Construction materials for residential buildings. The best material for building a house

If you are seriously considering the option of moving to the countryside, the question is which one is better 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 you will have to face 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.
An important role is played by appearance building. Therefore, it is immediately necessary to decide which material option is preferable - one that requires or does not require additional finishing.
Of course, an important criterion is always the affordability 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.

Hollow products retain heat in a house better, so they are often used to cover a wall built of solid bricks, leaving a space between the walls that is filled with heat-insulating 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 emergence of innovative materials, brick has not lost any of its popularity, as it has successfully stood 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 brick is made from purified clay, and silicate is made from sand and lime.

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

Over the centuries, in different countries, both one-story and multi-story buildings were erected from brick, some up to today are used without even requiring restoration of the facades. Walls built from bricks made without violating technology and laid on high-quality mortar are resistant to ultraviolet rays, moisture, wind, and 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 open fire for a long time, it loses its safety margin. 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 lathing is fixed on the front side of the wall, between the elements of which mineral wool or expanded polystyrene is mounted, 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 determination of the thickness of load-bearing walls are 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 last years for the construction of a private house they are increasingly choosing building blocks, made on the basis of cement. Similar 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 the construction market with blocks for cement based, but made by 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, a chemical reaction is activated, 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 brand indicates the density of the 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 properties 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 that have a 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). The D300 and D500 brands 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 manufacturing 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 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 can 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 correctly lined up frame houses the following can be attributed:

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, frame construction 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.

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Above we figured out what materials can be used to build houses for year-round residence. 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?

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 23-02-2003 “Thermal protection of 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 do the calculations, it turns out that, for example, Brick wall should be 2.3 m thick, and concrete – 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 energy-efficient construction? warm home? This is, first of all, the load-bearing capacity of the 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 real wood or concrete wall, for example, at 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 the required temperature much faster than a concrete or brick one, 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. Thermal resistance of a homogeneous enclosing structure, defined as the ratio of the thermal conductivity coefficient wall material to the wall thickness in meters, there 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 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, the tree has no equal. it's the same good material for seasonal homes, to which 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. Used in construction conifers: 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, consider the common features wooden walls The rule is 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 sheathing. Separately, let's say about ordinary (not profiled) timber measuring 15x15 cm. It is very popular in dacha construction, but nevertheless, it is better not to build a house for year-round use 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 cracks between the crowns, they still appear due to warping and uneven shrinkage 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. It will be optimal hanging system insulation (ventilated facade). 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 thermal characteristics laminated veneer lumber is only slightly better than regular 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.

The requirements of SNiP 23.02–2003 "Thermal protection of buildings" (for middle zone Ro = 3.49 m²·°C/W) such housing also does not correspond. 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 curtain 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, thermal insulation slabs made of basalt wool are attached to the walls. To prevent it from penetrating into the insulation atmospheric moisture, 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 at a certain pitch. finishing material. The finishing can be vinyl siding, wooden lining 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 ventilation ducts formed by 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 hard load-bearing frame from 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 the same: wooden or metal racks, united by horizontal strapping, are sheathed on the outside with sheet materials (oriented strand boards, cement-bonded particle boards, waterproof plywood, etc.). Inner space fill out effective insulation– mineral basalt wool. Mounted on the inside vapor barrier film, a hydro-windproof membrane is pulled on the outside. Followed by decorative finishing 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 the 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 are in your country house on visits, on weekends and holidays, alternatives frame structure Hardly ever. 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, the general rule “Cheap is never good” applies here too. Excessive savings on construction are inappropriate. Price square meter strongly depends on the manufacturer of building elements, on the distance to the construction site, and the wages of workers. 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 offered: installation of a plaster heat-insulating system, installation of a suspended facade system insulation (ventilated façade) and construction of 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 at minimal heating, gradually releasing it into the surrounding space. That is, if it suddenly breaks heating unit, then it will be possible to hold out for a long time until the arrival of repair specialists 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 made of 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, instead of quartz sand, manufacturers use substitutes 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 specifications final product. The material has sufficient strength and retains heat well, but only if it is manufactured according to all the rules.

It's time to explain why aerated concrete is the most the right material for walls country house and no other material can compete with it in terms of its totality of characteristics. I propose to consider together all the building materials currently existing on the market (including rare and exotic ones) and make sure that it is a better material than aerated concrete for low-rise construction can't imagine.

