Buying a timber frame house

KpsCowley

Hi Guys,

I have been looking for a first time buyer house for awhile. I finally visited one that I like and that suits my budget, but I found out that it is a timber frame build.

Forgive me ignorance, but does this mean that the house itself is less valuable or will not last as long as a typical masonry build house?

Are there any other consideration when buying a timber frame house? It was built in 2006, is 210 sq. metres and has a BER rating of C2.

The house also has gas central heating which is new to me. would this be more expensive than a typical oil fired central heating system?


Any help would be much appreciated

Cableguy

Hi Kp,
Very interesting post and find myself in a similar situation. Id love to know if you got any answers or if you ever bought the house?
Thanks

c montgomery

I recently bought a TFH and have no regrets. House is 10 years old, good BER rating and detailed engineers report found no issues.

I didnt even know it was timber frame till engineer told me.

Cableguy

c montgomery wrote: »

I didnt even know it was timber frame till engineer told me.

Surely you'd know as soon as you tried to hang a picture! I knew as soon as I gave the wall a tap an when I was upstairs and done a little jump on the floor I got a little fright at the sound it made throughout the house!!! :eek:

iwillhtfu

Cableguy wrote: »

Surely you'd know as soon as you tried to hang a picture! I knew as soon as I gave the wall a tap an when I was upstairs and done a little jump on the floor I got a little fright at the sound it made throughout the house!!! :eek:

Stop scare mongering you clearly are in a typical boom time timber frame house. Probably only 4 plasterboard slabs between you and your neighbours.

Generally you wouldn't tell the difference visually from a timber frame to a block built home.
what you will notice is that a lot of older block built homes will be poorly insulated and more prevalent to damp.

Yes a timber frame wouldn't be a robust as block built but you'd be talking in terms of centuries before either begin to become structurally unsound.

OP there's no concerns with a good timber frame house but there are ones like mentioned above that have been thrown up during the boom that are a very poor quality.

One particular estate I know of in wicklow the houses are timber frame and the party wall between the 2 houses on a semi d is made up of a stud wall with little more than 2 x fire rated plasterboard either side. I'd probably avoid these types of timber frame homes if you're sensitive to noise. The same estate I speak of was sold with gas fires as a solid fuel fire place would be near impossible given no block work for chimney. They also placed fake chimney tops on these houses made of plywood and fibre glass.

A decent timber frame home will have a party wall of block work ideally 4" solid on the flat with the rest of the frame encased in block work of either 4" on it's edge and rendered or brick work. They will generally have kingspan or similar between the block work and timber frame.

In short there's no reason not to buy a good one but do a bit of research into the standard the one your interested in was built to.

Gumbo

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Stop scare mongering you clearly are in a typical boom time timber frame house. Probably only 4 plasterboard slabs between you and your neighbours.

A decent timber frame home will have a party wall of block work ideally 4" solid on the flat with the rest of the frame encased in block work of either 4" on it's edge and rendered or brick work. They will generally have kingspan or similar between the block work and timber frame.

Party wall detail is most likely timber studs filled with insulation and then 2 layers of plasterboard staggered on each side of the property. There could be an overall depth of about 400mm five or take.

I don't know if any timber frame housing estates that have a block party wall.
The whole point of a timber frame is that there's no brickwork save for the exterior skin.

Noise issue is the biggest factory with timber frames (assuming correctly built and the fire stopping has been done correctly). It's not overly bad as such but you do hear more than normal.

colm_mcm

This thread is almost 2 years old!

c montgomery

c montgomery wrote: »

I recently bought a TFH and have no regrets. House is 10 years old, good BER rating and detailed engineers report found no issues.

I didnt even know it was timber frame till engineer told me.

House I bought is detached so no noise issues from neighbours. Upstairs is carpeted so reduced potential for noise and I have not noticed noise that's bothered me.

Only just moved in so yet to try and hang any pictures or tv's. Will report back when I do

iwillhtfu

kceire wrote: »

I don't know if any timber frame housing estates that have a block party wall.

They exist

iwillhtfu

c montgomery wrote: »

Only just moved in so yet to try and hang any pictures or tv's. Will report back when I do

You wont have any issues once you find studs and use good screws/bolts. Sure most lads with block walls don't even own a drill and end up using plasterboard worms

meeeeh

Cableguy wrote: »

Surely you'd know as soon as you tried to hang a picture! I knew as soon as I gave the wall a tap an when I was upstairs and done a little jump on the floor I got a little fright at the sound it made throughout the house!!! :eek:

Our timber frame has concrete enforced timber boards on outside walls and some inside walls. Insulation is packed between. We had never any problems hanging pictures or even cabinets. There is concrete poured between two floors and so on. Timber frames are like any other, it depends what build quality is like. Our supplier was guaranteeing lifespan of 100 years. Timber houses in general are easier to heat but they cool down quicker too.

After living in one new and three 20 years old or older block built houses I can say the current timber one is better noise and heat insulated and a lot more pleasant to live in. But I also know of timber built semi-ds that I would not go near of because they are absolutely awful.

KpsCowley

Hi Cableguy,

This certainly is an old topic

We ended up being outbid on the timber frame property. And settled for a standard build in the end, just moved in last Friday actually, in before Christmas was the goal lol.

Hope you get sorted.

Cableguy

meeeeh wrote: »

Our timber frame has concrete enforced timber boards on outside walls and some inside walls. Insulation is packed between. We had never any problems hanging pictures or even cabinets. There is concrete poured between two floors and so on. Timber frames are like any other, it depends what build quality is like. Our supplier was guaranteeing lifespan of 100 years.

Thanks for your input here. Id love to know who this was if a PM is ok?
The problem is how would you know this about insulation and build quality? Ive been at two recent openings of new houses and the sales reps couldnt even tell me if there was proper fire safety regulations followed when I asked how long it would take a fire to spread from one house to the other!

Gumbo

Cableguy wrote: »

Thanks for your input here. Id love to know who this was if a PM is ok?
The problem is how would you know this about insulation and build quality? Ive been at two recent openings of new houses and the sales reps couldnt even tell me if there was proper fire safety regulations followed when I asked how long it would take a fire to spread from one house to the other!

The sales report wouldn't know those details anyway.
Typical fire spread between dwellings is 1hr/2hr as per Part B of the regulations.
The builder in conjunction with his assigned certified would have those details.

Ideally you want you party wall to have been inspected during the build so hopefully the AC done that.

fergpie

Apologies for the stupid question to begin with.

I've just purchased a timber frame house and have a number of fixtures to hang (so the other half says). Should I be aiming to find a timber joist on the wall and drill into that? What if the joist is not where I'm looking to hang a picture frame...is it possible to just drill into the plaster and work away?

Thanks!

Gumbo

fergpie wrote: »

Apologies for the stupid question to begin with.

I've just purchased a timber frame house and have a number of fixtures to hang (so the other half says). Should I be aiming to find a timber joist on the wall and drill into that? What if the joist is not where I'm looking to hang a picture frame...is it possible to just drill into the plaster and work away?

Thanks!

Depending on the weight, you can use plasterboard works and screws.
They are brilliant. I have them holding a 32” tv on the bedroom wall. No timber studs were used.

You just drill the worm in with a Philips head drill but, then drill the screw in using same bit.