How to build a house with your own hands from a bar: tips and general guidance

How to build a house with your own hands from a bar? This question is usually asked by every potential newcomer after seeing the prices of construction work. On the one hand, self-construction really helps to reduce the cost of housing. On the other hand, the lack of necessary skills and any violation of technology can lead to the fact that a self-constructed home will turn not into a cozy home, but into a headache for the homeowner.

Therefore, when deciding that the construction of a house from a bar will be conducted without the help of professionals, you need to think about every step, starting with the choice of material and ending with the last finishing touch.

How to build a house from a bar with your own hands: the main stages of work

The decision that the self-built house will be from a bar has been taken correctly. For a person who does not have building skills, timber is the easiest and most convenient material. It is economical, affordable, easy to use and easy to use. Timber house should not stand as long as the structure of a log house. But, having conceived the construction of a house with your own hands, it is important to realize that even the most experienced master will not be able to give comprehensive advice in absentia. There are many problems that arise in the course of work. In addition, the technology of building a house from a bar can be different. Only the main stages of this process coincide. The tips below should not be considered step-by-step instructions, but guidelines for action and reflection.

What are the steps to build a log house with your own hands always the same?

1. Topographical survey of the site (Fig. 1). It will help to correctly assess the location of the future structure and its binding to the relief and communications.
2. Creating a project. It is the project that not only determines the durability and comfort of the future dwelling, but also the speed of its construction, the price of construction.
3. Pit and foundation. This is the basis of the structure. A house made of timber, put on a solid foundation with its own hands, can serve several generations. Therefore, the technology of building the foundation should be respected as accurately as possible.
4. Build a log house under the roof.
5. Institution in the house of communications.

Note: The technology of building a log house provides several options for placing communications into a building. This can be done immediately after the construction of the foundation and the construction of the screed or after the walls are ready. Wiring and other communications can also be made at different stages of building a house: before finishing or after it.

1. The final installation of the roof.
2. Laying communications, floor installation.
3. Finishing of timber.
4. Installation of windows and doors.
5. Final finishing.

It is in this order that the construction of a house is most often carried out. However, some stages may be carried out in a different order, especially regarding the laying of communications.

What should be taken into account when creating a project

How to build a house that can become a haven for many generations? Even at the design stage it is necessary to take into account all its features, and then build a strong and reliable foundation.

It is good if the project is created by professionals. And what needs to be considered when making drawings with your own hands? Here are a few things homegrown designers often overlook. And it depends on them, if not reliability, then the comfort of the future home.

1. It is better to plan the sloping roof: no precipitations will accumulate on it.
2. The smaller the exterior wall area, the lower the heating costs.
3. The attic helps prevent heat from escaping through the roof. Even warmer in the house will be if instead of the attic to plan a warm attic. It will warm the ceiling and increase the living space.
4. Each living room should have its own window.
5. When planning to build a house with your own hands, it is important to remember that ceilings of less than 2.5 m are under pressure, they make rooms squat and uncomfortable. Planning a height of more than 3.5 m is unprofitable: additional heating costs will be required.
6. If there are corridors in the house, then their width cannot be less than a meter.
7. It has been proved in practice: if there are steps in the house, then there should be no less than three, but no more than 18. It is not recommended to build ladders in which more than three spans.

The technology of building a house from a bar usually involves the construction of a strip or pile foundation.

However, at the design stage, you can plan the construction of the basement floor. First, you can hide all the technical rooms in it.Secondly, the presence of the base allows not so carefully insulate the floors in the house and retain moisture.

What kind of foundation is better to choose

1. Belt. Versatile and easy to build, this type provides for an increase in estimates: it requires a large amount of materials.
2. Pile. Well proved on mobile soil. Piles can be made of any material, for their fastening the earth does not require additional processing, and workers - heavy machinery. Pile foundations withstand up to 5 tons for 100 years.
3. Foundation blocks (fig. 2). The most expensive, but the most reliable foundation to create a basement. The service life of such foundations, if the construction technology is observed, is endless. In addition, the foundations of the blocks allow you to level the house on any terrain without additional work. In the basement there is a garage, laundry, boiler room and other rooms that can spoil the interior of a log house.

Important: regardless of the type of foundation chosen, the depth of the pit below it should be below the soil freezing point by at least 10%. Otherwise, the first frosts on the ground push the blocks or piles out of the ground.

The total thickness of the leveling dump in the foundation pit (crushed stone, sand, primary waterproofing) should be at least 5-10 cm, but this can be accurately determined only based on the soil data provided by the surveyors.

