From ready-made house to house built to your own design

When I spoke to Florin Moroșan, the owner of the house you will discover in this article, he told me he was happy. "When I get home in the evening and relax after a day's work, I'm happy. Every day I enjoy how good we feel in the house.". The house he is talking about is designed by him and his wife down to the smallest detail and built exactly as they wished byLitarh. Located in a quiet area near Suceava, on a hill with a panoramic view over the valley, the house is built on a wooden structure on one level. The Morosans are delighted with the house and realise from the admiring remarks they receive from neighbours and friends that this is not just their opinion.

It is now a time when many are inclined to build their own home instead of buying a ready-built apartment or house. Such a decision brings with it a lot of questions because the family's comfort and not least, savings are at stake. That's why people are looking for answers through all channels. For more than three years now, we have been trying to provide them with information directly from the source, to talk to both builders and beneficiaries, so that the picture is as complete as possible. This is how we ended up talking to Florin Moroșan who agreed to tell us about the house built not long ago, about the journey from the project to living in the new house and about the collaboration with Vlad Liteanu, Litarh's manager.

Project

The Morosan family has always wanted to have their own house. More than 6 years ago they bought a ready-built house from a developer. When they bought it, the house was finished so they couldn't put their stamp on the design. In the 6 years they lived in it they discovered its shortcomings, they saw what they would have done differently. So they decided they wanted another house, this time done to their own design, as they had long thought.

When the necessary conditions were met - especially the land and financial resources needed to build - they contacted an architect friend and told him in detail about their vision. They didn't want a very big house with a floor and lots of rooms, they wanted something that represented them. They wanted a house that made the best use of space, on one level, a pleasant and elegant house that offered all the amenities they needed. Florin also wanted everything that needed to be done to be done from the start, so that they wouldn't have to intervene over time to change or add anything.

The architect gave them several options and finally, after some adjustments, they came up with the final plan. The house was to have a living room, dining area with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a technical room. The two areas - the living and dining areas and the leisure area - were to be clearly demarcated. Even the roof was to show this demarcation, with half being in one water and the other half in 4 waters, but the junction between them coming naturally. Two terraces were provided in the entrance area and at the rear, the rear one corresponding to the kitchen, open to the dinning area. The kitchen can be closed off with sliding doors so that unpleasant odours do not reach the dining area. Although they are in a common space, the dinning room and the living room have been separated by a level break, thus being well demarcated. In total there was 120 m² of interior built area and 38 m² of terrace.

With the project in place, the next step was to find the right builder.

Choice of builder

It was not difficult because Florin had already known Vlad for some time, they were even collaborators and he had had the opportunity to talk with him about houses on wooden structure, to go in the Valea Moldovei factory and see projects that Litarh had completed. The option of building on prefabricated wooden structures was the one he was leaning more and more towards, especially since he didn't want that kind of translational construction site with lots of workers, waiting times and lots of waste. All the more so because he had seen the experience of a neighbour who had been working on his house on the conventional system for three years and it still wasn't finished. To make sure he was making the right choice, he researched, read online and watched videos of other timber-frame home owners' experiences, and discovered the energy efficiency benefits. In the end, the decision to build with Litarh was final.

The land already existed when they started discussing the project with Vlad. It was in the second half of 2018. They settled everything then - with start date, duration, insulation materials to be used - he accepted the final offer and in November they signed the contract and construction will start in 2019 after Easter. Figuring out all these details early on was beneficial to both parties. Litarh could do the strength design at leisure, schedule the production of the prefabricated wooden elements in peace of mind, without heirupism, knowing they could rely on a secure contract. Florin was sure that even if there was a price fluctuation, he was guaranteed the initial price. It's a professional, predictable way of working that benefits both parties.

Raising the house

Construction of the house began in May 2019, after Easter. Beforehand, Florin made the foundation of the house which needs a month to dry before the construction work starts. Also in the factory were made walls, on wooden structure, with a layer of 150 mm mineral insulation inside, beams and roofing. When everything was ready, the prefabricated elements were transported to the hill of Șcheia.

