Why Timber Frame for Your Home or Business?
Timber frame construction is a distinctive craft with roots as far back as 1,000 BC. Throughout its practice, unique styles have ingrained themselves in the architectural history of locations across the world.
While rising demand for homes meant a shift to more mass-producible designs in the 19th century, today many are choosing to build their next home with the distinctive and handcrafted quality of timber framing.
Enjoy The Beauty of a Timber Frame
The nature of these designs relies on heavy timbers and intricate joinery through mortises and tenons, creating awe-inspiring interiors and exteriors that cannot be imitated by other styles of construction. Many modern construction techniques rely on hiding the structural framing behind drywall or other finish materials. Instead, timber framing celebrates the artistry in the joinery and framing exposed inside of your home.
The detailed interlocking timber is created to be seen and admired. Every design presents you with spacious interiors that are ideal for welcoming guests or relaxing with your family.
Trusted Durable Craftsmanship
The engineering principles behind timber frame design are simple and reliable. Few structures can endure for over two hundred years the way a timber frame can!
By transferring structure loads through the timber frame into the foundation, timber frame structures are incredibly rigid and sturdy. The joinery of a timber frame react more favorable to the natural expansion and contraction through the seasons. This helps them resist the common stress that wears down the longevity of modern construction methods.
Flexible Designs for Every Taste
A major benefit of timber framing is, at its core, it doesn’t dictate the final look and feel of your home. From traditional to modern, your home’s interior and exterior options are nearly unlimited. Vaulted interiors leave you with more room to create a look that’s yours.
With the right design, timber framing can allow for eliminating interior load-bearing walls, which gives you more control over your home's interior space. This allows for nearly unrestricted open floor plan concepts.
Energy Efficiency
Another benefit of timber frame over other modern building techniques is the advantage of structurally insulated panels (or SIPs.) Unlike conventional buildings, which rely on porous drywall and insulation stuffed between studs, timber frame structures can be enhanced with SIPs to create a much better insulated building envelope.
Timber Frame FAQs
DO YOU HAVE A TIMBER FRAME HOME IN MY AREA I CAN VISIT?
Timbercraft offers tours through our shop, model home, or our clients’ actual homes by appointment only. For clients' homes, we are very protective of their privacy and limit the number of people we tour through their property. If you are interested in seeing our work in person, please contact us to set up a visit to a home in your area.
WHERE DOES TIMBERCRAFT BUILD THEIR TIMBER FRAME HOMES?
Timbercraft designs and builds custom timber frames throughout the U.S.
DO YOU SELL YOUR TIMBER FRAME PLANS SEPARATELY?
No, we do not sell our plans. Some of the plans on our site are conceptual drawings, created as “inspiration” for your own home. The content and complexity of all our designs require detailed Construction Drawings (CD’s) that may not be available without going through the design process. These final plans are designed specifically to work with our timber construction techniques and SIP's. Please keep in mind that Timbercraft’s plans are intellectual property protected by copyright and can not be reproduced or used without our consent.
WHAT MAKES TIMBERCRAFT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMPANIES?
Timbercraft is widely known for a few unique differences in the Timber Frames that we design and build.
- Timbercraft is well known for “Beefy” Timber Frames because we fully house the Mortise & Tenon Joinery at all connections. This allows the Timbers to be locked together, not allowing the timbers to twist or look like they are pulling apart that occurs in traditional joinery.
- Timbercraft Prefits the Timber Frame front to back and left to right to ensure a perfect fit. “It has to be right, we can not run down to the lumber yard to pick up another 10” x 10” x 20’ if we made a mistake”
- Timbercraft utilizes the “Build it Backwards” approach in Design to keep your design on track with your budget. This formula keeps you from over designing your Timber Frame based on the agreed cost target.
CAN I CUSTOMIZE FLOOR PLANS?
Timbercraft's in-house Design offers full services architectural design to our clients. You can start with one of our floor plan concepts and modify it (at an hourly rate) to fit your needs, or start a design from scratch. There is no limit to what you can change.
I ALREADY HAVE AN ARCHITECT/DESIGNER, CAN TIMBERCRAFT WORK WITH THEM?
Absolutely! Timbercraft is happy to work as a team with your existing designer or architect to complete your plans and integrate timber framing into your plans.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE OF HEART CENTER (F.O.H.C) DOUGLAS FIR?
First of all, Douglas Fir is the strongest timber commonly used for Timber Framing.
Next, by removing the Heart of the log/timber, you reduce the majority of the stress in the Timber, making it much more stable and less likely to twist.
Also, FOHC will have minimal “checking or cracking” as the timbers season.
Lastly, Doug Fir has some beautiful hews of “Blonde, Cinnamon and Chocolate” which can coordinate or contrast nicely with other wood species in the home.