Milling timber for house build

[nooie]

Hola, has anyone milled timber to use in a self build house? I have access to plenty timber which is mostly Sitka and Lodgepole on my doorstep which is owned by myself. I have been thinking that with the costs of building now that I'd be better off buying a mill and building a kit instead of giving someone else £200k for the same thing. 

 

I'd but in Larch to clad the outside and possibly buy Douglas fir for roof beams.

 

Has anyone done their own build and what is best for preserving the timber after it's milled. 

[Woodworks]

South of the boarder building control require you to use graded wood for anything structural. Least it did when we built our place. 

[waterbuoy]

I'm doing similar with a workshop build but that won't need a building warrant, which may be where you have a challenge.  I think the timber will need to be graded in order to get through planning.  Having said that, if set on the full DIY approach then you could get trained to grade the timber yourself.

 

So far as preserving the timber is concerned then I have managed to find a yard on the mainland who have agreed to dip the timber for me on a m3 rate.  Not sure that there is anything like that available on the outer isles though?!

 

 

[spuddog0507]

As above the timber will need to be stress graded like C17 ? if you look at any construction timber you will see a stamp on it with what it has been graded to, you could find some where to get it done at a reasonable cost and still save a fair chunk of cash, it would all so need to be dried as well, OK years ago timber was sawn in a mill from green timber and the day after it was on a house roof, they are still there and in good condition but with how we do things today and all the red tape involved and all the people doing the inspection jobs that have only read books makes life very difficult at times, was there graded pre stressed timber stamped timber about when St Pauls cathederal, Westminster, York Minster where built NO Norman Architecture just got on and did the job with no Bull shit, your spruce will be fine but forget the lodgepole it aint that good, it dont take treatment very well, a mate of mine makes a lot of fence posts and he wont touch any more,

 

[Macpherson]

3 hours ago, nooie said:

Hola, has anyone milled timber to use in a self build house? I have access to plenty timber which is mostly Sitka and Lodgepole on my doorstep which is owned by myself. I have been thinking that with the costs of building now that I'd be better off buying a mill and building a kit instead of giving someone else £200k for the same thing. 

 

I'd but in Larch to clad the outside and possibly buy Douglas fir for roof beams.

 

Has anyone done their own build and what is best for preserving the timber after it's milled. 

 

Hi, I think the previous posts regarding grading of softwood timber are correct for structural construction although I seem to remember that with the likes of Oak framing for instance tradesman is allowed to self assess each piece for defects prior to assembly.

 

If you have your own wood it would probably be worth having a conversation with building control to find exactly what they would accept, in the past I discovered that the phase '  Deemed  to satisfy ' is also an accepted method of visual grading when a piece of construction is substantially over size and obviously to the eye more than strong enough... ' Clyde built ' as they say rather than the modern method of getting away with the smallest possible timbers.

 

I suppose the middle ground would be to buy graded timber for the structural stuff and build your own kit and perhaps mill your own cladding which Larch or Douglas would be fine for.

 

For any wood that you want to protect from blue stain or insects whether bought or fresh milled you might like to consider treating it with Borax which is cheap and effective, anything I mill gets this treatment, good luck with your project👍

 

https://www.hunker.com/13425952/how-to-treat-wood-with-borax

 

[ucoulddoit]

Brettstaple is a form of construction that uses ungraded timber. Solid timber panels are fabricated using hardwood dowels to hold the timbers together. I’ve no experience of this type of construction though, so can’t give it either thumbs up or down.

 

Andrew

[Cuttup]

6 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

As above the timber will need to be stress graded like C17 ? if you look at any construction timber you will see a stamp on it with what it has been graded to, you could find some where to get it done at a reasonable cost and still save a fair chunk of cash, it would all so need to be dried as well, OK years ago timber was sawn in a mill from green timber and the day after it was on a house roof, they are still there and in good condition but with how we do things today and all the red tape involved and all the people doing the inspection jobs that have only read books makes life very difficult at times, was there graded pre stressed timber stamped timber about when St Pauls cathederal, Westminster, York Minster where built NO Norman Architecture just got on and did the job with no Bull shit, your spruce will be fine but forget the lodgepole it aint that good, it dont take treatment very well, a mate of mine makes a lot of fence posts and he wont touch any more,

 

I don't think many people on here would disagree that there is too much red tape in business and in our lives, however, it is worth noting that if you lessen control you will lessen quality especially in bulk-build makets. As an example operators like Wimpy and Persimmon, supposedly, build to regs, but some of their constructions are alleged to be sub-standard, and I would happily wager, will not have the longevity of the great cathedrals.

 

Point is, unscuplulous builders woould cut necessay corners and houses (if not lives) would be lost.

 

It would be great to see a more local and job specific application of the rules like in this case. I hope you find a way to do it.

[spuddog0507]

59 minutes ago, Cuttup said:

I don't think many people on here would disagree that there is too much red tape in business and in our lives, however, it is worth noting that if you lessen control you will lessen quality especially in bulk-build makets. As an example operators like Wimpy and Persimmon, supposedly, build to regs, but some of their constructions are alleged to be sub-standard, and I would happily wager, will not have the longevity of the great cathedrals.

 

Point is, unscuplulous builders woould cut necessay corners and houses (if not lives) would be lost.

 

It would be great to see a more local and job specific application of the rules like in this case. I hope you find a way to do it.

I am not looking for a way to do it, and the proof of things in the building of houses as long been proved, the house i live in is a old mill cottage circa 1730 and there is property that was built long after mine that have long been demolished and replaced with something that will last for a even shorter length of time, things are just not done like they used to be,,

[nooie]

Thanks for the replies. There's a five day course that could be done to be qualified to grade timber which could be useful. I'd rather not cut corners like Wimpy and others. I want to live in a solid house that will outlast me. 

[Exec Trustee]

We felled our own trees and converted the main structural components (Larch & Douglas Fir) by hand hewing.

 

 

After raising the timber-frame we used a temporary tarpaulin roof applied over the timber frame to make a relatively dry working space where we installed a Woodland Mills band saw to make roof shingles (WRC & EL), sarking boards (DF), floor planks (DF & WH), cladding (EL & DF), doors & shutters (WH).

 

 

The building Inspector was not involved nor did we employ a timber grader. Each structural timber was assessed during conversion and where we weren't happy then a timber would be consigned to the bone yard or be subject to a localised repair.