The wooden house develops timidly, but truly in France. Warm, aesthetic and full of advantages, it is chosen by many households each year to establish their family life there. While timber frame houses account for nearly 80% of building sites each year, real wooden houses are popping up here and there, most often as part of an overall project that aims to integrate housing into its environment. Discover the advantages and disadvantages of a wooden house in this file, you will understand why building one is a good idea!
What are the advantages of the wooden house?
Building a wooden house has several advantages.
An ecological material
Wood is an ecological material since it is entirely renewable. It helps fight the greenhouse effect by reducing greenhouse gases and storing the carbon it contains throughout its life, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. It is also a much less polluting material than concrete or steel.
However, to be truly ecological, the wooden house must be designed as a whole. A wooden frame house, which concerns more than 80% of projects of this type, uses only a reconstituted wooden frame covered with concrete or other non-ecological materials and which do not have the same qualities. It is not comparable to a house made of planks or post-beam, which is much more ecological. The same goes for insulation; opt for wood fiber to match your home.
an insulating material
Wood is an excellent sound and heat insulator, so much so that it insulates 12 times better than materials such as concrete and around 400 times better than steel. Thanks to its low thermal conductivity, it does not cause condensation and thus limits indoor humidity and the development of mould. These properties make it possible to build very insulated houses with high energy performance.
A very resistant material
The wood is durable, solid and very resistant to the harshest cold and heat. It is appreciated for its low thermal conductivity which makes it an excellent material for building a house, since it transmits heat 10 times slower than concrete. It also resists fire much better than other traditional building materials.
A light, modular and quick to build house
Wood is light (7 times lighter than concrete) and allows great freedom in terms of architectural possibilities. Also, the wooden house is much faster to build. While some builders offer wooden foundations, most recommend a concrete slab. By the time it is poured and dried, the builder will build your wooden walls for use and deliver them to the site for assembly in just a few days.
Unequaled aesthetics
A wooden house is much more beautiful and warm than a traditional house. Pleasant to live in, it is generally designed to fit into its environment. It’s a good way to get away from it all while staying at home!
What are the disadvantages of the wooden house?
Despite its advantages, the wooden house also has some disadvantages.
A higher cost
For the same area, a wooden house costs on average 20 to 30% more than a traditional house. However, by having your house built in a forest region, the costs can be reduced since the raw material is nearby. Be that as it may, a wooden house is certainly more expensive to buy, but much more economical to use if it is well designed. Since it is better insulated, the energy bills are much lower than for a conventional house. In addition, if the house is well oriented and has bay windows open to the south, the cost of heating will be very low in winter since it will be heated naturally.
A more demanding interview
The maintenance of a wooden house is much more restrictive than a traditional house, but it all depends on what you want to do! Wood naturally grays, regardless of the species used. If you appreciate aging wood and its natural nuances that are not always very graceful and harmonious, you won’t have to worry about its maintenance. Otherwise, you will have to invest in products and use elbow grease. The image of the beautiful mountain chalets is obtained only at the cost of significant efforts. It is necessary to regularly repaint its facades and protect them against mosses, fungi and insects to preserve the beauty of the species.
A building permit not always easy to obtain
Even if wooden houses flourish more and more each year on French soil, many municipalities are still reluctant, or even simply refuse this type of construction. In any case, obtaining a permit for a wooden house may require more time, in particular because the municipalities that tolerate them apply more stringent requirements in terms of construction and architecture than for traditional houses.
A glaring lack of experience in France
Even if the wood sector is developing, it remains very late in France. The industry is relatively new and experience is still rare, not to mention the raw material which is sorely lacking and requires massive imports of wood from abroad, considerably increasing the price of constructions.
Low thermal inertia
If it is very advantageous in winter since it greatly limits heat loss and reduces the amount of energy bills, the low inertia of wood can be problematic in summer. Indeed, once the heat has entered… difficult to bring it out! It is therefore preferable to leave the windows closed, even the shutters during periods of high heat to avoid suffocating inside.