What to build a cottage from - choosing the optimal material

What is a cottage

This word appeared in the Russian vocabulary not so long ago; translated from English, cottage means a house with a plot in front of it.

Don't know the difference between a house and a cottage? In the traditional sense, a cottage is considered to be a low building, where the top floor is most often an attic. The layout of the lower level is carried out in such a way that there is room for two fairly spacious rooms, as a rule, they are allocated to the kitchen and living room.

On the second floor there are bedrooms. The owners usually allocate a basement for the boiler room and technical rooms, and the ground floor is given over to the garage. For some, however, it is more convenient to make a place for cars in the form of an extension next to the cottage, from where there is an additional entrance to the first floor (most often through the kitchen). There may be several bathrooms and toilet rooms in the house, on the first and second levels, respectively.

Don’t know what else distinguishes a house from a cottage? The next distinguishing feature is the mandatory presence in front of the house of a piece of land on which flower beds are planted or the simplest option is grass for the lawn. Cottages today can be found both outside the city and in the very heart of the metropolis.

Features

Cottages are considered luxury real estate because they have a number of conditions that must be met. One of them, and the most important: the house must be equipped with all amenities, in addition to this:

when building a cottage, much attention is paid to its appearance; the façade of the building should be beautiful;
do not lose sight of the landscape around the building;
full maintenance of the house with various communications: water, gas, electricity, telephone, Internet, bathroom, etc.;
The territory of the cottage is, as a rule, several times larger than the dacha;
the presence of an attic - a living space in the attic with a sloping ceiling - best characterizes the cottage;
fireplace in the living room, creating coziness.

Country houses are for many an indicator of belonging to a certain rich “class”, since they look very attractive. But in fact, even a small business owner can afford them.

The demand for such real estate is always growing due to the high profitability of housing, especially in resort areas. There is a common practice there to rent out cottages in the summer. It is often easier to build such a home yourself: it is both more profitable and cheaper, but the process does not always move quickly.

What is a cottage in its modern form?

Previously, all cottages were built of red brick or natural stone. The modern construction industry has come a long way, so now many buildings are built from modern materials such as foam concrete and aerated concrete. In Russia, some people also build cottages from wood.

Don't know the difference between a cottage and a country house? Over time, the lines between them are increasingly blurred, since there are practically no fundamental differences left. Except that they try to make the buildings where the family lives permanently more sophisticated in architecture, and the area in front of them is designed in accordance with modern landscape design. Cottages are now being built not only for year-round living, but also as a home for the summer.

Modern cottages: main varieties

You can make a choice in favor of such a home if you want to get maximum comfort and aesthetic pleasure. Here are the most common types of cottages that are popular:

you will not violate the boundary of the site if you go around a separate house;
double cottages are designed for several owners, so you will have to share the territory with neighbors;
if a house has common walls with a neighbor, then the building consists of several houses that seem to be glued together;
Townhouses are considered the most economical housing option, which allows you to avoid overpaying for heating. In such rooms, heat is perfectly retained, and they can be built even near the city;
Duplex and triplex are designed for several owners who occupy different floors. Not everyone likes this option, since you don’t always want to share private property with someone.

These are the main types of modern cottages. You can make a choice in favor of the building that meets all your requirements and wishes if you turn to professionals.

Distinctive features of the cottage

So, in order to understand the difference between a house and a cottage, first of all you should pay attention to the footage of the living space. Typically, the size of a modern cottage building varies from 150 to 500 square meters; everything above this figure is usually called a mansion or estate.

The next characteristic feature of the cottage is the external design of the building. As mentioned above, such a building is distinguished by sophistication and a pronounced stylistic direction of all elements. This can be easily achieved, because all the required communications (water supply, electricity, gas, sewerage, alarm, Internet wiring and even video surveillance) are calculated in advance at the design stage and are most often located underground.

As a result of such planning, the architect will not have to worry about the fact that his design and author’s idea will be interfered with by an unexpectedly appearing gas pipe or wires, cables, etc. hanging on the walls. And the huge selection of finishing materials on the market allows you to achieve fantastic results when decorating the exterior of a cottage. Do you still have questions about the difference between a house and a cottage? Then let's move on.

