. The absence of “wet” work significantly speeds up the construction of a house and can reduce the cost of construction. It is also important to consider the region of construction. Not so much because of the climatic conditions, but because of the popularity of a certain material.

For example, if there is one or even several brick factories nearby, then it will be possible to bring wood from afar more expensive than construction made of red brick. If a house is being built in a forest area, then frame-panel projects will not always be cheaper than a real log house. But often it is necessary to build only from imported materials. And then it would be useful to study their properties.

Wooden and frame houses

If you choose wood for the walls of your house, you can be sure that the material is environmentally friendly. The microclimate in a pine log house is truly special. But to build a house from solid log It's quite difficult on your own.

But they need to be treated with antiseptic compounds, otherwise the walls will be exposed to all atmospheric phenomena. And this means an increase in construction costs.

Houses made of wood or metal frame- the easiest to assemble. Particularly convenient frame-panel houses from SIP panels.

But installation will require loading equipment, so this option is not suitable for self-construction. On the other hand, a large five-room house can be assembled in a week or a week and a half, and due to its light weight, it does not require a strip foundation buried one and a half meters deep.

Brick and ceramic blocks

If the question arises, which material is the most durable, then the answer is simple - red clay brick. A brick house will last for more than a hundred years; it can be inherited from generation to generation. But the price of building a brick house is impressive.

A more modern material is ceramic blocks. Despite their high cost, they are much more profitable than traditional bricks, since one ceramic block weighing 25 kg replaces 15 bricks with a total weight of 50 kg!

Houses from these environmental materials They have a high heat capacity of the walls, so it will take a long time to warm up a fairly cooled house. But then, even when the heating is turned off, the walls will give off heat. When building from porous materials, insulation is not required - the air in the cavities is natural thermal insulation. Due to their heavy weight, brick houses require a deep and strong foundation - a pile or reinforced concrete strip foundation. And these are additional costs.

Gas blocks

An excellent alternative to brick are aerated concrete blocks. They are lightweight and durable, and the air bubbles in the blocks provide natural thermal insulation. It's lightweight and durable material, one block weighing 18 kg replaces 20 bricks weighing 70 kg!

But due to their high hygroscopicity, it is important to prevent moisture from entering the aerated blocks during storage and to ensure good waterproofing of the facade.

Comparison of materials

So what to choose for construction? A brief description of:

• solid log - does not require processing, an environmentally friendly, but difficult material to build with your own hands;
• processed wood - easy to assemble, but requires increased care, short-lived (about 25-50 years);
• frame house - inexpensive to build, but fragile and relatively short-lived (up to 70 years of service);
• brick and ceramic block are durable and reliable, but expensive materials;
• aerated block is a more economical material compared to brick, but still more expensive than frame construction.

The advantages of brick, ceramic block and gas block are described in detail in the video:

Every good owner sooner or later faces some type of construction. Someone is building a garage, someone is building a bathhouse, and some are taking aim at self-construction big mansion. This is where the question arises about what is the best material to choose for building a house.

The main stages of construction include pouring the foundation and erecting walls. It is important for any owner that the aesthetic appearance of the structure be high level, the walls were warm, strong, and in general the costs of building materials were not very high.

The most popular materials for building a house

The modern construction market is rich and diverse. Let's take a closer look at the top five most popular building materials for building a house.

• Solid profiled timber.
• Rounded log.
• Brick.
• Foam blocks.
• Thermal panels.

What to give preference to? Each owner makes this decision independently, but for this it is worth studying all the pros and cons of each of the materials.

Tree

Wooden building materials for building a house have become very popular these days. Wood walls have low thermal conductivity, but stable heat capacity. Even if the house has not been heated for some time, with the furnace running, the resulting condensation will be absorbed into the wood. After this, the already heated air draws out moisture, and a special, favorable microclimate is created in the room. Often used in construction conifers(pine, spruce, fir, larch, cedar). In addition to the popular solid profiled timber, rounded logs, laminated veneer lumber, regular timber, and carriages are used.

Solid profiled timber

Material that has undergone special processing. The content of wood resin in profiled timber is very high, thanks to which buildings made from it are durable and are not exposed to aggressive environmental influences.

Even in the last century, when choosing finishing and building materials, rarely did anyone choose profiled timber. When erecting the walls, manual adjustment was required. Now, thanks modern technologies, the beams are processed on machines in such a way that they simply fit together perfectly, the gaps between them are minimal.

This environmentally friendly material It's not too expensive. The walls retain heat inside for a long time; they can be erected in a matter of days. Smooth, machine-processed beams allow you to assemble a house like a puzzle.

