Skills needed for newbuild compared to refurbishing old?

[teaboyjim]

Over the years I've just had a go. It's much easier now because there are so many online resources.

Making sash windows as well - you've got the knack

 

[teaboyjim]

A wooden frame building being built today in the UK

So is the "structural part of the house" those wooden panels or is it literally a wooden frame?

 

[mrrusty]

You must have the knack

Hmm. When I was at school in the early-mid 70's we did both woodwork and metalwork at school. I learnt so much. This was real hands-on. In metalwork we were let loose on lathes, milling machines and the forge, in woodwork, similarly on the lathe, and were taught how to set up e.g. hand planes, how to french polish, how to make joints and all sorts of other handy skills. Our teacher for much of the time for both was ex RAF and stood no nonsense. If he ever saw a chuck key in the lathe without a hand on it you were banned instantly from using machinery. Yes, there's a certain amount of knack and aptitude, but what I learnt at school was a huge kickstart. When we bought our first house, we we had so little money. we had a hotch potch of furniture, and inherited a front room carpet which for some reason was a rubber backed carpet without the rubber backing - it walked around and shed threads, but it's all we had for a good while. I made a complete kitchen out of cheap whitewood using just hand tools and an electric drill and sander. The doors warped like hell after a bit, but it served for the 5 years we were in that house. Since then, every project gets a little more adventurous, and I learn a bit more. Unfortunately I'm also getting older and creakier as well....

 

[charliegolf]

The panels in a non-sip timber frame, are typically (round figures)

150mmx50mm vertical timbers, spaced every 450/600mm (can't recall) 2.4mt high, and as wide as the designer says. If the top and bottom timbers could be made 30m foot long, you could have a 30mt long piece of wall! Top and bottom lengths more likely to be 3.2, 3.6 or 4.8 metres.

On the outside face of the panel is nailed a 12mm sheet of OSB board. So the timbers and the board together make a structural bit of the building. A truck load of these arrive on site, and are butted together in sequence, and you have the ground floor. Etc etc! You fill the voids with insulation on the inside, then a plastic sheet (vapour barrier), then plasterboard.

In a sip build (structurally insulated panel) both front and back are made up, insulation installed off site. Maybe other services in them too?

Then fitted together.

My house is the former type. Not my house pic, but you get the idea. Second pic is a sip house.

 

[bernardgreen]

150mmx50mm vertical timbers, spaced every 450/600mm (can't recall) 2.4mt high, and as wide as the designer says. If the top and bottom timbers could be made 30m foot long, you could have a 30mt long piece of wall! Top and bottom lengths more likely to be 3.2, 3.6 or 4.8 metres.

That is more like a timber slab construction ( nothing wrong with it ) than a true post and beam timber frame construction.

This is worth reading http://www.ianwhite.info/THE_SEGAL_METHOD.pdf

 

[RonnyRaygun]

So is the "structural part of the house" those wooden panels or is it literally a wooden frame?

This is a section through the walls of my timber frame extension. It's not that different where the buildings are clad in brick,other than the battens and cement board are removed and the brick is tied to the OSB using timber frame wall ties (with a 50mm cavity between the timber and the brick). As others have mentioned it's usually 50x150mm studs, but they only have to be wide enough to carry the vertical load. I was going to go for 38x89 CLS timber, but went for standard 4x2 in the end as it was cheaper. I did also put strips of DPC between the battens and the renderboard as further protection from damp penetration.