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 at home". The house he speaks of is designed by him and his wife down to the smallest detail and built exactly as they wanted by Litarh. Situated in a quiet area near Suceava, on a hill with a panoramic view of the valley, the house is built on a wooden structure on one level. The Morosans are delighted with the house and realize from the admiring remarks from neighbors and friends that it's not just their opinion.

It is now a time when many 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 family 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, talking to both builders and beneficiaries to give them the fullest possible picture. That's how we ended up talking to Florin Moroșan who agreed to tell us about the house he built not long ago, about the path from the project to living in the new house and about working with Vlad Liteanu, Litarh's manager.

Project

The Morosans have always wanted to own their own home. 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, saw what they would have done differently. So they decided that they wanted another house, this time done according to their own design, as they had been thinking about it for a long time.

When the necessary conditions were met - especially the land and the financial resources to build - they contacted an architect friend and told him in great detail about their vision. They didn't want a very big house, with a storey 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 home that offered them all the amenities they needed. Florin also wanted everything that needed to be done to be done from the beginning, so that he would not need to intervene over time to modify 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 - living and dining and leisure - were to be well demarcated. Even the roof was to show this demarcation, half of it being in one water and the other half in 4 waters, but the joining 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 room. The kitchen can be closed with sliding doors so that any unpleasant odors do not reach the dining area. Although they are in a common space, the dining and living room were separated by a level break, making them well separated. 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 wasn't difficult because Florin had known Vlad for some time, they were even collaborators and he had had the opportunity to talk with him about wooden houses, to go in the Valea Moldovei factory and see projects that Litarh had completed. Building on prefabricated wooden structures was the option he was leaning towards more and more, especially as he didn't want that kind of translational construction site with lots of workers, waiting times and waste. Especially since he had seen the experience of a neighbor who had been working on his house on the classic system for 3 years and it still wasn't finished. To make sure he was making the right choice, he researched, read online and watched movies about the experience of other owners of wood-frame houses, and discovered the advantages in terms of energy efficiency. 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 was to start in 2019, after Easter. Establishing all these details in advance was advantageous for both parties. Litarh could do the strength design at their leisure, schedule the production of the prefabricated wooden elements in peace, without heirarchies, knowing that 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 started in May 2019, after Easter. Before that, Florin made the foundation of the house, which needs a month to dry before the construction work starts. The walls were also made in the factory, on a wooden structure, with a 150 mm layer of mineral insulation inside, the beams and the roof frame. When everything was ready, the prefabricated elements were transported to the hill of Șcheia.

The erection of the house itself took 3 weeks. This involved fitting the house footing to the foundation, the exterior and interior walls and the roof. Then insulating the exterior walls with 100 mm basaltic wool and plastering them, insulating the roof with 300 mm mineral wool over which vapor permeable wood fiber panels were laid and fitting plasterboard on the interior walls. Finally, the house was covered with high-strength, perforated sheeting.

All this time the Morosanu family was always on the construction site. Not because they needed to, but because they wanted to see every stage, to be sure that it was what they wanted. I asked Florin what he thinks about the fact that some people don't think wooden houses are solid enough. He told me that he has total confidence in the house and in the work done by Litarh. He witnessed the house's sole and the walls going up and saw the connectors used to secure them. She has been living in the house for 5 months now and does not feel at all that it is fragile, it does not creak, it does not rattle when trucks pass, there is no wind, it is solid and sturdy.

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

Already 5 months in the new house

In July this year (2020) they moved into their new house. They had the opportunity to experience the summer heat in the new house 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, even though the temperature is below 0°C at night and in the morning, the house is very comfortable. True, they have turned on the heating, but it heats 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 has been positioned, with a small entrance, making it sheltered. Also, the entrance is not directly into the living room, but through two hallways that act as a buffer between outside and inside. The first hallway, the one just inside 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 out from above only when needed, an attic designed as a storage space.

The house is very bright, with large, generous and very well oriented windows. The Moroșan family's interior design has contributed greatly to the feeling of light and space. The white furniture, the white, gray and grey tones of the walls and parquet flooring, 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 cabin.

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

The final

Timber frame houses are energy-efficient, they are built faster than traditional houses 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 need to look for them, see what projects they have done and find out what the beneficiaries think. Talk to the company before you decide, 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 different ways, using different materials, resulting in different energy efficiency and different prices. Don't go with the idea that a timber-frame house is a cheap house, because it's not. If done correctly, you will have a very sturdy house, built in a fairly short time and very energy efficient. And these qualities pay off. Even if such houses get done faster, don't try to force things. Discuss at length, draw up the contract and try to understand the builder's proposed deadlines. Even if with timber frame houses things go much faster, you still need time to organize production and factory activities so that the project goes as smoothly as possible. Work done on fast forward rarely end up being what you want.