When selecting the enclosure system for your Timber Frame, or the system for your SIP structure, there are several main options to consider in the panel construction. While any SIP will far outperform any standard stick construction, in both strength and energy savings, there are many configurations and manufacturer claims that need to be weighed. There are also two basic families of foam core, each with characteristics that need to be considered.

The first, and most prevalent, is the Polystyrene group. The Polystyrene products are available in Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) and Extruded Polystyrene (XPS).
EPS offers the lowest insulation value in SIP’s, the lowest density strength, as well as the lowest cost. However the biggest deterrent to our use of them in primary residences is the fact that they are vapor permeable. The EPS panels constructed of little round beads of Polystyrene that are only bonded where the spheres meet which can allow water vapor to travel through the panel. Not a good thing in your home! The easiest way to identify EPS panels is by the foam color. The foam core will be white, and there will be little Polystyrene beads clinging to everything…remember when your bean bag chair broke?

XPS is the better choice in Polystyrene insulations. XPS insulates 30% better and is 25% stronger in density strength than EPS foams. All of this is pretty good, but moisture absorption is most impressive. XPS will absorb eight times less moisture than EPS, basically forming it’s own vapor retarder. XPS has proven itself to be strong, long lasting and stable. Pricing on some products can approach the costs for PUR, but XPS can be considered the mid-range price option. XPS is also identified by color and structure. Today XPS is typically blue or pink and contains a homogenous structure without voids.

The second group is the Polyurethane (PUR) family. These include the true Polyurethanes and the Polyisocyanurates. PUR is a closed cell foam plastic formed by the chemical reaction of various chemicals. This chemical reaction is what causes the expansion and closed cell structure.
PUR can provide insulation values 40% better than XPS, and 100% better than EPS! Being a closed cell foam it is also very good as a vapor retarder. Strength wise PUR is very close to XPS, but miles ahead of EPS. All this is great but there are some tradeoffs. One way to create a SIP is to glue laminate the core to the skins. This method led to some failures early on in the industry when used with PUR foams. The “billets” for the foam cores were sliced from large blocks and then glued up. The problem was that slicing the blocks resulted in cutting through the foam cells leaving mainly thin edges of the cells to accept the glue. It wasn’t pretty…

The next advance in PUR panel production is to inject the foam chemicals between the SIP “skins” in a large press. This allowed the foam to bond directly to the skins and produced a superior product. The problems came about with panel stability. It is very difficult (read: expensive) to accurately control the chemical mix and the expansion rate. This was exhibited in changes in panel dimensions and thickness. Not very pleasant when this panel supports all the finishes on your home! PUR panels can typically be identified by a creamy yellow to brown color core, and VERY dusty when cut.

To read more about how Timberworks works with SIP’s please Click Here.

As a point of necessity, many of your interior finishes are applied as the SIP’s are installed. This yields the highest degree of finish and allow for attractive interfaces between timbers, paneling & drywall. This also allows us to integrate ANY interior finish you desire at your ceilings or walls!

Designing & installing SIP’s at Timberworks is viewed as a real love/hate relationship. We love the efficiency of the system, both from a material & labor aspect, as well as from an energy-efficient standpoint. We love how quickly we are able to get a project under cover. We love how easy it is to qualify for “green” certification or energy saving tax incentives. We love how they allow us to fully expose our timbers to the interior of your home. We hate how bulky and unwieldy the panels are. We hate the inaccuracies (remember, we are used to very close tolerances with Timber Framing!). We hate how dusty they are to work with.

The long and short of it, however, is that the love outweighs the hate! They are nasty to work with, but they add so much to our projects that we need to provide this service. The structural requirements of the panels must be met. The joint details must be correct and executed properly. The final sealing must be completed right or vapor drive and moisture damage will result. Working panels requires specialized tools and skills. This is why we insist on installing our own panel systems.

To read more about how Timberworks works with SIP’s please Click Here.

The panels are available with a variety of skin options which allows Timberworks to choose the form best suited to your design. We typically install your interior finishes separate from the panels themselves.

Timberworks purchases our panels as “board stock”. What this means is that we buy all plain panels; we provide all cutting, edge treatments, joining details and electric provisions. We have some unique ways of working with panels, and personally believe that “wire chases” are a nuisance and very limiting.

Once the panels arrive at our yard we layout and shape them to fit your project. This includes integrating ALL the electric work into the panels. When we complete a SIP installation there are no surface raceways, built-up baseboard details or exposed conduits. Your switches & receptacles are located where you want them.

