Timber is a fantastic material to work with if you are trying to build your own house. One of the things that is immediately obviously about timber is that it looks absolutely fabulous. This is really important in terms of materials because the aesthetics of your property is obviously a hugely important factor.

Working with timber appeals to a lot of self-builders because they love having the opportunity to work with natural materials – partly because they is always a sense of idealism in working with natural materials, but also because they are visually very appealing and they are also environmentally friendly.

These are good reasons to choose timber as your main building material, but you obviously want your timber to be an adequate replacement for things like steel in terms of more practical issues like strength and durability.

Timber performs admirably in this sense. As soon as you begin to work with timber, you notice how strong and sturdy the material is, which makes it absolutely perfect for constructing the frame of a house. Of course, the precision engineering involved in timber frame construction reinforces this property.

It’s hard to beat timber frame as a building material, especially given the primary concerns of the modern construction industry. More and more timber frame homes are popping up around the country as the technique helps the home building industry to get back on its feet following the recession.

Timber frame construction is a very economical way of building. The materials represent excellent value for money and the houses can be built extremely quickly. It is this speed of construction that helps to keep costs down because it costs less to staff the site and it costs less to get hold of the right machinery and equipment for the period of time you expect your project to take.

The environmental impact of timber frame construction is also significantly less than that of a project that uses a different construction technique. This is purely because of the materials used, the low energy wastage involved in the project and the efficiency of the project as far as time and scheduling is concerned. However, timber frame homes are also recognised for their continued energy-efficiency once they are built.

The last article began dealing with matters related to timber frame construction and its role in the provision of affordable housing developments. In this discussion, factors such as sustainability, energy-efficiency, cost-effectiveness and design were raised and these need to be dealt with in a little more detail.

Sustainability

Timber frame homes are more sustainable than homes built in other ways because the materials from which they are built come from renewable sources and less overall energy is expending during the construction process. This satisfies greener objectives.

Energy-efficiency

Greener objectives are also satisfied by the fact that well-designed timber frame homes trap heat in the winter months through air tight construction and excellent insulation. This has an effect in terms of future cost as well.

Cost-effectiveness

Because they can be built quickly, timber frame developments are very cost-effective, requiring less manpower for a shorter length of time during construction.

Design

Design is obviously very important to those living in the development and for the surrounding area. Timber frame houses are recognised as being among the most attractive produced in the industry because they are so flexible. This also means they can be made to fit in with their surroundings so they don’t spoil the general aesthetic of the area.

It makes sense to learn as much as you can about timber frame construction if it is on your radar for a forthcoming project you are managing. Developers can satisfy a number of very important criteria if they choose timber frame construction ahead of other methods of building, especially if their project involves affordable housing.

Affordable housing is very much in demand at the moment and timber frame construction is at the forefront of new developments designed to meet that demand. This is something that you can’t afford to miss out on. If you are looking for ways to develop a site with affordable housing, then now is the time to look into the benefits of timber frame construction in terms of sustainability, energy-efficiency, cost-effectiveness and, of course, design.

These are matters that are not just important in terms of their impact on your project itself – they are also very important in terms of their impact on the surrounding area and the community of which they are to be a part. Public image is very important where new developments are concerned and you have to satisfy a number of different parties.

If you have ever wondered about using timber frame as a building material either in your self-build project or in a development you are planning then this month you’ll get the chance to find out everything there is to know about the medium.

On Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th September the Timber Expo will be providing all sorts of information on timber as a material in construction. The event will comprise of four half-day conferences as part of TRADA’s In Touch with Timber theme, dealing with issues including design and architecture, the role of timber in the commercial sector, processes and performance and timber practices used abroad.

These sessions will be extremely useful for anyone who wants to know more about timber frame construction. It will discuss the latest developments in the industry and will give you a much deeper understanding of why timber frame construction is growing in popularity. The insight you gain from the insiders speaking at the conference could prove extremely valuable to your project.

Tickets for the conference, which takes place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, are already on sale so make sure you book quickly to avoid disappointment.

