Interesting, original and practical country houses

With the approach of warm days, an increasing number of our compatriots try to visit their summer cottages every weekend. What could be better than outdoor recreation, the ability to breathe fresh air, enjoy the sun and the richness of the plant world? The only opportunity to extend this pleasure for a longer period is to spend at the cottage not only weekends, but also vacations, and maybe all summer. But for this it is necessary to equip a small dwelling on a summer cottage. If you have not yet acquired a summer house, then this publication can be useful and inspiring for you.

Before proceeding with the selection of a project for a summer house, it is necessary to determine how often it will be used and how long will stay in it. Will you use your summer cottage only in the warm season or do you plan to visit the cottage in the cold season? Or maybe you need a summer house only for a day's stay and storage of tools and the necessary tools for country work, and no one will spend the night there? From the answers to all these questions will depend not only the choice of the size of the country house, but also the material from which it will be made and finished.

For many of our compatriots, country houses have ceased to be a luxury, becoming an urgent need. Someone likes to spend every weekend outside the city rush and gas, and for someone all summer time spent in the country is the best months of the year. And there are also such homeowners who spend many winter days in the premises of their summer cottages. That is why it is better to decide at the initial stage of planning whether you will need heating and water supply in the house and other engineering systems (electricity will most likely be carried out by default).

When we talk about permanent housing, we mean an apartment or home ownership that reflects the lifestyle of the owners, their stylistic and taste preferences, and even the way of thinking. A country house is slightly different from the main place of residence, it is also able to reflect your views on the perception of a variety of concepts. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to prioritizing the design and arrangement of summer (or off-season) houses for summer cottages.

In order to feel really calm, cozy and safe in a country house, it is important at the construction planning stage to find out all the advantages and disadvantages of certain projects, find out the maximum information about building materials and how to quickly build temporary dwellings for summer cottages or thoroughly erect a monumental building for a long and off-season living.

Nowadays, country house projects are one of the fastest growing areas of design and engineering. Regardless of whether you plan to build a small summer house or a solid dwelling for year-round use, at the design stage it will be necessary to take into account the landscape and the type of soil of the summer cottage (the choice of foundation will largely depend on this).

Projects of country houses can be conditionally divided into standard (finished) and individual (created according to your requirements, wishes and landscape features of the summer cottage). If you contact the developer for a standard project, you can be sure that the option you have chosen is already worked out (you can even see how the projects of this company look a few years after implementation). In this case, the risk is minimized, and the cost of such a project will be acceptable, affordable.

But what if the standard options for country houses do not suit you.If you want uniqueness, originality and creativity with maximum respect for practicality and comfort? In this case, it is necessary to order an individual, special project, which will certainly take more time and financial resources.

When ordering an individual project, you will need to work in a “tight” connection with the designer. It is important that the features of design decisions have a harmonious architectural embodiment. For a country house, it is necessary to maintain a balance in the use of decor, both in the exterior of the building and in its interior. Try to avoid congestion in everything; it is better to strive for minimalism in this case.

The house project will be ideal, in which it was possible to take into account not only the practical side of the issues of a comfortable stay of the owners in the country, their stylistic preferences and the budget for the project, but also the harmony of the building with the environment, the landscape design of the summer cottage, and the nature of the residence area.

If you've already figured out design ideas, then it's time to think about what materials your country house will be made of. Let’s try together to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular materials for the construction of suburban temporary or off-season housing.

The modern construction market offers a considerable assortment of materials for the construction of country houses, the following are most popular:

• tree;
• stone, brick;
• foam block;
• frame products.

Of course, these are not all options for building summer cottages; there are houses made of reinforced concrete slabs, metal plates, or even straw. But we will analyze the most popular and practical options.

Foam blocks for construction began to be used not so long ago, but this material has already managed to become popular among our compatriots. The houses built from foam blocks are quite durable, comfortable. They have high efficiency and energy saving. Among other things, the foam block has a surface that is easy to process and decorate. As a result, not only the construction of the building, but also its decoration cost an acceptable amount for most Russians, which for many homeowners serves as a key aspect in choosing material for construction.

Advantages of foam block buildings:

• comfortable microclimate of the room, regardless of the time of year;
• high fire resistance;
• excellent sound insulation;
• acceptable price;
• durability;
• good resistance to the manifestations of climatic features (the house from the foam block perfectly keeps cool in the summer and warm in the winter, which means that much less energy is spent on heating and conditioning the house);
• low load on the foundation.

If you plan a long stay in the country, but without installing additional engineering systems, then a foam block house will be the most advantageous option.

Disadvantages of houses from the foam block:

• a foundation is needed, which means additional costs for material and work;
• construction time is required much more than when assembling frame houses.

As a rule, houses built from foam blocks are lined with decorative panels, giving them a very respectable and attractive appearance.

If you plan to spend a lot of time in the country, including in the cold season, then you need to consider the option of building a house of brick or even stone. Obviously, such a structure can serve you for many decades with minimal care. But as long as such houses are durable, they are just as expensive in terms of acquiring material and paying for construction works (especially for stone buildings).

The advantages of brick and stone dwellings:

• durability;
• strength;
• reliability;
• resistance to humidity, temperature differences and climatic features (strong wind, for example);
• high sound insulation;
• good heat capacity, which means savings on heating systems

But in addition to the obvious advantages, there are also disadvantages that become noticeable when it comes to summer cottage:

• the high cost of material and the work of construction specialists;
• a lot of time needs to be spent to build a house even of small sizes;
• the only possible option for the foundation is monolithic (it will not work to save). This is due to the high density of the material and, as a consequence, the large mass of the walls of the building;
• the construction of a monolithic foundation entails the use of special equipment and the necessary wait (for a month or more) for concrete to acquire the necessary strength.

