List of building materials for a house – From traditional to new tendencies

During the construction project, you need to take a series of steps to get the most out of your work plan. One of these stages is to make a list of building materials for a house. This list includes the number of materials to be purchased, depending on the plans and the project in general.

Building materials, as well as standards, are somehow the same anywhere in the world with some minor variations. It’s like a universal code, so to speak. My mom said when I started studying engineering: “Engineering is universal; from here to the other side of the world you can understand and make yourself understood“.

Therefore, here we talk about the list of building materials for a house and their properties in construction, traditional or common materials.

Find out your home's credit score

Check your home condition score to find out!

Check it out

20 building materials for a house

There are many types of building materials for building a house but these 20 are common and traditional:

Cement

It is the universal building material. It consists of cement, water, coarse aggregates, and sand. Its use is infinite, depending on what needs and the desired strength. Structurally speaking, it uses in beams, columns, and foundations.

Gravel

The coarse ones crush stones, coming from rivers or exploitation. It uses as a base for pavements, roads, and rainwater drainage, but its main use is as a concrete component.

Sand

It comes from rivers, not from the beach. Its use is variable, from being one of the main materials of reinforced concrete to being used as a base mixed with gravel.

Natural rocks

Don’t confuse it with gravel. These rocks are siltstones, and their use is more decorative than structural,

Steel framing and metals

Steel is a noble metal, just like concrete, and it is one of the most used materials in construction. It can have infinite uses because even its factory scrap is useful. It uses as a profile to build roofs, sheds, bolts, nuts, mechanical parts, dishwashers, etc. All this depends on its carbon content and grade.

Another widely used metal is aluminum, as a material for decoration, in windows, as an additive for concrete, tools, etc.

Iron

Another indispensable metal in construction; is its use in pipes, beams type I or H, bridge, stairs, and stirrups. It also uses as a raw material (combined with coal) to create steel.

Wood

One of the most diverse, there are different types of wood and versatile materials. In the past, it used to list building materials for a house, roofs, and floors, due to its lightness compared to concrete. Today it still uses as a building material for houses, although it is flammable. It also uses in furniture, floors, utensils, roofs, etc.

Clay blocks and bricks

Blocks makes with a mixture of water and cement and poured into a mold. Clay bricks molded and kiln-dried. Both were used to make walls, and as infills in ribbed slabs. Clay bricks can be light or solid and depending on the treatment can use for both interior and exterior use in flooring, decorative objects, etc.

Flooring

It seems obvious but good soil is necessary to have good foundations. If the site abounds in clays, it is necessary to stabilize and use good soil, which can be brought from another place or from the same site, depending on the conditions. It normally uses in the stage before construction when the ground is leveled.

Masonry

Its use is decorative; it is a mixture of plaster and lime, which can model.

Silt and clay

Its use is particularly related to soil, foundations, and in very small percentages as a component of concrete.

Gypcrete

It is a mixture of gypsum and cement used for gray work finishes and as a base for installing ceramic, wood, rubber, etc. floors.

Flooring

It can be wood, polished concrete, ceramic, porcelain, clay brick, or natural rocks. They are finishes for construction sites.

Sanitary and fittings

Sanitary fixtures must comply with building code requirements and be ceramic for better hygiene.

Painting

Also belongs to the finishing process. Decorative and protective use, according to the environment can use in matte or satin type.

Read more: Satin vs flat paint options

Plastics

Used in roofs, as stabilizers of bases or sub-bases in pavements, pipes, connections, as filler in ribbed slabs, as an additive in concrete, as insulators in wooden houses, etc. Certain types of plastics, cast and molded as blocks, it use in construction.

Thatch

Its main use is as a filler between walls, for roofing, or as insulation.

Fabric

Its use in construction varies from weather protection to slope stabilization. Some geotextiles intercalate between the slope to be stabilized with soil and in some cases, gabions help to drain the water present.

