The wife and I are looking to real estate, our plan is that we will buy some land, live in a trailer on it, and slowly build a house over time as funds allow. Thing is through I grew up in a place where concrete houses were common in a variety of environments and I like them way more than the plywood and mexican spit shacks that are common now.
Ofc this is speaking about things far in the future, but
>Is there anything I should keep in mind when building a concrete house in a humid area? (SE USA)
>Is it actually viable
>Is it better or worse for air conditioning and heating and junk
>Would something like cinderblocks be better?
I just really dont want drywall and plywood shit that's going to fall apart in 20 years
A properly built wooden house will last 100 years, but most houses aren't built properly. If you want to do cement, cinderblock will be cheaper but more time consuming- for concrete you frame and pour, for block you need to lay it obviously. Either way you are going to want to apply a wrap/siding to the outside and a layer of XPS foam on the inside/outside with drywall on the inside as well.
>drywall
But do I need drywall really?
No. My mother has a solid concrete house as the original owners were owners of a concrete company. Place is solid in SE USA. Humidity is no issue. There is no drywall in that house. The walls are heavily primed and painted. If anything it's cool like a cave.
>The walls are heavily primed and painted. If anything it's cool like a cave
Thats what I was hoping for, how did she design the house? Just a big cube or what?
She didn't design it the previous owners were concrete builders. It's a split layout with open kitchen and living in the middle. Even the inner walls are solid concrete. It looks like any other house just solid fricking concrete.
Nice, every time I talk to people about making a concrete house they seem to act like the only design I can do is a big commieblock
>every time I talk to people about making a concrete house they seem to act like the only design I can do is a big commieblock
They've clearly never been to Fonthill.
You don't need it, no, but putting a layer of xps foam on the inside and outside will make it a lot more insulated and let you run wiring and such without visible conduit
I grew up in central Alabama and lots of black people had cinderblock houses. Like the other anon said, inside the walls were heavily primed and painted but it was cinderblock all the way through. The floorplans were pretty basic, almost like a shotgun house, though with the bathroom bulging out of a side instead of being inline with all the other rooms. They're relatively simple to build, are good to be in if the area is prone to tornados like central Alabama is, and the cinderblock serves as a heat sink, which can be a bad thing in late summer, early autumn but the rest of the year it works to your advantage.
OP should do this and not overthink it. Military cinderblock structures from WWII are still fine on many southern tier bases. Use steel trusses and a galvalume roof.
No. I live in central america, all houses are cinderblock. We just throw paint on them. Some people use stucco + paint but the stucco is just for looks
I think European houses are able to hold back moisture far better than stick framing ever could as long as the proper hydro insulation is done.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo2HsLB3HX3ooXKjguVZmlNKdxGR-azOW
This is a pretty average construction method for yurop, also an especially strong structure because it's in Croatia where earthquakes are common. You can see in part 2 the hydro insulation being applied, make sure to turn on subtitles.
>and a layer of XPS foam on the inside/outside
Why? We never do styrofoam inside, just a thicc layer outside that gets glued (usually cement-based, there are now PU based expanding foams for this purpose as well) and then it's screwed with some special screws for it. Then the same cement-based glue goes over that, with a glass fiber net embedded in it to reinforce it so it doesn't crack because after that you only need to apply the final facade which is usually some stucco of god knows what plastic shit that can be in a myriad of colors, some people put bricks made specifically for it if they feel like spending more money.
>There is no drywall in that house. The walls are heavily primed and painted. If anything it's cool like a cave.
I wonder where they got the materials, god knows what kind of halfass job they did if they didn't find the shit we use in yurop. Nothing wrong with putting drywall over the walls of your concrete/brick house you lose a couple cm of size but save a shitload of time and get more even walls and easier modification of electrical installations shall you ever wish to do that.
Make sure you understand the permitting process where you do this. Some places have deadlines for permits to build, and many other issues.
Save up and go ICF, you will never regret it.
I have a block basement and its always wet
Use UHPFRC beams and columns (build it like a skyscraper) then for the external curtain walls use mechanically stabilized earth. Cheap and easy (if you aren't a smoothbrain), will last forever, and is peak hobbit shic.
This sounds moronic but amazing, ill start researching immediately
Duly noted, ty for the info
insulation is going to be your issue.
concrete is a good heat sink, but isn't good at actually insulating.
So if the night time temp is cool and the day is hot, you are golden, but if you have actual winters where it's cold all the time, or summers where night is too hot and day is boiling, then you need actual insulation.
What people did in the past was insulation and framing on the inside of concrete, then vapor barrier and fiberglass insulation, then drywall. If you do it wrong, you end up with condensation on the concrete growing mold spreading all through the fiberglass. Lot of "finished basements" with this issue. May need a french drain between the wall and the insulation.
It sounds like the current solution is xps concrete forms, so you cast the concrete directly in it, and it's got a waterproof seal built in.
Also, a lot of people forget, concrete is porous, if you don't want a wet basement and foundation issues, you need to do landscaping and drainage to direct water away from your house.