How to make the walls of a frame house

It is not in vain that the frame technology of building houses is very popular among buyers of suburban housing. After all, this is both ease of construction, and low cost, and speed of assembly. But when designing such a house, it must be remembered that the walls of this house must protect not only from wind and cold, but also from extraneous noise. However, first let's talk about the frame house as a whole, because the walls themselves will not line up in the house.

Bottom trim

When the foundation is ready, we proceed to the construction of the house itself. It is very important at the very beginning to accurately set the strapping of the frame structure, because the stability of the whole house will depend on it. In fact, the lower trim of the frame structure is its basis, with the help of which the walls are attached to the foundation, and the load of the whole house on the foundation is evenly distributed. For the strapping device, as a rule, a bar with a section of 150 * 200 mm is used. At the same time, the distance between the vertical pillars of the frame should not exceed 2.5 meters.

Subtleties of the lower strapping device

Preparation for laying the strapping beam consists in arranging the waterproofing of the upper part of the foundation. One of the following materials is well suited for this: roofing material, bituminous mastic, etc., and then in order:

• we treat the strapping beam with an antiseptic;
• we make the joints of the beam half a tree and fix them with 120 mm staples and nails;
• to strengthen the structure, we fix the corner mates with metal corners;
• we fasten the frame house harness to the foundation with the help of an anchor bolt with a tightening nut.

Top harness

After installing the vertical racks of the outer walls of the house, it is the turn of the arrangement of the interfloor overlap. And this work should begin with the installation of the upper harness. As a material for it, you can use a double board with a thermal insulation gasket or a solid beam. The final thickness of such a prefabricated (or solid) beam should not be thicker than the vertical post of the frame wall. The height of the brace should be calculated by a specialist, since the uniform distribution of the load exerted by the upper structures on the lower part of the frame house depends on this parameter.

How to fasten a beam

The fastening methods are exactly the same as when mounting the vertical racks of the frame: either with corners, or with fastenings by means of complete / incomplete cutting. Before installing the beams of the interfloor ceiling, it is necessary to make the frame of the first floor sufficiently rigid, since the interfloor beams are also the joists of the floor of the second floor. The necessary rigidity of the frame will be given by permanent braces, which can be mounted either by cutting or using metal fasteners. You can also fix the braces by piercing them through with nails. At the same time, the length of the nail should be such that, having passed through the brace, it will go deep into the post by at least 80 mm.

Important! If you mounted the vertical racks of the frame using a notch, then all connecting nodes should be additionally reinforced with metal brackets, which can be made either from reinforcement with a cross section of 8-10 mm, or from sheet metal, the thickness of which is at least 3-4 mm.

Installation problems and solutions

1. Difficulties may arise during the installation of the strapping. You need to be prepared for them, but it will be even better if you foresee some nuances and prevent problems from arising.
2. So, when constructing a foundation of screw piles or blocks, it sometimes happens that its individual elements may not coincide with the rest in height, that is, they will not be located on the same level. As a result, the strapping will not fall on all piles and the load on it will be distributed unevenly.
3. In the future, it will be very difficult to correct something, therefore, even at the stage of laying the foundation, one should carefully check the geometry of the pile field and eliminate the identified errors immediately.
4. Sagging of the strapping beam above the foundation can be corrected with wooden shims, but it is best to prevent such sagging. All pillars must be placed on the same level.
5. When drilling a hole in the beam for the foundation anchor, proceed carefully, as there is a risk of getting cuts of the wrong size. For the same reason, wood can crack.

The essence of the wall element

A frame house is a special type of low-rise building based on a rigid structure consisting of vertical posts connected horizontally. This rigid structure is called the frame. The device of the wall of a frame house, in other words, is called a pie, since such a wall consists of several layers.

At first glance, it may seem that building a frame structure is very simple, and this is true, but the expected result can only be achieved by consistently completing all the steps, and adhering to a certain technology, which still has its own tricks:

1. Wall thickness - it must be selected in accordance with the purpose of the building and the climatic zone.
2. A good insulation is the material that combines quality and affordable cost.
3. Insulation must be protected from the effects of various atmospheric phenomena. For this, special films are used.
4. If the insulation is not installed correctly, then cold bridges can form in the walls - areas through which heat will escape.
5. External finishing is carried out taking into account all the requirements for the materials used in its construction.

