Buying Timber Frame House

FarhanAmin

Dear Forum Users,

I am new to the forum and looking for some advice. I am in the process of buying a house. It is 4 bedroom detached house. It is a self built house constructed in 1996. Building surveyor revealed that the house is mostly timber built but further extension including garage and utility room is traditional brick built.

I have old fashioned views that brick built houses are solid and last longer with better resale value. I did some reading but I am now more confused than I was.

Building Surveyor has mentioned in his report that the building is of good quality with no major work required, however, unable to inspect areas not exposed so unable to comment.

House appears well insulated and all the decorative materials used in the house appears to be of good quality

Could some one share their experience of purchasing Timber Built house and specifically resale value of the house? I am only planning to live in the house for 5-7 years.

Best wishes
Farhan

[Deleted User]

Our new build was timber frame, they do move a little as things dry out but very small movement at that, they are very well insulated, in ours we can put the heating on for 30 mins then find we are having to turn it off and i think if its detached then you will have very little problems with it (i.e thin walls so you don't have to listen to neighbours)

googler

The vast majority of new-builds are timber frame these days, and there doesn't seem to be any adverse effect on values, beyond fluctuations that effect the whole of the market.

FarhanAmin

How should I interpret surveyor's comments when they say "Only able to access exposed areas so unable to comment on the quality of the wood or construction hidden behind the plasterboards or other places" however, he does state that property generally requires only cosmetic repair.
One more thing he has suggested to get the certifications for gas and electricity. Should I ask the vendor for such certification? or I have to arrange all these inspections?
Thanks for adv. again

Building_Surveyor

Basically he/she can only pass comment on what they can see. Without ripping the plaster down he/she will be unable to comment on the condition of the timbers. therefore can't say whether it's in good or bad condition.

Gas and elec personally I'd arrange myself.

SG27

Loads of modern houses are timber framed. As are most of the oldest houses in this country, houses from 600 or 700 years ago still standing and lived in.

The only problem with timber framed is insurance companies consider it 'non standard' if built before about 1985.

Cranberryberry

FarhanAmin wrote: »

How should I interpret surveyor's comments when they say "Only able to access exposed areas so unable to comment on the quality of the wood or construction hidden behind the plasterboards or other places" however, he does state that property generally requires only cosmetic repair.
One more thing he has suggested to get the certifications for gas and electricity. Should I ask the vendor for such certification? or I have to arrange all these inspections?
Thanks for adv. again

Firstly, I live in a timber frame and it is lovely and warm, and sturdy! Don't think twice about timber framed houses.

I'm currently on the other side of the table with this and what I'd say is that a survey (or rather, a homebuyers - that's what it sounds like) is pretty much worth ignoring. The surveyor just flags up a load of maybe's that you would have seen too and then includes self-covering paragraphs like the ones about gas and electric.

My suggestion is that either you read the report as what it is - and move forward or you pay for the surveys. I've had to pay to useless surveys recommended by a buyers report and would never do it again (as would most vendors). Certainly I'm not doing any invasive surveying when you might change your mind the day after!

teneighty

Personally I am not a fan of modern timber frame houses. That comes from inspecting housing sites during the 80's and 90's.

Timber frame is a bit of a misnomer, I call them lightweight timber panel construction which is more accurate and gives a better idea of how they are actually put together. I'm sure the developers would much rather we thought of lovely old oak framed houses.

The trouble is the lightweight timber panels have to be put together exactly right in the factory, then they have to be assembled perfectly on site and then finally maintained in perfect condition throughout their life. Any one of those steps goes wrong and you have potentially serious structural problems, wet rot, structural failure, fire risk etc. etc.

I expect that in the next 10 years we are probably going to see the shoddy ones thrown up in the 80's will start to need major structural repairs if not rebuilding.

And before anyone pipes up about scandinavian timber frame houses. There is a fundamental difference. They tend to build the entire house out of timber so you can see what you are getting. In this country we have a crazy habit of hiding the timber panels behind bricks or blockwork to try and pretend that it is a proper house but all that does is seal the wood up so it can quietly rot away from a leaking shower or faulty radiator valve.

Well that's just my opinion.

googler

FarhanAmin wrote: »

How should I interpret surveyor's comments when they say "Only able to access exposed areas so unable to comment on the quality of the wood or construction hidden behind the plasterboards or other places"

In the same way as you would interpret a comment like

"Only able to access exposed areas so unable to comment on the quality of the brick, breezeblock or other construction hidden behind the plasterboard or other internal linings"

Think about it. The doctor can't inspect your skeleton without ripping away your skin and muscle, and wouldn't do that for a cursory examination

https://www.trada.co.uk/downloads/publications/Timberframeconstruction.pdf

http://www.designforhomes.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/timber_frame.pdf

Building_Surveyor

teneighty wrote: »

Personally I am not a fan of modern timber frame houses. That comes from inspecting housing sites during the 80's and 90's.

Timber frame is a bit of a misnomer, I call them lightweight timber panel construction which is more accurate and gives a better idea of how they are actually put together. I'm sure the developers would much rather we thought of lovely old oak framed houses.

The trouble is the lightweight timber panels have to be put together exactly right in the factory, then they have to be assembled perfectly on site and then finally maintained in perfect condition throughout their life. Any one of those steps goes wrong and you have potentially serious structural problems, wet rot, structural failure, fire risk etc. etc.

I expect that in the next 10 years we are probably going to see the shoddy ones thrown up in the 80's will start to need major structural repairs if not rebuilding.

And before anyone pipes up about scandinavian timber frame houses. There is a fundamental difference. They tend to build the entire house out of timber so you can see what you are getting. In this country we have a crazy habit of hiding the timber panels behind bricks or blockwork to try and pretend that it is a proper house but all that does is seal the wood up so it can quietly rot away from a leaking shower or faulty radiator valve.

Well that's just my opinion.

I agree. Barratts homes built a load of shoddy ones in the 70s, however they didn't have a clue what they were doing.. And well you can guess the rest of it...

rpc

The majority of houses in Scotland are now built with timber frames and have been for some time. You get a weathertight building far more quickly, which matters given our climate (although I hear that independence might fix that too!).

We manage just fine.