Rounded log

When studying building materials for building a house, pay attention to rounded logs. Like timber, this building material is made from coniferous trees. Unlike the first, rounded logs allow the construction of more durable structures, all thanks to the shape of the material. Construction from rounded logs is also carried out in a short time.

Brick

The most popular building material for building walls is brick. Brick buildings They are quite acceptable in appearance, very strong in strength, durable, and also environmentally friendly.

Sand-lime brick. This building material is very common. Buildings made from such bricks can last for decades.

Clay brick. It has always been considered a symbol of something stable, indestructible. This brick has increased strength, frost resistance, and immunity to aggressive atmospheric influences. However, the thermal characteristics of such building materials do not always meet expectations.

To build reliable buildings, high-quality building materials are required. Brick factories offer a wide range of their products, which can be divided into three categories:

1. Solid bricks, these include the following types: conditionally effective, ordinary, effective.
2. Hollow bricks, the proportion of voids in them reaches 40%. Cladding products also fall into this category.
3. as well as large-format stone-bricks. The high thermal conductivity of this category is ensured thanks to the honeycomb-shaped structural material.

Disadvantages and advantages of brick

During transportation, especially over long distances, a small percentage of products lose their presentation, brick materials To build walls, houses are crumbled. Their cost is quite high.

The ability of brick to retain heat is much less than that of wood. Walls built from conditionally efficient or solid brick always require additional insulation. This problem is solved by three options: a ventilated facade - installation of a suspended insulation system, a heat-insulating plaster system, as well as three-layer walls with a thermal layer.

The brick house is comfortable to live in. This design “breathes”, provides air exchange, and at the same time has active thermal inertia. Once heated, brick walls retain heat for a long time and gradually release it into the room.

Foam blocks

If you need high-quality and at the same time inexpensive building materials to build a house, then pay attention to foam blocks.

Foam blocks have such qualities as heat resistance, high strength, and low weight. Sudden temperature changes do not affect walls built from foam blocks in any way. They do not crack or expand. There are many air bubbles inside the block, which increase the thermal insulation effect. For comparison: foam concrete walls have a thermal conductivity eight times higher than conventional concrete walls. The material is good not only for the construction of main walls, but also for internal floors. Thanks to this, the entire structure retains heat perfectly. Foam concrete structures do not require additional insulation. Heating costs are significantly reduced, by approximately 30%.

Advantages of foam concrete structures

• Due to the low weight, the pressure on the foundation is reduced.
• Savings in finishing. Enough ordinary putty walls, plaster is not required.
• Reduced labor intensity. One 15 kg foam block replaces 20 bricks, the total weight of which is 80 kg.
• Cellular foam concrete blocks have excellent sound insulation properties.
• Brick factories produce such building materials in sufficient quantities. The popularity of foam blocks is growing every day.
• In terms of environmental friendliness, this material resembles wood. The room maintains optimal humidity and the walls breathe. Unlike wood, blocks do not rot, do not burn, and do not rust like metal.
• Foam concrete is often used as a heat insulator; it can withstand high temperatures (up to +400 degrees).
• The blocks are very easy to process using ordinary hand tools.

Disadvantages of foam concrete

When we choose materials for the walls of a house, we try to study not only the advantages, but also their inherent disadvantages; foam concrete also has some. These include:

• Fragility of the material.
• Every three rows of walls must be reinforced.
• Foam concrete quickly absorbs moisture, which somewhat reduces thermal conductivity.
• To avoid dampness, you need to create waterproofing, moisture-resistant protection between the foundation and the walls.
• Vapor permeability of foam concrete. Vapor barrier is required.

Frame thermal panels

If you need inexpensive building materials to build a house, then you should pay attention to frame thermal panels. The advantages of this material include low thermal conductivity, relative strength and quick assembly. The downside is the lack of naturalness.

Thermal panels today are very often used for finishing frame-panel houses. Their design consists of extruded polystyrene foam (as a thermal insulation substrate) and high performance properties allow the use of thermal panels in the construction of houses using Canadian technologies. The most important characteristics of this facade material, which have ensured wide demand, of course, include the lack of moisture absorption, low thermal conductivity, high compressive and impact strength, resistance to fire and any biological effects. The material is easy to install and further use.

The finishing and construction walls of the house must meet all modern requirements, then the design will delight the owners long years. Frame thermal panels provide an attractive, aesthetic, solid appearance building. It is for this reason that this material is very often used for the construction of cottages. lined up according to Canadian technology, finished has the appearance of smooth, flawless brickwork.

