What Kind Of Structure Should We Choose For The House
The evolution of the building techniques leaves us with another question when it comes to building a house: what type pf structure to choose? We have so far seen various examples of brick, AAC built house, or timber or metallic framed houses. We have now synthesized all this info for you to have a broader view, with some telling numbers also included. The specialist we talked to is Dorel Chereches, sales manager with Casemexi.ro, a company which is specialized in steel framing houses, but which also builds timber framing houses or traditional brick or AAC house.
The main criterion to take into account in this process is comfort. After all, a house is built for at least a generation and, as a consequence, comfort cannot be ignored. “In this context, thermal insulation is very important as a premise for a higher comfort and low costs. As far as steel framing houses are concerned, thermal insulation is way more superior that what one can find in the traditional brick houses. Numbers speak for themselves: thermal loss in the first case is 0.169 Kw per square meters, while in the second the amount goes up to 0.319 Kw, which is double”, he said.
The time necessary to build a house is also important. A steel framing house can be raised in 3 months, for instance. More than that, the quality of the final construction should not be ignored. Again, steel framing houses come with straight walls and 90 degrees angles and minimum human errors in the building process. More than that, this type of houses can withstand a 9.8 magnitude earthquake.
As far as the budget is concerned, the steel framing houses have a turnkey price of about 430 Euros/square meter. A brick house, featuring the same interior structure and finishes, sells for about 500 Euros/built square meters.
Here is a price simulation for a house we randomly chose. This attic house in the images below costs about 63,000 Euros (steel frame), 68.000 (timber frame), 71,500 Euros (brick walls) and 75,000 (AAC walls).
But what are the pros and cons of the other building techniques? The brick walls are the most popular choices. These are durable homes which call for little maintenance work over time. They can be expanded vertically and can support any type of roof. The cons are the highest price, the long building time and a higher energy consumption to both warm and cool. Here is a comparison between brick vs AAC blocks.
The timber frame houses are also earthquake resistant, easy to build (an attic house with a living area of 100 square meters can be built in about two months), are equally comfortable in terms of thermal insulation, with bills 40-50 % lower than the classic brick houses and lower building costs as well. But these houses cannot be expanded vertically, have a lower life span, feature a poorer sound insulation and require meticulous maintenance works on the long run.
