Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3.3
Timber frame
This chapter covers both old and new
designs of timber frames - that is to
say, a brief note on the half-timbered
structures with wattle and daub or
brick nogging infill which date from
medieval times, but more
information on newer forms which
are totally different in character. The
maintenance and conservation of old
structures is not dealt with in detail in
this topic, and information
concentrates on the mostly imported
systems of the interwar years and just
after (Figure 3.25), and the brick
veneered systems of the period since
the 1960s. There is further discussion
of timber cladding in Chapter 9.3.
Although the chapter concentrates
on domestic construction, it should
be remembered that many systems
were developed for the school
building programme between the
years 1950 and 1980 - Eliot, Punt
(see Figure 4.22 in
Roofs and roofing
(24)
) and Derwent, to name but three.
What is said here in relation to
domestic construction applies also to
a considerable extent in other
building types.
During the twentieth century there
have been between half and two
thirds of a million dwellings built in
timber frame in many systems, the
vast majority since the mid-1970s.
More than 100 different systems have
been identified. The systems
developed before the 1939-45 war
were mostly timber-clad and are
readily recognisable as being of
timber frame construction. Many
postwar systems - particularly those
built since the 1960s - have brick
claddings and are not always easily
distinguishable from loadbearing
brick cavity walled construction. In
most cases, there are particular clues
that indicate the hidden timber frame
construction.
The claddings used for timber
frame dwellings include brickwork,
tile hanging, horizontal or vertical
timber boarding, and rendering. One
cladding system can be applied
throughout the building, or - as on
many of the constructions built since
the 1970s - different systems can be
used in combination. With brick
cladding, the windows are usually set
back in the reveals, and there may be
small gaps or soft packing beneath
the window frames, under the eaves
and at the top of verges in order to
accommodate any differential
movement between the timber frame
and the cladding (Figure 3.26 on page
138).
Internally, the external walls are
dry-lined, usually with plasterboard
nailed directly to the timber frame.
However, many systems built soon
after the 1939-45 war used
fibreboard linings, possibly fixed
over timber boarding.
In the interwar period, six systems
were in use, none particularly
numerous, examples being LCC
(Figure 3.27), Solid Cedar (Figure
3.28), and SSHA. A few were built
in systems at Aberdeen, Lanark, and
Newcastle. All these systems were
directly clad with horizontal
boarding except the Newcastles,
which had storey height vertical
boards and a horizontal band at floor
level. Solid Cedar, and some SSHA
Figure 3.25
Imported timber frame and timber clad houses