Now about everything in order.

Wall thickness

The main task in the construction of any house is to make it as warm as possible, while reducing heating costs. This can only be achieved if the thermal conductivity of the walls is minimized. A properly arranged frame wall will keep the heat inside the room and not let the cold in from the outside. To achieve the maximum effect, the frame racks should be made of timber, 200 mm thick.

For areas with a hot climate, the walls can be made thinner - here the main task will be to minimize the cost of ventilation, air conditioning, and everything will depend on the size of the insulation.

If you are building a country house and plan to use it only in the summer, the wall thickness of 40 mm will be optimal. For the frame of such a house, an edged board - "magpie" with a width of about 150 mm is usually used.

wall insulation

If you look at the wall in section, you can see that the insulation occupies the main part of it. It performs the function of a building envelope - it provides reliable sound and heat insulation of the premises.

The main types of insulation for a frame house:

1. Polyfoam is an inexpensive material, but has many disadvantages. This is fragility, and low sound insulation, flammability, high risk of damage by rodents.
2. Mineral wool is the most popular material used today by most construction companies offering ready-made frame house projects.
3. Ecowool and polyurethane foam have exceptional protection parameters. When used as a heater, a vapor barrier is not required. The disadvantage is the rather high price.

We will consider filling the wall of a frame house using mineral wool as the most popular insulation as an example. And you will find more information about insulation and the risks of errors.

How to install insulation

Insulation can be laid both on top of the finished exterior finish, and directly into the frame. Usually, to ensure structural rigidity, the outer surface of the frame wall is sheathed with either plywood sheets or OSB boards. In this case, the insulation is attached to them. If you decide to make the outer skin of the edged board, then a special windproof film will need to be laid between the sheets of insulation and the skin.

Warming procedure

When cutting the insulation, cut out squares with an allowance of 50 mm in width on all sides. So mineral wool will lie tightly, without gaps and gaps.

Seal the joints between the post and the mat with narrow, double-folded strips of mineral wool. You can lay them with your hands, but it will be more convenient to use a screwdriver.

The best option would be a double layer of mineral wool between the posts, plus another layer on top. In this case, the risk of cold bridges will be reduced to zero.

The insulation is attached to a flat surface with special glue, and plate-shaped plastic dowels can be used as additional fixation.

Steam and waterproofing

A vapor barrier material must be laid under the inner lining of the wall of a frame house. A waterproofing film is laid over the insulation under the outer skin to protect the structure from wind and moisture.

The vapor barrier prevents damp vapors from escaping to the outside. If this element is neglected, the steam will condense inside the “pie” and penetrate into the insulation, which over time will lead to a deterioration in its properties and an increase in heating costs. Attention! If you decide to use ecowool or polyurethane foam as a heater, the vapor barrier will be superfluous.

When erecting frame buildings, penofol is usually used as a vapor barrier material, and glassine or membrane films are used for waterproofing. They need to be laid with an overlap, and fixed with a construction stapler. Joints and junctions are glued with a special self-adhesive tape.

Read about the independent construction of a frame house.

fine finish

The wall cake is sheathed with finishing materials on both sides. Since the wall of the frame house is perfectly flat, almost any available coating can be used to finish it. For exterior decoration of country houses, wooden or plastic materials are usually used:

• lining
• timber imitation (logs)
• vinyl siding

Often, when finishing the facade on their own, the owners of country houses do not pay attention to the recommendations of specialists and mount the cladding directly to the frame. Such a solution is quite viable if the house is operated exclusively in the summer, but if you live in such a house in the winter for at least a week, condensation will begin to accumulate under the sheathing, causing double harm - to destroy the wood and moisten the insulation.

In order to avoid such consequences and in order to initially lay the possibility of operating the house all year round, the facade must be made ventilated. To do this, bars 30-40 mm thick are nailed over the entire surface of the frame, and the lining is already placed on them. The main difficulty here is the exact pouring of the foundation so that it does not interfere with the penetration of air into the ventilation gap. Interior decoration is usually done with drywall, fiberboard or clapboard.

The walls of frame houses have an ideal structure for insulating interior spaces, so by assembling a wall cake in accordance with all the rules, you will get a warm, cozy and comfortable home.

Read about the perfect exterior finish.

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