Anyone supply for timber framed homes?

[flatyre]

just being curious as I dream of building my own home some day, timber framed, stone and cladding exterior, zinc roof, something like a contemporary Hebridean Longhouse. You can buy similar kit homes from a number of suppliers but I can't help thinking I could save a lot of money making it myself. I have seen more and more timber framed homes being built locally and can't see anything beyond my own skill set (time served bricklayer, twenty years landscaping experience including a lot of joinery). I have no doubts I could with some help from friends still in the building industry, assemble a kit house, but what about supplying my own wood? I plan on keeping a recently acquired 070 and using it for hobby milling, but why not put it to use milling up the timber for a timber framed house? If you can buy in trailer loads of timber for processing into firewood, surely it would be reasonably cost effective to buy in a load for milling into lumber? Daft or possible?

[flatyre]

This kit is about £85,000+ supplied and fitted.

 

LH302P - with rear extension

[treequip]

I plan on keeping a recently acquired 070 and using it for hobby milling,

 

Unless its a small shed that amount of chainsaw work (with an old and particularly high vibe machine) is going to be slow and expensive. Its also going to be really hard on your fingers

[Wendelspanswick]

I'm building a 2 storey barn at the moment, ground floor in traditional blockwork and the top storey is timber framed.

Pressure treated timber for the framing is relatively cheap and in my option not worth trying to mill yourself but where you can save is milling the cladding, shingles, flooring and joinery timber, especially if you have a band mill. Not sure I would want to try it with a chainsaw mill though.

Edited October 16, 2016 by David Humphries

[agg221]

Unless its a small shed that amount of chainsaw work (with an old and particularly high vibe machine) is going to be slow and expensive. Its also going to be really hard on your fingers

 

I disagree. I have milled all the timber for a 12' square 2 storey extension using a chainsaw mill, alongside other milling. I use an 076, 070 or 090AV as required. The walls are not timber framed but the outside is fully clad in feather-edge boards so more timbers in total. All the timber in mine is oak, which would be prohibitively expensive if I hadn't milled it myself.

 

There are several factors which have made this viable.

 

Firstly, I didn't try to mill it all at once. I got dimensioned drawings as early as possible in the process and worked with my architect and engineer to take into account the mix of green, semi-seasoned and fully seasoned timber. I used the drawings to put together a cutting list and stacked the parts carefully labelled so I knew what I had and where it was. By doing single days here and there, the wear and tear on me from milling was minimal.

 

Secondly, I used the above to take advantage of whatever tree came along. Knowing the dimensions needed, I could get the biggest possible pieces out of each butt, and generally milled on site so I only moved the sections I needed.

 

Thirdly, associated with above, if you plan the cutting sequence carefully, you can keep the number of wide cuts to a minimum, which keeps milling speed up. This type of job is not about making wide through-and-through slabs, so you can work out the sequence with the minimum number of cuts.

 

Finally, and critically, keep the chain perfect! Anything else will result in pain. It wasn't on my house job, but milling for someone else earlier this year, I was cutting semi-dry oak in about 7' lengths. I had milled on this site before and there is something about the trees there which means they take out the chain very quickly. I found I could only cut 2 or 3 boards at 18" width before the chain needed sharpening. Other days you might go all day without needing to. I actually measured timings on this one and board 1 would be just over 2mins, board 3 would be around 3mins and board 4 (only once!) was over 10mins and vibrated bolts out of the saw.

 

So, in contrast to others, I would say it can be done if you want to, but I would only suggest doing so if you enjoy spending your time milling and can afford the preparation time.

 

 

Alec

[se7enthdevil]

alec, clear out your inbox.

 

is anything happening with this elm you contacted me about.

 

 

with regards to the milling, what alec said...

[treequip]

I disagree. I have milled all the timber for a 12' square 2 storey extension using a chainsaw mill,

 

So about the size of a small shed then?

Unless its a small shed

 

Firstly, I didn't try to mill it all at once.

Well that means you spread the HAVS exposure out over time, still the same exposure though, its cumulative

[codlasher]

I'd have to say chainsawmilling is fine for the odd small run of big or wobbly timber but a whole proper sized house-worths is really hard work and such a waste. I'd find a willing sawmill, and this doesn't have to be that local either, and work out a good cutting list for all the structural timbers that you want to see. Infills can be from your local merchant and will come ready treated for fungal & worm.

Use your already considerable skill-set to do;

1, All the groundwork. Drains, footings @ services. This will save a fortune.

2, Employ an experienced & tooled-up specialist timber framer to cut/process all the timber that will have been delivered to your site and turn it into your house frame. Be their labourer and apprentice. You'll learn heaps. agg221?

3, Erect said frame onto the plinth that you have constructed using your mates & your own expert skill-set.

4, At roof height on a hired scaffold, you & your mates fit the roof timbers onto the wall-plate on top of the trussed & purlined roof structure. Infill with huge amounts of insulation and then pay a zinc roofing specialist to cover everything over.

5, infill the walls when the roof is done and presto you have a lovely empty shell that is secure and ready for the winters work!

 

From experience, as a rough guide, it takes five days to cut all the joints on the main frame and a day and a half to assemble, plumb and drill the pegs. some parts can be assembled on the ground too which makes life a little easier.

 

Chainsawmill the curved braces from wobbly timber as mills find this difficult. You'll have to acquire the crooks first!

 

Pictures please!

codlasher

[harvey b davison]

i did a bit of a project on this for college last year, also started a thread on it but didnt get very far with it. If it was me, i would build it in round timber, as a proper log house. There are plenty of details out there on the web. You can also do proper courses in roundwood timber building.

[flatyre]

I'm not talking about buying and milling all the timber for a timber framed house to a schedule, but simply milling up what comes along as a by product of my tree work, and possibly buying in a load to mill as and when work is quiet.