Each foundation - belt, tile, block or pile - has its own construction technology, which cannot be described in two words. However, all foundations have a common: they all end with the construction of a rough tie. It is at this stage most often homegrown builders make fatal mistakes. The most common of them - the wrong attitude to the draft screed. It is important to remember that the cement should not dry, it should harden properly.

It is for this purpose that the screed is tightly covered with a film or another hydroinsulator, and when the dryness is increased, it is also periodically watered with water. The lack of moisture can cause the cement to dry up, and this will lead to cracks or the complete destruction of the foundation in the already finished structure.

If the placement of heavy furniture is planned in the house, then it is better to reinforce the draft screed with a special reinforcing mesh.

It is possible to hide the thermal insulation under the draft tie: foam plastic, expanded clay or other insulators.

From the floor to the roof

We continue to build a house from a bar. With your hands starting to raise the walls, you need to take into account the following points:

1. Building a house is laying out rows of a bar. Each row is connected to the next with the help of the dowel. Pins made of metal are more expensive, but they last longer and more reliably.
2. To install the dowel without effort, you must first drill a hole through the 2-3 rims, into which the fastener will be inserted. Drill timber recommended in a checkerboard pattern.
3. A compactor must be inserted between the rows: felt, jute fiber, etc.

Note. It is considered that the house from a bar does not shrink, therefore should not be defended. However, shrinkage, albeit minimal, gives the seal. That is why it is better that 2-3 months pass between the stage of building walls, installing windows, doors and finishing.

1. Where external walls join together, it is better to construct a “warm corner” (Fig. 3). To do this, in each row of the bar, the spike and groove alternate. The result is a very durable and warm, windproof design.
2. Internal partitions are mounted only after the log house is ready. Well, if one of them serves as an additional support for the upper floor.
3. A house will be stronger if partitions cut into bearing walls with a 100x150 mm timber.

Laying the floor in a log house can be done in several ways:

• on the logs that are laid on the ground;
• on the floor beams.

Before installing, lags must acclimatize, so they need to be brought into the house several days before installation. Wood must be prepared: impregnated with antiseptics and flame retardants.

A layer of vapor or waterproofing is laid on a well-established draft screed. Install logs. They can either be mounted on the walls of the log house, or set on the foundation. At different ends of the house two beams are laid, between them (after 1-1.5 m) a kapron thread is stretched. It will help to install the remaining beams smoothly. It is important to remember: the thinner the floorboards are, the less distance there should be between lags.

The gaps between the lags are filled with a heat insulator (foam, mineral wool, etc.).Then a layer of material is placed between the lags and the subfloor, which is able to protect the wood from condensation.

The first board of the subfloor is laid on the logs so that there is 1.5 cm between it and the wall. Later this place will be covered with a plinth.

How to properly cover the roof

The ceiling beams are placed on the finished walls of the log house so that they protrude beyond their limits by about 0.5 m. The bar of 100x150 mm is laid on the edge at a distance of 80-100 cm. The truss system is packed along these lags with a step of no more than a meter. Most suitable for rafters boards 50x100 mm. Gables can be stabbed, built from siding or timber. On rafters the obreshetka becomes. Here the step should not exceed 40 cm. Now that the skeleton of the roof is ready, we can proceed to its insulation and waterproofing.

Important: insulation starts from the last floor (or attic) and goes up.

The pitched roof is insulated from the attic (Fig. 4). Before starting work, carefully cover the rafters and the crate with a fire retardant, you can also soak all wooden parts with a compound that prevents the appearance of mold and insects.

Roof insulation is a kind of layer cake, which consists of a waterproofing material, insulation, steam insulation, interior decoration.

1. For warming the roof, it is better to choose more modern materials: basalt wool, expanded polystyrene foam, polyurethane. They are easier to work, more reliably retain heat. However, you can use the materials of the old generation: expanded clay, foam.
2. The cheapest waterproofing is made of roofing felt. Special films of new generations are able to protect the insulation from getting wet, taking away from him accidentally moisture.
3. A conventional polyethylene film, glassine, is suitable for vapor barrier. If foil insulators are chosen, the coated side must be turned inwards. Significantly simplifies the work of a special vapor barrier membrane.

The flat roof can be insulated both from the street side and from the inside. Layers can be arranged in this order:

• steam membrane;
• insulation;
• waterproofing;
• claydite drainage .

So briefly the answer to the question of how to build a house from a bar looks like. Of course, this is not a manual, but only a general guide. Comprehend all the details, you can learn all the secrets only in the construction process.