Timber framing or timber frame homes is a specialized version of timber post and beam that is built similarly to furniture, relying on intricate and beautiful wood joinery such as mortise and tenon. The joinery are held in place with wooden pegs, usually made of oak or a similar hardwood.
The use of timber framing in buildings offers a wide variety of aesthetic and structural benefits, as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and enable structures to be designed for complete enclosure with the use of structural insulated panels (SIPs) as an effective insulation for energy efficiency.
Advantages to Timber Frame Construction
The use of timber framing in buildings offers a wide variety of aesthetic and structural benefits, as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and enable structures to be designed for complete enclosure with the use of structural insulated panels (SIPs) as an effective insulation for energy efficiency.
The timber frame structure can be erected rather quickly with the use of modern equipment. While some shops still hand-cut the joinery with hand tools and hand guided power tools, modern CNC (computer numerical control) machinery has been utilized to speed the process as well as providing a tight and precise fit. Although the use of machienry eliminates much of the repetitive labor from the process, hand-finishing is still typcially required. Additionally, due to the rigid timber requirements of CNC machinery, odd sized, tree trunk, hand hewn, and recycled timbers are usually hand cut even in the machine dominated shops.
With a knowledgable crew, an average size timber frame home can be assembled in two to three days. Within a week to two weeks after that the shell of the house is ready for drying in - ready for windows, mechanicals, and roofing. Most timber frame homes and structured are insulated with extremely energy efficient Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs).
The timber frame can give the home owner the ability to make a creative statement through the use of design and specialty touches like carvings of favorite quotes and incorporating timbers from heirloom structures, like a barn from a family homestead.
