Building a wooden house is an options attracting more and more households in western countried. But before starting on this type of project, a few small clarifications are often welcome: Advantages, disadvantages, comparison with other kinds of constructions.
Wooden houses have Llong been victims of a somewhat outdated image, wood construction is tending to gain popularity thanks to its reputation for green construction and the technical and aesthetic efforts made.
Wooden house: great architectural freedom
Indeed, wood has become one of the architects’ preferred materials for modern and contemporary house construction projects.
The reason for this enthusiasm lies in one of the first advantages of wood construction: it is the material that allows the most significant architectural creativity. The flexibility of wood, its lightness (it is strong compared to its weight, very light) combined with increasingly sophisticated construction techniques makes it the ideal material for architectural results very different from each other.
For extensions, wood also is a material of choice. All the more reason to decide on a wooden house. If you plan to expand it one day, nothing will be more natural than to match it with an extension in the same material.
Wooden house: Good insulation performance
Be careful, however, with thermal performance. The wood-frame house offers high insulation performance by eliminating thermal bridges. However, not all wooden house models will be superior to other types of construction. It all depends on the insulation you install in your wood-frame home.
If the most efficient solutions achieve excellent results, an entry-level wood-frame house may not stand comparison with a carefully insulated masonry house. Nevertheless, if it is true that wooden houses have excellent insulating properties, it is essential to know that wood has poor inertia. In summary, your wood house will heat faster but will not release heat as efficiently as a well built, well-insulated masonry house.
Building with wood, what you need to know?
If the advantages of wood construction can seduce, is it nevertheless advisable to build in wood everywhere, even in regions where forests are not very present and where wood construction remains marginal?
The town halls are more and more open regarding the acceptance of building permits for wooden houses. However, it should be noted that a building permit may under no circumstances be refused on the grounds of the nature of the material.
To be sure to have your building permit accepted, it is best to entrust your construction project to an architect, who will be able to find the aesthetic compromises that will allow the project to be accepted.
