Frame house 4 by 4: we build it with our own hands

Why a frame house?

It is difficult to imagine faster construction than frame construction. The construction of a house measuring 4x4 meters will be more like building a bathhouse, and if we talk about a house made of timber, then you will have to wait for shrinkage even for such a small structure. Building a house made of brick or foam block is associated with an increase in costs for the house itself and its foundation. We decided that our house would be cozy, but at the same time you would not cause significant damage to the family budget. In these conditions, frame house construction is the best choice. In addition, the availability of materials for this technology, ease of construction and undemanding requirements for special equipment and tools will allow you to carry out all the work yourself.

Excluding the costs of paying for the work of builders, we can build a 4x4 meter house in the shortest possible time and almost 2 times cheaper than a similar project implemented by construction companies.

Construction of the foundation

For such a lightweight structure, it is not worth investing in a capital foundation. The best option would be a columnar foundation, and modern technologies have given us an excellent solution for a frame house - a foundation on screw piles. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages.

A column foundation is the cheapest option. You can assemble wooden boxes yourself from scrap lumber or plywood, tie together the reinforcement and fill the resulting structure with concrete that you made yourself on site. After the concrete has hardened, you will receive ready-made piles, which will need to be installed in pre-dug holes. A sand cushion must be poured into the bottom of the holes under the concrete piles.

An even simpler option may be to purchase stubs of piles from the construction of multi-story buildings, where the piles are driven in and the excess length is cut down. You may even be allowed to pick up this construction waste for free. But in fact, these “stumps” will be even more durable than piles made independently.

It is very difficult to make homemade screw piles. But perhaps this is not such a big minus. Self-produced concrete piles may have geometric defects, or low-quality cement will affect the durability and reliability of the foundation. Factory screw piles do not have these disadvantages. The strict geometry of the pipe and the correct blades will allow you to screw the piles strictly vertically.

Sergey Yurievich

Construction of houses, extensions, terraces and verandas.

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A set of screw piles will cost you a little more, but the work of installing them is also quite affordable for you to do it yourself. Even attracting specialists will not become a “hole” in your budget. Screw piles are a godsend for prefabricated structures. You only need to mark the location of the piles and screw them in. All work is completed in 1 working day, if we are talking about a 4x4 m frame house.

Additional premises

Any extensions must be included in the building design. They require approval from local authorities, fire safety and sanitary and epidemiological stations. Without technical documentation, terraces and verandas are considered legally illegal extensions.

A solid foundation is required for residential and additional premises. This rule also applies to wooden and metal sheds. Otherwise, due to the deformation of materials during shrinkage or sudden changes in weather, a crack will appear between the buildings.

An alternative to verandas is wooden gazebos. They require less material consumption. Their layout is simple. This is a canopy supported by columns.

Attic

Before starting work on a project with an attic, you need to choose the shape and angle of the roof. The usable area of the room will depend on them. Common types of roofing for houses with a 4 by 4 attic:

Gable. It is a standard attic converted into living rooms. The optimal height of the ridge is 3.6 m, with an inclination angle of 60°. The useful area of the attic is 7 m2.
Broken gable roof. Construction and design will be more expensive, but the design provides a larger usable area with a lower ridge height.

When arranging an attic, care should be taken to have reliable thermal insulation. The rafter leg must have a width of at least 150 mm in order to place the insulation inside it.

Veranda

There are two types of veranda:

Open. Designed to decorate a building. The floor is located at the level of the first floor, the platform is fenced with railings. A canopy is necessary to protect wooden elements from precipitation.
Closed. The space under the roof has continuous glazing or partitions.

A closed veranda increases the total area of the home and looks like part of it. The extension makes the layout more convenient.

Interior finishing should be done with frost- and moisture-resistant materials. Their quality will affect the durability of the structure. When planning the veranda, you should take into account the dimensions of the necessary furniture. So, to accommodate benches and a table, its width should not be less than 2 meters.

Garage

Adding a garage has a number of advantages:

Using one wall for two buildings;
The ability to get into the car without going outside;
Saving site area.

You may be interested in: Features and best types of layout of a two-room apartment

The main disadvantage of this solution is the difficulty of organically connecting buildings with different dimensions. The minimum garage size for one car is 3x6. Next to a 4 x 4 apartment, the building will look ridiculous.