The house itself took 3 weeks to erect. This meant fitting the house's footings to the foundation, the exterior and interior walls and the roof rafters. Then insulating the outer walls with 100 mm basalt wool and plastering them, insulating the roof with 300 mm mineral wool over which vapour-permeable wood-fibre panels were laid and fitting plasterboard to the inner walls. Finally, the house was covered with high-strength, reinforced sheeting.

All this time the Morosanu family was always on the construction site. Not because they needed to, but because they wanted to see each stage, to be sure it was what they wanted. I asked Florin what he thought about the fact that some people don't consider wooden houses solid enough. He told me that he has total confidence in the house and the work done by Litarh. He witnessed the fitting of the house's soles and the erection of the walls and saw the connectors used to secure them. She has now lived in the house for 5 months and does not feel it is fragile at all, no creaking, no shaking when trucks pass, no wind noise, solid and sturdy.

With this work, Litarh's mission is over. Next came the plumbers, electricians, who installed underfloor heating in the bathrooms, radiators, ducts and central heating for all other areas. A fireplace was built inside, a barbecue on the back terrace, it was painted inside and out. The house was then furnished and decorated with passion and imagination, becoming home.Everything was done in a leisurely, unhurried way, with the desire that everything will be in place when they move in. And so it was, now they only have to work on the garden.

Already 5 months in the new house

In July this year (2020), they moved into a new house. They had the opportunity to experience the summer heat in their new home and found that even on very hot days, when it was over 30°C outside, the temperature in the house did not exceed 22-23°C. Now, although the temperature is below 0°C at night and in the morning, the house is just fine. True, they have turned on the heating, but it warms up very quickly and the pleasant warmth persists.

Also contributing to the energy efficiency of the house are the good quality windows with 3 rows of glass and the way the front door to the house has been positioned, with a small doorway, making it sheltered. Also, the entrance is not directly into the living room, but two hallways run through it, acting as a buffer between the outside and the inside. The first hallway, the one just beyond the front door, is where you can undress and undress. From the second hallway, perpendicular to the first, you enter the living-dining room on the left and the bedroom area and technical room on the right. Also from here is access to the attic, via a staircase that pulls up only when needed, an attic designed as storage space.

The house is very bright, with large, generous and very well oriented windows. The bright and spacious feeling was also greatly enhanced by the interior design conceived by the Morosan family. The white furniture, the white, grey and greyish tones of the walls and floors, the carefully chosen lamps and decorations ensure a pleasant and bright atmosphere inside. The elegance of the house also gives us the necessary support to dismantle the ideas of those who say that a wooden house is more like a cottage.

The exterior of the house was also white, both for the walls and the wood used for the terraces. At the entrance, the terrace has wooden steps and a wooden railing with pilasters, similar to the porches of peasant houses. The spare terrace has a roof painted white on the inside, as is the surrounding garret. It is very well lit with bulbs, and the white of the wood reflects the light, allowing the terrace to be used even on the darkest nights.

The final

Timber-frame houses are energy efficient, build faster than traditional materials and have much cleaner building sites. But to guarantee quality construction, you need to work with serious, professional companies. There are such firms in all parts of the country, you just have to look for them, see what projects they have done, get the opinion of the beneficiaries. Talk to the representatives of the company before deciding, tell them what you want, how efficient you want the house to be and find out which options you can choose from. The same project can be done in many different ways, using different materials, resulting in different energy efficiency and different prices. Don't go on the assumption that a timber frame house is a cheap house, because it isn't. If it's worked correctly, you'll have a very sturdy house, built in a fairly short time and very energy efficient. And these qualities pay off. Even if such houses are worked faster, don't try to force things. Discuss it at length, make the contract and try that you understand the timescales proposed by the builder. Even if timber-frame houses are much faster, there is still time needed to organise production and factory activities so that the project runs as smoothly as possible. Work done on fast forward rarely end up being what you want.