Wood prefab house: how to make sustainable housing economical and not burn out during construction

Tags:Design

The emergence of new technologies and materials has not spared the construction industry, which has led to the growth of individual housing construction in all regions of our country. Nevertheless, the use of traditional, environmentally friendly materials remains a popular trend, especially in regions where wood is not a scarce commodity, but is affordable and in the required range. A prefabricated house made of wood - types, advantages and disadvantages, new and traditional construction technologies, as well as operating features and turnkey construction costs - this is the topic of this article by homemaster.techinfus.com/en/.

Wooden house made of laminated veneer lumber

The content of the article [Hide]

1 The role and significance of the construction of wooden houses
2 Advantages and disadvantages of wooden country houses
3 Types of prefabricated wooden houses with photo projects
4 How to choose material to build a wooden house
5 Technologies for building a wooden house
6 Dangers and pitfalls of operating wooden houses
7 How much does it cost to build a turnkey wooden house - price overview
8 Video: what tree to build a house from

The role and significance of the construction of wooden houses

Wood is the building material that has been used by man for the construction of housing since ancient times, and to this day it is one of the most demanded. Elements of building structures are made from various tree species, houses are built on a turnkey basis, interior and exterior decoration is carried out. The reason for this popularity is the valuable properties of wood of different species:

strength and rigidity - allows you to use for the manufacture of supporting structures (pine, spruce, larch, cedar, etc.);
availability and waste-free use - for the manufacture of temporary structures and construction devices in the form of formwork, scaffolds and forests (aspen, alder, birch, etc.).

A house made of rounded logs always looks stylish and soundly

Important! At present, the Government of the Russian Federation pays special attention to individual housing construction, and it is in the segment of wooden housing construction, as evidenced by Resolution No. 259 of 03/15/2018 "On the provision of subsidies from the federal budget to Russian credit institutions to reimburse lost income on loans issued by Russian credit institutions in 2018 for the purchase of prefabricated wooden houses ".

Advantages and disadvantages of wooden country houses

Any building material has its own advantages and disadvantages, which determine its relevance and the possibility of using it in certain situations. In this regard, wood is no exception, both when used as individual elements of building structures, and in the construction of country houses in a full cycle.

Hand felling houses are still popular in regions where it is possible to buy standing timber

Hand-cut houses are still popular in regions where there is an opportunity to buy standing timber

The advantages of wooden houses, in comparison with the options for using other building materials, include the following indicators:

environmental friendliness;
a house made of wood "breathes", so natural air circulation is provided inside its premises;
low weight allows the use of lightweight foundations, which reduces the total cost of construction and installation work;
the use of a natural look of wood, without additional interior decoration, also reduces the cost of construction, while the interior looks stylish and attractive;
all-season performance of work, regardless of weather conditions, with the exception of the option of frame housing construction using mineral wool as a heater.

Wooden houses made using frame technology are distinguished by short terms of construction and installation work and low cost, compared to other options for wooden housing construction.

The disadvantages of houses made of wood include:

fire hazard, necessitating additional processing of structures with special compounds;
the possibility of damage by influences of a biological nature (decay, damage by insects and rodents);
with certain construction technologies (manual felling, rounded logs, etc.), shrinkage of load-bearing structures is possible, which leads to an increase in the terms of work;
the service life is shorter than that of buildings made of bricks and concrete.

Types of prefabricated wooden houses with photo projects

In the construction of wooden houses, various technologies are used that determine the sequence and timing of work, as well as the appearance of the finished structure. This section of the article will consider the most popular options for building a country house made of wood.

House made of rounded logs

A rounded log is a log that has been processed on special woodworking equipment and has the same diameter along its entire length.

Two-storey log house "Frankfurt" with a total area of 216 m2

The advantages of using rounded logs are:

ease of installation work - the logs are tightly stacked on top of each other like a Lego constructor;
the natural beauty of natural wood.

Among the shortcomings, it should be noted:

the need for treatment with special impregnations that provide a water-repellent effect from the outside of the house;
shrinkage during operation.

One-storey house made of rounded logs 10 × 10 meters

The ease of performing work using this building material allows you to make buildings of various configurations and purposes from it.

The two-storey house "Arbazh" assumes in its design the presence of a second light in the hall of the building

Wooden houses from profiled lumber

Profiled timber is a lumber manufactured in the factory from round timber as a result of mechanical processing of the latter. At the exit, a product is obtained - a bar, the cross-section of which differs from the rectangular one and has grooves of the “thorn-groove” type.

