Timber houses

Latest Articles

Timber houses
Page Previous 1, 2

Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects

Author

Message

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 5:47 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

You mean the cold place that you could feel the side winds and where you could hear a mouse f*rt?

Are you sure it was a mouse, my dear darling OH was sleeping in the next chalet

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:00 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

You mean the cold place that you could feel the side winds and where you could hear a mouse f*rt?

That will be the one

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:10 pm Post subject:

Well I don't think they are any more vulnerable to fire than a standard brick house (which themselves are very flammable things). I found this on a wooden house manufacturers' website:

Quote:

Our logs have a ½-hour fire certificate carried out by TRADA (Timber Research and Development Association) to a British standard.

They've recently become quite popular round here with quite a lot of small holiday parks going up as well as residential houses. I just happened to be looking at the Grand Designs website before I came on here, looking particularly at timber houses, including that one of Ben Law's & the Finnish one.

Last edited by Rob R on Mon May 29, 06 6:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:15 pm Post subject:
Steve's Aunt lives in a wooden house in the US - we stayed with her a few years back, it was wonderful. Very cosy in December and a lovely warm feel to it. Most of the houses there seemed to be timber framed - it was NY state.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:19 pm Post subject:
And in Australia you can go buy them cars in a huge lot, then just strap it onto the back of a wagon & off they go to your plot At least that's what I heard from someone who'd lived out there.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:31 pm Post subject:

Our house is ten years old and has three floors - the bottom brick and the top two timber framed. We have lived here for two years and moved from a standard forestry commission built cottage. Our bills are much smaller and this is despite it being built on the cheap, lots of the internal stuff being designed for a much smaller house and it's oil fired heating. Even in the coldest parts of winter we found we only needed it on for a few hours during the evening.

Course the downside is that the top floor is very hot in summer - but thats for such a short time it never seems to really matter

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 6:32 pm Post subject:
Blast just realised you said the walls as well - I think I will just sit quietly and pretend I'm not here!

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 7:02 pm Post subject:
We were looking at buying a Finn lodge for Portugal, payed for the plan's etc.. then found the barn so decided not to. I was very impressed with the spec of the building, after looking at 4 different companies, decided that this was the best, IMHO.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 7:05 pm Post subject:

pricey wrote:

We were looking at buying a Finn lodge for Portugal, payed for the plan's etc.. then found the barn so decided not to.

I was very impressed with the spec of the building, after looking at 4 different companies, decided that this was the best, IMHO.

Do you have a website for them, Pricey, or an idea of cost??

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Mon May 29, 06 7:22 pm Post subject:
They dont have a web site, they have a advert in the country smallholding magazine, you just phone the no leave a message and they send you a price list etc.. once you decide which one you like you send off £20 I think it is for the initial plans what comes in the kit etc.. Then you go from there. I will show you at the weekend if you want.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 12:20 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the comments everyone. Does anyone know how the Finn Lodge's walls are constructed? Boards on the outside, membrane, insulation etc I expect; but do you have a choice on the insulation used? I'm curious to see if something like the Finn lodge could be constructed on site using local timber, a bit like Ben Laws house but using more common square timbers and timber walls rather than straw bales.

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 12:24 pm Post subject:
I have the diagrams some where I think, will have a look this eve TD.

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 12:24 pm Post subject:
From what I remember, the outside walls are either 4" or 6" thick, but then there's 6" of 'newspaper' insullation on the outside and the cladding. I could be mixing the order up there, but I'm fairly sure the entire construction was wood in one form or another.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 5:34 pm Post subject:
I've found some details here: https://www.timbercraftuk.net/Anatomy2.htm What would be good would be to track down some plans for a more traditional self build, i.e. without plastic, aluminium, plywood etc.

madmonk

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 835

Posted: Tue May 30, 06 5:56 pm Post subject:
Try www.homesources.co.uk if you sift through their site you will come across a self build section it may help.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2
Page 2 of 2

View Latest Posts