Optimization can be called a distinctive feature of technological approaches to modern construction. It manifests itself in everything - from reducing the volume of materials to the exclusion of large-scale work related to the connection of special equipment. As a result, the costs for the implementation of the facility are reduced, and the quality characteristics of the structure are maintained at the proper level within the framework of the standards. Most clearly, the pros and cons of optimization are reflected in the construction of a frame house. With his own hands, a skilled craftsman can build a low-rise country house at no extra cost and with minimal effort. The instructions below will help you cope with this responsible task.
General information about frame housing construction
The technology was formed in Canada and gradually won the love of builders from the CIS countries. Houses obtained in this way are erroneouslycharacterized as cold and unstable. These and other qualities will depend on compliance with the instructions, but, of course, a number of flaws against the background of traditional brick and panel houses are still found. However, there are many advantages, some of which have already been mentioned.
So, what are the features of such housing? We have to deal with an easily erected structure, which is based on a combination of wood and metal. Of course, the technology for building frame houses with your own hands is rather arbitrary, since the help of partners will greatly facilitate many processes. For example, this applies to the construction of the foundation and the installation of pile structures. This is followed by tying and building up the main frame. The roof is made according to the type of classical truss system, although there may be deviations from this concept.
It is important to note that the technology does not imply a lack of alternative solutions at each stage of the construction of a frame house. With your own hands, you can do both sheathing and roofing in different ways, not to mention insulation work. The same applies to the selection of building materials.
Foundation arrangement
Perhaps the most critical step, as the wood frame will rest on the base without the additional support of solid walls. In this sense, even classic Russian log cabins, due to the optimal distribution of the load over the log walls, are not so dependent on the foundation. On the other hand, the construction of a frame house with your own hands can be implemented withoutthe use of massive plate and tape "pillows" due to the small load.
The optimal solution is to abandon the monolithic pouring in favor of a pile-columnar structure. The configuration of the placement of the supporting elements can be any, but the distance between the driving points should be about 80-100 cm. As for the landing parameters, the borehole diameter is 20 cm and the depth is up to 150 cm. Particular attention is paid to the choice of piles. You can only use metal columns with an anti-corrosion coating with a thickness of at least 10 cm. If you plan to build a two-story frame house with your own hands, then it is better to use an asbestos casing pipe. The core in it will be filled with concrete, which will increase the durability of the structure.
The most important part of the work at this stage is the introduction of piles. In professional construction, they are either hammered or screwed in with special equipment. The lever system will allow you to solve this problem on your own. A metal loop is welded on the top of the screw pile. A metal pipe is inserted into it, the ends of which are pushed from two sides by two workers. Thus, provided that a sufficient load is placed on top of the structure, a support of 100-150 cm can be introduced.
Creating the lower frame trim
From the moment the foundation was erected, about 7-10 days should pass in order to proceed with further actions. During this time, piles installed in concrete wells shrink and gain strength. In finished form, the configuration of the foundation is shown in the photo below. phasedthe construction of a frame house with your own hands from this moment goes into the stage of preparing the lower floor. This part of the structure will simultaneously act as a covering for the foundation and a bearing base for the floor with a frame.
The strapping is done using thick beams, and for their installation, a grillage must be provided in advance. This is a system of T-shaped metal brackets mounted on piles. There are different methods of fastening, the choice of which will be determined by the design of the columns and fastening nozzles - for example, without the help of a specialist, you can use welding or twisting along a pile thread.
At the perimeter of the foundation, on the bearing points of the grillage, a strapping of the beams is formed. This is the first level at which a step-by-step instruction for building a frame house with your own hands involves the installation of an insulating floor. Between the brackets of the grillage and the wooden beams, there must be a substrate of waterproof material - it is desirable that it be a two-layer roofing material with antiseptic impregnations. At the ends of the bars, grooves are formed for corner joints with each other. The convergence points are fixed with nails at least 150 mm long.
Installation of wooden logs
The entire lower structure of the strapping, which passes into the ceiling of the house, resembles an ordinary crate in terms of device. The previously laid large beams serve as the basis, and the logs completely cover the foundation with a grillage according to the type of sheathing. The fastening of the coating elements can be carried out both by means of a groove connection and with the help of hardware. Worth it if possibleapply the do-it-yourself anchoring scheme. The construction of a frame house on 16 mm anchor bolts allows you to directly connect the logs, timber and grillage, which gives the structure reliability and durability.