We also cut and prepare all the window & door openings in preparation for installation. Our installation always includes cutting the openings and framing them in. Everything is prepared for your building paper, flashing and window or door install!

To read more about how Timberworks works with SIP’s please Click Here.

SIP’s are a composite of familiar construction materials fashioned into the fastest, most cost effective and energy efficient method to enclose Timber Frames. Various sources call them “stress-skin panels” or “curtain wall panels”. As we are almost always working with true structural panels, we prefer SIP’s to describe our system. By structural panels we mean just that. These panels are strong enough, and designed to be used, as structural load bearing panels. Entire buildings are now being built from these panels, without additional framing.

We apply the panels to the outside of the timbers, both walls and roofs. This system provides an uninterrupted insulation curtain unbroken by framing members. The very nature of the insulating foam core and the detail of the panel seams provide an uninterrupted vapor retarder as well as great sound deadening properties. SIP’s also make the task of meeting “green” or energy efficient certification easier.

To read more about how Timberworks works with SIP’s please Click Here.

Well once we have a consensus on a timber specie, grade and moisture level. Here come the timbers down our shop drive…and the real fun begins! Timberworks uses a combination of power hand tools and hand tools to craft our Timber Frames. While power tools are used to hog away material, most everything is still finished “to-the-line” with traditional hand tools. Chisels, mallets and planes. 98% of our joinery is test fit in our shop using our overhead bridge crane. This also allows us to accurately use an ancient method called drawboring. By offsetting the pin holes between the mortise & tenon, driving the pin in will pre-stress the joint so as to help keep it tight, today and down the line. We generally only use wood pins and wedges to hold our joinery together. A quick note on terminology, in our shop, a “pin” is 1″ or less in diameter. A trunnel (tree-nail) is larger than this. For extreme cases we can use concealed metal knife plates. If the design calls for it, or you just want it, we can also use exposed metal plates. We can also use and incorporate forged steel or iron elements. However, our mainstay is wood-to-wood joinery.

There are many more tools and techniques we use in the shop, but this is not intended to be a how-to lesson! Just few more things deserve mention though. All timber end grain that will not be exposed is coated with a wax emulsion to control shrinkage. We apply the edge treatment you have selected to the exposed timbers. Every exposed timber is sanded and coated with your choice of finish (most often a natural base clear oil) before leaving our shop. The timbers are labeled, bundled and wrapped for the journey to your work site.

Let’s go stand your new home!

Other considerations to obtaining the timbers to fashion your frame from are the grade (quality) of the timbers, species (type of wood) and moisture content (dryness of the wood). Watch for additional blog entries about these subjects, or go to:

Timber Framing

Moisture Content

As we begin discussing moisture content we will be swinging back into the grade issue from time to time. Unfortunately, trying to regulate un-natural drying processes we also need to keep an eye on the grade of the timber.

First let me stress that Timberworks does traditional Timber Framing. The joinery used, the methods and techniques have evolved by and for the use of unseasoned timbers. Yes, shrinkage and checking will occur. Part of the craftsmanship of fashioning the joinery is understanding these forces and effects, and working within those constraints. Timber Framing has evolved to use un-seasoned timbers.

Wouldn’t it be great to fashion your timbers from dry materials to limit shrinkage and checking? Well, yes and no. The advantage of dry timbers might include stability, but checking will still be present. Timbers containing the center of the log (boxed heart) will check no matter how the drying occurs. Your seasoned timbers will still have checks. Stability alone is good, but how to get there?

The first option for dry timbers to consider is the salvage market. Hey! Let’s just get some old timbers and use them! Sounds great…only thing is, unless these timbers are either still standing in a frame, or stored under roof so air can circulate around them, they are not likely to be stable. You will still have movement as the timbers acclimate to the new environment within your home. Add in the factors of dirt, insect damage, staining, dark or white-wash filled checks, old hardware and mis-matched sizes and finishes and they might not be so attractive anyway. The final blow might be cost. Salvage timbers can be very expensive, both to obtain and shape. While certainly a very “green” option, salvage timber is not for everyone unless you have access to some free timber or Timber Frame.

OK, let’s move to the next item on the list…air drying. When do you want the frame? If we look at a fresh sawn timber, the rule-of-thumb states that it will dry at about 1″ per year before it reaches equilibrium. This means that a timber with a small dimension of 6″ will require 3 years of air drying. That is covered, “stickered” so that air can circulate. I need to ask again, you want your frame when? Air drying is simply just not feasible in most cases.

