Information Page

A General Guide to a Basic Package.

A detailed specification (including available options) is supplied with quotations for specific projects available on request.

Timber Sizes:

External Wall Panels – 90 or 140x38mm Vac Vac treated solid timber studs with 9mm Sterling Board (OSB) with Corovin breather paper fitted using polypropylene tape and stainless steel staples or double panelled system for increased insulation utilising Bitroc, panel vent/panel line systems.

Internal Wall Panels - 90 x 38mm or 63 x 38mm studwork.

Suspended Timber Floors - 195mm deep solid timber joist or Silent floor joists i.e. TJI's or Posi-Joist. Decked with 18mm - 22mm moisture resistant or peel clean chipboard.

Currently achieved U Values:
based on insulated timber frame panel / 50mm cavity & 100mm brickwork external skin

COST
Approximately £6.00 per ft² (£65.00 per m²)

GROUND FLOOR
Soleplates with DPC and Fixings.

WALL & GABLE PANELS
Wall Panels 90mm or 140mm width. Panel Junction Studs fitted at works. Headbinders.

FIRST FLOOR
Pre-cut joists, Blocking & Bridging Trimmers and Beams. V313 Chipboard Flooring. Joist Hangers and Starter Strips. TJI silent floor joists (optional)

ROOFS Pre-fabricated Trusses & Wind braces Hips, Valleys, Loose Rafters, Purlins, Beams and Dormers if required, Soffits Fascia and Barge boards, Bearers, Eaves Layboard, Over Fascia Vents Insulation Tray Gable Ladders Tank Platform & Walkway.

ANCILLARIES SS Wall Ties. Brickwork lintels. Vapour Barrier. Cavity Barrier and Closers. Plasterboard Noggins,

INSULATION Can be supplied as an extra over cost. External Walls 90mm/140mm semi rigid. Internal Walls 65mm acoustic. Floors 100mm acoustic. Roof two layers of 150mm rolls or various sloping ceiling options.

Additional Costs - Subject to specification

EXTERNAL JOINERY Can be supplied in either UPVC, softwood or hardwood standard or bespoke pre glazed or unglazed.

INTERNAL JOINERY We can supply staircases to clients specification or pre-hung internal doors complete with ironmongery architraves/skirting.

