Our Timberframe Houses

There are European timber frame structures that date back to the early 12th century. 

Timberframe houses are generally more energy efficient because of the build quality delivered, as it’s easier to put insulation into the timber frame walls and allow for cavity between the two skins. Also as the building is more accurately constructed it’s easier to make the building airtight.

Timber frame structures can typically achieve a better thermal performance than masonry structures with a thinner construction. Their low thermal mass allows spaces enclosed by timber frames to heat up more quickly than masonry construction.

What self-builders love most about timber frame is the relatively short on-site build time associated with them.

Timber frames can be erected approximately 30 per cent faster than brick and block, depending on the complexity of the design.

The frame itself can go up in just a couple of days, and can be weather-tight in under a week, so you don’t need to depend on the weather to progress with your build.

Timber frame also comes into its own in its flexibility of design. As there are usually no interior loadbearing walls, your floor plan can be as open as you like, and can be adapted to suit your changing needs.

In fact, you can clad your house to look almost any way you want, or as planning and the local vernacular requires, in all manner of different materials, from natural wood to stone, brick or render.

Other major advantages include sustainability and durability, particularly important in the current environmentally conscious climate.

Wood is naturally renewable, organic and non-toxic, and compared with brick requires little energy to harvest, transport and mill. Almost all wood used timber-frame construction comes from well-managed forests throughout Europe.

In comparison to their masonry-built equivalents, timber buildings age extremely well. Furthermore, they are also highly durable: the oldest example in the UK is a stave church built in the 11th century.

A study carried out by the Building Research Establishment on more than 100 timber-frame houses that had been built up to the end of 1975 found their performance to be ‘similar to traditionally built dwellings of the same age and, given proper maintenance, they were found likely to remain in that way for the foreseeable future’.