If a building is lined with thermal panels, heat loss is immediately reduced by 30%, all thanks to the substrate, which consists of extruded polystyrene foam. Clinker tiles are connected to insulation under high pressure super strong glue. The finest cutting of expanded polystyrene sheets allows for high-quality tight joints. In order for the facade to acquire a finished look, in addition to the main panels, you can purchase various additional elements to neatly decorate the corners.

We presented the most common building materials on modern market. How and what material to choose for building a house, give preference to price, naturalness, aesthetic qualities or technical specifications, you decide for yourself.

Despite the fact that everything seems to be in order with oil and gas production in Russia, the price of energy resources in our country is steadily growing. And so, following the countries of Europe, the Russian Federation adopted in 2003 new standards for thermal resistance of enclosing and load-bearing structures (SNiP 02/23/2003 " Thermal protection buildings"). But even before the adoption of new SNiPs, new effective building materials and technologies came to us (and continue to come).

What should the walls (enclosing structures) of a house be like in order to comply with building heating standards? The answer to this question is not entirely clear. If you carry out calculations, it turns out that, for example, a brick wall should be 2.3 m thick, and a concrete wall – 6 m. Therefore, the wall structure should be combined, that is, multi-layered. Moreover, one “layer” in this case will perform a load-bearing function, and the other will provide heat conservation. A certain difficulty lies in the fact that the parts of this “layer cake” are too different in their physical and chemical properties. Therefore, in order to combine them, we have to come up with ingenious construction technologies.

A little physics

What parameters seem to be the most important when choosing a material for building an energy-efficient warm house? This is, first of all, load bearing capacity material, as well as its heat capacity and thermal conductivity. Let's focus on the latter.

The unit of measurement for heat capacity - kJ/(kg °C) - indicates how much thermal energy is contained in 1 kg of material with a temperature of 1 degree Celsius. For example, consider two building materials known to everyone - wood and concrete. The heat capacity of the first is 2.3, and the second is 0.84 kJ/(kg °C) (according to SNiP II-3-79). It turns out that wood is a much more heat-intensive material, and heating it will require more thermal energy, and when it cools, it will give off environment more joules. The concrete will heat up faster and cool down faster. However, these figures can only be obtained in theory if you compare 1 kg of absolutely dry wood and 1 kg of concrete. For construction practice these conditional values are practically useless, because if you recalculate per square meter of a real wooden or concrete wall, for example, 20 cm, then the picture changes. Here is a small table in which, for comparison, 1 m² of a wall 20 cm thick is taken from different materials(at a temperature of 20 ° C).

From the given figures it is clear that to heat 1 m² of concrete wall by 1 degree, it will be necessary to generate almost 20 times more thermal energy than to heat a wooden one. That is, a wooden or frame house can be heated to desired temperature much faster than concrete or brick, because the weight (mass) of brick and concrete is greater. Let us also remember that in addition to specific heat capacity, there is also thermal conductivity of building materials. This is a property that characterizes the intensity of heat transfer in a material. With increasing temperature, humidity and density of the substance, the thermal conductivity coefficient increases. The thermal resistance of a homogeneous enclosing structure, defined as the ratio of the thermal conductivity coefficient of the wall material to the wall thickness in meters, must be no less than the required heat transfer resistance (depending on the temperature of the coldest five-day period in the region and other climatic conditions parameters).

For the Moscow region, heat transfer resistance is in the range of 3.1–3.2 m °C/W. And in Novosibirsk, where frosts in winter reach an average of 42 °C, this figure is much higher. It should also be taken into account that not only walls take part in the heating processes, but also everything that is inside the house - ceiling structures, floors, windows, furniture, as well as air. Play a significant role architectural features enclosing structures and the presence of “cold bridges”.

Wood as a building material

For comfort in the house, a combination of sufficient heat capacity and low thermal conductivity of the wall material is important. In this regard, wood has no equal. This is also a good material for seasonal homes, where the owners come only occasionally in winter. Wooden house, long time unheated, better able to withstand sudden temperature changes. The condensation that forms when the heating is turned on is partially absorbed by the wood. Then the walls gradually release the accumulated moisture to the heated air, thereby helping to maintain a favorable microclimate in the living quarters. Coniferous species are used in construction: spruce, pine, larch, fir, and cedar. In terms of price/quality ratio, pine is the most in demand. Its heat capacity is 2.3–2.7 kJ/(kg K). Along with ancient technology manual cutting Houses built from rounded logs, profiled and ordinary timber, carriages, and laminated timber have also gained popularity.

