When it comes to home construction there are many alternatives in terms of materials to choose from than the typical wood/stick frame construction that we see prevalent in Northern America. Wood has always been the chosen method for wall framing given the abundance (availability), ease of construction (skills readily available) and one of the fastest ways to complete construction. However, a typical wood framed wall is the not the best insulator. A typical home loses most of its conditioned air from its walls and roofs. Some homes overcome that with brick or stone veneer for the outside walls and use high density spray foam insulation inside the stick frame (both walls and roof) to get an airtight living space.
There are other alternate building techniques that use high thermal mass building products to build energy efficient passive homes. There are also many alternate techniques to consider such as:
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- Use of concrete blocks to build exterior walls
- Use of ICF (Integrated Concrete Blocks) to build exterior walls
- Use of metal roofs with high density foam insulation between the metal roof and sheathing
- Geodesic Dome roof structure
- Precast Concrete Superior walls
- Precast 3D printed homes
When you build your dream home do not Compromise
No matter what your comfort level is or the budget there are always different options to choose from and we are here to help you gain that knowledge and hopefully be a part of your journey to building your dream home. Check our recent blog on how we built our dream home and the materials we used.