The Choice is Yours
Right across the developed world more people choose timber frame than any other building system, with timber-frame accounting for some 70% of low rise family housing. In the UK more and more builders are choosing to build houses of all shapes and sizes, right up to multi-storey flats, using factory built housing in natural wood timber frame. Most of the top 25 companies and virtually all self builders now use system for self build wooden kit houses. So more and more people are finding out what it's like to enjoy living in a timber frame home.
More Comfort and less expensive to heat
Nowadays all new buildings have to conform to new thermal efficiency standards. But because wood is such a good natural insulator, enhancing the efficiency of the insulation materials, timber frame buildings have been meeting, and exceeding, these standards for years. And they are more comfortable to live in, thanks to the excellent insulation of the structural shell, the whole home heats up more quickly, without any cold areas. Better insulation, hand-in-hand with detailed draught proofing, means a smaller boiler, lower heating bills, and a cosier, more comfortable home.
Better Built?
Precious little has changed in the way masonry houses have been built over the years. They rely on the building skills of a dwindling number of craftsmen working on messy sites in all weathers. Timber frame homes, on the other hand, are precision-engineered under factory conditions, doing away with many of the building processes that were needlessly done on site. Room dimensions are more accurate too - useful when you're fitting a kitchen or a carpet! A 'dry' plasterboard lining system is used, rather than wet plaster, allowing decoration to be carried out immediately the house is finished and eliminating the need to make good where shrinkage of on site plastering has occurred.
NHBC
The National House Building Council - records show fewer problems with timber frame houses than other construction methods. When you choose a Benfield Advanced Timber-Frame Technology you can rest assured that the frame design, manufacture and build are covered by an independently monitored Quality Assurance scheme.
A Better World
As well as using less energy to heat, timber frame homes use less energy to build, because wood grows naturally, needing only minimal energy to fell, mill, transport and construct. By contrast, the production of concrete blocks, bricks, plaster, cement, steel and so on takes a great deal of energy and creates unwanted pollution.
Using more wood is a good way to help reduce the growth of global warming because wood is a renewable building material. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and give out the oxygen we breath.
More Trees
In Northern Europe, our forests are managed so that there are more trees growing than being harvested. In fact the annual surplus of growth over harvest is a staggering 252 million cubic metres - roughly 30 times the UK's total annual consumption of wood (source: UN-ECE FAO TBFRA 2000)
From Bungalow to Multi-Storey
One in ten of the new homes built every year in the UK is 'self-build', i.e. an individually commissioned house, either built by the owners themselves, by a builder, or by a combination of both.
And 9 out of 10 of these 'self-builders' choose timber frame. Because no other building method is as simple, versatile, or cost effective.
Contact us for more information on how to go about building your own home and on the range of timber frame housing types and styles available.
Further Information
The Choice is Yours...We believe passionately that timber frame is the best solution for most homes. But it's your choice. If you would like further information on specific aspects of timber frame, please contact us. We are here to help you.
