Using facade decorative decorations, you can make the exterior of a country house much more attractive and original. Buildings with such elements look solid and stand out against the background of adjacent buildings. There are many decorative elements of facades. But in the design of modern houses, only some of them are mainly used.
Types of architectural decorations
Facade decorative elements are classified according to several criteria. In relation to the structures of the building itself, they can be active or passive. The first kind of jewelry additionally performs some function. For example, columns can support floors, decorative cornices protect walls from moisture, etc. Passive elements of building facades are pure decoration. They do not perform any additional function. It can be, for example, stucco molding, bas-reliefs, patterns, sculptures.
By location, all facade architectural elements are classified into vertical and horizontal. Also, such decorations can be intended for the design of windows or doors or the walls themselves.
What are they made of?
By the type of material used for the manufacture of the facade elements are divided into light and heavy. Active, bearing any load, can be made:
- made of natural or artificial stone;
- fiber-reinforced concrete or ordinary reinforced concrete;
- brick, etc.
Rather expensive durable materials are often used for the manufacture of facade passive decorative elements. The need for this arises when there is a likelihood of damage to the decoration as a result of mechanical stress.
Sometimes passive elements of building facades can also be made from cheaper light materials, for example, from:
- gypsum;
- polystyrene foam;
- polyurethane foam;
- reinforced polystyrene foam.
List of the most popular facade decorations
Various kinds of exterior decorative elements have been used by man in the construction of buildings for a long time. In each architectural style there is simply a huge number of them. For domestic owners of suburban areas who decided to build a cottage, the names of the facade elements in many cases may be unfamiliar. After all, fashion for various kinds of exterior decorations uncharacteristic for the Soviet period in private housing construction has appeared on the territory of our country relatively recently.
Meanwhile, remembering the names of the main facade decorative elements used in modern construction will be relatively uncomplicated. Nowadays, a more or less limited number of such decorations is used to decorate houses. Popular vertical building facade elements today are:
- Balusters.
- The columns.
- Rusty.
- Platbands.
- Decorative brackets, consoles, castle stones.
Of the horizontal decorative elements on the facades of houses, you can often see:
- moldings and cornices;
- sandriks;
- arches;
- friezes.
Also, quite often, more complex passive decorations are used today to decorate buildings: stucco moldings, sockets, castle stones, bas-reliefs, sculptures, flowerpots, forging, etc.
Balusters
Facade decorations of this type are elements of parapets of terraces or balconies, as well as railings of street stairs supporting handrails. The material for the manufacture of balusters is selected, of course, primarily with the stylistics of the building itself. For decoration of stone houses, for example, concrete balusters are often used. During the construction of chopped buildings, such elements, of course, are usually made of wood.
Columns
Such facade decorations have three main elements in their design:
- base - lower supporting part;
- the trunk is the main part;
- the capital is the upper decorative rather massive part.
Since the columns in most cases carry an additional load in the building structure, durable materials are usually used for their manufacture. Most often they are cast from concrete, and then they are faced with stone or plastered and painted.
Rust
This is the name of a special type of facade decoration elements, invented once by the ancient Romans. The simplest type of rust is a partial or full cladding of rectangular stones mounted close to each other. A more complex option is to install such a material with alternating protrusions and recesses. Partial cladding can also use stones of different lengths.
Nowadays, with the use of stone-rust, for example, the corners of houses, window and doorways are often formed. Both artificial and natural stone can be used for such decoration. Sometimes a rust is simply a sketch on the plaster.
Decorative brackets and consoles
Such additional elements for facades are small and serve to support all kinds of small “protrusions” - cornices, window sills, peaks. In most cases, the architectural details of this variety carry a real load and are made of concrete, brick, stone, metal or wood.
But sometimes in construction simulations of supporting elements for window sills, cornices, etc. can also be used. In this case, the brackets, consoles, and other parts are most often made of polyurethane.
Front platbands
These products can have a very different design, depending on the style of the building itself. Platbands are used in the exterior design of houses to frame windows and doors. Such facade elements in buildings close the gap between the walls and the frames inserted into the openings. Platbands can be made from:
- artificial stone;
- different types of concrete;
- polyurethane foam, etc.
Decorative cornices
Such building design elements may be:
- crowning - located under the roof and protect the walls from precipitation;
- interfloor - zoned walls along the ceilings;
- basement - visually separate the foundation from the walls.
The design of such elements, like most other facade, of course, usually coincides with the general style of buildings. Decorative cornices are made most often from wood or light concrete.
Moldings
The decoration of this variety in the design of facades is used quite often. It is a molding element of stucco molding of considerable length with one flat side. In the exterior of the house, such decorations can act as platbands, cornices, plinths, etc. Often, moldings are also used to divide the surface of walls or, for example, pediments into separate curly sections, which are subsequently painted in a certain color or finished with any materials.
In most cases, such facade decoration elements are made of gypsum. They can also be concrete, polyurethane, etc.
What are sandriks
Such facade elements on buildings are installed above windows, doors, niches and are sometimes supplemented by gables. Among other things, sandriks perform the function of protecting the structures of the house from rain. Not infrequently often such elements can be supplemented, for example, with pediments with stucco compositions. In most cases, sandric is supported by brackets.
There are three main varieties of such facade elements:
- straight lines - in the form of a cornice;
- beam - a segment of a circle;
- triangular - with a pediment of the corresponding form.
Arches
Such elements are installed on facades over various openings. In construction, three types of arches are most often used:
- Moorish, resembling a horseshoe;
- semicircular ordinary;
- lancet (in the form of a dome).
Such elements can be made of concrete, gypsum, wood, polyurethane foam.
What are friezes
Such facade decoration elements are spectacular compositions in the form of stripes framing or encircling certain building structures (most often horizontally). Friezes can be decorated with painting, ornament, relief. One of the varieties of such decoration is, for example, anfimion, which is a decorative strip with convex ornaments.
Roof decoration
Of course, all kinds of exterior decorations can be used not only for building facades, but also for roofs. For example, decorative smoke boxes, carved skates, arches (for example, on dormer windows), etc. are often mounted on roofs. Such elements can also be made using different materials. Smokers, for example, are most often made of metal, and wood, forging is used to design dormer windows.
What other decorations can be
Sometimes you can give a building a solid appearance without using the actual decorative elements. It is possible to make the exterior of a house beautiful simply by installing standard designs of original design. For example, round windows on gables or front doors, curved street stairs, bay windows, etc. can look quite spectacularly.
Interesting ideas
Using the original decorative elements of the facade, you can make the design of a country house stunningly unusual and attractive. For example, a beautiful molding, imitating two columns and an arch above them, will be just an excellent decoration for windows and doors. Stucco molding looks pretty pretty not only on the eaves, above windows or doors, but also on the brick gables of the roofs.
To give the house a more solid appearance, a special kind of rust is often mounted on its corners - a bassage. In this case, stones of different lengths are used for decoration, which alternate during installation. Sculptures also look beautiful and harmonious in the exterior of buildings. Such elements can be installed next to the columns, in niches or even above - above the cornice.
To give the building an original appearance with the help of decorative elements of facades and roofs is completely uncomplicated. However, when using such jewelry, of course, it is worth observing one of the most important rules for building design. All elements mounted on the facades and the roof must correspond to any one style. For example, the classics are characterized by columns, massive balusters and brackets, simple radius arches, and also rustics at the corners.
The Art Nouveau building can be decorated using complex arches, fancifully curved moldings, light columns, stucco moldings, etc. Carved or forged balusters, cornices, platbands, etc. can be used as elements for decorating a country-style house.