Wooden Houses

ECOSITANA

Ecositana is a construction company with a permit specialized in building high-quality wooden structures for primary or secondary housing. Houses designed according to the client’s needs with all modern comfort and improved thermal and acoustic insulation. As each client is unique, each house we build is unique. We do not work with pre-defined models or plans or houses in kit. Purchasing a home is one of life’s big decisions and shouldn’t be made in a catalogue. Want a quote? Contact us through our email info@ecositana.pt or consult our contact page.

Our homes are not simple wooden houses. They are mix structures that combine this noble raw material with a multitude of insulating and structural materials that complete and optimize it. Designed in a robust and extremely durable wooden skeleton based on the Porticada construction.

Turnkey concept, with foundations, construction of the house on site, plumbing, electricity, kitchen furniture, mosaics, wardrobes, doors, windows (aluminum thermal break), bathroom furniture and crockery. Dwellings with project imagined and customized to the client’s taste.

The future inhabitant will be able to customize wardrobes, kitchen and bathroom furniture and other coverings (tiles, floors, walls, etc.) to ensure that their vision becomes a reality. Our wooden house acts as a blank canvas where you can print your personal tastes.

VERSATILITY & COMFORT

The «porticado» wooden skeleton is an art reserved for experienced builders. Consisting of a robust cage of wooden beams and pillars intertwined based on gravity and reinforced by metal connectors, the Ecositana wooden house offers a universe of architectural possibilities, both exterior and interior. It is the way of building in wood that provides greater architectural freedom. That is why it is the architects' favorite technique and the constructive way we have perfected to build our wooden houses.

Regardless of the number of rooms (common or private) or the desired size, we are here to build a custom wooden house capable of accommodating your family with all modern comfort. Due to its robust nature, the house built with a wooden skeleton allows to incorporate in its components several insulating materials that will be completed while increasing the insulating capacity of the wood. The technique applied for the execution of the skeleton therefore helps to isolate the structure from soil moisture, withstand heavy loads (such as a ceramic roof) and increase durability and thermal and acoustic comfort.

Built in a skeleton of PEFC certified Nordic laminated wood, our house has the ability to withstand tensile and compressive stresses that would cause traditional masonry structures to collapse. For this reason, an Ecositan dwelling, supported by our wooden skeleton, manages to adapt to a multitude of applications without compromising its structural characteristics.

From varied coverings to large glazed facades, through imposing and spacious divisions, our construction excels in its ability to allow creativity and originality.

THE ADVANTAGES OF

BUILDING SMART

Wood is the most efficient of insulators. In fact, wood is the only insulator that doesn’t lose any capacity over the years. No man-made insulator can boast of it. All factory-produced insulation has an expiration date. This is not the case with wood. If it is well cared for, our wooden house is a building suitable for several generations without compromising the comfort of the inhabitants over time.

The wood’s hygrometric regulation capacity and its great thermal inertia make this an ideal raw material for the Iberian climate. Its capacity for hygrometric regulation means that the wood captures and expels a small portion of the moisture produced by the activity inside the house at the same time that it regulates it. Limiting the feeling of the house becoming too dry or too humid.

It is also important to mention the acoustic comfort, as wood absorbs sound, reducing noise pollution. In conjunction with double glazing, the wooden wall has an optimal management of thermal resources and an effective reduction of outside noise.

SAFETY & FIRE

RESISTANCE

The safety of wooden houses against fires is one of the topics that causes debate. Contrary to popular belief, wood in civil construction has an excellent behaviour against fire. First, in a fire, wooden frameworks are able to maintain their mechanical properties, and therefore to safeguard the structure, for longer than a steel or concrete beam (1).

In fact, all studies show that the reaction and resistance of wooden frameworks or treated wood is as or more secure than a conventional house (2). This is because the insulating capabilities of wood make it a poor thermal conductor. The low conductivity of wood means that the heat transmission is 12 times lower than concrete and 250 times lower than steel (3).

In the vast majority of cases the causes of the fire are not found in structural materials but in external factors (surroundings) or in defective electrical or gas installations.

That is why, like any civil construction in Portugal, Ecositana wooden houses are subject to local regulations and strict controls on specialty projects, designed to guarantee quality and safety.

In addition, the insulators used, such as the non-combustible mineral wool used on all external and internal walls, or the fireproof screens on the deck, work as fire breaks, making our homes a healthy and safe home.

(1) The structure and mechanical behaviour of wood – U. Cambridge (2006)

(2) Les maisons en bois – connaître les différentes structures – Meyer, S. (2009)

(3) Wood: a fire-resistant building material – Pinto, E. M. (2004)