Methods & Materials for Building Your New Home

1. Methods & Materials for Building Your New Home

2. If you’re having your home built by a professional construction company or general contractor, you’ll need to sit down together and have a conversation about what your home will be built from, and how it will be constructed. Below is a brief overview of the most common methods and materials used in new-home construction: Traditional stick framing This system gets its name from the fact that workers used to assemble the skeletal frame of the home, stick by stick, on-site, using lumber cut to various sizes.

3. It’s also sometimes referred to as platform framing, due to the fact that builders used to construct the first-floor platform on the foundation, then frame the first-story walls, add the second-floor platform, build the second story walls and then lastly, add the roof framing. Having been used by the American home building industry for many years now, new-home construction has become standardized around the reliable, tried and tested stick-built framing method.

4. Light-gauge steel Similar to a stick-built home but with metal rods instead of wooden sticks, homes made from light-gauge steel – when properly engineered – won’t burn, shrink, rot or provide fodder for termites, and can be much stronger than a wooden framed building. Also, because it doesn’t shrink or warp, you don’t have to worry about drywall cracks. However, steel homes cost more to build and there are precious few construction companies with builders who are skilled enough to work with it, let alone have the right tools for the job.

5. Modular homes Using conventional stick framing, a modular home still has to conform to the same building codes as a home built on-site, and holds its value just as well. Built in a factory setting and finished on the inside, the homes are then trucked to the site and put in place with a crane, before the local construction company or general contractor puts them together and adds finishing touches.

6. Structured insulated panels An SIP is basically a sandwich of rigid foam insulation between oriented strand board (OSB) that results in a structural panel. Coming with a pre-cut window and door openings, along with conduit for electrical wiring, these panels are used for walls and ceilings and can be combined to create nearly any home design. Assembled by specially trained crews on site, these panels are typically used to cover a traditional timber frame, or post-and-beam structure, however they can be self-supporting, too.

7. Concrete Arguably the world’s most commonly used building material, concrete is not often used to build single-family homes in the U.S. and in those homes that do use it, the walls are invariably constructed from masonry units (CMU’s), or insulated concrete forms (ICF’s). Then, wood is used to frame floors, ceilings, interior walls and roofs. Masonry Commonly use for walls and retaining walls, masonry is a type of raw material that is exceptionally tough and provides great compressive strength to make a building last for many, many years.

8. If you’re thinking of building your own home, schedule a consultation with a general contractor who can help you begin to put your idea into a solid plan. RZ Construction Group Inc is a fully inclusive and one of the best construction companies in Astoria NY. From initial design to final clean up, our results speak for themselves. We are fully licensed, insured, and bonded to provide both commercial and residential construction services to customers in Astoria and the surrounding area. Proud to serve New York State for 25 years. No job is too small nor too big. If you are looking for general contractors in Queens NY or want to know more about our wide range of professional but affordable construction and repair services, reach out to us at (718) 938-9887.