Houses are distinguished from each other on the basis of the exterior styling they have. The external styling of homes, often reflect the owner’s personality or give the appearance of a traditional style of building. However, the internal construction of houses follows a fixed number of building techniques only. These internal building styles are standard and used by all homes around the world. The styles employ several processes and materials to create the basic structure of any house.
Let us have a look at the primary internal construction styles of homes:
Timber Frame:
Timber frame construction forms a very straightforward type of home construction. This style is a form of construction with wood frames which depends on large beams of wood to form the basic form of the house, employing narrow beams of timber in between the large ones. Homes using this style have a part of the frame exposed. This can be considered as an engineering decision as well as a design choice.
Timber Frame Style is Widely Used for Home Construction
Wood Panels:
Contrasting to timber frame houses, weed panel homes employ prefabricated panels. Rigid insulation made up of foam is sandwiched between the thinner wood pieces. Similar to timber frame houses wooden panel homes are prone to getting rot from water and warping. Damage caused by insects and termites is also common with them. But, wood panel homes employ renewable resource in the form of timber trees, which makes them relatively inexpensive for construction.
Manufacturing:
Prefab homes or manufactured homes employ components which have already been constructed some where else in large numbers. Some of the wood panel houses can be considered to a being partially prefabricated. Other types of houses employ huge quantities of manufactured components such as Fibreglass Sections, fiberboard and plastics. One example of a house construction style making use of all prefabricated parts is Mobile homes.
Concrete:
Another construction style becoming popular increasingly is the Insulated Concrete Form (ICF). In this style, concrete forms are used for providing rigidity and superior structure. This style does not require the harvest of trees or the manufacture of prefab components from petroleum. This makes this style an eco-friendly option. Though this style is relatively expensive, it saves you significant amounts of money on cooling and heating bills as time passes. Construction using ICF makes the home highly resistant to insects and fire.
Modern Homes Use ICF Style of Construction
Steel Stud:
Steel stud construction is more popularly used in construction of commercial buildings. However, many home builders go for this style to construct residential buildings. This style incorporates a large number of the building techniques involved in wood frame construction. But, in this style, the wood beams are replaced with steel. In this style, screws are used to hold all the components together, instead of nails. The completed building may appear quite similar to a building constructed by using weed frame construction. The homes built by using this style have resistance to insects and fire. This is the factor providing an edge to this construction style over the wood frame style.
Conclusion:
These are the primary construction styles used to create the fundamental structure of houses. Each style has its own merits and limitations. You can select a style depending on your requirements and budget.