Post And Beam Homes: Esthetic Appeal, Ease Of Construction, Economy

Esthetic Appeal For Post And Beam Homes

Normally, timber frames are left exposed, either on the interior, the exterior, or, in many cases, on both sides of the wall, such as the guesthouses and the garage at Earthwood.

With many of the professionally built contemporary timber frame houses, structural insulated panels are fastened to the outside of the frame, and the beautiful heavy timbers are left exposed on the interior.

At some 6-sided cordwood homes, the heavy timbers are in evidence on the exterior, but not on the interior.

The method is of most interest to cordwood masonry builders, and is not repeated in this work.

In all cases, the exposed timbers lend character, texture, and an esthetic sense of strength to the architecture.

All of this translates into comfort, spiritual and otherwise.

Ease Of Construction For Post And Beam Homes

If yo u've never built anything before, you might actually find timber framing to be easier than conventional studding, which requires fairly exact tolerances for the application of sheetrock, plywood and the like.

With timber framing, there are far fewer pieces to handle.

And tolerances, at least in the post and beam frame, do not need to be quite so exact, particularly when the walls are infilled with natural materials.

True, much of the work will require two people, but this is also true with stick-frame construction.

Economy Of Post And Beam Homes

If you are buying from a local sawmill or a farmer, or if you are making timbers from your own trees, timber framing is almost certain to be more economical than buying finished lumber.

When buying heavy timbers from a distant source, this advantage is lost and timber framing may become more expensive.

The key to building anything economically by any method is to use local or indigenous materials.

Leave The Post And Beam Homes Plan Page To Go To The Home Page