Building your own property is a popular and exciting option. However, it is not the simplest option, there are many factors to be considered, such as the location, size of the house, design, and even what the house is built of.
The most common materials are concrete, steel, or wood. You’ll have to consider each one before you make your final decision.
The Cost
You may be surprised to find concrete is the most expensive building material. Although the ingredients of concrete are plentiful and easy to find, it is time-consuming to create the walls in this manner.
Even if you opt for precast concrete walls, you will need a large number of materials and a large crew on site to put everything together. It is not the most forgiving of materials.
In contrast, wood is the cheapest option although it lacks the strength of steel. This means that you’ll need more wood to create your property. Alongside this, wood doesn’t generally last as long as steel. Over the long-term steel becomes the cheaper option as it significantly outlasts wood. Of course, it helps to use a reputable specialist in steel fabrication Sydney.
Ease Of Construction
Steel framed houses can be created in the factory. The parts are then shipped to the building site where you can bolt them together. It makes the amount of work required on-site minimal and the construction process very easy.
Wood-framed houses are almost as easy to construct. Again, the wood can be created off-site and it is very easy to move around. However, because it’s not as strong you’ll need more pieces, increasing the build time and the cost.
Concrete is much harder to move around, especially if you construct walls off-site. To build using it you’ll need to handle a variety of logistics, making this the least easy material to use.
Design
The design of your house is personal but you’ll find that steel-framed homes are more flexible in terms of design. This is because the steel beam can go much further without support than wood or concrete but that doesn’t mean you cannot have wooden doors.
As such, you can make larger open-plan spaces and design the house of your dreams.
Strength
All these houses are strong but wooden houses are more prone to damage from fires and earthquakes or tornados. In contrast, steel is very good at standing firm regardless of what is thrown at them. There is little doubt steel framing is the strongest option and potentially the best solution.
Durability
Concrete needs very little maintenance and the property made of concrete can potentially last 100 years or more. That is better than steel or wood. However, you will need to monitor your concrete to ensure moisture doesn’t get into it and affect the metal strengtheners inside. This can cause concrete cancer.
Final Thoughts
When trying to decide between the material on offer you should remember that making concrete produces a large amount of CO2 which is bad for the environment. Wood framing is either sustainably produced or reclaimed and, surprisingly, steel is 100% recycled.
That’s worth considering when you make your final decision.
