Currently, many townspeople have and are growing a desire to move from a city apartment to their own house in order to enjoy the silence and communion with nature all year round. Summer cottages are gradually being built up with houses with the possibility of year-round living, communications are being carried out to create comfort and familiar amenities.
Pros and cons of small houses
The problem is that the bulk of the population owns small suburban areas of land on which it is simply impossible to build a huge house, and the fashion for castles with towers has passed.
The rise in construction costs, a decrease in the area of land plots and an increase in their value have led to the fact that many owners of suburban real estate are interested in small cottages.
Interesting in this regard, the size of the house is 8x8 meters
The undoubted advantages of a small house include:
- affordable cost of construction and design;
- a minimum area of land is required;
- reducing the cost of finishing, furniture, home textiles, plumbing fixtures;
- low utility bills;
- the possibility of using the saved funds for the highest quality finishing materials;
- the ability to build an energy efficient home;
- there is more free land for ornamental and fruit plants, a lawn, a pool, a bathhouse, a playground;
- reduction in property taxes.
The construction of small cottages requires a creative approach to the layout of residential and utility rooms for the most convenient and comfortable accommodation of the inhabitants. Not everyone succeeds in thinking over each room on their own, and then building a house. This is the main disadvantage.
Choosing the number of storeys
With a limited budget and a small family, a one-story house with a size of 8x8 meters is the best option. You can expand the living space by adding a covered veranda or terrace. The area of the house of 64 m2 is quite enough for a family of 3-4 people, it is comparable to the area of a standard three-room apartment.
A one-story house project for a family with two children will include:
- parents' bedroom - from 12 m2;
- children's room with two windows - 18 m2;
- living room - 20 m2;
- bathroom, kitchen, corridor - 14 m2.
For small houses, it is advisable to combine a kitchen-dining room and a living room and make an open plan. For the rational use of space, they arrange built-in wardrobes, pantries, mezzanines. At the design stage, the location of the windows is thought out, for example:
- the parent's bedroom and the entrance to the house are from the north side;
- nursery - with windows to the west or southwest;
- kitchen - to the east;
- living room - on the south side of the house.
If there are funds and the need to have a house with a large number of bedrooms, a two-story building is chosen. A floor-by-floor project is being drawn up, where on the first floor you can plan:
- kitchen - 10 m2;
- bathroom - 4 m2;
- living room - 27 m2;
- hall with stairs leading to the 2nd floor - 9 m2.
The second floor can accommodate 3 bedrooms with an area of 12.8 m2, 11.8 m2 and 8 m2, a bathroom of 6.6 m2 and a small corridor with a staircase leading to it.
A two-storey house, even of such a modest size, has an area twice as large as a one-storey one, and it is possible to accommodate both guests and owners in it. But it is more difficult and more expensive to design and install heating, water supply and sewerage systems, and utility costs will increase in proportion to the increased area of the cottage.
Suitable layouts
Having chosen the number of storeys, size and layout, you can start choosing the material for the walls of the house.
A block house is usually chosen due to the high speed of construction due to the large size of this building material and the relative cheapness. Some types of blocks do not tolerate atmospheric precipitation.
Walls from any type of block require mandatory external finishing - plastering, insulation, even for aesthetic reasons.
There are a large number of building blocks on the building materials market:
- lightweight concrete blocks - aerated concrete, foam concrete, polystyrene concrete;
- expanded clay blocks;
- cinder blocks;
- ceramic block;
- cement-sand blocks.
To lighten the weight of the material and at the same time increase its thermal and sound insulation properties, special fillers are used - expanded clay, polystyrene. Or they increase the porosity of concrete by foaming.
The advantages of aerated concrete are its ease of processing, the material is sawn, does not burn, has a clear geometry, which simplifies laying and reduces the consumption of glue.
