Would you buy a new build timber framed house?

Woolsery

A 'timber framed house' nowadays is somewhat different from what they were turning out under that description in the 1940s. All those near me have a brick or reconstituted stone outer skin, so they're not easily identified. A local company specialises and their buildings usually occupy infill sites and sell well.

stuart45

One of the reasons for having a brick outer skin in the UK was to disguise the fact to buyers that it was a timber house.
Ones built in the 80's sometimes had virtually no cavity in places, and combined with a damaged membrane there was.a.potential problem for the timbers.

K_S

Kace2022 said:

Wanted to seek people's opinions of new builds made of timber frame.   Terraced housing that is.

Aside from the reduced fire resistance compared to brick, are there any other alarm bells based off people's experience with them (on new builds specifically?

Cheers

@kace2022 I can't think of any mainstream lender that doesn't consider modern timber-frame (with brick/stone/block skins) properties as traditional/standard construction.

So, unless lender criteria changes drastically, on the aspect of mortgageability (and hence future saleability), there shouldn't be any significant issues simply due to the timber frame.

Sistergold

I would not buy a timber house. I must confess this is purely because I have no experience with them and don’t want to find out the hard way after putting in a lot of money. 

On a practical note though they should be okay as I am sure it has been researched a lot. 

stuart45

There are still a number of people who don't like the idea of a timber frame house. To be fair, the modern softwood timber framed house in the UK climate hasn't really stood the test of time yet, so it's understandable why.
A World in action programme in the 80's virtually destroyed the industry overnight, and it was 20 years before it started to recover. 
It will be interesting to see if any alterations to the softwood panels affect them in the future.

Woolsery

stuart45 said:

There are still a number of people who don't like the idea of a timber frame house. To be fair, the modern softwood timber framed house in the UK climate hasn't really stood the test of time yet, so it's understandable why.

What parts of a brick-skinned, timber framed house would come in contact with the British climate, compared with a tradtionally built one?

I think we could probably learn much  from other countries, like Scandinavian ones.

ka7e

Watching a lot of house-building TV programmes and it seems the UK is decades behind Europe and the US in the design and construction of timber-framed buildings. They produce prefabricated panels with insulation, windows and conduits for plumbing and electrics already in situ. We are also fixated on steep apex roofs, which seem to serve no practical purpose unless they are harvesting rainwater and are aligned to suit solar panels. Houses in the UK are designed to be built for maximum profit, usually to mimic something which was designed decades ago, with no incentive to be innovative or even user-friendly!

stuart45

The inner skin being of softwood timber is at risk from damp air from the cavity as well as any penetrating damp from mortar on wall ties, snots etc.
Damp air from inside can also be a problem. Having a block inner skin means that dampness doesn't affect a traditional house in the same way.
To protect the timber frame relies on good construction methods. 
The correct amount of ventilation in the cavity through weep holes at DPC level. Weep holes do tend to get blocked up.
Making sure the breather membrane isn't damaged. 
Making sure the wall ties are correctly installed and kept clean.
On the inside the Vapour check needs to be properly sealed.
One of the problems with the earlier ones was that the foundations for a masonry wall don't need to be so accurate. In the USA it didn't matter as the framers build the inner skin on site(stick built), but here the panels are factory built to size off plan.
You used to find that in some places the brickwork was right up to the inner skin, and in other places you had a massive cavity the ties hardly reached.
The membranes were often damaged.
In the USA a lot of homes have HVAC systems, and also tend to heat their homes a few degrees more than here. In most areas they don't have the constant dampness we have here.