To add a garage, you need a solid foundation. At the planning stage, care should be taken to strengthen the roof so that an avalanche of snow from a residential building does not damage it.

Construction of walls

It is necessary to decide on the technology for constructing a frame house, but this is not as easy as it seems. There are many variations for such construction: frame, panel house, SIP structure, houses made of double or mini-timber. It is very likely that your home will only be designed for spring and summer occupancy. It is difficult to imagine that on an area of 4x4 meters (even in the case of construction with an attic) it is possible to design a heating system, a bathroom and plumbing. There is simply no need for this. Most likely, your house will consist of, at most, two rooms with a couple of windows and an entrance door.

So the choice of technology depends only on your preferences or on the availability of materials in your region. Let's consider these technologies in order of their versatility and availability.

Frame house

The most unpretentious technology in terms of materials. For construction, you will need lumber for arranging the frame, insulation, construction films and materials for external and internal cladding. The upper and lower trim are made of 100x150 mm timber. The frame is assembled onto metal corners from timber 50x100 or 50x150 mm, depending on the specified insulation thickness and the final load. The frames for installing doors and windows are immediately installed. In accordance with the technology, a vapor-permeable membrane, a vapor barrier contour and insulation are laid. In the case of building a cold house, only a windproof film is installed, which protects the house from blowing. All joints of the beams are sealed with jute or tow. For external cladding, lining, imitation timber, blockhouse, siding (vinyl or metal), OSB are usually used.

Panel house

It is the “little brother” of frame construction. If in a frame house the frame is first assembled and only then the cladding is made, then in a panel building the entire wall is completely assembled on the ground. That is, the entire “pie” of a frame wall with prepared openings for windows and doors is assembled on site or in production. In this case, logs are laid on the foundation and then finished walls are installed, which are fixed to the foundation and to each other.

Two-story house 4 by 4

The 4 x 4 garden house can be extended. To increase the usable area, a second floor is being built. There are two options:

attic;
full floor.

On the top floor you can equip a recreation room or storage room. In the case of construction of the second floor, the foundation and load-bearing walls are strengthened.

A lightweight option is the attic room. Particular attention must be paid to the insulation and soundproofing of the roof. Some of the elements of the upper floor during the construction of the attic can be completed independently.

A large structure will not work when building a 4 by 4 dacha. To have spacious living quarters in which you can live all year round, you need to build a full-fledged cottage.

Houses made of SIP panels

The same panel house, but the walls are made using special technology in production. They are a sandwich of outer and inner cladding with insulation based on polystyrene foam. Installation is carried out identically to the construction of a panel house. The main disadvantage is the limited availability of SIP panels. Not in every region you can find a manufacturer of this material, although technology is developing very quickly.

Houses made of mini-timber or double timber. The technology is more reminiscent of construction from profiled timber. However, its Scandinavian origins made this technology closer to frame technology. This is another rarely used technology: it is difficult to find a supplier, it is not easy to build walls correctly without additional knowledge.

Construction of ceiling and roof

Whatever wall construction technology you choose, the ceiling is mounted in the same way:

a strictly horizontal harness is assembled,
floor beams are laid,
insulation is carried out in accordance with technology,
Sheathing is carried out with rough or finishing materials.

The roof for a 4x4 m frame house, as for most square houses, is chosen to be hip or hip. This is advantageously emphasized by the geometry of the house, but if you have insufficient construction experience, you can get by with the simplest option - constructing a gable roof. The most common roofing material option for economy class frame houses is corrugated sheet or metal tiles.

I would especially like to note the 4x4 frame house with an attic. This project will not differ in construction technology. Is it possible that in arranging the rafter system, only 1 option is available to you - a sloping roof, since installing an attic with a gable roof with a high ridge will not give you much additional living space, but a sloping roof will almost double the area. A small area for creativity appears. The attic is usually used for sleeping places, and the first floor becomes a spacious room for receiving guests.

We have analyzed the main stages of constructing a 4x4 frame house with our own hands. But what to do if there is absolutely no time for construction, but you still want to equip your dacha?

Important details in the planning process

Of course, as many owners of plots of land on which a house will be built in the village, there are as many ideas for their construction. The layout of a 4 bedroom home requires some thought and thought on the part of the owners. The most important thing is to think over a comfortable layout so that the sleeping rooms are comfortable and give the guests of the house the desired rest. Layouts can be very different, it is worth familiarizing yourself with them in order to place a bet in favor of one option or another. Video review of a four-bedroom house project.

