| Timber frame and post and beam homes, today more than ever, are energy efficient and constructed with sustainability in mind while maintaining the outstanding beauty, aesthetics, and craftsmanship that signify what a Davis Frame Company timber frame home is. At Davis Frame Company, we're defining what green building means. With our energy efficient panels, use of BioBased insulation, small amount of building waste, and selection of low-impact materials, we're setting the standard on environmentally friendly building. On our company campus, we even burn the timber cuttings to heat our buildings using an extremely efficient wood stove. |
How to Build a Green and Energy Efficient Timber Frame Home
From the types of wood to the site location, it is possible to build a green and sustainable timber frame home. The following information outlines some of the common solutions we offer to our clients who wish to include stewardship of the planet into their timber frame design plans.
Using Reclaimed Timber for your Timber Frame Home
Using reclaimed timber means using trees that were harvested long ago and used in buildings and barns. Aside from being environmentally friendly and saving the lives of today's trees, the beauty and unmatched characteristics of these weathered timbers can give your timber frame home a truly unique look.
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On-Site Versus Off-Site Work
When building a conventional stick home, the materials at the construction site can be inefficient and costly as well as more wasteful. Many of the materials used for the home are shipped and the waste materials must be subsequently shipped away to landfills, usually at a premium cost to the client. When we build a home using the controlled environments of our shop, not only is there very little waste but only the required materials will be sent to the construction site and any scrap materials we create can be recycled or used to heat our facilities (see above)! |
SIPS and Energy Star Ratings
In our timber frame homes and buildings we use SIPs (structural insulated panels). The use of SIPs has become widely recognized as being far superior to other methods for sealing and insulating buildings. When Davis Frame builds a home and then helps you apply for an Energy Star Rating, your new timber frame home is automatically exempt from the blower door test because of the incredibly high performance of our building process. |
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BioBased Insulation
To complement our use of SIPs, we've incorporated BioBased insulation which uses soy-based technology to replace petroleum-based fill that is commonly used in SIP construction. We're extremely proud of this decision and have invested in a new building that enables us to custom make our own panels. Due to this process, a Davis Frame timber frame home can help reduce our country's dependency on foreign oil, utilize the renewable resources of soybeans grown by 681,000 American farmers, while at the same time creating a superior product!
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Site Stewardship
If you live in the deserts of Utah, should you strive for a green and fluffy lawn? Green building can extend well beyond just your home. Your new timber frame house should form a symbiotic relationship with the land on which you live. Care for your site should begin during the construction process by disturbing as little of the ground and vegetation as possible. By preserving and planting native vegetation and grasses, less water, fertilizers, and chemicals are introduced into the ecosystem. |
Reduce Energy Consumption
Energy use can be reduced in many ways. By taking advantage of natural light with careful planning of window and room placement, the need for artificial light will be reduced. Use Energy Star rated appliances, compact fluorescent blubs, and unplug unused or infrequently used items such as chargers, DVD players, and those extra refrigerators.
Using Solar Energy in your Timber Frame Home
Free light may be the best and simplest use of solar energy but the second best is to use it to heat water for your home. To best heat water, have solar collectors installed on the roof of your timber frame home or somewhere on the site close to the home. The collectors are filled with an anti-freeze fluid that runs into the timber frame house and passes through a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger then heats water that can be used to heat or supplement the heat source of the home.
One company that has introduced a solar heating solution that is within a reasonable budget is Viessmann, with the company's Vitosol 300 model. The U.S. even has an incentive program that offers a 30% tax credit for the purchase and installation of a solar system. |
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Durability of our Timber Frame Materials
When selecting materials for your home, choose high quality and durable materials. This can dramatically reduce the future expenses of your timber frame home. Select Energy Star appliances, good, solid windows and doors, and perhaps a metal roof, which is recyclable, and will last longer than its counterpart, asphalt. |
Use Oriented Strand Board (OSB)
OSB is an efficient use of natural resources and does not rely on old growth timber, making it a good environmental choice for your timber frame home. OSB is a dense form of sheathing similar in some respects to plywood. To make OSB, chips of young growth and waste wood are saturated with an adhesive and then compressed under massive pressure to a fraction of the original thickness. The actual amount of adhesive is quite low and does not contribute significantly to the strength of the sheathing. Rather, it is the combined cross-grain of the compressed chips that make up the composite strength of the board.
Selection of Low-Impact Materials
The building industry is a major global consumer of raw materials, fossil fuels, and energy consumption. By carefully analyzing how the building process is completed and looking for ways to reduce consumption, we can take steps to protect our forests and wilderness for future generations to enjoy. Examples of ways to build with less of a footprint are:
- using concrete that substitutes fly-ash for virgin Portland cement,
- use of carpet, carpet pads, insulation, and even floor tiles that are high in recycled content,
- and flooring materials manufactured from highly renewable resources such as bamboo or wheat by-products.
Many of these choices may seem small in comparison, but collectively they can have a significant and positive impact.
| Timber framing and timber frame homes are a wonderful style of construction utilizing exacting mortise-and-tenon joinery and massive timbers to form the framework of a building. The actual timber frame is then left exposed on the interior of the home which allows for a breathtaking effect of open spaces and craftsmanship that is truly unmatched in today's modern building styles. For more information on building a timber frame home, please feel free to call or contact us to start your dream today! |
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