The disadvantages of aerated concrete are fragility. It does not support the weight of heavy pieces of furniture; you have to use special fasteners to hang them. A deep strip foundation will be required, when laying the walls, reinforcement with steel reinforcement is performed every 3 rows of blocks, the openings of windows and doors are also reinforced, an armored belt is being built under the roof. All this leads to an increase in the cost of construction.
A good option to build a small house from foam blocks. This material has a higher strength than aerated concrete, and a large mass. The thermal insulation properties are slightly lower, it will be necessary to increase the thickness of the walls, which will lead to the need to strengthen the foundation and increase its cost. This is partially offset by the low cost of foam concrete. This material is so easy to manufacture that there is a risk of purchasing handicraft foam concrete.
Important! In order to meet the declared characteristics, the foam block must be manufactured in strict compliance with the technology.
An interesting, but rather complex constructive solution is to build a brick house with a basement, in which all the necessary technical premises can be placed - a boiler room, a sauna, a gym, which will relieve the scarce space. Houses with a basement are more labor-intensive and costly; when drawing up a plan, it is necessary to correctly determine the thickness of the walls of the basement, taking into account the type of soil, the depth of the groundwater, the heaving of the soil. If the soils are not problematic, the thickness of the basement walls is the same as the walls of the house. With problematic soils, their thickness is increased by 20-30 cm.
Attention! With a high groundwater level, it is better to abandon the construction of a cottage with a basement or basement floor in order to avoid a significant increase in the cost of construction due to the need for drainage and expensive waterproofing.
A house built from a log will help you to feel the connection of times, to find yourself in the atmosphere of the original Russian national color. You can choose a log house made of rounded logs or chopped by hand, on a turnkey basis in a serious company or from private entrepreneurs. The modest dimensions of 8x8 meters allow you to make the walls of the house without log joints.
The advantages of wood are low thermal conductivity, which is important for the climate of central Russia and Siberia, ease of processing, wear resistance, the ability to save on finishing materials, especially when building from rounded logs. We must not forget about the high environmental friendliness of the material. Only in a log house can you feel the unique aroma of wood.
For people with lung and respiratory diseases, living in wooden houses can ease the course of the disease, reduce the likelihood of attacks.
Wood is the only material from which a house can be dismantled and moved to another location if necessary
Minus - the flammability of the material and the possibility of damage to wood by pests. Both problems can be solved - impregnation of logs with fire retardants and antiseptics will save the house from possible misfortunes.
The choice of material is a difficult question, but the main problem is to build a house with an excellent layout. There are many options for every taste.
With an attic - an intermediate economical option. The area of a one-and-a-half-story house is slightly less than a two-story one, but it will significantly add space to a one-story building. The attic accommodates guest bedrooms, a library, and a sports room. The attic can be insulated for year-round use or only for the warm season - the choice is up to the owner of the house
With bay window - glazed areaserving as the facade of the house, a stylish and original addition to the overall design of the building. They are round or Venetian (combined with buildings in the classical style), square and triangular. In a private house, a separate roof is built near the bay window, most often domed. For a small house, this is an additional opportunity to expand the living space
With garage - the modest size of the house does not allow placing a garage on the ground floor without a significant reduction in living space. In this case, a garage room is provided in the basement or attached to the wall of the house using the same materials as for the main building. Thus, money and materials are saved at the expense of one common wall. It is best to avoid placing living rooms above the garage. The garage should be located closer to the outer border of the site, and not in the depth - for a shorter access road
With veranda - sooner or later, a veranda or terrace is attached to any country house, even if it was not originally planned. It is not only a comfortable vacation spot for families and guests of the house, but also a way to significantly expand the living space. The veranda will cost more - glazing will be required, perhaps even heating. With the terrace, everything is easier - a canopy is arranged to protect from rain and sun, if desired, with soft windows - curtains made of translucent polymer protect from weather surprises and are easily removed, rolling into rollers under the roof
A small country house opens up room for creative imagination, strengthens family ties and helps to save money.