House project from profiled timber "Ferdinand"

Distinctive features of houses made of profiled timber are:

lack of gaps between the crowns;
minimal shrinkage during operation;
readiness for installation is 100% upon delivery to the construction site.

Profiled timber is a demanded material for wooden housing construction

In the manufacture of profiled timber, spruce and pine, cedar and aspen, as well as larch are used. The choice of raw materials depends on the location of the woodworking enterprise and the availability of stocks of certain species of trees.

Project of a country house from Kentucky profiled logs measuring 8 × 8 meters

The project of a country house made of profiled timber "Kentucky" measuring 8 × 8 meters

Profiled timber is classified according to the degree of moisture content and geometric dimensions.

An expert's point of view

Dmitry Holodok

Technical Director of the repair and construction company "ILASSTROY"

“The moisture content of sawn timber in the range of 12-18% is achieved by chamber drying, in this case the timber is considered dry. The moisture content of 18-23% is the natural moisture content of the material. "

The standard geometric dimensions for this lumber are:

length - 3 or 6 meters;
section - 100-250 mm.

Related article:

Wooden beams are the best solution for your home. Advantages and disadvantages of the material, varieties and prices in a separate publication of our portal.

Glued laminated timber houses

A distinctive feature of the glued profiled beam from the solid one, made from a tree trunk, is that it is created from strips of wood, called lamellas, glued together according to a certain technology.

Project of a country house made of laminated veneer lumber with a terrace

Note! Glued laminated timber is always sold in a dry state, and its length can reach 12 meters.

House project from glued laminated timber KL-271

House project from glued laminated timber "КЬ-271"

The advantages of glued laminated timber are similar to those of other building materials made from natural wood, and the main disadvantage, in comparison with them, is the high cost due to the costs of its production.

Glued laminated timber house Neoclassical Style 250

House of laminated veneer lumber "Neoclassical Style 250"

Wooden houses from gun carriage

A carriage is, in the classical version of consideration, a log, from which from two sides, lying in planes parallel to each other, a part of the tree is cut off, called a "slab". Currently, a profiled beam having a similar shape in section is also called a carriage.

Exterior of a house made using a gun carriage

An expert's point of view

Dmitry Holodok

Technical Director of the repair and construction company "ILASSTROY"

"The use of a carriage, which has a larger vertical dimension in section than that of a timber, reduces the number of crowns to be laid when constructing a wall of a country house, thereby reducing the number of places requiring insulation, and, accordingly, possible losses of thermal energy."

Project of a country house from a gun carriage "L2-190-2"

The use of a carriage requires certain work skills, because for assembly, you must be able to manufacture and assemble individual structural elements in the so-called "Norwegian castle"

The appearance of the connection of the crowns from the carriage in the manufacture of walls of a country house on the principle of a Norwegian castle

The appearance of the connection of the crowns from the gun carriage in the manufacture of walls of a country house according to the principle of "Norwegian castle"

Important! During operation, houses made of a carriage require caulking the walls, which is due to shrinkage, as well as other factors that arise during use (weathering, damage by rodents, etc.).

Related article:

What is a gun carriage: advantages and disadvantages, main characteristics, the choice of a project for building a house and a bath from a gun carriage, features of Norwegian technology and useful tips - in our publication.

Timber frame houses

Frame technology construction sites are confidently winning over their customers, and there are several reasons for this:

low cost of both the house kit and its assembly;
the speed of construction and installation work.

Country house assembled using frame technology

There are several different technologies for the construction of frame houses: Swedish and Canadian, German and Scandinavian, as well as a double frame, American and a number of other varieties. The basis of all of the above technologies is the construction of a frame, which is a supporting structure for all other elements of the house being assembled.

The frame is the basis of the building when using a similar construction technology

Depending on the chosen construction technology, houses made in this way are classified into:

frame-panel board;
frame-frame;
post-beam (half-timbered);
frame-rack;
with continuous racks.

Frame house project "AM-223"

Important! When building a house using frame technology, the choice of the type of insulation used depends on the thermal characteristics of the building, as well as the terms of successful use without performing maintenance work in the future.

Related article:

Projects of frame houses, photos and prices. Why is frame technology so popular? How much is such a house worth? Read more in a separate publication on our portal.