You should first take care of integrating fasteners into solid bases. For example, if the grillage was made with concrete pouring, then the base is drilled. After that, the anchors are installed at a distance of 150-200 cm from each other. It is advisable to use rigid fasteners in critical areas for the passage of beams, but “empty” sections of the crate can be sheathed according to a lightweight scheme.
For logs, boards of the format 150x50 mm are used. Usually, the step-by-step construction of a frame house with your own hands involves the separation of the stages associated with the creation of an overlap on the logs and the formation of a rough flooring. But if we are talking about a small area, then at the same stage it is possible to lay a floor covering from bars pre-treated with protective agents (from fire, decay, deformation, etc.). The draft board is compacted with wedges and metal staples, after which it is nailed to the logs.
Installation of vertical racks
As already mentioned, frame houses do not have reliable support at levels above the foundation with a grillage. That is, the walls themselves with future cladding in this capacity are not even close comparable to brickwork or logs. Therefore, to maintain the structural geometry, the technology for building frame houses with their own hands requires the installation of vertical support posts. They exclude distortions of the building, strengthenstiffness of the walls and minimize shrinkage deformations.
For the installation of supports, bars are also used, the size of which will be sufficient to fit the post into the groove. They fit around the perimeter and in the center of the house. It is advisable to draw up such a layout so that the racks are fixed precisely at the points of the future wall construction. When choosing load-bearing beams, one should also not forget about lowering the ceiling, since they must be hidden along the entire height by decorative flooring. These nuances are calculated even at the stage of the device lag. The assembly of the racks should look like the photo below. The stage of building a frame house with your own hands in terms of preparing the foundation is completed. Next, you can move on to creating a "skeleton" for walls, ceiling and roof.
Performing the top strapping
From the lower level, the frame on the bars goes to the ceiling. Similar materials should be used with racks, lags and load-bearing bars. It turns out a symmetrical design with the same slot and bolt connections. The upper beams are laid by means of cut niches in wooden supports and fixed in them with nails. On each rack, a bar is fixed with the introduction of a nail at least 10 cm.
Then the resulting strapping must be strengthened on the sides. This will not be temporary, but permanent support with the help of mowing. They are also installed symmetrically to the top and bottom trim. From reinforced vertical racks and horizontal beams, you can move on to the ceiling. As notedinstructions for building a frame house with your own hands, for this task, bars of 50x15 cm format are used. They are placed at a distance of 50 cm from each other so that they pass along the perimeter of the strapping beams and follow the contours of future walls. In other words, you can install ceiling bars on the supporting elements. As for fastening, it is recommended to use steel brackets with corners along with groove fixation.
Installation of the truss system
The roof will be gable, so the best option for installing a supporting structure under the roof will be a layered truss frame. The supporting element will be the Mauerlat - the same power beams that can follow the contours of the ceiling beams, but only around the perimeter. Be sure to provide a central beam, which will be flush with the ridge.
On the basis of the central Mauerlat, a number of racks are attached by means of grooved joints. In the future, they will become carrier segments for the ridge, but for now they should be fixed with temporary cuts in the form of small-format boards. All fastening operations are also performed using nails, anchors and metal corners with your own hands. The phased construction of a frame house suggests that after the erection of the central rack, the installation of rafter legs should be carried out. At a minimum, a ridge beam can be laid for them. However, many roofers recommend that you first create an internal support system from girders, crossbars and other supports. For example, it makes senseperform a bunch of solid bars of two opposite Mauerlats. You can also apply slopes relative to the central pillar and side supports.
As for the rafter legs, they are laid in rows on both sides along the slopes. The connection is made through the grooves in the power plates, after which the beams can be fastened with nails. The distance between the rafters will depend on the total roof area - from 50 to 100 cm on average. But in any case, do not forget about the load on the main frame. Beams weigh a lot, and with a roof, the mass almost doubles.
Roofing installation
It is undesirable to use rigid and solid materials to protect the frame house precisely because of the heavy load. But a lightweight metal profile as such is not the best option for a residential building in principle. Roll decks on a lightweight wooden truss frame are also not suitable. But you can give preference to thin tiles or metal tiles.