Whatever you choose, keep in mind the general rule for wooden walls - the thicker the better. And here you will have to proceed from the capabilities of your wallet, since as the thickness of the log increases, the cost of the material and the price of work increase. In order to meet the required heat-technical standards, the log (rounded or hand-cut) must have a diameter of at least 28 cm, and the profiled beam must have a thickness of at least 24 cm. Then the house does not need to be insulated from the outside. Meanwhile, the most common size of profiled timber is 20x20 cm, length up to 6 m.

So the developer will have to immediately calculate and decide what thickness of walls to build: 20x20 cm followed by insulation with mineral wool and cladding (siding, lining, facade panels) or thicker ones without insulation and cladding. Separately, let's say about ordinary (not profiled) timber measuring 15x15 cm. It is very popular in country house construction, but nevertheless a house for year-round residence It is better not to build from such material. It is only suitable for a small summer garden house. However, the appearance of such a house is unlikely to please you. No matter how hard you try to caulk the gaps between the crowns, they still appear due to warping and uneven shrinkage of the wood. Birds take away caulk to make nests. Under slanting summer rain, the wall gets wet through and through, and there is no need to talk about freezing in winter.

If you still choose this type of construction, then first wait for the new log structure to settle (six months or a year) and begin its external insulation and cladding. A suspended insulation system (ventilated façade) would be optimal. Let us note that it is undesirable and even harmful to insulate wooden walls from the inside. Glued laminated timber is somewhat superior to solid timber and rounded logs in terms of strength and hardness. Due to its layered structure, the product is not subject to cracking and warping and is resistant to rotting. Nevertheless, the thermal characteristics of laminated veneer lumber are only slightly better than those of ordinary pine logs. You can live in a house made of timber, where the walls are 20 cm thick, even in winter. However, heating will require high costs.

Such housing also does not comply with the requirements of SNiP 23.02–2003 “Thermal protection of buildings” (for the middle zone Ro = 3.49 m²·°C/W). Meanwhile, the cost of houses made of laminated veneer lumber varies between 40-80 thousand rubles. per m². The question arises: is it worth spending money on 20 cm thick walls first, and then on insulation and cladding? And it’s a shame to close it decorative surface laminated veneer lumber with a curtain wall façade. So you need to think hard here. For comparison, a house made of hand-cut logs will cost 40–70 thousand rubles. per m², average cost a house made of rounded logs and profiled timber will cost about 20–25 thousand rubles. for 1 m².

Proper insulation of wooden walls

Using special dowels they are attached to the walls. thermal insulation boards from basalt wool. To prevent atmospheric moisture from penetrating into the insulation, the slabs are covered with a superdiffusion hydro-windproof membrane (film). Such membranes protect the facade from rain, snow, condensation and wind. At the same time, they allow steam coming from inside the house to pass through well. Next, guide rails for fastening are nailed to the walls with a certain pitch. finishing material. The finishing can be vinyl siding, wood paneling different widths and thickness, block house (planed board made in the form of a segment of rounded logs) and other materials. It is important to leave vents at the top and bottom to ensure air circulation in the ventilation ducts formed by the wooden guide rails.

Frame construction technologies

Perhaps not everyone knows, but the frame structure is one of the oldest. An example of this is half-timbered houses having a rigid supporting frame of racks, beams and braces. Our ancestors filled the space between the frame elements with a kind of insulation - reeds or straw mixed with clay, or a more reliable material - raw brick. The frame was covered with tar to prevent it from rotting, and the clay filling was plastered and whitewashed. Part of the frame was usually left visible, which is why half-timbered houses have a characteristic black and white appearance. The thermal characteristics of such a house are excellent; they are cool in summer and warm in winter.

Today's options frame technology there are a lot. Many countries, primarily the northern ones, contributed to their creation and development: Canada, the USA, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. However, the principle is still the same: wooden or metal racks, united by horizontal strapping, are sheathed on the outside sheet materials(oriented strand boards, cement bonded particle boards, waterproof plywood, etc.). The internal space is filled with effective insulation - mineral basalt wool. WITH inside a vapor barrier film is installed, and a hydro-windproof membrane is stretched on the outside. Next comes the decorative decoration of the walls.

A frame or frame-panel house built according to all the rules will serve you faithfully for decades. Frame and frame-panel houses can be partially or completely made from factory-produced elements, brought to the construction site and quickly assembled on site. They do not require powerful foundations; pile and bored structures are suitable.

A frame house can take on any form and look like wood, brick, stone, or plastered. The same can be said about interior decoration. The choice is huge: fiberboard, plaster, drywall, wallpaper, painting, wooden lining, panels and other materials. It is convenient to place communications, electrical wires, and heating pipes in the depths of frame walls, which has a positive effect on interior design.