But in any case, from wooden wall materials, a frame house is the best thing to choose in our time. Thus, we actually get the fact that with all the variety of existing building materials, we have only two options left:

House made of cellular concrete (aerated concrete)
Frame house

All other building materials are, in principle, untenable and there is no point in considering them if you are building a house for the future for long-term and comfortable use. And now is the time to make a direct comparison of a house made of aerated concrete and a frame house.

Let me remind you that in both cases we are guided by the fact that the house will be built on a monolithic foundation slab, that is, low heat capacity of the walls frame house in our case is not relevant. If you decide to build a frame house on pile foundation, then soberly understand that the heat capacity of such a house will tend to zero and any shutdown of heating in winter will lead to almost instant freezing of the entire house. If we are talking about a house for permanent residence and year-round use, it must have an extremely high heat capacity of the enclosing structures, because The comfort of using such a house directly depends on this parameter.

The main advantage of a frame house is the opportunity to get an incredibly “warm” wall at a minimum cost. This is directly related to the fact that lightweight insulation has a heat transfer resistance per centimeter of thickness that is 2-3 times less than that of solid wood or even aerated concrete.

The second advantage of frame houses is the speed of construction of the load-bearing frame of walls and roofs. In fact, the advantage is quite dubious if you approach the house as a complex object. Because the subsequent finishing of the frame house, firstly, will not be so fast, and secondly, you will also have to tinker with the engineering systems. But if you want to get a roof over your head here and now (it doesn’t matter that you still have to work and work under this roof so that the house finally looks like a home), then you can agree to a frame house. The same applies to the recently popular modular houses assembled in production. Their manufacturers position assembly in a hangar as an advantage for the customer, although in fact the customer should absolutely not care, because This does not affect production times in any way. But for the performer, assembly under the hangar roof is a big plus, because allows you to reduce costs and downtime associated with unpredictability of weather, if you consider the option of construction on the customer’s site. But on the other hand, the customer becomes severely limited by the too small sizes of individual modules, which are completely uncomfortable for subsequent use (for example, ceilings in a normal house should be at least 2.8 meters).

This is where the advantages of frame houses end and the disadvantages begin.

First and most important. Frame houses are now being built by all and sundry (since the cost of building a frame house is extremely low and you can make a lot of money), which requires special control over compliance with construction technology. Otherwise you can get this such a "barn", which will collapse at the slightest gust of wind. According to the link in the video, everything that could be violated was violated, but in fact, during a hurricane, with a very high probability, a well-built frame house will collapse to one degree or another and you need to be prepared for this. The calculation of loads for a frame house must be done more carefully than for a stone one, paradoxically as it may seem.

The second disadvantage of frame houses is the expensive finishing and installation of utility systems in an open way. After all, it is forbidden to lay electrical wiring in combustible structures, and therefore it will have to be done in an open way, which is very doubtful from an aesthetic point of view. In a house made of cellular concrete, everything is much simpler - all communications and wires are laid in the walls, which are then plastered. Absolutely the same as they do in apartments.

By the way, about ventilation. If you “forget” to do it in an aerated concrete house, then the high vapor permeability of the walls will allow you to somehow cope with excess humidity in the house, and in a frame thermos house without ventilation with a microclimate everything will be very bad.

What else?
The sound insulation of a frame house is as bad as that of an unplastered house made of cellular concrete.
Hanging heavy objects on walls is only possible on a supporting frame.
Mice and other pests can infest the walls of a frame house.
Fire hazard. Stone houses they also burn, but extremely rarely this leads to the collapse of walls and ceilings. A frame house burns out instantly, despite various impregnations for wood (remember that electrical wiring in a frame house can only be carried out using the open method).
The durability of a frame house depends on the service life of the wooden frame (and without protection, the wood will begin to rot). While stone building materials (including cellular concrete) are eternal, cement-based materials only become stronger over the years.

If we compare completely ready-made houses the same area, with engineering systems and finishing, then you can make an amazing discovery. The cost of work and materials for a frame house is almost completely identical to the cost of work and materials for building a house made of aerated concrete. Of course, an aerated concrete house will be a little more expensive, because... during its construction it will be necessary to use mechanization, but this will be less than 10% of the total cost of all work.

