Constructing a house

In another thread I saw how American houses have a wooden contruction. I replied there that here wood isn't used unless for the roof. Mommyof3cats wondered how a house can be "all-brick", so I promised some pics of our house! It was built 5 years ago.
I am posting these pics in a new thread, as I think this might interest more PT-ers. In fact, I would love it if you would post pics of how YOUR house was built!

Here we go

a general view
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/berlut/house1.jpg

my future kitchen
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/berlut/house2.jpg

Here you can see the different layers of bricks. First the "inside-bricks" are used. Then comes an isolating layer (yellow), then the "outside-bricks". The outside bricks are the ones who stay visible, so they are of a much better material and more pretty too
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/berlut/house3.jpg

the wooden construction for the roof
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/berlut/huis.jpg

almost covered with tiles
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/berlut/house5.jpg

My house is a concrete block frame. Some houses here are wood frame houses but I'll stick with concrete. :)

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Originally posted by gemini9961
My house is a concrete block frame.

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Do you have a picture of that?I'd love to see it!:)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Maya & Inka's mommy
Do you have a picture of that?I'd love to see it!:)

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Lut, for you I will get a picture. :) It is brand new, well just a little over a year old. I'll get you a pic as soon as I can.

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Originally posted by gemini9961
Lut, for you I will get a picture. :)

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Wow, that's awfully sweet of you!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

I have always wanted to live in a rock, stone or brick house. Unfortunately, they don't hold up well in an earthquake. Everything here is wood.

Are the interior walls dividing rooms also brick?

My house is a brick house with wooden interior walls covered with plaster. Some idiot decided to cover the brick with stucco years ago, then hubby's mom covered the cracking stucco with vinyl siding (blech)

PS: I love your hosue - very elegant!

Mark and I are in the process of building a new house. The new house is 2 x 6 construction on all exterior walls and the interior walls are 2 x 4. We also have a full walkout basement with a pored concrete basement.

Here is the back side of the basement.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...f/f3403353.jpg

Here are a few in the various stages of construction.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/f3323432.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/f2de0919.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...7/f2dda749.jpg

Once the house is framed it is wraped in insulated/waterproof wrapping.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/f2de08f7.jpg

Then the windows and doors go in, the siding goes up, and the interior work begins. We have the windows and almost all the doors, my front door is still missing :( but should be delivered and installed any day now.

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Originally posted by catnapper
Are the interior walls dividing rooms also brick?

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Yes! You can see it a bit in the pic of my kitchen! These bricks always get "plastered"; you can then choose to paint them, or cover with wallpaper :)

This part of the backside now. You can see how close the pond is to the livingroom!
http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabri...s/pond%203.jpg

I see your kitchen floors were finished before the house was. Here in the states, in most cases, they wait until the exterior is complete before working on the interior.

I bet your houses are more sturdy than ours. :p lol I love the all brick homes.

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Originally posted by lv4dogs
I see your kitchen floors were finished before the house was. Here in the states, in most cases, they wait until the exterior is complete before working on the interior.

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Oh no!! You didn't look very well :D . The floor looks shiny, but that is just lots of water!! It had been raining a lot !
The floor is also only done as one of the LAST things!

We have mostly wood framed homes in NZ as well, but my husband has built a steel framed house, he made my very small kitchen a bit bigger, it has all steel framing in it.

This is the kind of thing I love about PetTalk. You can learn such interesting things here about other people and cultures.

My SO is a carpenter and he's taught me a lot about housebuilding. The differences in each country is fascinating to me.

Thanks all!!

my dad worked at a brick manufacturing plant for 40 years.

Brick houses are muscial as the are being built..

I know that you stood and listened to the brick layers as the worked....;)

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Originally posted by Maya & Inka's mommy
Oh no!! You didn't look very well :D . The floor looks shiny, but that is just lots of water!! It had been raining a lot !
The floor is also only done as one of the LAST things!

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LOL, I see the puddles now. Duh. LOL

You house is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love the pond.

