The idea of ​​multi-storey wooden houses ran into objections from the Ministry of Emergency Situations: insects love it

A large company engaged in both timber processing and the construction of wooden houses insists on the implementation of a new idea. Six months ago, entrepreneurs complained to the head of state about the reduction in production due to sanctions. As a result, thousands of residents of the Russian hinterland will lose their jobs, industrialists complained.

Putin instructed the Ministry of Construction to submit the relevant amendments to the SNiPs (Building Norms and Rules) to the Russian Government by July 1.

However, on August 8, during a meeting of industrialists with the president, an unpleasant thing came to light. It turns out that entrepreneurs have already prepared projects for the construction of multi-storey wooden buildings, but the Ministry of Emergency Situations cannot approve the documents in any way. The maximum that rescuers can now allow is the construction of a four-story wooden property. But not twice, and even more so three times higher.

The main types of wooden houses are frame and glue-panel. Russians identify the last buildings with barracks, and there are reasons for that, says Ruslan Syrtsov, managing director of the Metrium company.

According to him, houses made of laminated laminated timber crack under the action of sunlight and rot when in contact with moisture (and rain and snow, as you know, are widespread in all Russian regions). In the USSR, they were caustically called glue-slits, and for good reason. Insects and spiders love such houses: they not only crawl the walls of the house in large numbers, but also easily penetrate inside. Therefore, regular treatment of facade walls with protective compounds is required.

However, in our time, it seems like something has changed. The timber used in the construction of frame houses is first dried in a special chamber, then treated with refractory solutions and antiseptics. But representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are not ready to allow people to live at high altitude. Therefore, the experiment is still going on at the level of low-rise buildings.

Russian multi-apartment wooden houses of a new generation were introduced last year in the Vologda region using the so-called CLT technology (from the English Cross-Laminated Timber). As experts explain, unlike old wooden buildings, CLT panels retain their load-bearing capacity under the influence of fire much longer and do not emit toxic substances during combustion. Nevertheless, the residential complex near Vologda is more like a cottage settlement: the houses have only four floors.

A more popular type of wooden housing, frame, however, is also not popular with people. Small insects – that’s what. Much more unpleasant is the penetration into houses through the cracks of rats and mice, which happens with might and main in frame buildings. “We need to install nets, caulk holes,” comments real estate expert Konstantin Barsukov. – Care of the apartment is required constantly! But it’s one thing when a person lives in his own house, and another when next to neighbors who may not care about the condition of the apartment – ​​for example, if they rent it.”

“Maybe it makes sense to build wooden housing near logging sites? Cut down a tree, built a house…

“I don’t think so,” Konstantin Barsukov objects. – It’s not just logs to put on top of each other. We need industrial blanks, special blocks.

— Is the construction speed of wooden houses faster than monolithic ones?

– Buyers who purchase a country house for permanent residence, in 90% of cases, consider options from blocks or bricks. The tree accounts for 10 percent of the strength, – comments the head of the Analytical Center INCOM-Real Estate Dmitry Taganov. – What can we say about wooden houses in cities …

“Yes, a little faster, but for the Russians this parameter is definitely not of great importance,” continues Konstantin Barsukov. – I even look at frame houses outside the city, in the Moscow region: they are being built faster than stone ones, but it doesn’t matter to buyers, because they want stone ones. Even if they are building a dacha, imagine that they are offered to buy housing in a frame high-rise building…

—​ What can motivate Russians to buy houses in wooden high-rise buildings?

“Only if people understand that in a normal house they are not in danger of improving their housing,” Konstantin Barsukov replies. — I don’t know how the authorities will attract people, but now it seems to me that you can buy a “kopeck piece” in a “piece of wood”, conditionally, at the price of a 10-meter studio in a monolithic house. If there is such a difference in price, then, probably, there will be pioneers who will decide to buy similar apartments for themselves.

– Maybe it makes sense for Russians to buy “wooden” apartments for investment purposes, for rent?

– I agree, it makes sense. It is possible to build separate profitable houses, only for tenants. It must be understood that it is necessary to take care of the condition of apartments in such houses much more carefully than in traditional housing. It seems to me that the construction of wooden houses is good for creating dormitories for students, for shift workers … And again: the construction of investment housing does not solve the problem stated at the meeting with Putin – for citizens to improve their living conditions.

— Why? You can at least temporarily solve the problems of the waiting list.

– Here you are right. But this is a temporary solution. The life of these houses is a maximum of 50 years. This means that the grandchildren will have to look for housing again. And I’m not talking about the difficulties that will begin quite quickly, a few years after the settlement. Rather, such houses can be used as a mobile fund for those on the waiting list during wave relocation. The question is what this housing will turn into, since people usually do not take care of temporary, not their own housing, there will be little demand from them. I’m afraid that wooden houses will take on a negative connotation over time, and the people who bought them will never be able to sell them at the market price.

Nevertheless, the President of Russia instructed to consider the rules for the construction of wooden houses up to 12 floors high by 2024, stressing that he himself has no idea how this can be done.

HOW ARE THEM?

Popularizers of wooden housing like to cite Scandinavia as an example. Say, in the states of this European region, such real estate is not only popular, but extremely popular. Why shouldn’t Russia, also a northern country, join this?

However, lobbyists “forget” to say that in Finland and Sweden, where wooden houses are really widespread, construction technologies are debugged to perfection. There are no gaps in the frame, as in Russian counterparts, so not a single rodent will run through. Houses are built with a maximum of five floors. And yes, the prices for such housing are rather high, but buyers are confident in its high quality.

The project of the 18-storey building, which we like to refer to, is presented in a single copy – in Norway. This is a commercial and residential complex called Mjostarnet in the city of Brumunddal, the center of the country’s woodworking industry. The height of the building is 85 meters (18 floors). It houses a business center and a hotel. Dozens of people serve the high-rise. And yes: from the 12th to the 18th level, the slabs are completely concrete. Such a decision is forced. Firstly, it maintains the required height (otherwise the building has a chance to squint or even collapse), and secondly, it helps to withstand wind loads.

Two more high-rise, 12-storey buildings were built in Oslo and Stockholm. Actually, the achievements of high-rise wooden construction are limited to this.

There is one more example. In Sweden, by 2025, the largest wooden complex in the world will be built. It has 7,000 offices and 2,000 houses, restaurants and shops. But this is elite, not mass housing. And the height of the buildings is up to four floors.