After installing the equipment and completing the finishing, the frame house is completely ready for living. If you visit your country house on short visits, on weekends and holidays, there is practically no alternative to a frame structure. It can be warmed up quickly, literally overnight. But if the heating is turned off, the “ice age” will come just as quickly. This happens because, unlike concrete and brick, a frame wall has virtually no place to retain heat. Even wooden cladding cannot cope with this function due to its low mass. But mineral wool has a different vocation: it plays the role of a reliable boundary between two temperature environments - cold external and warm internal. So it won’t be possible to heat a frame house for future use.

As for the price, then general rule“Cheap is never good” applies here too. Excessive savings on construction are inappropriate. Price square meter highly dependent on the manufacturer building elements, from the distance to the construction site, workers' salaries. On average, a turnkey house will cost approximately 19–24 thousand rubles. for 1 m² of total area.

Clay brick has always been a symbol of something stable and indestructible. Indeed, brick is durable, frost-resistant, and immune to atmospheric influences. But the thermal performance of the material leaves much to be desired. Brick products can be divided into three groups:

1. Solid products: ordinary brick (density 1700–1800 kg/m³, thermal conductivity coefficient 0.6–0.7 W/m ° C); conditionally efficient brick (density 1400–1600 kg/m³, thermal conductivity coefficient 0, 35–0.5 W/m°C); efficient brick (density less than 1100 kg/m³, thermal conductivity coefficient 0.18–0.25 W/m°C).

2. Hollow bricks with a percentage of voids from 5 to 40%. This also includes facing products.

3. Porous bricks, including large-format stone bricks. The low thermal conductivity coefficient of the latter is achieved due to closed air pores, as well as the special structure of the material with honeycomb-shaped voids.

If we take into account walls with a thickness of 510 mm or 640 mm, covered with the necessary layer of “warm” plaster, then only effective ceramic products reach the standard. Walls made of solid and conditionally efficient bricks require additional insulation. To solve this problem, three options are proposed: installing a plaster heat-insulating system, installing a suspended facade insulation system (ventilated façade) and constructing three-layer walls with a heat-insulating layer.

A brick house is good for permanent residence. Brick structures “breathe”, that is, they are able to provide air exchange in the thickness of the walls, and have solid thermal inertia. Once heated, such a wall retains heat for a long time even with minimal heating, gradually releasing it into the surrounding space. That is, if the heating unit suddenly breaks down, it will be possible to hold out for a long time until the repair specialists arrive in a more or less comfortable atmosphere.

Cellular concrete

Cellular concrete is a collective term that combines finely porous building materials based on a mineral binder (lime, cement). This includes large format blocks from aerated concrete, gas silicate, foam concrete and foam silicate. Expanded polystyrene concrete is classified as a separate category. The structure of the listed materials is formed by small air pores (cells). They give products made from cellular concrete a high thermal insulation capacity and a relatively low volumetric mass.

Walls built using single-row block masonry technology do not require additional insulation. They also do not need a powerful foundation. In terms of its environmental and other characteristics, this material is close to wood, but differs favorably from it in that it does not burn or deform when humidity changes. At the same time, in terms of its thermal performance, a wall made of cellular concrete is superior to a brick one.

To make aerated concrete walls required quality, the masonry is carried out using a special mineral glue. This ensures a joint thickness of only 1–3 mm (for comparison, masonry with cement-sand mortar produces joints of 12–15 mm). At the same time, heat loss is significantly reduced, because thick seams are real “cold bridges” through which heat leaves the house. Foam concrete is more affordable than aerated concrete (for comparison, the first will cost 1,300 rubles/m³, and the second – 2,800 rubles/m³), so many developers are turning their attention to it. But the fact is that foam concrete blocks can be produced on special mobile installations in a rather artisanal way. Therefore, small businesses are often involved in their production.

To obtain a finely porous structure, special substances are used - foaming agents. These are mainly tanning extracts from the leather industry, various lyes, etc., that is, organic compounds that have a limited shelf life and different foaming abilities. To reduce production costs, manufacturers instead quartz sand substitutes are used in the form of industrial waste: fly ash, slag, etc. Hardening of the blocks occurs under natural conditions. The process proceeds unevenly, causing shrinkage deformations. All this leads to, to put it mildly, vague technical characteristics of the final product. The material has sufficient strength and retains heat well, but only if it is manufactured according to all the rules.

