Houses

Houses

A house is a place where we live with our family. A house protects us from heat, cold, rain, snow, wild animals, and thieves. Everyone has a different house. A house typically has windows, doors, and different rooms such as kitchen, bathroom, dining room, living room, bedroom. Some houses may also have other rooms such as study rooms, media rooms. Other houses may have back yards, front yards, balconies, terraces, verandas, basements, guest bedrooms or gym room.

Some houses may be bigger than the others. Some houses may be made with different kinds of materials, so they look different. We live in various types of houses. Let us learn more about them in detail.

Different materials are used to build different types of houses. The materials used are usually easily available at that place or the nearby places. For example, some houses may be made of mud, others of stone, while others may be made of hay or bamboo. This is done so that the cost of materials is less and in turn the cost of building the house is reduced. People living near rivers and seas usually make their houses from wood. Wood is easily available at a very low cost in these areas.

On the one hand, in a city, most of the houses are built using concrete, bricks, cement, iron, marble or different kinds of stones, wood, and glass. Sunlight comes into a house through the glass of the windows and doors. Wood is used to make doors and the frames of doors and windows. Walls and roofs are made of bricks, cement, and steel. The houses that are built from these or similar materials are strong and durable. They are called pucca houses. Pucca houses do not collapse during storm, rain, lightning strikes, or thunder.

On the other hand, in a village, the houses are usually made from mud, hay, bamboo, straw, and stones. The houses built from these materials are not very strong. But these materials are found in abundance in these areas. Such houses are known as kutcha houses. Kutcha houses may fall and get destroyed during weather changes or severe weather conditions.

Let us look at the other types of houses:

• In areas that are covered with ice throughout the year, materials like wood, cement, mud, hay, bamboo, etc are not available. The only material available is ice. So, at these places, houses are made of ice or blocks of ice and are called igloos.
• In some places, people live and work on the water. These people live in boats that are stationary at a fixed point and tied to the coast. Such houses are called houseboats. Houseboats have all the rooms like a normal house, with the only difference being in the fact that they always remain on the water.
• Some people have very large houses. These houses are very expensive and luxurious and are called mansions. Mansions which are more important and significant and where important people such as kings live are called palaces.
• A house which has a single storey or a second storey with a roof is called a bungalow. They are more expensive to build since a larger area is needed for only one house instead of two or three houses that can be built on the same area of land.
• A small house that is usually built in an isolated space usually in a rural area is known as a cottage. It is a one-storey house.
• An apartment or a flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building, generally on a single storey. These buildings may be low-rise or high-rise. High-rise buildings are called skyscrapers. They usually have lifts to carry people and materials from one floor to the other. An apartment that has only room with different parts of the room marked as the kitchen and bedroom is known as a studio apartment. An apartment located on the top floor of a high-rise apartment building is known as a penthouse.
• A house, usually in the countryside or near the sea, which people can rent for a holiday is called a villa. The concept of a villa originated in Rome but has spread to all other parts of the world over a period of time.
• A farmhouse is a building that serves as the primary residence in a rural or agricultural setting. Other farmhouses may be connected to one or more barns, built to form a courtyard, or with each farm building separate from each other.