The exterior of the house in the mountains is known even to those who have never been to the snowy slopes of the Alps. Wide sloping roofs and outwardly rough appearance attracts after the same type of urban landscape. Chalet houses can be seen not only in mountainous areas - they have spread due to their originality and practicality.
The emergence of the term "chalet"
The development of style takes its roots at the beginning of the second half of the last millennium and is associated with the development of the peasantry. At that time, the mountainous regions of France began to be more actively used as pastures, which led to the need to build houses to protect the shepherds from the weather. For this purpose, they began to use buildings from improvised materials that provided sufficient strength and retained heat - wood and stone.
The first chalet-style houses were built using unprocessed stone of arbitrary sizes and shapes. Appropriate appearance appeared after the advancement of buildings in urban development.
The name of the style is due to the French “chalet”, meaning “shawl” or “warm”. In such houses, travelers could wait out rain, a storm or a blizzard. The stone walls functioned as a frame that can withstand strong winds, and the wooden cladding did not release heat to the outside. Later, similar designs began to be used in large-scale urban construction. There were even five-story buildings made in this style.
Distinctive features of style
Sometimes alpine houses are confused with country-style buildings. Their main difference is less attention to details in the chalet's interior, more inherent in country. In rural areas, farmers could devote more time to their housing, turning every home into a work of art.
The style of the chalet is practical, and the construction of the house was originally supposed to take as little time as possible. That is why in its construction unprocessed stone and wood were used, which in addition have a low cost.
The chalet is minimalistic - open wooden ceilings on the ceiling and beds located near the slope of the roof are signs of an alpine house. In the olden days, much attention was paid to functionality, so the roof is strongly given out as the dimensions of the building itself. Sometimes even whole courtyards were closed by one roof in order to keep the household away from rain and snow all year.
Modern designers sometimes propose projects that use more modern elements in the form of tiles, plastic, cladding and wallpaper. Sometimes they manage to keep the thread connecting the chalet’s house with its history, although often a mix is obtained that is difficult to attribute to one style. Consider the features of the appearance of the house in the chalet style.
Facade
The mountain house is distinguished by the saturation of straight lines that divide the floors or outline the change of structural elements. To reduce the cost of expensive stone used to be done only the basement, taking on the main load, and the next floors were made of wood.
A similar design is now rarely used, but they continue to sheathe the upper half of the house with wooden boards. To preserve the appearance of wood, use heat-treated or impregnated with a mixture of lumber. Paint and varnish coatings in chalet houses are practically not used, as they negate the whole effect of decoration.
Modern walls are usually built of bricks, which are externally tiled with stone tiles or hewn booths. From the inside, classic wood paneling is used, and a few columns are laid out from rough stone.
The wood for the outer and inner lining must be impregnated with a means of protection from insects and fire. Do not immediately use the boards from the sawmill - this will reduce the duration of the building.
Roof
Most houses are equipped with a wide gable roof, with an angle of inclination of 15-30 degrees. A large coating area does not mean excessive pressure on the walls and foundation, because it is distributed throughout the entire size of the house. A low incline is more adapted to strong winds that will blow away excess snow.
The roof ledge is selected so that the balconies of the house are protected from rain. The cornice should have some reserve that protects the walls and people on the balcony from a continuous slanting shower. The roof top looks best when tiled - an environmentally friendly and practical material.
Initially, brushwood and straw were used to cover the roof, as for clay houses. The first tile was carved from wood, and ceramic tiles appeared after the widespread use of kilns for industrial clay firing.
Interior decoration
Chalet houses are distinguished by their interior spaciousness and an abundance of wooden coatings. Stone sections are allowed only in the manufacture of columns, the lining of which with a tree would look alien. Longitudinal and transverse beams acting as stiffeners are not masked. Minimal processing of lumber preserves the ability of wood to “breathe” and maintain its own microclimate inside the house.
In modern versions of houses, combined coatings containing synthetic and woolen materials are used. In the "antique" versions, large skins are actively used, replacing floor and wall carpets.
Accessories and furniture
Wall decoration can be done with simple paintings that do not depict scenes of our time. The bedrooms mainly have beds, while sofas and comfortable soft corners are usually placed in the central living room.
An invariable attribute of the chalet's house is a large fireplace, which serves as the main heating system. The large mass of stone spent on its construction transfers more heat to the rooms after prolonged heating. A meeting place and pastimes are located in the center of the room near the fireplace, which allows family or friends to gather under the quiet crackling of burning firewood.
The furniture in the houses is made as crudely as the general decoration of the house. Most modern wardrobes can be added to the chalet style if you carry out their external decoration. Classical furniture uses fairly thick boards, while kitchen and decorative shelves are reinforced by oblique props.
The design of the house and the interior in the style of a chalet:
- Making a furnace for long burning;
- Read about how to insulate the floor in a private house here;
- Construction of a gable roof: derevo-s.ru/stroeniya/dom/dvuhskatnaya-krysha.
Where is this style used now?
Most popular are such houses in mountainous terrain, for which winter snowstorms and blizzards are commonplace. Modern plumbing and lighting made the chalet houses no less functional than standard brick or block buildings. Wide roofs have not lost their relevance for protection against precipitation and have spread not only in alpine houses, but also ordinary low-rise buildings.
You can see classic chalet-style houses in Russia in relatively few cottage villages. They are rarely located on their own, usually surrounded by the embodiment of a design idea. A significant part of the estimate in such projects is not only the design and construction of the house, but also the formation of the surrounding area - a garden, paths, pool and decorative outbuildings.
What you need to know about a typical chalet house design?
Modern approaches have changed the concept of the classical style and make extensive use of the frame structure. A fairly similar imitation can be much cheaper, but it will not be as functional and reliable as the original.
A properly erected house in the alpine version is a more expensive pleasure than a standard construction similar in terms of living space. The reason is the high cost of stone blocks, so brick walls, faced with stone, are often used.
A typical chalet house design has the following features:
- gable wide roof (in large mansions more complex schemes can be used);
- a combination of inside and outside of two basic materials - stone (faceted buta) and unpainted wood (tiles with imitation of rough stone can be used to decorate the bathroom and other wet rooms);
- the walls, floor and ceiling are lined with wood, and stone blocks and columns are present as needed;
- wooden floors and beams remain uncovered and fall into the general color scheme of the interior;
- the only heating system in sight is a fireplace, and additional heating elements are hidden;
- lamp lighting does not contain white light, but imitates the light of candles (yellow tint).
Alpine-style homes are a practical and original home improvement solution. In Russia, chalet-style buildings can be seen in expensive cottage villages, while abroad there are small cities of houses of this type. Small differences in design and decoration make it possible to obtain completely different buildings from similar structures, emphasizing the beauty of the surrounding nature.