Of course, the roofing is formed not only by the finishing flooring. This is a multi-layered "pie" in which insulating materials are involved. For their correct placement, it is necessary to arrange in advance a small-format crate under the slings of the roof of the frame house. Do-it-yourself construction of a supporting structure for laying insulation can be done from thin bars. The rafter leg in this case will perform the function of power beams, to which the elements of the crate are attached.
Mineral wool or polystyrene foam is used for insulation. It is better to use slabs cut to size formed between the slingscells. Further, the “filling” is closed with a waterproofing barrier made of the same roofing material or film with vapor barrier. The finished substrate is again covered with a layer of even smaller counter-battens, on which the roof will be laid. The fixing of the flooring elements is carried out with an electric screwdriver using bolts or self-tapping screws of suitable size. After fixing, all mounting points are sealed with roofing sealant.
Facade cladding
Walls are formed by rigid tile materials made of wood. A solid board is rarely used, but chipboard in combination with windproof materials is quite suitable for a residential building. For example, the construction of a frame-panel house with your own hands can be implemented with OSB boards. Typically, home kit manufacturers offer ready-made kits with combined partitions. There are also more resistant and durable materials in the form of metal facade tiles or even clinker bricks. But such a cladding gives a considerable load on wooden carriers, so it will be important to make preliminary calculations for the weight of the cladding.
Particular attention is paid to the functions of the skin. It must be insulated, moisture-proof, vapor-tight and physically protected. A simple budget option like solid wood panels is good for its natural texture and environmental friendliness. But such a finish will have to be regularly treated with protective agents, paints and impregnations.
Installation is carried out on the basis of a finished frame with a metal crate. The installation of panels begins from the corner of one wall and goes to another. If you plan to build a frame house with your own hands in a cold region, then a heater is placed in front of each cladding element. It is covered with a sealing substrate or waterproofing. You can physically strengthen the structure from the side of the crate using reinforcing brackets.
Arrangement of the basement and blind area
One of the disadvantages of frame houses is their high sensitivity to water. Direct contact of the foundation base with the liquid can lead to irreversible deformation changes in the base frame. Therefore, it is important to perform a high-quality blind area - this is an indent at the bottom of the wall, which is an isolated area. The basement gap will directly depend on the height of the piles passing to the grillage with the initial overlap. On average, the optimal height is 40-50 cm.
Before installing the blind area, a layer of soil with turf up to a depth of 20 cm should be removed. The traditional method involves backfilling with sand-crushed stone filler up to 10 cm high. Modern methods increasingly use molten bitumen mortar. They should cover the backfill to form a reliable hydro-barrier. The final layer will be a concrete pour, which is compatible with the bituminous polymer in terms of characteristics. In this case, the base does not have to be completely sealed. It is necessary to leave several holes around the perimeter with a diameter of about15 cm.
Interior decoration
In the premises, too, there is a considerable amount of work associated with the insulation and finishing of surfaces. For flooring, you can use material based on the same wood - a board, laminate or parquet is best suited. Moreover, provided that the subfloor is well insulated, it is possible to organize a warm floor system with electric mats or infrared heating elements.
For the northern regions, it is worthwhile to carry out insulation with thick plates, shown in the top photo. Do-it-yourself construction of a frame house with effective thermal insulation can be implemented without special costs through bulk insulation. These include expanded clay, granular foam glass and sawdust. Filling the foundation niche to the level of the grillage with such an insulator will significantly increase the total amount of stored thermal energy in the house.
As for wall decoration, natural wood paneling is more often used, as well as plasterboard panels with subsequent painting. For installation, you will need to create a crate from rails or a metal profile. Mineral wool or expanded polystyrene is also added to empty segments. The correct phased construction of a frame house with your own hands at the stage of finishing the ceiling provides for the calculation of laying communications. For example, electrical wiring can be fixed in a sub-ceiling niche, hidden from view. To do this, a suspended plasterboard structure is mounted on metal profiles.
Conclusion
It cannot be said that the concept of frame housing construction is completely new for the Russian inhabitant. The balanced design of country houses and summer houses is in many ways reminiscent of Canadian building principles, but without the expectation of permanent residence. And yet, the technology for the phased construction of a do-it-yourself frame house has a lot of attractive properties, which include low cost, fast construction rates, and flexibility in providing insulating coatings. But the weaknesses of such structures should not be ignored. These include modest strength characteristics, high requirements for additional thermal insulation and the need for regular treatment of structural elements with protective agents.