Foam

Cellular concrete mainly uses to make foam blocks. It combines good resistance with light weight. Thermal insulation and absence of additional materials.

Glass

One of the primitive and versatile materials. Since its origin, it used as decoration but in construction, it has an important role, such as glass blocks, laminated glass, chromatic glass, tempered glass, etc.

Plumbing

One of the most important processes in the design and construction of houses is sanitary installations. This includes pipe types, diameters, materials, installation, repair, and replacement. It regulates by a building code.

However, nowadays there are many new materials, which have arisen from the need to obtain greater resistance with light weights and greater energy absorption capacities. However, many of them are still undergoing tests and their use in construction may be limited.

List of new types of building materials

Just as we mentioned 20 traditional materials to build a list of building materials for a house, we leave you a list of 10 innovative materials to build a house.

Allusion panels

A type of cladding known as “allusion panels” construct from stabilized aluminum foam and produces solid, lightweight panels that resemble metallic sponges. They are employed for flooring, signs, facades, ceilings, and light fixtures. They can use in countless building and architectural contexts.

Transparent wood

A breakthrough building material that is a fantastic replacement for glass and plastic is transparent wood. It is substantially lighter and has the same strength as timber. Transparent wood has several advantageous characteristics, including a low density compared to glass, low thermal conductivity, and excellent optical transmittance.

Hydro ceramics

With the use of innovative wall-building technology called hydro ceramics, walls can respond to the temperature outside. These intelligent walls are constructed of clay panels and water-absorbing capsules. When the heat from the outside rises and forces cool air into the structure, the trapped water can evaporate.

Pigmented concrete

Adding dry powder or liquid concrete during the mixing process produces colored concrete. The majority of these colors come from dyes or iron oxide. Abrasion has no effect on colored concrete, and heat and light do not fade the hues.

Bamboo-reinforced concrete

One of the most popular building materials in construction is steel-reinforced concrete. Bamboo is a substitute material for reinforcement, though. . In this case, is not employed in its tubular form in modern buildings. A highly adaptable material with a solid structural matrix creates by extracting the plant fibers and combining them with natural resins.

Pollution-absorbing bricks

Sustainability in construction is one of the factors of significant concern. Increasing population density and pollution bring critical challenges that push the industry to develop sustainable solutions. Pollution-absorbing bricks filter the air from outside and provide it to structures’ interiors. They use lesser energy and require no skilled labor to construct the system.

Self-healing concrete

This concrete creates by mixing in fibers or capsules that contain sticky substances. After cracking, the fibers or capsules split open and release the fluids, which help the concrete to mend. But research on this technology is still in its early stages. Corrosion develops if cracks deepen and reach the reinforcement. This self-healing concrete, though, stops it from happening.

Cigarette butt bricks

A study estimates that 45 billion cigarettes use annually in Australia alone. There are 7 billion of these cigarettes lying around. However, we may use cigarette butts to make bricks, greatly reducing the amount of waste these butts cause. The insulating properties reduce the expense of heating and cooling a home. According to several academics, smoking reduces the appropriateness of bricks for load-bearing structures.

Light-generating cement

Cement that emits light has a variety of applications. It can use for road safety signs, swimming pools, and parking lots. To create this cement, we modify the cement’s microstructure so that it can absorb solar energy and then emit light in the dark. Currently, light-generating cement comes in blue and green colors, and builders can change the light’s intensity to suit their needs.

In the world of construction, innovation thrives as new and challenging projects emerge. But at the same time, the traditional ones maintain their sense of security and economy. When it comes to a small project you can include in the house building materials list some novel elements, that will give even more value to your home.

With this list of building materials for a house, we hope it has been a valuable and informative guide.

Read more: Hardiebacker installation

Written by Vanessa Gallanti. November 14, 2022

Enthusiast about planning, project management, construction materials and technology, and construction. A civil engineer from Los Andes University and a content writer for Kukun.