ᐅ Which Building Material – Objective Comparison or Matter of Belief?
Created on: 16 Sep 2018 21:40
M
matze007
Hello everyone,
I have been working for a while now on building my single-family house. Since we have no preference regarding the construction material, we requested quotes for both solid (masonry) construction and timber frame construction.
Now we are in the position to objectively compare the building materials and choose our favorite. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as expected, because each material has its pros and cons, and of course, every builder strongly recommends their preferred material.
Therefore, we would like to get the opinion of the experts here in the forum. We are interested in which option you would favor and why.
The offered materials for the exterior walls are:
#1 – Solid house
= Ytong aerated concrete blocks, 36.5cm (14 inches) thick, without additional insulation.
#2 – Solid house
= Hollow clay bricks with additional external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS).
#3 – Timber frame construction
= Wall build-up: 100mm (4 inches) wood fiber insulation board, cavity insulation with cellulose (thermal conductivity coefficient 0.040 W/mK), 180mm (7 inches) timber stud construction, 15mm (0.6 inches) wood-based panel, installation cavity, 12.5mm (0.5 inches) gypsum fiberboard.
What might also be relevant for the evaluation:
- The house will be built in a rural area without significant traffic exposure.
- It has a large glazed area on the south side.
We would really appreciate any input from your side.
Many thanks,
matze007
I have been working for a while now on building my single-family house. Since we have no preference regarding the construction material, we requested quotes for both solid (masonry) construction and timber frame construction.
Now we are in the position to objectively compare the building materials and choose our favorite. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as expected, because each material has its pros and cons, and of course, every builder strongly recommends their preferred material.
Therefore, we would like to get the opinion of the experts here in the forum. We are interested in which option you would favor and why.
The offered materials for the exterior walls are:
#1 – Solid house
= Ytong aerated concrete blocks, 36.5cm (14 inches) thick, without additional insulation.
#2 – Solid house
= Hollow clay bricks with additional external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS).
#3 – Timber frame construction
= Wall build-up: 100mm (4 inches) wood fiber insulation board, cavity insulation with cellulose (thermal conductivity coefficient 0.040 W/mK), 180mm (7 inches) timber stud construction, 15mm (0.6 inches) wood-based panel, installation cavity, 12.5mm (0.5 inches) gypsum fiberboard.
What might also be relevant for the evaluation:
- The house will be built in a rural area without significant traffic exposure.
- It has a large glazed area on the south side.
We would really appreciate any input from your side.
Many thanks,
matze007
Climbee schrieb:
- build with a specific general contractor/provider (see 11ant’s argumentation) Or the other way around: if you know you want brick X, then go to a builder who works with that material. Just don’t go to a mason who uses Poroton and ask them ("skip the salad, give me double fries") to build your house out of Ytong.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Hello everyone,
Thank you first of all for your contributions.
We have visited three providers, each preferring a different building material. It’s clear that I wouldn’t go to McDonald’s and order a schnitzel with fries. What I mean by this is: of course, every provider should use the building material they prefer.
However, we ourselves have no preference regarding the building material. Rather, we would like to objectively determine which material is the most suitable for the construction project, considering the advantages and disadvantages.
In your opinion, is there a "technical favorite" among the three? Or is there one you would definitely avoid?
Or, at the end of the day, does it really not matter what material we build with?
Thank you very much & best regards,
matze007
Thank you first of all for your contributions.
We have visited three providers, each preferring a different building material. It’s clear that I wouldn’t go to McDonald’s and order a schnitzel with fries. What I mean by this is: of course, every provider should use the building material they prefer.
However, we ourselves have no preference regarding the building material. Rather, we would like to objectively determine which material is the most suitable for the construction project, considering the advantages and disadvantages.
In your opinion, is there a "technical favorite" among the three? Or is there one you would definitely avoid?
Or, at the end of the day, does it really not matter what material we build with?
Thank you very much & best regards,
matze007
matze007 schrieb:
We ourselves do not have a preference regarding the building material. That’s good.
matze007 schrieb:
Or does it really not matter at the end of the day what we build with? Not quite. First, because different building materials naturally have different strengths and weaknesses. And second (search term "wood basement") because every traditional belief also has a day when the truth changes.
matze007 schrieb:
Rather, we would like to objectively narrow down which building material is the "most suitable considering the pros and cons" for the construction project. I don’t want to repeat myself too much. Therefore, I recommend checking the existing threads on this topic. They all contain factual information—even the dumbest chatterer can’t reliably avoid that. When skimming through, you will notice that sometimes there are well-explained arguments included.
The mentioned threads—note that the forum search function sometimes glitches, and the same search might only work on the second attempt—can be found easily by entering my name along with "mantra," "ETICS" (external thermal insulation composite system), or "crumb cookie" (the favorite derogatory term of the porous brick opponents).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
Or the other way around: if you know you want brick X, then go to a contractor who works with it. Just don’t go to a Poroton mason and ("skip the salad, give me double fries") order your house made of Ytong there. That’s how we did it. We knew quite early on which brick we wanted, even though I cursed it when cutting channels for wiring!
