What is a prefabricated house? Structure, advantages and disadvantages, beautiful models

Prefab houses are houses assembled from pre-manufactured parts, allowing for quick construction. They come in a variety of designs based on size, number of floors (1-2 floors), and materials (wood, glass, paneling, etc.), helping homeowners choose a style that suits their budget.

1-storey prefabricated house

2-storey prefabricated house

This type of house is made up of 7 main parts: Foundation, frame, wall, floor, ceiling, roof and door. They are suitable to replace small and medium sized houses such as: level 4 house, homestay, garden house, resort house.

This house model is popular because it saves time and money. However, it is not as stable as a built house, requires a team of experts, a large area to operate machinery and should not be installed in areas with many natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.

What is the structure of a prefabricated house?

The prefabricated house consists of 7 parts, including:

• House foundation: There are four simple foundation types for prefabricated houses: diamond foundation, isolated foundation, tie foundation, and raft foundation (for weak soil).
• House frame: Use galvanized steel to make the frame, erected by welding or bolting. Note, the frame needs to be painted with anti-rust paint to ensure durability.
• Wall: We just need to install the Panel covering the outside of the house frame (1-wall wall), or add decorative panels to the inside of the house frame (2-wall wall). Note: Imported Panel will have higher durability and price than EPS Panel.
• Floor: We can choose to tile or use interlocking plastic flooring or laminate flooring.
• Ceiling: Nano panels and gypsum panels can be used for ceiling cladding.
• Roof: Prefabricated houses often use PU (cold galvanized steel) or imitation tile plastic for roofing.
• Door: Windows and doors made of plastic, aluminum, etc. are installed with 1 or 2 hinges.

Advantages of prefabricated houses

Prefabricated houses are becoming a trend in the modern construction industry thanks to outstanding advantages such as saving construction time, uniform quality, flexible installation and easy upgrading.

Shorten construction time

According to research by the American Prefabricated Building Institute (MBI), the construction time of a prefabricated house is only half that of the traditional method. This is thanks to the modules and components being pre-manufactured in the factory with a closed process and high precision. The assembly at the construction site is quick, minimizing the impact of the weather.

A typical example is the Katerra social housing project in California, USA. All 243 apartments were completed in just 4 months, compared to 12-18 months with the traditional method. Thanks to that, the investor saved 30% of labor costs and 15% of the total project cost.

Ensuring consistent quality

Thanks to production in a factory environment with modern production lines and strict control processes, 100% of prefabricated house materials are of consistent quality.

In addition, high precision helps reduce material loss to 1,7%, instead of 5-7% as with traditional methods (according to data from Vietnam Construction Magazine), and labor costs are also optimized thanks to quick assembly.

Flexible transportation and installation

Because the house is assembled from pre-manufactured parts, it has many benefits such as:

• Easy to transport by regular truck.
• Installation and function change by simply disassembling and assembling parts.

A typical example is the “KODA Loft” house by Kodasema (Estonia), this 25m² house can be assembled in 7 hours and disassembled in just 4 hours. Thanks to that, the homeowner can flexibly change the living space according to the needs of use.

What should be noted when building a house by assembling?

There are some things to note when constructing prefabricated houses including: Construction life, construction space requirements, worker qualifications and ability to withstand natural disasters.

The life of the building is not equal to that of reinforced concrete houses.

The structure is mainly made of steel frames and lightweight materials, making prefabricated houses less stable when subjected to natural disasters such as large storms or strong earthquakes. The connections between components can also be shaken or even thrown apart if subjected to too much force.

In areas that are prone to natural disasters such as Central Vietnam or earthquake zones in Japan, the rate of prefabricated houses is often much lower than in other areas. People still prefer to choose solid concrete houses to ensure safety.

Requires large space for installation

The process of assembling a house requires a large space for the assembly machinery to operate. For example, to assemble a 2-storey house with an area of ​​100m², requires a surface area of ​​about 200m². Meanwhile, traditional construction only requires 100-150m². Therefore, prefabricated houses are often difficult to apply in narrow, densely populated areas.

The process of assembling a house requires a large space for machinery to operate.

Requires highly skilled workers

Although the assembly process is simpler than traditional construction, it requires workers with certain expertise and experience. They need to master the assembly steps, connection techniques and adjust the parts to fit and be accurate.

If the worker is not qualified, it is easy to make mistakes such as installing in the wrong position, leaving gaps between joints, affecting the quality and aesthetics of the prefabricated house.

Beautiful prefabricated house models based on area

Below are house models for each area from 18m² to 176m² for your reference.

Prefabricated house 98m²

Prefabricated house 84m²

Prefabricated house 77m²

Prefabricated house 176m²

Prefabricated house 144m²

Prefabricated house 104m²

Prefabricated house 72m²

Prefabricated house 18m²

Prefabricated house 38m²

Prefabricated house 48m²

Frequently asked questions about prefabricated houses

What is the difference between a prefabricated house and a traditional house?

Can prefabricated houses withstand earthquakes and floods?

Maybe, but not much. Prefabricated houses can withstand earthquakes of level 6 and hurricanes with winds of level 12.

Do prefabricated houses need a building permit?

According to the building permit, prefabricated houses are considered prefabricated houses.

Are prefabricated houses well insulated and soundproofed?

Whether a prefabricated house has good soundproofing and heat insulation or not depends largely on the cladding materials and the tightness of the construction. These include the following materials:

• The panel consists of 2 corrugated iron sheets and a layer of insulation foam in the middle, 50-100mm thick. This foam layer has very effective sound insulation, heat insulation and fire resistance.
• Using interlocking plastic flooring, laminate flooring will be warmer than stone tile flooring in cold winter because of its effective insulation ability.
• Nano panels, fluted plastic panels have a hollow structure that helps increase sound and heat insulation.

Nano panels, fluted plastic panels support soundproofing and noise reduction for the house

Laminate flooring for a warmer home

Prefabricated houses are highly dependent on the materials used and the skill of the builders, resulting in features and durability that are crucial. This type of housing is quite popular in Western countries due to its flexibility and short construction time. Buyers should seek out reputable construction companies with expertise and years of experience to receive detailed advice tailored to their specific needs.

If you need to find tiling materials for your home, you can contact Kosmos Vietnam (Decorative Materials Warehouse) at: 0932.067.388 or through zalo group