Thus, we can conclude that aerated concrete is an ideal building material, which has no alternatives in principle. A frame house should only be considered if, for one reason or another, you do not have the opportunity to build a house from cellular concrete.

In the next part we will choose the ideal roof for a country house. Don't switch!

It is believed that stone is the best material for building a country house. Due to its durability, strength and adaptability to almost any geographical area, stone is very popular in the construction industry. However, is stone really the best material?

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 rising. 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 23-02-2003 “Thermal protection of 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, the load-bearing capacity of the material, as well as its heat capacity and thermal conductivity. Let's focus on the latter.

It turns out that wood is a much more heat-intensive material, and heating it will require more thermal energy, and when cooling it will release more joules into the environment. 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, the picture changes. Here is a small table in which, for comparison, we take 1 m² of a 20 cm thick wall made of different materials (at a temperature of 20 ° C).

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 a 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 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. Architectural features of enclosing structures and the presence of “cold bridges” play a significant role.

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, the tree has no equal. This is also a good material for seasonal homes, where the owners come only occasionally in winter.

A wooden house that is not heated for a long time is better able to withstand sudden changes in temperature.

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 the ancient technology of manual felling, houses built from rounded logs, profiled and ordinary timber, gun carriages, and laminated veneer lumber 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, it is better not to build a house for year-round use 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...

It is somewhat superior to massive timber and rounded logs in 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 pity to cover the very decorative surface of laminated timber with a curtain wall. So you need to think hard here. For comparison, a house made of hand-cut logs will cost 40–70 thousand rubles. per m², the average cost of a house made of rounded logs and profiled timber will be about 20–25 thousand rubles. for 1 m².

Proper insulation of wooden walls

Using special dowels, thermal insulation slabs made of basalt wool are attached to the walls. 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 are nailed to the walls at a certain pitch for attaching the finishing material.

The finishing can be vinyl siding, wooden lining of different widths and thicknesses, block house (planed board made in the form of a segment of a rounded log) 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, which have a rigid supporting frame of posts, 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 there are many options for frame technology.

Many countries, primarily the northern ones, contributed to their creation and development: Canada, the USA, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. However, the principle is the same: wooden or metal racks, united by horizontal strapping, are sheathed on the outside with sheet materials (oriented strand boards, cement-bonded particle boards, waterproof plywood, etc.). The internal space is filled with effective insulation - mineral basalt wool.

A vapor barrier film is installed on the inside, and a hydro-windproof membrane is stretched on the outside. Next comes the decorative decoration of the walls.

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, the general rule “Cheap is never good” applies here too.

Excessive savings on construction are inappropriate. The price per square meter greatly depends on the manufacturer of building elements, the distance to the construction site, and the wages of workers. On average, a turnkey house will cost approximately 19–24 thousand rubles. for 1 m² of total area.

Brick

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.

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

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.

Cellular concrete is divided into thermal insulation (density up to 400 kg/m³, porosity 92%), structural and thermal insulation (density 400–800 kg/m³, porosity 82%) and structural (density 800–1400 kg/m³, porosity up to 66%) .

That is, the higher the density of the material, the lower its thermal insulation ability. It is the finely porous structure that provides the material, with a relatively low weight, good heat and sound insulation ability, as well as vapor permeability (which is generally not characteristic of monolithic concrete structures).

If we talk about high-quality aerated concrete products, then for the construction of a country house you should use blocks with a density of at least 500 kg/m³. Such aerated concrete is produced in large high-tech industries. The blocks are distinguished by geometric accuracy and compliance of the actual characteristics of the material with the indicators declared by the manufacturer.

To ensure that aerated concrete walls are of the required quality, the masonry is laid 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, instead of quartz sand, manufacturers use substitutes 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.

Expanded polystyrene concrete (from RUB 3,500/m³) has a cellular structure, which is formed by specially treated polystyrene granules. Polymer “grains”, consisting of 90% air, provide expanded polystyrene concrete with the highest heat saving indicators among cellular concrete.

Its thermal conductivity coefficient is 0.055–0.175 W/m² °C. In addition, this filling is water-repellent, which increases the water resistance of the material as a whole. In this review, we looked at the main, most common building materials and technologies.