In the post-war period, the Soviet Union faced the need to provide the population with affordable housing in a short time. New design developments, called panel houses, came to the rescue. A house of this type was built in the shortest possible time, although it was not devoid of shortcomings.
The emergence of panel housing
Panel-type houses appeared in the USSR at the end of the 50s of the last century. The very idea to build housing from ready-made blocks was borrowed in France, where in the post-war years the housing issue was successfully solved in this way. Gradually, in the Soviet Union, pre-war barracks and chic Stalinist houses were replaced by panel structures with small apartments.
In the 70s of the last century, the construction of the "panel" became widespread.
History says that the first panel house appeared in Moscow in 1959. In a short time, a whole block was built in the capital, consisting of typical panel houses. The first such houses were built from a smooth panel, and their quality left much to be desired. It was hot in summer in such a dwelling, and cold in winter.
The weakest point in the technology of erecting panel houses is the joints between individual slabs. During construction, they were usually sealed with various mastics or cement, sometimes a rubber layer was laid between the panels. Is it any wonder that such joints were quickly exposed.
Only in the 90s, during the reconstruction of old buildings, designers found a way to insulate panel houses using polymeric materials. The walls of the house or individual panels were simply covered with a layer of polyurethane foam. This method proved to be effective and became widely used in construction.
Panel house erection technology
A panel-type house is built on the principle of a children's designer. House details are manufactured at house-building factories. First, ready-made structural elements are brought to the construction site, of which the house is then sequentially made up. Standard elements make it possible to erect a panel building without any problems and in a relatively short time.
Panel houses are built much faster than monolithic structures, so they are usually cheaper.
This technology has led to the main difference between panel housing construction and other types of housing construction. It consists in the standard layout of the premises in each apartment. If the interior layout option turned out to be successful, it was copied in other neighborhoods and cities. This is how a whole series of similar houses appeared.
The main difficulty in the construction of the "panel" is the provision of high-quality sound and heat insulation in the house. Architects, inventors, designers and engineers have gone to great lengths to address this problem and provide acceptable insulation for panel seams and joints.
