Today, individual housing construction is becoming more and more popular. This is the opposite effect of the urbanization process that has developed over the past century. Most of the townspeople prefer a private house in the suburbs to the metropolis for seasonal or permanent residence. Such housing compares favorably with a city apartment.
Firstly, environmental friendliness: the private sector is located, as a rule, far beyond the line of highways, industrial complexes, and also in the priority for building cottages made of wood and other natural materials.
Secondly, it is economical: the relatively low cost of building materials, short terms for the construction of a dwelling.
Thirdly, comfort: a private house or cottage can be built according to an individual plan, and it will be much more spacious, in contrast to a city apartment purchased for the same money. In this article, we will pay special attention to the construction of frame houses with an additional element from the point of view of space ergonomics - an attic.
Features of frame houses with an attic
Families are growing - this is a natural process, therefore, over the past decade, the demand for the construction of cottages with an additional living space - an attic floor - has increased. An attic is an additional area organized in the space of an attic used as a living space. Its facade, as a rule, is formed due to the roof surface (triangular pitched or broken).
According to the current SNiP, the border of the intersection of the plane of the roof and the wall of the building should be no more than one and a half meters from the attic floor line. The height of the attic space itself cannot be less than two and a half meters and must occupy at least half of the area of the entire room (see the figure below).
The walls of the attic floor are made up of two elements: the lower part is strictly vertical, outside and inside it is made with the same finishing as the first floor. The upper part can represent an inclined plane, the base of which is the slings. Inside, the decoration is either made in the same style as the main part of the wall, or is contrastingly different, forming a smooth transition into the ceiling. Outside, roofing materials are used as decoration.
Consider the benefits of building this type of frame houses
- Substantial savings. A house with an attic compares favorably with an ordinary two-story building in terms of costs, although according to urban planning standards, the attic is recognized as the second floor, which actually makes such buildings equal. Savings are achieved due to finishing materials: the larger the surface area of the frame of the sloped rafter walls, the greater the savings!
- Functionality … The purpose of the attic can be quite varied: a bedroom or a children's room, a study, a studio, a workshop or a dressing room can be located here. But in any case, this is not just an attic space, it is additional living space that can be used throughout the year.
- Short construction time. Recently, frame construction has been gaining momentum. The technology for the construction of private houses in this way solves the issue of acquiring housing in a fairly short time - as a rule, in one season. It will take no more than three months from design, construction of the foundation and to the implementation of interior finishing work!
- Ease of construction achieved due to the lightweight design of the frame itself. You do not have to hire labor - you can cope with the construction yourself.
- Easy to maintain. When building a frame house with an attic, you will always have easy access to laying communications, replacing insulation, and repairing a roof.
- Individual project. You have a unique opportunity to independently model the layout and design of a building with an attic, in contrast to typical structures. Sloped walls will add flavor and elegance to the project.
- Refinement and expressiveness of houses with an attic … The whimsicality of such an architectural building compares favorably with the houses of the standard type. Competent finishing allows the owners to feel like the owners of a fabulous estate.
- Fast dismantling … If it is necessary to sell or rebuild the site, or move to a new place, frame housing can be easily disassembled and transported.
However, houses with an attic floor have their drawbacks. When designing a future country house, you should definitely pay attention to these points.
Small area of the attic floor. Desired square meters are hidden by sloping walls. By "driving" an additional room under the roof truss system, willy-nilly we have to cut the area
Arrangement of stairs. To provide access to the additional floor, a competent installation of a staircase with a standard angle of inclination and compliance with safety requirements is required. A properly installed staircase hides the square meters of the ground floor area. The resulting space under the stairs in most cases serves as a pantry or dressing room
In addition, additional reinforcement of the structures supporting the ceiling is required at the point where the exit to the second floor is formed.
In order to arrangement of natural light it is necessary to use special windows that are built into the roof surface, which increases the cost of the roof. In other cases, the windows are placed on the vertical part of the wall of the attic floor, but for this it is necessary to change the shape of the roof to a trapezoidal one, which entails additional complexity in the installation of the structure
- The complexity of the arrangement of the ventilation system … The hood in the attic room will not be able to provide acceptable air exchange due to the low channel height. Therefore, there will always be stuffy stale air on the second floor.
- Feeling of a confined space. From a psychological point of view, low lighting, low ceilings and sloping walls "put pressure" on a person, developing stressful conditions.
But it should be noted that this effect can be easily eliminated due to the competent arrangement of natural and artificial light, mirrors, furniture arrangement and wall decoration.