The last characteristic feature, which we also mentioned earlier, is the landscaped area around the house. In most cases, this is the lawn in front of the cottage building. Its presence is also a huge freedom for a person who has a sense of beauty, besides, many owners will not mind surprising their neighbors and standing out from the general background.

Flower beds, flowerpots, lawns, various artificially created fountains and ponds, lighting of the local area and paths to the house - all these elements belong to landscape design and are needed to create special comfort and harmony with the exterior of the cottage.

Definitions

Consumers often think that these are synonymous words. At first glance, it seems that a house and a cottage are equivalent residential buildings.

Let's figure out if this is really so.

What is a house

First of all , this is a relatively small building. As a rule, houses are built one-story and small-sized from a variety of materials - from brick to wood.

The category of houses includes such structures as estates, dachas, garden houses and more. The houses are intended for personal use and consist of 2-3 rooms.

Cottage - what is it?

The first buildings of this type appeared in our country 30 years ago. This is definitely a residential building. It can be either one-story or two-story. In most cases, they are built in towns and villages, very rarely within the city.

They are intended for family living, and must be immediately equipped with all necessary communications - plumbing, electricity, light.

The buildings contain 4-5 rooms, as well as additional elements - a bathhouse, a swimming pool, and a barbecue area. Must have several bathrooms.

The roof is being converted into a loggia or another room. Stone and concrete are mainly used in construction.

What is a private house

We have figured out the differences between a conventional residential building and a modern building, now it’s time to find out how a cottage differs from a private house. Actually, a private house is called almost any property suitable for living by one or more people. If we talk about a country or rural house, then according to established standards, a house is considered to be any room, even a very small one, to which wires and pipes are connected, without utilities, or they are located on the street.

Parameters by which you can distinguish a cottage from a house

There are a number of parameters with which you can see the significant difference between a house and a cottage:

Area: cottage – one hundred to five hundred square meters; house - up to one hundred square meters.
Purpose: a house is a room for personal needs; a cottage is a building intended for rental (according to English traditions).
Landscaping of the site: the cottage does not have a garden and a vegetable garden, but only a small front garden, since the house can have a vegetable garden and a garden.
Communications: it is impossible to imagine a cottage without all the communications necessary for life (water supply, electricity, gas), and the house, in turn, may not have all these amenities.
Placement of other buildings nearby: the cottage should be located among similar buildings.

When a construction project is created, it is most often called a house. You can turn your house into a cottage by increasing the dimensions of the building and adding the necessary communications.

Differences between a townhouse and a country cottage

The real estate market today offers a huge number of different types of housing. Below we will look at how a house differs from a cottage and a townhouse, and what their features are.

Townhouses became available to Russians not so long ago; translated from English this means a house within the city. A townhouse is a large complex of low-rise residential buildings that are connected by side walls. Each of these houses is equipped with its own entrance and exit, a spacious garage and a small plot of land. According to the standard layout, a townhouse is very close to a cottage. On the first level there are large rooms for the kitchen and living room, and on the second there are bedrooms. There are usually restrooms on both floors.

So, the difference between a cottage and a house from a townhouse is that the latter consists of several residential sections, that is, it is a block structure where all residential buildings are connected to each other by one wall. While cottages and private houses are separate buildings.

What are country houses and cottages made of?

For the construction of private houses located outside the city or in the village, various materials are used. Most often, such buildings are erected from foam blocks, bricks, non-profiled timber, stone, and other materials.

Cottages from foam blocks are rarely built. Usually they use brick or wood, and frame technology is used. One of the best and most popular materials for cottage construction is laminated veneer lumber. Its advantages:

Durability. If the production technology is followed, this material is not subject to destruction by microorganisms, does not crack, or rot.
High strength. Special laying of the lamellas helps eliminate the internal tension inherent in wood.
Versatility. Even the most complex objects can be built from laminated veneer lumber, with a large floor area and uneven load on the walls.
Aesthetics. A cottage made of laminated veneer lumber looks presentable even without decorative finishing.

And the last difference between a country house and a cottage: they cannot “exchange” names. Or rather, calling a cottage a country house is quite acceptable. But doing the opposite will not work. It is not customary to call small dachas and residential suburban buildings cottages.