The architect we worked with also preferred this brick, and as it turned out, both our preferred shell builder and the architect’s used it for single-family home construction.
By the way, it’s a filled Poroton brick from a small regional brick manufacturer.
We lived in Poroton before and now live in Ytong. I have not lived in a timber frame construction yet. There is no difference in indoor climate between Ytong and Poroton. Anyone who claims otherwise also believes in water veins and aura cleansing. The advantage of Ytong in the era of energy saving regulations is that you can do without external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) and have truly solid walls with a monolithic structure, plus a plaster that is less prone to algae growth and can withstand some impact. You can also easily drill anchors into Ytong, which is practical. But that is also possible with Poroton. I just find the filled blocks there less practical. In northern Germany, due to widespread use and strong competition, Ytong, Porit, Hansapor, Hebel—all essentially the same—are cheaper.
I believe every building material has its pros and cons. You will have to decide for yourself what is important to YOU and make your choice accordingly.
I grew up in a Ytong house and felt quite comfortable there. The downside was, especially after my brother played trumpet and I played clarinet, that Ytong doesn’t offer the best sound insulation. That said, for a single-family house in a quiet area, this argument is negligible. We still get along well as a family, despite the trumpet and clarinet overlap ;-)
Now I live again in a Ytong house, but this time in a four-unit building. There, the issue of poor sound insulation is on a whole different level...
I have always been enthusiastic about wooden houses. I like wood, I like the indoor climate it creates, and I appreciate that you don’t have to wait for drying times. My partner feels the same way. So from the start, it was clear for us: we would build a wooden house! It doesn’t have to look like a log cabin—that’s definitely not what we want, absolutely no rustic style *ugh*! But that is possible too.
So, we didn’t even consider stone or masonry or research those trades. From the beginning, we focused on wooden house builders.
Since we found a builder who even constructs wooden basements, it was only logical for us to have a wooden basement as well. In the functional rooms there (storage, utility, and workshop), you will notice it’s a wooden house because the walls will remain untreated, industrial-quality wood, and the floor will be MDF panels. The rest will get Fermacell boards with clay plaster.
But that was our decision. We are convinced of it. Still, I’m not so blinded that I don’t also see the advantages of a masonry house.
So: the fundamental decision is up to you (wood or stone); if stone, then which type, and then find the corresponding builder.
I don’t think anyone here will give you a clear answer: do this, it’s the absolute best!!!
And if someone does, don’t take it seriously ;-)
If you ask me, I’ll go on and on about how great a wooden house is, how long people in Scandinavia have been living in them, how excellent the thermal insulation is, how you don’t have to chase grooves for cables, the wonderful indoor climate right from the start, and so on.
Ask Nordlys, and you’ll get a different perspective :-D
But it’s not wrong either.
I grew up in a Ytong house and felt quite comfortable there. The downside was, especially after my brother played trumpet and I played clarinet, that Ytong doesn’t offer the best sound insulation. That said, for a single-family house in a quiet area, this argument is negligible. We still get along well as a family, despite the trumpet and clarinet overlap ;-)
Now I live again in a Ytong house, but this time in a four-unit building. There, the issue of poor sound insulation is on a whole different level...
I have always been enthusiastic about wooden houses. I like wood, I like the indoor climate it creates, and I appreciate that you don’t have to wait for drying times. My partner feels the same way. So from the start, it was clear for us: we would build a wooden house! It doesn’t have to look like a log cabin—that’s definitely not what we want, absolutely no rustic style *ugh*! But that is possible too.
So, we didn’t even consider stone or masonry or research those trades. From the beginning, we focused on wooden house builders.
Since we found a builder who even constructs wooden basements, it was only logical for us to have a wooden basement as well. In the functional rooms there (storage, utility, and workshop), you will notice it’s a wooden house because the walls will remain untreated, industrial-quality wood, and the floor will be MDF panels. The rest will get Fermacell boards with clay plaster.
But that was our decision. We are convinced of it. Still, I’m not so blinded that I don’t also see the advantages of a masonry house.
So: the fundamental decision is up to you (wood or stone); if stone, then which type, and then find the corresponding builder.
I don’t think anyone here will give you a clear answer: do this, it’s the absolute best!!!
And if someone does, don’t take it seriously ;-)
If you ask me, I’ll go on and on about how great a wooden house is, how long people in Scandinavia have been living in them, how excellent the thermal insulation is, how you don’t have to chase grooves for cables, the wonderful indoor climate right from the start, and so on.
Ask Nordlys, and you’ll get a different perspective :-D
But it’s not wrong either.
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