Additional sound, heat and waterproofing… The roof of the attic floor must have a complex drainage system. The attic floor suffers most of all in bad weather. In order to minimize external noise and eliminate all cold bridges, the owners of frame houses with an attic have to invest significantly in the purchase of thermal insulation materials
Thus, speaking about the features of the frame construction of houses with an attic, we have highlighted the main advantages and main disadvantages. After reviewing all the features and estimating the budget, the future owner of a suburban area must make an informed decision - to build or not build. If, nevertheless, you want to acquire your own economy-class housing in a short time, designed according to individual preferences, we will consider together some projects and their phased construction.
Projects
Any house on a suburban area should look harmonious, because in addition to the dwelling itself, the owner of the land must also ennoble the surrounding area. Before starting construction, it is important to create a layout of the future site, where, in addition to the project of a private house, outbuildings, elements of garden decor and the like will be compactly located.
You can model the site yourself, or you can use ready-made projects designed for a certain area of land. According to the shape, several types of summer cottages can be distinguished: square, rectangular (narrow, elongated), irregular in shape. The dimensions of the area of the house itself directly depend on this. Consider the drawings of some of them.
For small areas, you can use a ready-made plan of small country houses in sizes 4x4, 4x6.
If you wish, you can find a huge variety of 6x4 projects with ready-made layouts. In order to increase the free space in the room, you can remove the partition between the kitchen and the living room, creating a spacious studio. The device of the arch is advisable in this case to hide the beams supporting the second floor.
And here is an interesting 5x6 project with a veranda where old rubbish, a summer kitchen, a home garden or a recreation area can be located:
For plots of medium size, it is advisable to build more spacious cottages with dimensions of 6x6, 7x7, 6x7, 7x8. In the attic, you can already organize two bedrooms:
In the projects of houses of the type 6 by 8, 7 by 8, you can already accommodate additional utility rooms (storage room, dressing room).
It is more difficult to design elongated houses with dimensions of 6x9, 6x10, 4x10. But here you can already arrange three full-fledged rooms or accommodate a garage. They build 6 by 9 houses for families "for growth": young couples expecting an addition, or mature ones with children and grandchildren.
On large plots, spacious houses are erected with dimensions of 8x8, 9x9 or 7x9, 8x10. As a rule, these are quite expensive projects for a large noisy family. Both outside and inside, such houses look luxurious and are the main attraction of the entire suburban settlement.
If you want your house to be like that, feel free to take this project into service and do not delay with the estimate!
Internal and external finishing
When building frame houses, special attention should be paid to finishing. First of all, for residential premises used for both seasonal and permanent residence, the ability to keep warm is important. In order to maintain a comfortable temperature in the house at any time of the year, it is necessary to carefully select materials for external decorative finishing. The priority is to use natural environmentally friendly materials: wood, lining, stone, brick.
If from the outside, the facade of the building is decorated with brickwork or wooden panels, this will give the building reliability. However, these materials are relatively expensive. In a more economical version, modern Penoplex insulation can be used as cladding, and outside - facing with panel panels or siding. This type of finishing will entail a minimum of costs, and outwardly looks no worse than natural materials.
As for the interior decoration of the walls of the lower floor and the attic, here on top of the insulation (most often it is mineral wool), the walls are sheathed with chipboard (chipboard), fiberboard (fiberboard), clapboard or plywood sheets, on top of which a layer of decorative plaster can be applied, or wallpaper is pasted.
The owners of private houses prefer to use the "warm floor" system as an additional source of heat. This technology allows you to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature at any time of the year. Floor tiles are laid on top of the warm floor, or laminate is laid. Thus, the maximum comfort and coziness of your country house is achieved, and it becomes suitable for permanent residence.
In order to visually increase the space of the attic floor, when creating an architectural project, designers suggest using an attic with a bay window. A bay window is a part of the room that protrudes beyond the plane of the facade of the building itself, allowing you to expand the internal area of the housing. As a rule, the bay window has panoramic glazing, due to which the attic receives maximum natural light.
The shape of the bay window can be very diverse: semicircle, rectangle, polyhedron, which adds pretentiousness to your architectural structure.
Beautiful examples
If you decide to become the owner of a frame house with an attic, know that this is a great choice! In recent decades, frame construction has been gaining momentum in our country. The most important thing is that you yourself can become the author of your own unique project by building your dream house! Below are photos of the happy owners of completed projects.
For information on how to properly build an attic floor, see the next video.