Wow. How interesting! Here in California, constructing brick homes just isn't safe, because bricks don't do well in earthquakes, so our homes are built with a wooden frame, and the foundations are built in a way that the house would 'sway' along with the earth during an earthquake. Earthquake zones need 'lightweight' homes. Greatly reduces the risk of a building collapsing during a tremor. Our newer homes are usually wooden frame, but concrete on the outside, so they look lovely. Its amazing how homes are built differently in different places, in accordance to the environment.

It would be the same here in NZ, as we too are on the Earthquake belt as is California., interesting thread.:)

LUT!! Here's the pics I promised you. This first one is the front of my house. I don't have any pics from construction since we bought it when it was almost complete. The frame like I said is concrete block. They then put stucco on the front only :( to give it some texture and to look better. You can't really tell in this picture that the is stucco there.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...2Image0059.jpg
These 2 are of the back of the house. In the first one you might be able to see the outline of the concrete blocks. They didn't stucco the back or the sides. :( Either way, it's a concrete block frame and of course wood interior and then drywall. Since I live in Florida concrete block homes are pretty safe with all the wind a hurricane can produce. We have wood frame homes around, but I'd rather have a concrete block home. Here's the pics.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...18Pics0056.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...18Pics0055.jpg
So that's our house.
:D

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Originally posted by gemini9961
LUT!! Here's the pics I promised you. This first one is the front of my house. I don't have any pics from construction since we bought it when it was almost complete. The frame like I said is concrete block. They then put stucco on the front only :( to give it some texture and to look better. You can't really tell in this picture that the is stucco there.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...2Image0059.jpg
These 2 are of the back of the house. In the first one you might be able to see the outline of the concrete blocks. They didn't stucco the back or the sides. :( Either way, it's a concrete block frame and of course wood interior and then drywall. Since I live in Florida concrete block homes are pretty safe with all the wind a hurricane can produce. We have wood frame homes around, but I'd rather have a concrete block home. Here's the pics.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...18Pics0056.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...18Pics0055.jpg
So that's our house.
:D

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Am I correct that they use the concrete block in Florida to keep the homes cooler because of the humidity?
I love the trees in your back yard - and your home is lovely.

Lut, your home is so lovely. It looks as though great care went into its construction.

We do have brick homes in California but this is earthquake country and they do not stand up as well to shaking as a wooden constructed home.

My own home is all wood.........built in 1912.

Thank you so much for the pics, Gemini!! I have never seen a concrete house before! This is so interesting :) . Is that one of you doggies in the right corner??
Our houses here are all "all-brick",as we almost never have eathquakes here (thank God!!)

Gini: yes, we talked and talked for ages with our architect about how we wanted the house to be! He is an old schoolfriend of Bernard! Many meetings ended in talking about "the good old days" ;) .
The undertaker was our brother-in-law. He died last year of lungcancer. His wife still cries when she comes here, as this was one of his last projects.... :(

Wood frame here. The house I grew up in was built in 1986 if I recall correctly. I'd have to dig out the photo album and scan in some pictures.

Lovely construction Lut! At least you'll be safe from the Big Bad Wolf. ;) :D

Gini: I am not sure about the concrete for humidity, more likely for hurricanes. Harder to blow over a concrete home vs a wood one. We don't need to sway with the earth shaking like in CA. I can tell you though, last year experience with the hurricanes, when we lost power for a few days so no A/C it was sooooo hot and humid in the house I don't think it mattered much us having a concrete home. It was awful!! Perhaps a stone house might have been better in that situation. Thanks for the comment about it being a lovely house. Husband hates the trees because it's hard to maintain grass with no sun coming in and because heaven forbid one falls on the house. :eek:

Lut: Yep, that's Maggie in the corner. :)

Mudbrick and straw houses are becoming more popular here too, although you won't find a lot of them yet, they are great for the environment and super good for your health.
If I ever build I will be looking into a mudbrick possibly.

If anyone is interested here is a link all about their construction.
http://www.solidearth.co.nz/links.htm

Mine is a wood frame home...we just finished putting on a steel roof (the kind that LOOKS like asphalt shingles) & now we are in the process of replacing some of the old siding & repainting
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...f/100_0567.jpg