How is a timber frame house build
Timber Frame vs Conventional Stick Frame
hello my name is Pat Henan I'm with the
shelter Institute today we're going to
talk about traditional framing versus
timber framing
so all methods of framing have their
place whether it's stick framing or
timber framing or straw bale or heavy
steel or concrete block all of these
methods of construction have a place
that has to do with a whole bunch of
factors that are local to where it's
being built advantages of timber framing
are first of all that there are so many
fewer pieces notice the difference
there's actually considerably less wood
total in a timber frame than there is in
a stick frame building stick framing did
evolve because of the economy because of
the availability or non availability of
trees because of pressures and labor
unions all kinds of things that don't
really have to do with the actual
construction of the building so as I
said any method is alright as long as
the engineering specs are met so the
first thing that's obvious is the fewer
pieces the second thing is that today's
modern timber frame gets covered with
sip panels so that when you're done the
entire frame is visible the third thing
that is very personal is just the joy of
cutting out a timber frame instead of
using a very noisy circular saw cutting
out the same piece over and over and
over again we have very few pieces that
we know are going to be mated in a
certain way to erect a building
basically we're going to be building a
bent of a building which is the cross
section and for instance on this one
there are four of these vents if they're
ten feet apart that gives you a 40-foot
building so it's just four simple frames
that give you the whole structure by
having all of the insulation like sip
panels on the outside of the frame there
is no conduction of heat from inside to
outside over here we have an enormous
amount of void conducting heat from
inside to outside the only places that
are insulated of course either 16 or 23
inch spaces between the studs so as you
if you picture all of this wood it is a
lot of heat loss here not only does the
wood not conduct
because it's not part of the insulating
pattern the insulation is on the outside
of it so you would actually becomes part
of the mass of the house so when it's 72
degrees when all of this is 72 degrees
it stays that way because the insulation
is on the outside of it the process is
actually quite simple you might take 10
days to cut out all of these Timbers and
then in one day you simply lock them all
together and you lock them all together
next to the building why not top of the
other and then simply tip them up so
here we will have done that four times
and it happens in about four hours so
the whole frame goes up in no time at
all this will take quite a few more days
than that to do the Timbers are attached
to each other again according to
engineering you know what is it that
you're trying to do if this timber frame
is covered with sip panels it's
extraordinarily strong it's hurricane
resistant it's earthquake resistant so
these timbers are as I said engineered
but typically we would have mortise and
tenon joints we have a tenon going up
here into the beam we will have pegs
going through all of these are designed
so that the uplift of wind trying to
blow it away the push of wind on the
side trying to share and bend it are all
calculated so that there is the right
amount of wood left at each joint and if
necessary our steel will be added
certainly when the sips are attached to
the outside we first of course cover the
whole building with fire coat drywall
and then we add two sips on the outside
of that the sips are screwed in with
hundreds of screws that go into all of
these Timbers so that where we almost
have two houses together extraordinarily
strong construction the advantage to a
thick frame construction is that most of
the construction industry knows how to
build this but does not know how to
build this so this is very common and
easy to find subdivisions with hundreds
of homes in them are all built like this
I have to say that when I see hurricanes
or tornadoes or whatever we often see
these homes easily blown apart
timber frame with sips would not do that
it would be a lot stronger a lot more
resistant a very local difference
between timber frame and a stick frame
is that all of the materials can be
coming from your own lot if you had a
tea trees available all of them could be
milled right on your site and you would
have a home that comes right from your
own property with these it would take an
extraordinary a long time to mill out
every one of these two parts so they
that's this is done in production and
there's industry that does that
lickety-split
so it's kind of a different ambiance so
if you if you will and other difference
is that in a timber frame with the frame
being inside you have the joy of looking
at the live wood that have been in your
own forest it's also a lot more
dampening of noise here we're looking at
it kind of a gypsum palace with lots of
flat drywall surfaces it doesn't have
the romance for some people that the
timber frame does but I've met plenty of
people who don't like looking at wood
sofa dammit timber frame would not be
the right answer but the cathedral
ceilings these wide-open spaces that a
timber frame gives you are quite
attractive so people ask me often how do
I get started on something like this
well for the past 45 years I've been
teaching people how to design build
their own timber frames we have five
classes a year where we build an entire
frame five times a year
I think there are several hundred frames
out back no I'm just kidding in five
days you'll meet some twenty other
people who like you didn't know anything
about timber framing and in those five
days you will be a timber framer
you will know how to do it and you will
be just dying to get to your house site
and build so I thank you for watching
the address is shelter Institute comm
you can look us up on line and we look
forward to seeing you in a class
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