Cottage

If the structure of the house consists of one floor, then it is worth considering the following factors when considering variations in the placement of sleeping rooms:

Bedrooms should be located away from the front door. Thus, residents who leave early for work or return home very late will not disturb the sleep of those who are already resting at this time.
It is best if the sleeping rooms are located away from the kitchen. This will help eliminate the possibility of cooking aromas entering the bedroom spaces. And also, such placement will help preserve the original freshness of the repair for as long as possible. If the shape of the house is such that it is not possible to equip bedrooms remotely from the kitchen, then you should think about good exhaust hood and ventilation of the room for cooking.
Layout and project of a one-story house with a garage and 4 bedrooms
Distance from the bathroom is also important. If space allows, it is better to arrange sleeping rooms away from the toilet and shower. This, again, will help keep all residents of the house calm and sleepy.

These nuances are very important for fully equipping the space of a 4-bedroom house. It is clear that every tenant first of all thinks about making the living space cozy and comfortable.

Two-storey house

When a house with four bedrooms has two floors or more, then also at the project construction stage one should take into account some factors that will significantly affect the process of arranging the space. The following nuances should be taken into account:

It is best to arrange bedrooms in a two-story house on both floors. With this layout, sleeping rooms are located one above the other. As a rule, two are on the ground floor, opposite each other, and two are on top in the same areas.
Project of a two-story house with 4 bedrooms
This solution will help rationally distribute space and arrange sleeping rooms so that everyone feels comfortable. In order for all residents of the house to feel harmonious and have a sound sleep, it is necessary to adhere to some rules:
The floor covering between floors should be selected as soundproof as possible. This will help people relaxing on the lower tiers not to feel discomfort while walking around the premises of those whose bedroom is equipped on the second floor;
Another nuance that must be taken into account is the safety of descent to the lower floor of the house. Even if the second floor has bedrooms for young or middle-aged people, it doesn’t matter; sometimes both children and elderly people can go up there. Therefore, when choosing a staircase, you should pay attention to the presence of railings, the absence of steps that are too high for even a child to climb. Also, due attention should be paid to the material from which the stairs are made.
An example of the layout of the second floor of a four-bedroom house

In general, it is possible to comfortably equip four bedrooms in one house. The main thing is to take into account important details that will help ensure the most comfortable atmosphere inside the space.

Frame house 4x4 from the developer

Unlike the construction of large residential buildings, a huge number of construction companies and private teams of carpenters are engaged in the construction of low-budget frame country houses. How not to be deceived? How to choose a reliable construction team or company?

First of all, you should not chase the lowest price. The best option would be to take the advice of relatives or friends who have already encountered the construction of a house. Subjective opinion can tell you a lot. If there are no advisors in your close circle, start studying reviews on the Internet. Any self-respecting builder should have a set of proposals and a portfolio of finished projects. It’s great if the developer invites you to visit current or completed projects. Even if your country house does not cost too much money, you should still require the preparation of an agreement describing all the structures and the guarantee for them. Even a country house will be covered by a warranty of at least 1 year, and load-bearing structures – up to 3 years.

A 4x4 frame house is not difficult to design, but working with such an object is no different from constructing a larger structure: you will encounter the same operations and difficulties, you will need the same materials and tools. Such houses can become for you a training ground for the construction of a more serious building, and maybe even a spacious residential cottage based on frame technology.

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Bedroom furniture

Having decided in which areas of the house the bedrooms will take place, it is worth starting the process of thinking about the internal layout of each of the spaces. Of course, each owner of a four-bedroom house will determine the style, design and lighting methods independently. In order not to miss anything important, it is worth understanding what furniture must be present in the sleeping room.

Bed

As a rule, the bed in the bedroom takes up the bulk of the space. Most often, for comfort and decent space equipment, preference is given to a double bed.

An exception is the children's bedroom, in which you should pay attention to a single crib, a folding sofa or a bunk bed if there are two children in the family and they share one bedroom.

Bedside tables

This piece of furniture adds comfort to the space. Various small things are usually stored on bedside tables, such as a telephone, cosmetics, personal hygiene items, and an alarm clock. You can also install lamps on the bedside tables, which will allow you to comfortably enjoy your favorite book or magazine before bed.