Frame houses are commonly called Canadian houses. Not everyone knows, however, that the so-called Canadian is just one of several types of frame houses.
There are three most popular types of frame houses: Canadian, Scandinavian and German.
Canadian frame houses
they are distinguished by having lintels above door and window openings. They reduce the level of insulation, so they must be properly insulated. Canadian houses can be both prefabricated and built on site. The elevation is most often made of vinyl siding, wood, plaster on a polystyrene base or brick cladding.
Scandinavian frame houses
they have thicker load-bearing posts than the Canadian ones. They do not have lintels, instead a special board is used, mounted under the entire perimeter of the building cap. The structure is stiffened from the outside with a bituminized fiberboard, and from the inside with a plasterboard. The elevation is most often wooden, and the house is prefabricated.
German frame houses
or more precisely, houses with a heavy German frame, are the heaviest structures of all those mentioned here. They use thicker elements to build the house and a foundation slab instead of traditional foundations. The building material is KVH, i.e. solid structural wood, distinguished by its high strength and fire resistance. The durability of frame houses made using the German system is estimated at about 100 years. These houses are completely prefabricated.
Finally, it is also worth noting that the frame house structure is not always made of wood. It can just as well be made of steel. The term "frame house" is therefore not synonymous with the term "wooden house".
