Alternative Materials for Wall Construction in Your Home

One of the areas that home construction that continues to evolve with time is the list of available materials to be used in the construction of building frames. In primitive times, homes were framed with sticks and the walls were formed from mud, grass and other naturally available materials. Obviously, today’s homeowner would not want to build their home from sticks and mud. Thus, many other options have been placed in the building materials market for those looking to turn their home plans into a structurally sound living space.

Log cabins were also a type of house used in prior times; however they are once again gaining popularity among those looking to build their dream homes. Many types of home plans utilizing logs as a primary building material are available for consumers who want to return to a rustic lifestyle while utilizing the latest building and design technologies. One of the disadvantages to using logs in the construction of homes is that although logs come from trees, which are renewable natural resources, they do not replenish as quickly as other natural building products.

In the early twentieth century, steel gained popularity in the construction of commercial buildings. However, more recently steel has gone from being a material used in the commercial building field to a commonly used material in the residential building field. Some of the advantages of constructing the walls of your newly built home from steel products include the longevity of the materials, and its resistance to water and pests.

The strength of steel framing used in houses enables a home-builder to eliminate some of the other structural walls noted on their house plans and to open space that might otherwise be taken up by wall construction. Steel beams ordered from the specification sheet of your home plans will generally arrive pre-cut into the appropriate necessary sizes, with fastener holes pre-drilled in the appropriate locations.

There are disadvantages of using steel as a framing material for residential construction as well; those include the cost of the specially trained professional builders who can assemble steel frames when building your home. The cost of steel is significantly higher than wood materials used for home construction. However, if you are a homebuilder looking for quality and longevity in realizing a set of house plans into the home of your dreams, then steel is the right framing material for you.

Wood materials are still the most commonly used for framing in residential home construction. House plans are generally designed with the assumption that the builder will be using wood-framing at least for the upper floors of the house. Technological improvements have given building materials producers the ability to extend the life of wood framing, and to increase the wood’s resistance to fire, water and insects.

In conclusion, after purchasing home design plans, the builder will need to determine the specific materials to be used in building a custom designed home. The three options presented above are just some of the options for materials used for framing your home. Keep in mind that if you plan to use a material like steel in the construction of your framing, it is advisable to discuss this with the provider of your floor plans and other home plan documents, since reducing the amount of material required on the plans may enable you, the new homeowner to significantly reduce your building and framing costs.

This home building article by:
Michelle McClory with BuildingPlans.com

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