If you are seriously considering the option of moving to the countryside, the question of which is best to build a house for permanent residence comes to the fore. The choice of materials for construction depends on the preferences of the owner of the future home, his financial capabilities, and in some ways, on established local traditions. Of course, the specific climatic conditions of the region and the characteristics of the soil on the site acquired for the construction of housing are taken into account.

Today, both traditional and new technologies are used for the construction of private houses. In order to choose one of them, you need to understand what problems will be encountered during large-scale construction work and during the operation of the finished building.

Criteria for choosing materials for construction

When choosing a material for building a house, you should take into account a number of important criteria:

• To make the house comfortable to live in at any time of the year, when choosing material for construction, it is necessary to take into account the average winter temperatures of the region where it is planned to be built, comparing them with the thermal insulation qualities of future walls and ceilings.

• In addition, most potential owners strive to make their homes energy efficient. That is, with minimal energy costs, obtain a comfortable temperature in the premises both in winter and summer.
• The ability of a building material to become an effective barrier against external noise is especially important if the building is being built near a busy highway or railway tracks.
• The durability and reliability of a residential building will directly depend on the strength of the selected material.
• The appearance of the building also plays an important role. Therefore, it is immediately necessary to decide which material option is preferable - one that requires or does not require additional finishing.
• Undoubtedly, important criterion always the price availability of the material. It largely depends on the region of construction.
• If the owner plans to carry out construction on his own (in whole or even partially), then the priority criteria may also be the degree of complexity of working with the selected building material.

Main types of materials for building a private house

Today, both traditional materials that have been used, without exaggeration, for centuries, and those developed relatively recently, but which have already managed to show their positive side, are used to build houses.

So, when deciding on the materials to build a house, you need to know that they are conventionally divided into four groups:

• Natural wood (log or timber).
• Brick, stone and shell rock.
• Porous blocks.
• Wood-based composite materials.

To determine which of the listed materials is best to choose for a particular case, it is necessary to consider their physical and technical characteristics and other features.

Brick

Sand-lime and ceramic bricks are used to build houses. Both one and the second option are produced in two types, which differ in the internal structural structure - the brick can be hollow and solid.

Both types are widely used for the construction of house walls. However, different bricks can have very different characteristics.

Solid and hollow ceramic bricks

Solid brick has higher strength and can therefore withstand high loads. However, it has high thermal conductivity, and because of this, walls made from it usually require additional insulation and cladding.

Ceramic and silicate, solid or hollow bricks - each has its own advantages and disadvantages

Hollow products retain heat in the house better, so they are often used to cover a wall built of solid bricks, leaving a space between the walls that is filled thermal insulation materials- slag, expanded clay, foam concrete or expanded polystyrene.

Agree, it is very difficult to compete with neat brickwork in matters of facade aesthetics

Brick houses have a respectable appearance and a long service life, which sometimes exceeds the deadlines set during the design of the building. Buildings made from this material compare favorably with other buildings due to their strength and reliability. That is why, despite the appearance innovative materials, brick has not lost any of its popularity, as it has successfully passed the test of time. Proof of this is that buildings, sometimes erected several centuries ago, are still in use.

However, despite the large number positive qualities brick, this material has not only advantages, but also obvious disadvantages.

To the main benefits brick, and therefore houses built from it, include:

• Environmentally friendly material.

Nowadays, future home owners always pay attention Special attention for this quality of the material. Brick buildings are impeccable in this regard, since the mortar from which the products are made does not contain artificially produced or toxic components. Ceramic bricks are made from purified clay, and silicate bricks are made from sand and lime.

• The strength of the structure built from it is long term operation.

For centuries in different countries Both one-story and multi-story buildings were erected from brick, some are still in use today, without even requiring restoration of the facades. Walls built from bricks made without violating technology and laid on high-quality mortar are resistant to exposure ultraviolet rays, to moisture, wind, to biological damage.

In addition, brick buildings are able to withstand various natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, etc.

• Frost resistance.

This quality indicates that the material is able to fully retain its operational and decorative qualities during numerous cycles of deep freezing and thawing. On sale today different brands bricks, the frost resistance of which may vary. Therefore, when purchasing this material, you should pay attention to the F indicator, which precisely shows this number of cycles. The higher the indicator, the more durable the material.

• Natural regulation of humidity in the building.
• Fire safety.

Unlike wood, brick is resistant to open fire, as it is made of non-flammable material, which has also been hardened high temperatures when firing it. Brick does not ignite and does not support the combustion of adjacent building elements. True, when exposed to it open fire over a long period of time, it loses its margin of safety. This means that the service life of walls that survive a fire is significantly reduced.

To the list of essential shortcomings brick buildings include the following factors:

• Cost of material.