Savvy developers stand to do very good business out of constructing affordable homes in both house and apartment form in order to meet the incredible demand out there. It’s no secret that demand for housing has reached a point that major house builders cannot keep with so it may be down to private developers to fill in the gaps.

Identifying a suitable location for a development is obviously the first step, followed by procuring planning permission and generally getting the go-ahead for the project. However, for this to happen, you need to have a very clear design in mind.

Your design has to meet environmental and economic criteria, which is why timber frame construction is a fantastic choice of construction method to use. Timber frame homes are very energy-efficient and they demonstrate the best option in terms of sustainability. They also give you a great deal of flexibility when it comes to design.

All these advantages point to the very real possibility of constructing a development that meets demand for homes, and which is also an extremely energy-efficient and cost-effective venture, to say nothing of the fact that it could be a real triumph of design and a great project to add to your portfolio.

Modern technology has made construction processes significantly more accurate and efficient. This is even the case for techniques that have already proven extremely successful over decades without modern computer technology. Take timber frame construction as an example.

Timber frame construction has always had a reputation for being a very efficient way of building a house. The design stage is accurate and timber frame specialists have always been very skilled in producing really precise designs from which the frame has been produced and the house has been built.

However, nowadays architects have access to very sophisticated computer technology as well as their own expertise and experience in designing and building efficient and attractive homes. It is possible to combine these two incredible resources in order to produces houses that exhibit really high thermal performance and wonderful structural integrity at the same time as looking beautiful.

It is testament to the timber frame industry that it has adopted new technologies readily to further advance the way houses are built, making the whole process faster and guaranteeing better quality. It is not unusual for timber frame projects to prove significantly more cost-effective as a result of this relationship between skills and technology.

Winter is approaching and the colder weather it promises always serves as a good reminder of how we can improve our homes in terms of conserving energy. A really well insulated roof and grade A insulation in the walls helps to make the house much more energy efficient. Add this to other important home improvements like double glazing and you are likely to have a very efficient home.

Of course, if you are building your own home, then you can incorporate all these very important plans into your home in your initial design so that you do not have to revisit matters related to insulation at a later date. A house that is completely air tight and has wonderful insulation stays warm during the winter without necessitating further reliance on your energy company.

Timber frame houses tend to perform even better in terms of thermal performance because their very design makes them particularly air tight. The frame is put together so accurately and meticulously that there are much fewer gaps for heat to escape from. The result is a warmer house that is free from high energy bills to keep it that way.

A sustainable house is the ideal for a lot of modern homeowners. It is easy to picture just how much money you could save if your house was absolutely airtight and you didn’t ever lose any heat energy unnecessarily. Your energy bills would be vastly reduced and you would find yourself much less reliant on your central heating.

If you are thinking of building your own house, then sustainability and energy-efficiency have to be at the forefront of your mind. These matters are even more important nowadays than ever as energy costs are going up and up all the time. Furthermore, we mustn’t forget what impact all the wasted energy from houses that aren’t airtight has on the world around us.

Building a timber frame house is a very good way of moving in the right direction. Timber frame houses aren’t just made using sustainable materials; they also have the future in mind. Excellent insulation in the walls and in the roof makes these houses particularly efficient, whilst the accuracy of the construction process using timber means the house is much more likely to be airtight than houses built in other ways.

Open plan living is very fashionable nowadays and it really isn’t difficult to see why. There’s something effortlessly appealing about large open spaces at home. Open plan living tends to work best in downstairs areas but it is possible to go open plan elsewhere.

The idea of open plan living is to make your home life more sociable. However, positive side-effects of this sort of arrangement include more space and a brighter home. These two factors make for a very attractive and comfortable living space. It is a shame that it is not possible to get an open plan living arrangement in any house, but if you are building your own you can make plans for it.

Timber frame homes can be made very open plan because the weight of the house is not on interior weight bearing walls, but on the strong timber frame itself. The result is that you can design your house to include wonderfully spacious areas of open plan living so that your house becomes particularly bright and airy. You’ll immediately notice how comfortable and sociable your home feels when you take this approach to home planning.