Finally comes forced drying. Conventional kiln drying processes just do not work with timbers. They only create “case-hardened” timbers as the outside cells collapse trapping large amounts of moisture deep in the timber. This makes them even more unstable than un-seasoned timbers and they really want to do crazy things when they are cut into! Not a good option. The only way to force-dry timbers is with Radio Frequency Kiln Drying (RFKD). Basically, a microwave in a vacuum. This process forces the moisture out from the inside of the timber. RFKD works best with softwoods, although hardwoods have been done. This limits the availability a little. Next, we need prime cuts to put into the vacuum chamber. Lesser grades dry unevenly and can fail. So we need Old Growth, and more “clear” grades. More costs and environmental consequences. Once the timbers come out of the chamber, we need to re-size them because they are no longer to size or square. Well, fire up the bandsaw and cut them to final size. More costs, more waste. Did we mention the costs just for the RFKD process too? All this adds up to a hefty sum, not being very “green” and can produce timbers that are hard to work. Is it worth it? That needs to be a personal decision for you, but no, really, we have been working with un-seasoned timbers for thirty years!

Other considerations to obtaining the timbers to fashion your frame from is the grade (quality) of the timbers and species (type of wood). Watch for additional blog entries about these subjects, or go to:

Timber Framing

Other considerations to obtaining the timbers to fashion your frame from is the species (type of wood) of the timbers and moisture content (dryness). Watch for additional blog entries about these subjects, or go to:

Timber Framing

At the very beginning we locate sources for your timbers. Keep in mind that Timberworks Houseworks has no predetermined timber species, grade or moisture content. You have had a say in the type of timber we design into your home. We will design a Timber Frame from any commercially available species. You can select timbers based on color, grain, availability, what you like the look of…or all of that! Because of all of this, the time that it takes for Timberworks to get your timbers “at our shop door” can vary widely. The lead time required to complete your Timber Frame is often better judged, not by how long we need to be hands-on with the timbers, but rather by how long it can take us to procure the timbers! Please plan ahead and give us as much lead time as possible, so that we can offer you the widest range of products and prices. Needing the timbers fast can often have a detrimental effect on your budget!

Other considerations to obtaining the timbers to fashion your frame from is the grade (quality) of the timbers and moisture content (dryness). Watch for additional blog entries about these subjects, or go to:

Society often places a higher value on some television or movie star’s latest escapades over the Artist, the Designer, the creative process, and anyone that works with his hands is looked down upon.  I put forth the idea that such a society is truly doomed. Value needs to be placed back where it is deserved; in the creative process and Craftsmanship.

This amazing country was founded on inventiveness and Craftsmanship. Where would we be if the Craftsman was not afforded the leeway to both create and construct? We most certainly would not be living as we do, but what do we make here now? The lowering value placed on those that build and the separation from the creative process is what has reduced workers to drones, and made out-sourcing possible. In a process so repetitive that it can be fully automated, this process becomes a commodity to be awarded to the lowest bidder. The builder is shown little respect, nor feels pride in a job well done, and the entire process suffers.

The Craftsman also needs to be the Designer, Draftsman and creator. The separation of the Craftsman from the design, project goal and responsibility needs to be reversed. In today’s society specialization seems to be rampant. The Designer doesn’t draft plans. The Draftsman doesn’t create or build. The builder doesn’t design or draft.

I believe that the Craftsman should be the clearing house for all of these activities. No one understands the effects of the design better than the Craftsman. No one can be better suited to interpreting the design, creation process and the fabrication limitations than the Craftsman. And finally, the Craftsman that is in control of the creation process puts more than his hands into the project. He puts his heart into it.

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.”
-Louis Nizer, lawyer (1902-1994)

These disconnects in the creative process are one of the reasons I broke out on my own path some thirty years ago. Designers that have no idea of how to build, builders that never met the Designer or the property Owner, builders that are so specialized in their own particular trade that they have no regard for, or understanding of the other trades, were, and I am sorry to say, still the norm today. Little has changed in the last three decades, in fact it may be even worse than ever.

When the creative process is broken like this, the loss of craft is the result. The builder becomes just a cog, performing the same task day in and day out. The Designer does not understand the building process and materials. The property Owner never meets, nor cares for the people that build their home. The builders say things like “it’s good enough for who it’s for” or “looks good from my house”. No one is accountable for their own work, or is appreciated if they do a great job.

