Building a Canadian house – good or bad solution to the Polish climate?
American houses are mostly associated with light buildings that are erected within several dozen days. Most often, such a belief comes from programs you can see on television about building houses in America. Usually, a team comes there, machines with wooden boards enter, and the frame of the house is built at an express pace. The whole construction is quick, easy and looks and build a dollhouse.
How does this relate to our traditional brick houses, which are the most popular in Poland? After all, in the USA or Canada, where light and quick-to-build houses are popular, the climate is very similar to ours. After all, most people choose brick buildings because they are considered to be more durable, more fireproof and keeping warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Brick houses are also considered to be more viable and resistant to pests that damage wooden houses. Often you can meet in forests or older villages, wooden crumbling buildings with a collapsed roof or worm-eaten walls. Why do they look like this and do brick houses really have a longer life?
Why have wooden houses lost their popularity?
Until recently, because in the times of elderly people, houses were built almost exclusively of wood. Brick houses were owned by those who could afford them and were considered a manifestation of wealth and prosperity. The construction of the wooden house was shorter and less expensive. Such houses were and still are considered less durable than brick houses. This is mainly due to the fact that in the old days, not everyone could afford more expensive, good-quality materials and impregnating a building that was deteriorating over time or was damaged by pests. The houses also had poor foundations, which made them feel damp, which is destructive in the case of a wooden house. Increasingly, however, you can see that wood is returning to favor.
Wood or brick?
Wooden houses have a number of advantages and are in no way inferior to brick houses, and even prevail in terms of ecology and environmental protection. However, in order for such a house to be really durable and to exceed a brick house in terms of service life, it must be well made. First of all, good quality materials are necessary. Unfortunately, in Poland they are often built “cheaply” and with materials of questionable quality. Such a house will not serve long. And the one made of good-quality wood, well-dried and protected with appropriate means, will last for hundreds of years. When deciding on a Canadian-style house, and thus consisting of a wooden frame combined with OSB boards or boards, you need to ensure a good quality of the water installation. Any leaks and faults in the water system may end up disastrous for the building.Just as from the outside, the house is protected with appropriate wood measures, an internal flood, even if it is small in size, can destroy all work and provide a lot of extra work. Here, it must also be remembered that a good soundproofing of the ceiling plays a very important role. If the insulation is done wrong, we will hear the slightest noise from the floor, which is often bothersome. It is especially difficult to withstand such high acoustics with young children who love to run and race around the house.
Advantages of the Canadian house
The ecology is definitely a huge advantage of the Canadian house – especially the one whose walls are boards and not OSB. It is very important nowadays, when we are flooded with tons of plastic everywhere, we fight exhaust fumes, smog and we try to destroy Mother Earth as little as possible. What is the ecology of such a house? First of all, we use wood for construction, which does not need to be burned or glued with cement – the preparation of which also consumes electricity. Such a house will be built in 3 months, when it takes about 2 years to build a brick house. So we reduce the amount of exhaust gas, because there is no need to deliver materials to the construction site in such a long time. Construction of a wooden houseCanadian style does not generate so much construction waste and exhaust fumes, and is much faster. A wooden house is also better for health because inside there is more air humidity than in a brick one, which prevents drying of the mucous membranes and the formation of coughing. There is a pleasant microclimate inside the house, and in the case of mostly solid wood – it is perfect for allergy sufferers who react with respiratory problems, in the case of synthetic building materials. A well-made Canadian-style house will also accumulate heat inside and heat up quickly, but unfortunately it will also quickly lose its heat. To prevent this from happening, you should try to get a construction team that knows their stuff. Remember that in the case of this type of houses, polystyrene is not used as insulation,because the walls are not perfectly even and it will not stick well. That is why mineral wool or spray insulation is recommended.
