When the land has already been bought, and the cottage has yet to be built, its future owners simply need a utility room. Do-it-yourself cabins are purchased or erected as temporary housing or even as a budget option for a country house. Subsequently, it can be used to store garden tools, barbecue and furniture from the gazebo. Here you can put clothes and shoes for working in the garden or even a bicycle, toys and other items that are used while in nature. Depending on what communications will be used in the cabins, it can serve as a bathroom, shower, bathhouse or utility block.
Various designs of finished change houses
For suburban areas often offer the following options for the construction of change houses.
Shield construction technology
This type of structure is considered the most inexpensive. But even the small cost of this building is called into question by the fragility of the product from the shields. Typically, the base of such a structure (frame) is made of timber, the outer skin is made of lining. The role of the inner lining is played by MDF or particleboard. Glass wool or polystyrene is used as insulation. For the rough floor, unedged boards are used, and for the fine - inexpensive plate material. For a single or gable roof, structures often choose an iron roof of small thickness. Such a structure is often deformed due to the absence of stiffeners, the roll insulation can settle, which leads to freezing of the building. You can use such a change house in the warm season of one year.
The panel house has a fairly presentable appearance, it is a pity that it will keep it for a short time: due to the absence of stiffeners, it can be deformed
Frame constructions
These structures are more profitable than switchboards in quality, but significantly more expensive. The cheapest option is a change house with a minimum number of windows and the absence of partitions. The beam, which is used as the frame of the structure, has a size of about 10x10 cm, so that deformations are not afraid of him. Lining is used for the inner lining. Plywood and fiberboard, due to its own hygroscopicity, is not the best option. The presence of vapor barrier (for example, glassine) and mineral wool as insulation makes the house inside dry. Imitation of a bar as a covering provides the building with an external appeal. The floor and ceiling are double. The downside is that the internal space of the frame change house will be less than that of the switchboard.
The frame change house is much stronger than the switchboard, because during its construction a stronger timber was used, the vapor barrier and mineral wool used make the building dry
Lumber and log cabins
Among other offers in the market these change houses differ in relatively high price. If the change house will definitely remain in the country and become a bathhouse, then products from logs or timber are a good option. It is only necessary to immediately take a bathhouse with all the necessary partitions, and purchase accessories (water heater, stove, etc.) later. For the construction of a timber house, it is recommended that the cross-section of the timber is at least 100x150 mm (the diameter of the log is accordingly recommended in the same range). Construction should be thoroughly puttied. As a facing material for doors and partitions, a lining is often used, but if you make a log structure, you can do it.
A cabin made of timber or logs is much more expensive than others, but it is warmer, more reliable and more durable, although it makes sense to erect such a structure only when it is known that it will be used in the future.
Change house container
Exclusively for temporary operation, a container is used - a change house with a frame of a metal channel, the walls of which are made of sandwich panels. This robust, durable and warm construction is very difficult to integrate into the landscape of the site.
Another option for purchasing a change house is to buy a used building. Before deciding on it, carefully inspect the structure: the degree of wear matters. Find out about current prices for new cabins of the same type, prices for renting a crane for transporting a structure. After all, transportation costs should also be added to the cost of the house itself. Assess the possibility of access to the location of the structure, find out if there are restrictions on the entry of construction equipment into the village. And think about whether it’s easier to make a change house with your own hands.
The change house container has a lot of advantages. It is advisable to buy such a building in order to live in it during the construction of the main house, and then sell it. Such a structure will not fit into the overall design of the cottage, where everything is usually made of wood
Independent production of a change house
Despite the sufficient simplicity of the construction being constructed, a drawing of a change house is still needed. It will help to accurately "fit" the change house into the already existing space of the site, orient the builder on the ground. Prudence will not be redundant. This is especially important if the cabin is to be operated in the future as a bathhouse or guest house. The drawing will provide an opportunity to visualize how to build a change house with your own hands: it will help to make the correct calculation of the need for material and tools.
