Timber framing
Timber framing is a system of house building in which large wooden posts and beams are used to support the whole structure of the house. Timber-framed houses are also termed ‘’half-timbered’’.
The main structure of a timber framed house is a frame of large wooden members joined together using mortice and tenon joints fastened with wooden pegs. The frames then may enclose many kinds of panels, including: brick, wooden planking, plaster, wattle and daub or more recently, Sips (Structural Insulating Panels).
The techniques used in timber framing date back thousands of years, and may be found in many parts of the world such as ancient Japan, Europe and medieval England.
In England the so-called Wealden house, in the Weald of Kent and Sussex, was one such type of timber-framed structure. The structure consisted of an open hall with bays on either side and often jettied upper floors. However, it was mainly in Tudor country houses and cottages that timber framing manifested itself, as well as in the several types of Tudor or Elizabethan Revival styles of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century.
However, later revival styles often replace the load-bearing timber frame structure with superficial decorative patterns resembling timber frames when in fact these appearances have no bearing on the deep structure at all and thus no longer have the function of carrying the weight of the house.
In Germany, too, the Deutsche Fachwerk Straße, the “Route that links Germany’s Medieval Timber-framed Houses”, that runs from Lower Saxony in the north of the country, via Hesse and southern Thuringia to Bavaria is an area renowned for its highly picturesque half-timbered buildings.
The ancient craft of timber framing has had a resurgence since the 1970s. This is largely due to such practitioners as Jack Sobon and Ted Benson who studied old plans and techniques and revived the technique that had been long neglected.
The use of timber framing in buildings offers various benefits not least of these is aesthetic, as the large timbers are typically visible to the inside of the building. Other benefits come from the structural nature of timber frame which lends itself to open plan designs and allows for complete enclosure in effective insulation for energy efficiency.