Timber Framing - Advantages

Advantages

The use of timber framing in buildings offers various aesthetic and structural benefits, as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and allows for complete enclosure in effective insulation for energy efficiency.

In modern construction timber-frame structure offers many benefits:

• it is rapidly erected
• it lends itself well to prefabrication, modular construction and mass-production
• lends well to pre-fitting the frame usually in bent or wall-sections that are aligned with jig. This allows faster erection on site and more precise alignments. Such pre-fitting in the shop is independent of a machine or hand-cut production line. Valley and hip timbers are not typically pre-fitted.
• an "average"-sized timber-frame home can be erected within 2 to 3 days.
• the frame can be encased with SIPs for the drying in: that is, ready for windows, mechanical systems, and roofing.
• it can be tailored to suit customer tastes and creativity such as carvings or incorporation of heirloom structures such as barns etc.
• it can use recycled or otherwise discarded timbers
• it offers some structural benefits as the timber frame, if properly engineered, lends itself to better seismic survivability Consequentially, there are lots of old half-timbered houses which still stand despite the foundation having partially caved in over the centuries.
• The generally larger spaces between the frames enable greater flexibility in placing and re-locating windows and doors during and after construction, with less concern over structural implications and the need for heavy lintels.

In North America, heavy timber construction is classified Building Code Type IV: a special class reserved for timber framing which recognizes the inherent fire resistance of large timber and its ability to retain structural capacity in fire situations. In many cases this classification can eliminate the need and expense of fire sprinklers in public buildings.