Hello!
I am a new owner of a house from 1958, with a wooden frame, a brick facade, and a full basement. To have somewhere to stash the kids, we need to expand with some bedrooms. It's about 30 square meters.
What building technique would be the most sensible to choose, both considering technology and aesthetics?
Since we now live in the part of our elongated country where building in wood is preferred, it seems natural to choose that. The family insists it's the simplest – there is a lot of practical woodworking know-how available. But I am a bit skeptical. Not least due to the vapor barriers that are used in new wooden buildings. Some equate it to "living in a plastic bag."
And how does such a tight extension work with the rest of the house, which, of course, has natural ventilation? Is there a risk of disturbing the fine balance our lively house enjoys today?
Before we fell for our new old house, we actually planned to build new in concrete or lightweight concrete. Initially, I thought it could work with an extension in lightweight concrete blocks. But how does that technique work with our wooden frame, really? Aesthetically, a plastered concrete extension would naturally go well with the old brick.
A good thought might be to build as before, but it is not entirely easy to get new brick to match, and I am also unsure if it's economical to brick up a new facade. In that case, maybe we should plaster or use sack-joint pointing, but that would be redundant.
Grateful for guidance!
Pajthor