Glossary

General terms used in the industry

• ATTIC TRUSSES - Trusses constructed with strong timbers to create a or useful storage space in the roof.
• BIRDS MOUTH - The cut in the underside of a rafter (seat & plumb cut) to form bearing surface for the rafter.
• BLOCKING - solid timbers between floor joists at span ends to prevent movement.
• BRIDGING - solid timbers at mid spans of floor joists to prevent twisting of timber.
• BRACING - Lengths of timber used to brace components together to distribute loads more evenly throughout the structure to counteract forces such as wind loads.
• BREATHING WALL - (PANELVENT / BITVENT) boards manufactured from selected wood waste used as sheathing or sarking board.
• BREATHER PAPER - A man made woven polypropylene, stapled to the outside face of an external timber frame panel. It allows water vapour to pass through from inside to outside but not allow the passage in the opposite direction.
• BRICKWORK LINTELS - Galvanised steel lintels that are fixed to the external timber frame panel and support brickwork / blockwork over window / door openings in timber frame.
• BUILDING REGULATIONS - Documents controlled by the local authorities stating how buildings should be constructed to ensure health, safety and energy conservation procedures are complied with.
• CAVITY BARRIER - Either A reinforced or polythene sleeved mineral wool used to seal off cavities.
• CONCRETE SCREED - A cement mortar which may vary in thickness laid to provide a level floor finish.
• CRIPPLE STUD - A short stud connected to a full height stud forming a lintel bearer for a window or other opening.
• DAMP PROOF COURSE - (dpc) A strip of material laid below the timber frame soleplates or brick/block work to stop rising damp. Also used at lintels to divert water out of the cavity through weepholes.
• DAMP PROOF MEMBRANE - (dpm) A sheet material laid below the floor slab to provide a barrier between ground and slab.
• DIFFERENTIAL MOVEMENT - The difference in movement between the timber frame and external brickwork caused by expansion and contraction of the different materials.
• DORMER - This is where the roof space is a living area, rooms on the first floor have sloping ceilings and either dormer or velux windows.
• EAVES - A section of the roof that overhangs with coverings (fascia bargeboard, and soffits) allows air ventilation to roof and keeps out the weather insects or birds.
• ERECTION / INSTALLATION - On site construction of the timber frame.
• EXTERNAL JOINERY - Windows and doors in quality timber or UPVC.
• BARGEBOARD - Timber or upvc fixed on the sloping areas of the roof timbers to protect them from rain. FASCIAS along the eaves covering the rafter ends it normally supports the gutters.
• FLOATING GROUND FLOOR - Ground floor laid when the structure is watertight consists of Vapour barrier, Insulation and floor decking.
• FLOOR JOISTS - Timber or compound structure supporting the floor FIRESTOPS Flexible mineral fibre barriers that stop fire spreading between separate cavity areas like walls and roof
• GABLE LADDERS - timber structure between trusses at roof edges that overhangs forming the eaves.
• GABLE PANELS / SPANDRELS - Triangular external wall panels which follow the roof pitch and form the gable ends of the house.
• GLU-LAM - Large timber section for structural applications made by gluing timber boards together in layers with staggered joints.
• HEAD BINDER - Horizontal timber for tying wall panels together.
• INTERNAL PARTITIONS - Internal wall panels or studding which can be sheathed if required for structural purposes.
• INSULATION - Materials used in walls/floors and roof spaces creating warm structures that comply with building regulations.
• JOIST HANGERS - Galvanised steel hangers that can be nailed to timber or other materials that floor joists sit into for support.
• MOISTURE RESISTANT CHIPBOARD (V313) - Reconstructed board made from forest, sawmill, or manufacturing waste timber.
• NHBC (NATIONAL HOUSE BUILDING COUNCIL) - Organisation to improve building practices, having a register of reputable builders. Provides NHBC 10 year Warranty on new houses, conciliation and advice services.
• NOGGINS - Horizontal timber fitted between studs, Joists or Trusses as a fixing for plasterboard.
• NOTCHED AND DRILLED - Joists and studs are notched or drilled to run pipes and cables These must only be in areas identified in structural drawings, to maintain structural integrity.
• ORIENTED STRAND BOARD - (OSB) Timber used to sheath external panels of timber frame. It is made from compressed flakes of timber.
• OVER FASCIA VENTS - An air vent fixed along the top of the fascia.
• PANEL CONSTRUCTION - Load bearing panels with structural studs designed to carry loads down to foundations, or non load bearing panels for internal separating walls.
• PARALLAM - This is a beam created from shards of timber formed longitudinally in line with the length of the beam. This product is stronger than conventional timber, used as lintels and beams.
• PARTY WALL - A separating wall between two dwellings that must reduce the passage of sound and fire between them to acceptable levels set out in the building regulations. Timber frame performs well above building regulation requirements.
• PARTY FLOOR - A party floor has to reduce impact and airborne sound transmission between dwellings.
