7 Myths of Timber Frame in Spain

Myth 1. The big bad wolf will blow my timber-framed house down.

I’m afraid the big bad wolf is in for a disappointment!  The little pig lived in a wooden house, not a modern timber framed structure, which measure up to or exceed the safety performance of cement and steel buildings in earthquakes, floods, and fires (and huffing, puffing wolves). You see a timber frame is not a wooden building (see Myth 2 below.)

Take a look at this example for some proof…  In 6 earthquakes between 1964 and 1995, 6,695 lives were lost.  However, only 30 people died inside timber frame structures despite around 368,000 properties of this type being affected.

What’s more, timber framed buildings are built to last, with some builders even guaranteeing a lifetime of as long as 125 years on homes. With many such buildings still standing from the Middle Ages, one can see why the builders are so confident!

Myth  2. It’s a wooden house i.e. a jumped up garden shed?

In Spain, where modern timber frame buildings aren’t that common, many people would translate ‘Timber Frame House’ as ‘Casa de Madera’ which means wooden house.  That’s because the Spanish don’t really use timber frame systems.  When we use Spanish we talk about ‘Sistemas Estructurales de Madera’ (Timber Structural Systems). We hope it will catch on!

So what’s the difference?  Well a ‘wooden house’ conjures up images of cheap log holiday cabins, or sprawling American suburbs of standardized, picket-fenced, wooden properties.  With a wooden house you would expect the whole thing to be made out of wood. Whereas a  timber frame refers only to the structure which, is precision engineered off site and, can be clad in anything you want. Consequently it can look however you want it to. It can look futuristic or like a castle; it can look like a standard dreary apartment block (and many do!); it can be beautifully crafted and show lots of natural wood finishes inside and out.  Heck, if you really want it to look like the garden shed it can do that too! Building with a timber frame even allows the architect more creative freedom than building with cement and steel. There is often a struggle with cement and steel structures not to end up with a building that looks like a car park.  Swathes of ugly identikit apartment blocks round the world bear testament to this struggle, so it is pleasing to know that timber framed structures come with no such preconceptions and prototypes.

Myth 3. It’s not a proper house so I won’t get a mortgage

Timber frame structures are a globally accepted construction method.  In fact, over 70% of new builds in the developed world are timber framed. A timber-framed house is a proper house and you will get a mortgage for it in just the same way as if it were built of cement and steel! In fact modern timber frame structures, computer designed, cut, and assembled in the factory, really make cement and steel look like stone-age technology.

What’s more, timber frames meet and exceed the following codes:

• UK Building Regulations
• TRADA Standards
• British Standard Institute (BS5268)
• Robust Detail Rules
• SAP Energy Rating
• NHBC & ZURICH Warranty
• ETAG 007
• Eurocode 5
• European Technical Approvals (ETAs)
• CPD: EN 13986
• Marcado C de la Madera
• Certificados de Garantía de la Madera y del Sistema de Encolado
• Nuevo Código Técnico de la Edificación en España

Myth 4. The termites will eat it, it’ll get woodworm or it’ll go mouldy and fall down

All manner of treatments are available for timber frame structures, so I will take a single example.  Vacsol Aqua is a widely used treatment that provides long-term protection against fungal and insect attack, easing any worries you might have about the potential for wood to decay quickly.  What’s more, an increasing number of the available preservatives are considering the impact they have on the environment in terms of the chemicals used etc.  Vacsol, for example, is a water-based product, and the fungicides and insecticides it uses are all biodegradable.  Excellent!

(See http://www.archchemicals.com/Fed/WOOD/Products/PreservativeProtection/vacsol.htm for more info on Vacsol Aqua)

Myth 5. It’ll cost a lot to heat because it’s like living in the garden shed flimsy and full of draughts.

Quite the reverse is true. Wood is a poorer conductor of heat than cement and steel. Timber frames also lend themselves perfectly to supporting super insulated walls with no thermal bridges – in fact most are built this way.

Conversely, heat loss through concrete walls is frequently very high and therefore much more expensive in utility bills.  A lack of insulation results in excessive heat loss from inside your building, so super-insulated walls with wooden frames are far more ‘green’ in this respect.  Similarly, using a steel frame tends to result in greater heat loss since, although the same super-insulation can be applied between steel uprights in an external wall, the steel members themselves conduct heat at a high rate, so the number of ‘cold bridges’ tends to be far higher.

In terms of draughts our buildings are sealed hermetically so we have total control over the quality of the air inside the building. Further there are no thermal bridges so our timber framed buildings are very energy efficient.

Myth 6. ‘Off the peg’ isn’t me, I’m more Saville Row – surely wooden frames are prefabricated and predetermined in design.

It’s important to be clear about prefabrication.  Prefabrication is not the same as mass manufacture.  It is not, necessarily, the mass production of standard components.  Because a timber frame is prefabricated does not mean it has to be a standard ‘off the peg’ design.

Your design is finished in the conventional way. Then a specially trained technician, using computer technology, translates it into its timber form. Every item is precision engineered, cut in a controlled environment, and part assembled in the factory. Large pre-assembled pieces are transported to the site where they are quickly erected.

We can take any architectural drawings and produce a timber frame structure for it. In fact a timber frame lends itself to quirky and creative designs.

Myth 7. You destroy the rainforest to make the timber frames?

It’s common knowledge in the building industry that timber frames represent the most ecological way of building. Timber itself is recognised as the only renewable construction material.  It has an extremely low amount of embodied energy, even when taking into account transport and treatment requirements, and the processing of timber to the finished state uses over 25% less energy than that required for other construction materials.

What’s more, growing and harvesting timber locks in carbon.  In a timber-framed hotel with 100 rooms, approximately 100 tonnes of carbon are saved each year compared to if one was to use concrete.

Timber frame saves 60% more embodied energy than when using concrete. The KWh method shows that a Timber Frame wall requiring 7450 KWh embodied energy would require 12816 KWh for concrete equivalent an increase of 42%.

And there is absolutely no shortage of timber: quite the reverse.  In fact there is an annual surplus in Europe of 250 cubic meters after harvest . That’s 30 times the total amount used in the UK – minimal energy to fell transport mill and construct.

So that’s the 7 Myths busted. So to finish off here is a quick summary of the benefits of using a timber frame to owners, occupiers, developers and architects:-

Benefits to Owners

• Considerably faster to erect: time is money
• More economical to build
• More economical to run
• More ecological: good for your conscience and good for your PR
• Often can use the room in the roof. More space = greater value
• Easier to change layout configuration in the future.
• Easier access to pipes and cables so lower maintenance costs.

Benefits to Occupiers

• Quieter
• Safer (earthquakes, fires, floods etc)
• More comfortable

Benefits to Developers

• Cleaner during construction / far less waste to dispose of
• Precision engineered – fewer mistakes to rectify
• Less vulnerable inclement weather
• Weather tight quickly bringing forward work on the interior
• Safer for workers
• Flexible design
• 10 year guarantee from manufacturer

This article was written by John Wolfendale a director at Eco Vida.