Half-timbered house with their own hands

21-03-2018

Useful

The technology of building half-timbered houses came to us from the Middle Ages. Although the first buildings of this type appeared in the 12th century AD, they were most prevalent in Germany in the 15th century, and then became popular throughout northern Europe. Until now, many countries have used this technology when building buildings. She passed the test of time for several centuries. If you decide to build a half-timbered house with your own hands, then in this article we will describe many of the nuances that you need to know before making a final decision.

Special features

The German word Fachwerk translates as "frame, lattice design", which already gives an idea of the structural features of this structure. The technology of building such a house is the construction of a frame of wooden beams, which is the supporting structure. Vertical and horizontal racks are combined beams at different angles, which gives the structure rigidity and strength. Monolithic walls are not erected, as such they are obtained by filling the space between the beams with different materials. During the Middle Ages, adobe, clay were used for this, later - stone, brick.

Bearing beams of such buildings are not hidden, they go to the facade and look like a decorative element, which gives the half-timbered houses their unique and recognizable individuality. The intentionally highlighted elements of the frame create a fancy ornament on the facade of the building.

Modern reading

Reliability and durability confirms the fact that the buildings, which are already about five hundred years old, have survived. Interest in this style began to revive at the end of the last century, especially since modern technologies helped to reinterpret classical designs of such buildings.

The use of laminated veneer lumber instead of ordinary wood for the manufacture of the frame provides many advantages. Its superior tree strength, high resistance, higher ignition temperature, resistance to mold and fungi make it possible to get rid of the drawbacks inherent in wooden houses.

Modern technologies have allowed to create, while respecting all the advantages of the half-timbered structure, a “glass house”, when the planes between the frame elements are filled with particularly durable double-glazed windows.

Technology benefits

Undoubtedly, the attractiveness of such houses in aesthetic terms - they are original, unlike the usual for us buildings.
Such buildings do not require a strong foundation, which leads to a reduction in construction time and cost.
The buildings have very little shrinkage due to the low weight of the frame. This allows you to proceed to the exterior and interior immediately after its installation.
Since the main vertical load carries the frame of the building, the layout of the interior is not constrained by the need to build load-bearing walls.
The construction period is several times higher compared to buildings built in traditional ways.

Nuances of building a house

It may seem that you can easily and quickly build a half-timbered house, but it is not. It is often possible to hear an advertisement that such construction is carried out by one person in a short time, but do not flatter yourself with this half-truth, since the rapid construction of such a house is possible only if a team of specialists took over. And they are assembling the frame from the parts prepared in advance at the factory. In this case, indeed, your house can be built in just 2 weeks.

If you take on the independent implementation of this work, it is important to realize the limits of your capabilities in order to bring the work begun to the end. In order to properly perform the work, you need not only to be able to handle the tool, you must have it. In addition, you will need to competently perform numerous calculations. Necessary qualities such as accuracy and thoroughness, because then you will not be able to redo it, and the flaws will not be able to cover the panels. The mood has not changed, and are you ready to build on your own? Then study the list of work performed.

Sequence of work

Depending on the climatic and landscape conditions of the area in which the house will be built, an appropriate project is being developed.
As is the case with any other building, for a half-timbered house you need to make a foundation. Taking into account the small mass of the house, we will stop at a shallowly recessed strip foundation 50 cm wide by doing the calculations on our online calculator. You can also make a different type of foundation, as for an ordinary frame house.
For the manufacture of supporting structures we will use glued laminated timber, the size of which must be specified in the project. Presently to get such construction material will not make problems. You can also use the usual, only guaranteed dry timber, the same size.
If there is no such work skills, and you want to do everything yourself, then it is better to find or order a project according to your needs, order billets at an enterprise specializing in the manufacture of half-timbered houses, and then, using drawings, proceed to assembly.

A layer of waterproofing creeps onto the foundation, and on top of it are laid the bottom trim bars.
For fastening the bars to the foundation metal anchors are used.

When assembling the frame, it is important to ensure that the parts are fully inserted into the grooves. The joints of the frame parts, which will have a large load, need to be further strengthened, for which metal plates, corners or brackets can be used.
In the part of the building where the walls will be deaf, it is necessary to ensure that the depths of the frame frames are sufficient for insulation of cellulose fibers.

Interior partitions are assembled from a smaller bar, about 50? 50 mm. For their attachment to the floor are used frame dowels.
Longitudinal runs are installed on top of the vertical bars, to which you will need to attach floor boards.
If provided for by the project, the installation of crossbars is performed above the interfloor piping.
The frame of the house in the corners is strengthened by bracing, which can be both closed and open.
Now you can begin to manufacture the roof.

We briefly described the steps involved in assembling the frame so that you can imagine what to do. Why is a list of work performed, rather than step by step instructions? Because constructively each house will have its differences, and there are several assembly technologies. In order to get acquainted with the construction in more detail, we suggest watching the video.

Video: half-timbered house construction

As you can see, the process of assembling a house can not be called simple, and it will not work to build such a structure alone.

Another distinctive feature is the extensive glazing, so the structure differs in its appearance from its predecessors, built a century ago. Often, speaking of buildings erected on half-timbered technology, people call them glass houses.

Video: more about glass houses

Glazing of a house is a separate topic, but due to the design features a special technology has been developed, which is described in the next story.

Video: half-glazed windows

So, we can conclude that the construction of a modern glass house can only be carried out qualitatively by a team of specialists.

If this is a small country house with small windows, then the rigidity of the structure will be provided by numerous struts, and the openings will be sealed with improvised materials - exactly as our great-grandfathers did.