A brick or stone house is suitable for living in it in the winter, only if you plan to spend more than two days there (weekend). In case of inconsistent living in a brick or stone house, every time you turn on the heating system (gas or diesel), you will need to wait almost a day (depending on the size of the house) until it warms up.

From the very beginning of the appearance of country houses, people preferred houses made of wood. Natural raw materials will never lose popularity. Wooden houses are the most environmentally friendly, they give the owners an atmosphere of comfort, warmth and tranquility. Currently, the country houses of our compatriots are mainly one-story small buildings.

But there are also buildings with attics and two-story houses. Often there is a need for additional space, but there is not much space left on a summer cottage for construction. In this case, the option of a summer house with an attic saves. He helps out in case of need for a garage. But it must be borne in mind that with permanent residence in the country, heating the structure at two levels will be more difficult and costly.

The advantages of wooden houses for giving:

• cheaper than brick and stone;
• construction takes less time;
• due to the lower weight of the material, it is possible to use a pile-screw foundation on almost all types of soils (it can be installed in a few days and without the use of complex construction equipment, you do not need to dig a pit);
• the tree does not conduct sound waves well, which means that it will be quiet and calm in a wooden house;
• excellent thermal insulation (in winter you will have to burn a minimum amount of fuel, heat loss is negligible);
• in winter it is much simpler and faster to melt a cooled, non-residential house than a brick or stone one;
• a lot of space for imagination, there are practically no restrictions on the shape and size of wooden houses (due to the low weight and high strength of the material);
• high environmental safety for people and the environment;
• the tree self-regulates the moisture level - if there is an excess of moisture, the material will absorb it, otherwise the lack of moisture will be compensated for from the wooden walls and floor. It is very comfortable to be in a room with wooden surfaces.

This version of the building material is perfect for owners who do not have the opportunity to constantly live in the country and get out there only on the weekend.

Cons of wood as a material for construction:

• high fire hazard (the need for special mortar treatment of all building material);
• low resistance to the appearance of fungus and decay (the use of impregnation antiseptics will significantly reduce the risk of mold and possible subsequent destruction of the material).

Unfortunately, all these impregnations have a very complex chemical composition and applying them to wood, we deprive the material of environmental friendliness and its "breathing" properties. The inevitable dilemma between the safety, aesthetics and environmental properties of wood.

In terms of construction options, there are several types of wooden houses. The most popular of them is a chopped wooden house, made entirely on the basis of a log house or a summer house from glued beams. Such houses can be with an attic, attic, as well as frame.

The following foundation types are usually used for the construction of wooden houses:

• monolithic;
• columnar
• pile.

It should be noted that in our country capital structures from timber on a monolithic foundation, but with a slight deepening, are most widespread. A material such as timber is suitable for quick construction. Only a couple of weeks will be required to build a reliable home with good heat and sound insulation and minimal costs for subsequent heating. But you need to be prepared for the fact that the house from the beam will require insulation and exterior decoration (which can be started no earlier than a year after the end of the first stage of building the house).

As for the glued beam, then ready-made billets made in the factory are delivered to your summer cottage. The house, which is called "turnkey", can be built immediately, glued timber - dry material. Due to the fact that the timber is planed on all sides, finished surfaces almost do not need additional finishing. But it is still necessary to polish the walls a little and cover them with a protective layer.

But not a single material is complete without flaws. If technological errors occurred during the manufacturing of glued beams (for example, boards were not dried up), then this will affect all the properties of the material and the structure as a whole. Therefore, do not chase low cost (and finished houses from glued beams are attractive because of their affordability), it is better to choose a trusted developer with recommendations and a well-known name on the market.

There is another option for making a wooden house - handmade log cabins. In this case, the logs are subjected to minimal processing, only a small part of the upper layer of wood is cut, which, of course, affects the properties of the material and in the future of the whole building. The houses are strong and durable. For the logs, the highest quality logs are taken, they are carefully sorted to meet the clear requirements of the building’s geometry. As a result, you can be sure of the high thermal insulation properties of the wooden dwelling. Hand-made calibrated log cabin differs from cylinder log house precisely in the minimal processing of the initial raw material - logs. But the cost of such a dwelling will be significantly higher not only of the frame house, but also of the glued beam building.

Many of our compatriots are happy with the prospect of getting a country house in just a few days. You simply select the building project you like from the developer and sign the contract. Further, the builder performs most of the work on collecting frame shields on his territory, the constructor in semi-readiness already gets to your site. With the help of special equipment, finished panels are assembled very quickly.

The low weight of the structure allows the use of a pile type of foundation, which requires a minimum of material and time. Frame houses have an attractive appearance, and their cost is much lower than brick or wooden.

But such a house will be for you a good value for money only in the warm season (in our country it is from May to September, depending on the climate in the region). The fact is that initially the technology of frame "fast" houses was developed for use in Europe and the USA, where in most regions even in winter the temperature does not drop significantly below zero degrees. Even with a good insulation, heat loss at home will be great, fuel consumption for heating the building in winter (even in cold weather up to -10 degrees) will be maximum.Even an individual heating system will not be able to cope with sufficient heating of the building in large frosts, and there is no need to talk about central heating. Yes, and all kinds of insulation - materials that are very loved by different types of rodents, which is an additional problem for the owners.

In the summer in the very heat, in frame houses it is also uncomfortable. The walls are very hot in the sun and begin to give off heat inside the room, as a result, it will be simply impossible to stay in the house. It is necessary to install forced ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Frame houses are cheap to build, but expensive to operate. In addition, structural features prevent the building from breathing. Several layers of film under the insulation completely do not let air through.