Having chosen brick to build a house, you need to be prepared for quite a lot of expenses, since, given the “modest” size of the products, you will need a lot of them. In addition to the brick itself, you will need to carry out interior finishing of the walls - this is plastering followed by putty, painting, or. All these processes are also quite costly and require some time.

• High thermal conductivity of brick. If the house is being built in a region with cold winters, where the temperature drops to -35÷40 degrees, then the brick walls must be thick and be at least 640-770 mm. Another option could be a “sandwich” wall, that is, made according to the “well masonry” principle. In this case, two relatively thin brick walls are simultaneously erected at a certain distance from each other, the space between which is filled with thermal insulation materials. Sometimes another method is used for insulation - a sheathing is fixed on the front side of the wall, between the elements of which a mineral wool or expanded polystyrene, and then the walls are lined with one of the decorative materials.
• Massiveness.

Brick houses are a very heavy structure. This means that it is necessary to build a reliable and solid foundation for them. Otherwise, under high load, it will sag, and with it the brick walls, resulting in deep cracks along them.

Therefore, to build a high-quality one that can reliably cope with a high load, you will also have to spend a lot of money.

• The design of a brick building should only be carried out by a professional. Errors in foundation calculations and thickness determination load-bearing walls unacceptable. The project and calculations will also be expensive.
• Hygroscopicity of the material.

This quality is especially pronounced in bricks made in violation of technology, that is, insufficiently hardened or too porous. In houses made of such material there is always high humidity, and getting rid of it is quite difficult. Therefore, the walls have to be etched periodically, which takes a lot of time and causes discomfort in the operation of the home. It’s good that today there are many products that will help protect brick walls from moisture - surfaces are treated with them at the very beginning of the building’s operation. It will help protect brick walls and high walls that separate them from ground moisture, rain splashes or contact with snow drifts.

Sand-lime brick is more hygroscopic than ceramic brick. Therefore, it is not recommended to use it to build a house in regions with a humid climate. And it is completely excluded when laying the base.

In digital terms, the main characteristics of the brick are as follows:

Name of characteristics	Solid brick	Hollow brick	Sand-lime brick
Density, kg/m³	1600÷1800	1400÷1700	1700÷1900
Thermal conductivity, W/m˚S	0.81÷0.87	0.44	0.95
Strength, kgf/cm²	125÷200	100÷200	150
Moisture absorption,%	7÷8	7÷8	8÷10
Frost resistance cycles	50÷100	50÷70	35
Recommended wall thickness, mm at air temperature -20/ -30/-40 ˚С (mm)	510/640/770	380/510/640	510/640/770

The cost of a brick is deliberately not indicated in the table. This parameter varies very widely, depending on the type, brand, size, manufacturer, and region of construction. Even among one seller, the spread of prices for seemingly identical products, but coming from different factories, can be very significant.

Cement-based masonry blocks

In recent years, people are increasingly choosing to build a private house. building blocks, made on the basis of cement. Such masonry materials have a number of advantages over traditional brick, and the first of them can be called affordable cost. In addition, the blocks have impressive linear dimensions - one can replace from 4 and even up to 14 standard bricks, so the construction of the house will go much faster.

Manufacturers today supply cement-based blocks to the construction market, but made according to different technologies and with various physical, technical and operational indicators:

• Foam blocks and aerated concrete blocks.
• Cinder blocks and expanded clay concrete blocks.

To understand what each of these materials is and how they differ from each other, let’s take a closer look at their characteristics.

Aerated concrete and foam concrete blocks

These building materials, at first glance, are similar in their characteristics. However, their manufacturing technologies differ somewhat.

Aerated concrete is made from cement, lime, sand and water with the addition of aluminum powder. Thanks to these components, during the manufacturing process of the composition, it is activated chemical reaction, accompanied by the release of gas, which ensures the creation of a porous structure with an open cell. This determines the very high hygroscopicity of the material.

Foam concrete products are made from cement, sand and water. But the main thing for the formation of the structure of the material is the foaming agent, which is added at the stage of mixing the solution before pouring it into molds. The cell turns out to be closed.

Both some and other blocks can have different densities, and are divided into brands. The numerical indicator in the stamp indicates the density finished material(kg/m³):

— D 1000– D 1200 - structural products, that is, intended for the construction of load-bearing walls. Their insulation qualities are not the most outstanding.

— D 500-D 900 - structural and thermal insulation materials. They are the ones most often chosen for individual construction, combining, so to speak, “business with pleasure.”

— D 300- D 500 - thermal insulating blocks. For load-bearing structures, the strength qualities of such a material are clearly insufficient.

