How to Build a House

There are thousands of types of housing in the world. Some unique, some not so unique. Here are some of the common ones in the western world.

• Detatched Housing - this house is free standing and fairly large, often with a garden surrounding the house completely. Usually there is only one family living in a detached house, and they can have a number of bedrooms. 61.4% of US residents and around 15% of UK residents live in detached houses
• Semi-Detached Housing - In one block of housing, there are two families that live there. They are free standing on one side and are attached on the other. Often they have a smaller garden at the front and back, and there's a garage to the side. 32% of UK residents and 5.6% of US residents live in semi-detached housing.
• Terraced Housing - Usually found in cities, terrace housing are attached on both sides to other houses, and are a feature in inner cities. Very few of these types of housing are built nowadays, and their features include a small garden or yard at the back, with a passageway inbetween them. 27% of the UK population and 13% of the US population live in terraced housing.
• Apartments - Usually aimed at single professionals in cities where space is a premium, apartments are small, yet well designed, and are colloquially known as flats. They occupy large buildings, with hundreds of people living in one apartment block. They have no garden (beyond a balcony). 15% of UK residents and 13% of US residents live in apartments.

Find out more about housing projects and building a house from Builders North Wales

Always found at the top of the building, a roof is designed to protect you from the elements. Most commonly being rain, but also from the heat, cold & wind (though roofs can blow off in extreme wind!). As such, roofs are built using the most hardy material widely available to the locals. For example, a thatched roof (which is great at keeping out the rain) would be pointless in hot, dry areas, as thatched roofs can catch fire fairly easily in hot, dry conditions.

Most roofs in the western world are made of timber, as they can also effective at keeping out the cold weather most areas get. Timber roof trusses form the structure of the roof (usually a triangular/prismatical shape). Following this a ridge of flexible, yet flimsy sheet is put down, and on top there is a much harder element, such as leaves, thatch, slate, terracotta tiles or even steel.

Roofs also can be used to generate energy, by placing solar panels or windmills on them.

Find out more about Roofs

Not present on many houses, the garden is an area of land where peace and tranquillity (should) exist. Varying in size from a small yard to acres, Gardens can be used for a number of recreational activities. Obviously, gardening & growing plants is the main one, however things such as bird watching, sports, sunbathing and barbecues are incredibly popular worldwide.

Gardens can be productive as well. A large majority of gardeners grow some sort of food, be it vegetables, fruit or herbs. They are done either by either naturally, in a grow bag, or by using a greenhouse or shed to monitor heat. In fact, Vegetable Garden Planting remains a popular hobby. Furthermore with the recent surge in energy prices, producing energy using water, wind or the sunlight can be possible with the right equipment. However, large initial investments are often required to get all the kit needed for gardens to be successful.

Mainly though, gardens are there to be enjoyed. There are many ways to do it, either with simple recreation activities, or admiring the view. You can get specialised wooden garden furniture which is great for relaxing in the garden as well, and as it's made from wood, it's durable outdoors and friendlier to the environment!

Of course, to get the most use out of a garden you need plants watering. In wet times you need not bother as there's often plenty of rain. However, during the summer you made need some hoses.

Teak Garden Furniture
Garden Furniture

No! Not Microsoft's computer package, windows are a great way of making a home feel fresher and brighter, as well as making it appear more spacious.

I've talked more about windows in my Windows Doors & Conservatories Squidoo Lens, however the best place to find double glazing installers in the North West of England is looking at Windows North West

For comfortable living, a central heating system installed in your house can be a godsend, particularly in the winter months. Central heating systems work by water boiling in a dry, warm place such as in an airing cupboard. This water is then pumped throughout the house through pipes, warming the house up. At certain places, the warmth is increased in areas with radiators, which are concentrated areas of hot water.

Powering all of this are boilers. These do exactly what they suggest - they heat up water. One of the best and most energy efficient ways of keeping your site warm is using combination boilers. These, unlike traditional boilers heat up water only when you need it, rather than heating it up constantly.

One of the best ways to save even more money is to get your boiler serviced regularly. JW Jones & Son can do this, who offer boiler servicing in North Wales to private firms, landlords and homes.

If your house becomes a place whereby you run a business, or you are a landlord, you obviously want the cheapest utilities available for you. Furthermore, energy suppliers are often way out with their estimates, either overcharging or undercharging you, both of which can lead to problems at a later date. As a personal customer it's not ideal, but as a business customer, this could be fatal.

If you are running a business, which uses energy (particularly pubs, halls and landlords), we recommend signing upto a service such as EZE Monitoring so you can quickly and effectively manage how much you are spending, and avoid any nasty surprises.

Making a house is easy enough, but a house simply isn't good enough. If you want a home, you need to decorate the innards of it. Big purchases such as three piece suites, beds and even the colour of the house shouldn't be taken lightly. However, there are lots of ways of decorating your house for cheap, yet it will improve your overall look of your house.

One such way is with Wooden Vases. Wooden Vases are great because you can put things such as decorative strands & flowers, brightening up the home very cheaply. Furthermore, as they are wooden, it's suitable for a home with children or pets, with no chance of breakages.

Another way to spruce up your home is with Scented Candles. Check out the Votive Candles page for more information!

Of course, being a home owner does mean that problems can arise in the course of owning your home, one set of problems is that drains in and around your house can become blocked.

Drainage law in the UK is fairly ambiguous, in that if the blockage isn't on the main pipeline that runs through the road, you are responsible for getting it cleaned. The problem lies in defining a main pipeline. Here's a rough idea.

Drains are clay or plastic, and if they connect one end to a house, and one end to either a sewer or a pipeline, they are legally your responsibility, even if they go underneath somebody else's property.

Sewers are shared amongst 4 or 5 properties, and are larger. These are connected to either the main pipeline. The responsibility of fixing problems on sewerage systems lie jointly between the owners of the building (if the properties were built after 1937) or with the local water company (if the property was built before 1937).

Either way, drain unblocking is usually covered by your home insurance (but it could be worthwhile to speak to your insurer about this).

What is important when unblocking drains is to find out exactly what caused the blocking of the drain, by getting to the root cause of the drain being blocked, you can often stop from it being blocked again a little later on, saving you money in the long run.