Choosing the best place
The location of the change house on the site is determined depending on how the owner wants to dispose of it later. It is necessary to immediately determine whether the cabins will remain on the site or have to sell it as soon as the need for it passes. If the owners of the site do not need a tool shed, a bathhouse, or a guest house, the change house can be sent to another object or simply sold. Then the structure should be located so that it would be easier to hook it with a crane from the roadway.
Otherwise, it will be necessary to disassemble the building, which is always undesirable. If the change house will be operated as an economic unit, it is recommended to place it in the middle of the long side of the site. Converted to a bathhouse, the change house should be located at the far end of the site, since fire safety standards must be observed with respect to such a building.
Foundation construction
Do-it-yourself construction of the change house begins with the foundation. The change house is not considered a heavy building, so usually a columnar foundation is used to erect it. If the cabins will be demolished in the future, it will not be difficult to disassemble such a foundation. For temporary construction, it is better to choose cinder blocks - they are cheaper, and in which case they are easy to make by yourself.
So, first of all, from the surface of the earth at the place of placement of the cinder blocks, you need to remove the fertile layer, carefully compact the earth and cover it with geotextiles, then fill it with sand and compact it again. We install cinder blocks on a prepared basis, placing them in the corners and every 1.5 meters. Cinder blocks must be waterproofed with roofing material or bitumen mastic, after which the wooden frame of the building is fixed using the anchor method.
The foundation for temporary construction is made easier than for capital: it can be easily disassembled if the cabin has to be dismantled
When planning to make a permanent change house, the master should pay more attention to the foundation. In this case, the fertile layer is removed from the entire surface, geotextiles and 5 cm sand are laid, which are carefully compacted. Under the pillars of the foundation, you need to dig holes 50 cm deep in the corners and every 1.5 m of the perimeter. However, poles can be put more often. We pit the pits with geotextiles and fill them with 40 cm of well-packed sand.
The foundation is best made of bricks, and it should be 30 cm high (10 cm to the surface of the earth and 20 - above). Armature of at least a meter high will be driven into the central part of the foundation. It is needed to fix the lag. Therefore, we leave an empty area in the center, which, after placing the rods, pour concrete. Do not forget about the waterproofing of the pillars with bituminous mastic or roofing material. Level control a single column height.
We create the frame of the premises and the roof
When the question of building the foundation is no longer standing, we proceed to the construction of the structure itself. We form the basis of the construction: we place the logs around the perimeter and carefully fix it. After that we lay transverse and, finally, longitudinal logs. We use a timber 150x100 mm on the frame of the change house, from which we mount the floor and the support posts in the corners. A reliable connection is provided by cuts in the logs, in which the bars are inserted one into the other and fixed with self-tapping screws. Logs are strung on reinforcing contours. To fix the vertical and attached to them lag angles and screws are used.
The frame of the structure must be built as carefully as possible, because the quality of the structure as a whole and its durability depend on it
The frame of the premises is ready, now you can make the roof frame. For a single-pitched roof, bars of 50x100mm are needed. Rafters will be inserted into the cuts of the bearing bars. Fixation occurs using self-tapping screws. Behind the perimeter of the change house itself, the rafters should go 30cm. We choose ondulin as a coating, as it does not require special building skills. The general design of the roof necessarily contains hydro- and vapor barrier and insulation.
On the rafters they lay a crate of boards or wooden bars, since ondulin is a light material. We mount the sheets of ondulin with an overlap from the bottom up using the special fasteners that are included in the kit. Now you can install doors and windows.
Finishing work
Well, the basis of the change house has already been created and the terrible question of how to make a change house yourself was not so scary. However, the work has not yet been completed. We line the rough floor, not forgetting to treat the boards with an antiseptic. Between two layers of waterproofing we put a layer of mineral wool. It is important not to confuse which side the waterproofing should lie up. Now we lay the final floor.
Such a wonderful change house can be built with your own hands in just a week, if you really want and try hard.
For internal cladding of a building, we use OSB if the structure is temporary or lining, if it is to be on the site for a long time. For fixing both the one and the other material, it is preferable to use self-tapping screws, rather than nails. Do not forget about vapor barrier and insulation. Outside we change the cabin, for example, with a block house. It remains to make a comfortable porch and the construction of a summer house can be considered completed.