Foam concrete is also produced in another version, which is marked D1300 to D1600. These are structurally porous blocks having high density, but also very significant thermal conductivity. As a rule, material of this brand is made to order and is practically not used in residential construction practice.

Aerated concrete and foam concrete blocks have the following characteristic features:

• Easy to process. The blocks are easily sawed using a regular wood saw. Thanks to this quality, anyone, even an inexperienced builder, can handle adjusting the material during wall construction. Moreover, the block can be given any intricate shape.
• Strength of the material. The indicators of this parameter may vary depending on the porosity and brand of the product.
• Low thermal conductivity. This figure averages 0.08÷0.22 W/(m×˚С). Brands D300 and D 500 have a particularly low coefficient, so they are excellent for additional insulation of houses for permanent residence. Walls made of this material perfectly retain heat in the house during winter cold and coolness on hot summer days.
• Soundproofing. Aerated concrete and foam concrete have significant noise absorption properties, and the final parameters depend on other characteristics of the material, as well as on the thickness of the walls. According to SNiP II-12-77 standards, in private houses the level of noise insulation should be 41÷60 dB, and the sound insulation qualities of aerated concrete usually exceed these indicators:

Brand of material most often used to build a private house	Sound insulation level, dB, with wall thickness of the enclosing structure, mm
	120	180	240	300	360
D500	36	41	44	46	48
D600	38	43	46	48	50

• Environmentally friendly material. Industrial production of blocks is carried out under strict control (this is especially true for aerated concrete). The laboratories check for the presence of radioactive materials and toxic components - they are completely excluded.
• Mass of blocks. This parameter depends on the density of the material:

As you can see, this parameter can vary somewhat in one direction or another. It must be remembered that the higher the density of the material, the higher its thermal conductivity and the worse the sound insulation.

Along with the positive characteristics, these building materials also have their own flaws , about which you also need to have information:

• Foam and gas blocks are fragile, so during work, if the material is handled carelessly, it may crack or split. In addition, this can also happen when the foundation shrinks. Therefore, the base for the walls should be as reliable as possible. To avoid subsidence and cracking, every second to third row of masonry must be reinforced with metal rods.
• The hygroscopicity of aerated concrete can be considered a serious disadvantage. This feature predetermines an increase in the volume of work that includes waterproofing measures.
• Mandatory internal and external finishing involves additional costs.

What to choose - foam concrete or aerated concrete?

With mass common features, these materials have significant differences. By what criteria can you compare More detailed information can be found in a special publication on our portal.

Expanded clay concrete blocks and cinder blocks

These blocks, like the materials described above, can be classified as very affordable and have decent characteristics.

Their frost resistance and strength are comparable to similar parameters of brick walls. The blocks have very large linear parameters and relatively light weight, so they can be laid in a short time.

Expanded clay concrete blocks are made from cement mortar with the addition of fine expanded clay of 5÷10 mm, or coarse expanded clay sand.

Now, having figured out what frame house structures are, it is necessary to highlight their positive and negative sides.

TO merits Properly built frame houses include the following:

• Possibility to do the work yourself.
• The low thermal conductivity of the walls helps retain heat inside the house.
• Relatively quick and fairly simple installation of structural elements.
• There is no need to arrange a massive foundation, since the construction is easy.
• The design does not shrink, so you can move into the house immediately after finishing work.
• There is no need to level the surfaces of the walls and ceiling, since they are already ready for decorative finishing both outside and inside.
• Relatively low cost.

However, the frame structure also has a fairly large number shortcomings , which can bring disappointment to future residents of the house during its operation:

• Low tightness of all frame structures, except for half-timbered structures.
• Insufficiently long service life due to low strength and reliability of the structure.
• Frame houses must be properly equipped, otherwise mold may appear on the walls and underground due to insufficient air exchange.
• Low quality sound insulation.
• High fire hazard.

• Insulation material in the floor and walls can be used for housing by rodents and various insects. And it will be very difficult to get rid of such a “neighborhood”.

So which is better, timber or frame construction?

If you have to decide which form of wood is best to choose for construction - timber or logs, or to give preference to a frame structure, then it would be useful to refer to a special comparative publication. The recommended link leads to it.

* * * * * * *

Above we figured out what materials can be used to build houses for year-round use. Taking into account their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, and approximate prices in your region, you can decide which one is best suited for a particular case based on a combination of all evaluation criteria.

If desires and possibilities coincide, then you can stop at optimal option and start developing a house project.

The information reflected in the article will be supplemented by an interesting video on the same topic:

Video: What material is better to choose for your own residential building?

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