This is also part of what causes the adversarial relationship between the Designer, Owner and builder. The Designer & the Owner do not trust the builder as “they only want to do as little as possible to save money”.  The builder distrusts the Owner as “they do not want to pay for quality work, and they probably will not pay me anyway”. The Designer does not trust the builder to create his work of art, nor does he trust the builder to understand how materials interact. Part of this equation is the “competitive bid” process, where price is the only consideration, but that is a rant for a different day… I say that the answer to this is the Craftsman.

Today someone that slides two halves of a modular home together is called a carpenter. A Timber Framer feeds a timber into a CNC robotic machine and then only assembles a collection of joints, not a home. I ask; “What about the craft?”

Has this person taken the time to learn and understand where the trade came from? What about the creative design process? Draftsmanship? Have they studied materials and methods that make up the whole? Are they fully versed in Code and Life-Safety issues? Have they invested the time in fully learning their craft? I say that without these disciplines, they might only ever be a carpenter, not a Craftsman.

The loss of craft is very disappointing to me. What forces are in play? Lack of education? Market forces? Lack of interest? The Craftsman being blocked from the creation process by legislative rulings? All of these factors are contributing to turning the creation of your home into little blocks, commodities, where the creation process is divorced from the actual building process. The only way to bring back the Craftsman is to reverse these trends. This is why we call ourselves “Housewrights” at Timberworks Housewrights.

To be a Housewright one needs to be acquainted with the entire creative process. From the initial conversation with the property Owner, to handing off the key to the front door, the Housewright can do it all. More than just skills though, the Housewright sees the entire project. They are vested in the project from day one and take every opportunity to improve the end result, while weighing everything; aesthetics, proportion, costs (Yes! Costs…) how materials interact or interface, fit and finish. Their name is on this project.

There is one big difference between being a builder and being a Craftsman. It’s called pride. We see our creations come to life, not just in our eyes, but in our Clients eyes.

Long live the Craftsman!

That said, I would like to dispel some myths and misconceptions about the design process. Nothing makes my heart sink so fast as when prospective Clients come to me with completed Construction Documents, a design that obviously is beyond their budget or needs, or a design that is wasteful of our dwindling old-growth timber or energy resources.

“I need to ‘choose’ a design from a plan book, engage an architect to develop the design, or struggle through to try and draft my own design”

No, no and NO!
-Although I may be putting together some “starter” home designs for my Clients, to save them some design costs, for the past thirty years I have been opposed to plan books for many reasons. These may be helpful to use to get started but I have never seen one instance where substantial customization of the design is not needed to fit YOU and YOUR lifestyle. Any change made to a “stock” design requires additional drafting and design, plus the requisite structural engineering. Why not just start with what you want and develop the full design with your designer?
-This will be a very broad generalization, but here we go…Architects are artists. Like any artist they want to make a statement. Over the past thirty years I have seen some fantastic designs from architects, however, there have been perhaps one or two instances where the architect understands structure, mechanical systems and, in particular, Timber Framing and Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s)!
-Drafting your own design, if you have the skills and knowledge, can be very rewarding. Integrating a Timber Frame and SIP’s, not so easy.

What to do? Talk to me early and often! Are you looking at a plan from a magazine? Get it to me so that I can evaluate whether it is readily adaptable to Timber Frame, and within your budget. Already working with an architect or designer, or are you considering doing so? Open up a three-way conversation between myself, you and the designer. We can offer input that can save thousands of dollars while enhancing the design. Have you been running through graph paper for three years working on your dream home design? Talk to me! We can handle the structural considerations and help smooth the road.

“I need a complete design to price my project”
“I only have a floor plan, can you quote my project?”

Both of these are wrong. Yes, complete Construction Documents (plans, elevations, schedules, specifications, design data, mechanicals…) are required to fully quote a project. For Estimates, sometimes a plan from a magazine is enough, sometimes the back of a napkin will do, but in most cases a schematic design is all that is required to prepare an estimate. Timberworks will never “quote” a project based solely on such limited information.
There are two processes at work here.
-An Estimate is just that, an estimate. This is based on the information we have at this time and can, and will change, as more information is provided. An estimate can be helpful to develop a budget or investigate financing. Over the years I have seen many misleading “Estimates” in the trades. Design, Drafting & Engineering? Oh, that’s not included. Loading and shipment to your project site? Oh, that’s not included. The full costs to stand and enclose your frame, including crane, lodging and per diem? Oh, that’s not included. You want the electric run and the window and door openings prepared in the SIP’s? Oh, that’s not included. These practices turn my stomach. I will always provide real-world estimates for the entire scope of work based on my experience and your design.
-A Quote, that’s a different animal. Beware of anyone offering you a “quote” based on sketches or a schematic design. What is this based on and with what specifications? I will only provide quotations on complete Construction Documents so that we all fully understand the Timber Frame design, the level of finish and ALL materials to be used. Custom construction and, in particular Timber Framing, can not, should not and, at Timberworks, will never be priced as a commodity (I.E.: a bushel of wheat is a bushel of wheat). Quality construction is not equal to any system based on simple quantities of anything…2×4′s, square feet of living space, or design style. Compare vinyl siding to vertical grain all-heart redwood. Compare wide plank wood floors to what you can pick up on clearance at the close-out center. Compare hollow vinyl windows to high-performance energy efficient windows with a wood interior and aluminum clad exterior. Now, which were used to arrive at your “quote”? Going by square foot “rule-of-thumb” or other canned unit measures will result in multiple Change Orders, “extras” and an adversarial relationship on your project.