• PLATFORM FRAME - Most timber frame construction in the UK is generally platform frame. It is where a structure is built sequentially upwards.
• PLYWOODS - An odd number of thin timber layers with alternating grain are glued together forming strong shape retaining boards. Used for floor decking or as sheathing boards.
• POST AND BEAM CONSTRUCTION - Heavy timber posts and beams are used to transfer structure load to the foundations.
• POWER FLOATED - Where a concrete floor is laid and power floated before the timber frame arrives avoiding having to lay a screed or a floating floor after erection.
• PURLINS - Transfer the load of the roof to the gables and to the foundations through internal panels support Horizontal heavy timber, steel or glulam sections running at right angles to the underside of the rafters.
• RACKING RESISTANCE - Wall panels carry the vertical loads from the floor / roof down to the foundations. Studding is stiffened using sheet materials to provide resistance to racking.
• RAFTERS - A roof timber or principal rafter of a truss. Where pre-fabricated roof trusses are used separate rafters may be required for infilling areas where prefabrication was not practical.
• ROOF TRUSSES - Prefabricated roof framing at 600mm centres giving clear spans between the external supporting walls and get lateral stability with wind bracing timbers fixed through them.
• SARKING - Plywood nailed to top of rafters in Scotland giving continuous roof support, rarely used in England and Wales.
• SCAFFOLDING - Temporary platforms erected around buildings to provide a safe working areas. Erected away from the external wall panels in timber frame to allow bricklaying and roofing etc.
• SHEATHING - Close boarding 9mm OSB for timber frame panels or tongued and grooved 18 or 22mm moisture resistant chipboard for flooring).
• SOFFITS - A horizontal or sloping sheet between the fascia and outer wall, fixed under the eaves to conceal the rafters and underside of roof.
• SOLEPLATE - A horizontal timber fixed to the foundation external panels are then nailed to. It is treated with a powerful preservative.
• SOLEPLATE LAYOUT - The drawing the ground workers use to set out the foundations accurately. It also indicates load bearing and non-load bearing panels.
• SOLEPLATE TIES / FIXINGS - Timber used to locate the panels accurately during construction and transfer wind loads to the foundations once the building is completed.
• SOUND INSULATION - Material to reduce Sound transmission from one space to another especially through walls and floors of attached dwellings (see party wall / party floor).
• STICK BUILT - Timber frame built from loose materials on site rather than the superior factory made panels.
• STUDS - A vertical timber that forms wall panels.
• TANK PLATFORM & WALKWAY - Timber bearers and decking in the roof space forming walkways and water tank support.
• TCB - A Non combustible Fire Barrier consisting of 300 x 50mm x 4m wire backed insulation used vertically either side of party walls and up the lengths of the eaves on gable ends. single folded at floor & ceiling zones, rafter zone and vertically at external junctions also used in party wall /floor situations.
• TIMBER TYPES - Timber used in the Timber Frame Industry is mainly Scandinavian softwood. All of our timber is sourced from renewable properly managed forests.
• TOP PLATE - Horizontal timber that holds studding together in wall panels.
• TIMBER TREATMENT - All structural timber is treated against insect attack and general decay and complies with N.H.B.C. and Building Regulations 1995 requirements.. The timbers used in different areas will be treated with materials such as Tanalith or Vacsol.
• TRIMMER - A timber between joists/ studs to form an opening like a stairwell.
• U VALUE - The thermal insulation measure of a material or materials. Timber frame achieves U values shown that are typical for insulated external panels with 50mm cavity & 100mm Brickwork. External panel thickness/U value 90mm /0.41 140mm /0.29 140+45mm /0.22
• VALLEY SET - A set of roof trusses filling an area of roof between two different roof directions.
• VAPOUR BARRIER - A layer of 125mu polythene, supplied in rolls installed on the inside of external wall panels to restrict the passage of water vapour.
• WALL PANEL THICKNESSES - External panels consist of 90x38mm studding, a 10mm board, breather paper and tape that is factory fixed. (140mm x 38mm studding is used where higher insulation values are required)Internal panels are usually studwork (some having a 10mm board for structural purposes only)
• WALL TIES - Stainless steel brackets to brace the external cladding. Polypropylene tape is fixed to the outer face of external wall panels indicating where the studs are so that the ties can be fixed back at approximately 5 per m2.
• WALL CAVITY - The space between the timber frame wall panel and the external brick or block work. The standard timber frame cavity is 50mm (60mm below dpc) due to 10mm sheathing board of the panel.
• WARRANTY - House builders are required to get adequate insurance and guarantees on what they are building whether it is through the NHBC or through an insurance company.
• WINDBRACE - A structural tie of 100 x 25mm timbers giving lateral bracing to roof trusses.