How to choose material to build a wooden house

The timing of its operation, as well as the periods of repair work necessary to maintain the building in trouble-free condition, depend on the correctly selected material used in the construction of a house. The selection criteria for the construction of a wooden house will be the following indicators:

Wood species - must correspond to the type of use and purpose.
Forest harvested in winter is more durable, both during storage and use.
The quality of wood - determines the terms of its operation and the amount of waste in the process of production of work, as well as the thermal characteristics of the finished structure
Cost - depends on the type of wood and its quality, and also determines the amount of costs going to the construction of a country house.

When choosing a tree for building a house, it is necessary to take into account the selected construction technology and the selection criteria given above

Important! To reduce the cost of building a wooden house and facilitate the installation work, it is best to purchase ready-made house kits from trusted manufacturers that have successfully proven themselves in the building materials market.

Technologies for building a wooden house

In wooden housing construction, both traditional construction technologies and new ones that are successfully winning their admirers are used. The category of traditional technologies includes:

use of logs and gun carriages;
use of profiled timber of various types;
frame technologies.

Diagram of felling logs and gun carriages during the construction of a private wooden house

The category of new technologies includes:

CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) - presupposes cross-gluing of prefabricated wooden panels by joining dried boards (lamellas) delivered to the construction site in assembled form.
Unipanel - domestic development, involving the manufacture of wood panels with deep longitudinal cuts on both sides, which reduces the internal overvoltage of the material and improves its thermal performance.
Exterior view of wooden panels made using the Unipanel technology
MHM (Massiv-Holz-Mauer - massive wooden wall) - involves the manufacture of boards from wooden boards in production conditions, after which the finished products are delivered to the construction site, where they are assembled by means of aluminum pins.
NATURI - involves the manufacture of building structures from bars of a special shape, installed vertically and connected to each other by means of grooves on their surface.

Appearance of a bar made by NATURI technology

Appearance of a bar made using the "NATURI" technology

Related article:

Projects of houses from a bar for permanent residence are especially popular. The advantages and disadvantages of houses from a bar, varieties, layouts, projects of one-story and two-story buildings - in our publication.

Dangers and pitfalls of operating wooden houses

Any wooden structures have inherent advantages and disadvantages due to the technologies used in their construction and, of course, the properties of the tree itself. In this case, the main hazards for wooden houses will be:

The fire hazard of such buildings, requiring compliance with the Safety Rules for the operation of electrical networks and gas equipment, fuel facilities and maintenance of the adjacent territory.
The need to perform periodic preventive work in relation to the treatment of wooden surfaces with antiseptic and fire-fighting agents.
In connection with seasonal deformations caused by changes in temperature regimes, as well as possible shrinkage of structures, it is necessary to check the condition of the insulation in houses made using frame technology and inter-row seals - with other construction technologies.

Antiseptic treatment will protect wooden structures from decay

Important! To avoid problems during the operation of a wooden house, it is necessary to approach with special care the quality control of the materials used at the time of their purchase.

How much does it cost to build a turnkey wooden house - price overview

Turnkey construction of a wooden house depends on factors such as:

technical characteristics of the house to be assembled - total area and number of storeys;
the scope of work performed - from the installation of the foundation and under the roof, or only the assembly of wooden structures;
used construction technology;
completeness of delivery - house kit or lumber;
remoteness of the construction site from large settlements and the availability of transport infrastructure;
region of purchase of a house kit and other building materials.

Different construction technologies involve the use of different construction equipment, which ultimately determines the costs associated with this cost item

The following table shows the average prices for the construction of a wooden house made using different technologies. Prices are indicated as of the III quarter of 2018 in the category of "turnkey" construction.

House construction	Construction cost (as of August 2018), RUB per 1 m2 area
From rounded logs	30000
From a profiled bar	12000
Glued laminated timber	20000
From the gun carriage	30000
Frame type	12000

An expert's point of view

Dmitry Holodok

Technical Director of the repair and construction company "ILASSTROY"

"The cost of building frame houses differs due to the technology of their construction, which involves the use of building materials with varying degrees of pretreatment in an industrial environment."

The use of ready-made house kits significantly reduces the time required for construction and installation work

In addition to the above parameters, the cost of building a turnkey wooden house depends on the nature of the soil at the construction site, the presence of ground and melt water, as well as the depth of freezing in winter, which determine the design of the foundation used.

Video: what tree to build a house from

Having chosen the construction technology and the project of a country house, you should decide on the type of wood used for this. In this matter, the following video can become an assistant to a novice developer.