“I do not plan to build for another year, so I will wait to start the design”

Please, as long as you have your property and have selected a building site, begin immediately on the design process. Without a piece of property…that’s a different discussion.
A good design will not go bad. Never underestimate the time investment required to develop full Construction Documents, both your’s and the designer’s. Many smaller shops (like Timberworks!) will not have a staff member working full-time as a designer/draftsman. More likely that designer will need to split time between production, on-site work and drafting. There can also be lag time for you to review proof copies and to have conferences and meetings with the designer to get your ideas translated onto paper.
So often I get that phone call…”We spoke last year and are ready to go. My architect has the drawings ready (see above) and we will be breaking ground next month…” Oh no, panic mode kicks in. What design? What Timber Frame design? Engineering review and approval? What grade and species of timber? What about the lead time even before the timbers reach our shop door? Then, production time, shipping, the standing crew…Arrrggg!
A quality hand-crafted Timber Frame takes planning. Talk to me early!

“We saw this design in a magazine and want something like this”

OK. Let me set the stage… Young couple, married last year, perhaps considering their first home, no children, a nice piece of land and are working to pay that off.
Now they place in front of me a page from a Timber Frame magazine with 3-4,000 square feet of living space, impressive vaulted ceilings, multiple bedrooms and baths, stone veneers, marble counters, fine hardwood finishes…spectacular!

Mitch:    “Have you considered your project budget?”
Clients:    “We are shooting for the $200-$250k range. We are in the process of getting pre-qualified though and we may be able to go up to $300k but we would like to aim for the lower target”.
Mitch:    “Well, don’t kill the messenger, but a Timber Frame home like this will probably start in the three-quarters-of-a-million dollar range”.
Clients:    <stunned silence>“But, we never knew it could cost so much…it’s there in the magazine…they never mentioned it costing so much…”

Here lies the problem with these publications and those DIY shows. The builders want to showcase their best works, not their everyday projects. Costs? That’s never, or rarely mentioned. Sure these are wonderful to see, but articles like this offer unrealistic expectations in clients. They heard from their Uncle Joe that his home in a new development, close to work only cost $130 per square foot and extrapolated that number into their dream of 5 acres in the country with the 1/4 mile drive and great views. They forgot that the home design they are looking at encloses 4,500 square feet of space because they are only finishing 3,000 square feet now. They completely ignored the three car garage (so the hubby can have his shop), the wrap-around deck (with synthetic decking, of course) and the outdoor fireplace (backed up to the two interior fireplaces).

Now, let’s consider a more realistic approach, not only from a budget standpoint, but also from an environmental one.

Mitch:    “What are your requirements, not ‘wants’, for your new home?”
“Is there a particular style of design that appeals to you, or you wish to pursue?”
“Is there, or do you plan to have any additions to your family?”
“Have you considered the level of finish you would like?”
“Tell me about your daily routines, how you live in your home, your hobbies…”
“Will you consider placing exposed timbers in only the primary living spaces and using hybrid construction in other areas?”
“Do you have a collection of clippings or ads of products and designs that you like?”
“Is there a particular grade and species of timber that appeals to you?”

Based on your responses, I can begin to formulate a design direction, schematic layout and a possible course of action. We can work together to make the home space adaptable to changing family dynamics. We can also work together to make the home low-impact on the environment and cost effective to own and operate. Doesn’t this all sound better than a collection of sheet-rock boxes from some magazine?

My best advice, begin the journey down the road to your design early, contact me early and stay in touch, make Timberworks part of your design “team” and consider your budget always, and how your decisions impact timber resources and life-costs for the structure. I think if you follow this advice, you will be calling me soon!