Stone or wooden frame house

Hi -

Going to start building my house soon. Their is serious conflicting issues between block work and wooden frame.

Personally i prefer wooden frame. reasons being that it will be easier to heat. But our architect says no way - stay away from timber.

Would anyone have any experience good or bad?

Much appreciated

Regards
KildareBuild

One thing the stone has going for it.....it allows you to have an open fire. Timberframed houses are gas fire only.....big no-no in my opinion.....you can't beat an open fire!!

DeeDee100 said:

One thing the stone has going for it.....it allows you to have an open fire. Timberframed houses are gas fire only.....big no-no in my opinion.....you can't beat an open fire!!

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If your power is out at least you'll be able to light a fire if it gets a bit nippy.

DeeDee100 - Sure you cannot have a fire in a wooden frame house? Surely if the chimney was made of block? the rest of it timber? I have trawled the whole forum on timber frames. It appears that timber frames is gainly popularity very quickly over the last few years. They are warmer, more economical and eco friendly. whereas stone seems to have no really obvious advantage. Timber houses are being accounted for 60% of houses being built in scotland now. and 25% in Ireland. Scotland would have more of a severe weather than we do. So i think im setting my sights on the timber frame. Ireland is just slow and disillusioned about anything new. They wait till everyone else does it then we do it. (that sounds very familiar doesnt it?)

My sister has a wooden frame house and has an open fire! So I don't know why you say only gas fire??

Thats true if the chimney is block built then I see no issue with having an open fire

Hi all,
I bought a new house last year which had no fireplace. I went looking for one and the Fireplace Retailer wouldn't take a deposit on a fireplace until I had contacted the builders and confirmed it was a stone build house.
He said a lot of people buy fireplaces and then can't have the open fire because it's timberbuilt. That's why most of newly build houses have gas fires these days, ie they're timberbuilt.
Stone houses are more sturdy and in my opinion are more attractive to future potential buyers. I'd never go for a timberframed house, it just seems like another way for builders to cut costs.

DeeDee100 - If having a open fireplace one just has to build a block tunnel from above the fireplace.

As for gas fires their are no chimneys - would that be right?

And I would not think that wood frame housing is a cost cutting method by builders these days. Its about the same price for both timber frame (with stone finish, sound proofing) and stone??

I am going for concrete build -> a few reasons
- Fire -> if a timber frame house goes on fire the whole place is destroyed in a very short time, not the case with conrete,
- I live in a timber frame house & I really don't see the heat benefits - sure it heats up quickly but it also loses heat quickly too
- I prefer solid construction - feel that it is more long lasting etc.

Some people have said that I am mad to go for concrete.....there seems to be 2 completely opposing viewpoints with no middle ground.

My brother-in-law's place up in the Swiss mountains is all wood apart from the stone fireplace whic houses the most efficient log burning stove I have seen anywhere. Apparently there are fans in tne stone chimney which provide a massive draught to get the logs going and which then blow the heat out at ceiling level. The result is that the temp can go from -4 Cto +24 C inside 20 minutes.

He has no concern about fire hazards and none of his neighbours appear to either as 99% of the houses are made of wood.

BillK - That sounds brilliant! A jump of 28 degrees inside 20 twenty minutes not bad. Would you have any info on the fan for the fire? Dont suppose their is a point using one of those in a home here in Ireland?

Put it this way - If a fire happened in a wood or stone house either way your F*&ked. Simple as that. If one was so concerned about fire all you have to do is install overhead water sprinklers? Yeah i know your tv will blow etc

hi kildarebuild - i would love to hear your architects arguments against timber frame - does he know something that probably 100 thousand people who have bought timber framed houses in the last 5-10 years don't know ? Are all these houses going to fall down in a short space of time ?
How about all the architects that are designing and building timber frame houses - are these wrong too (or does he just have those anti-timber/modern building methods blinkers on ?)

As for the fire thing - if you have any decent type of fire in your house - either way you're bu&g*red. The plasterboard/skim/insulation etc will give fire protection of a certain duration - after that the structure is at risk - concrete can crack and blow out at high temperatures as well as timber can.

As for not being able to have an open fire - my current house was built a couple of years ago without a chimney and we have one of those flueless gas fires (timber framed - very warm, great sound proofing etc) and we don't miss having an open fire - it would be nice some evenings through winter but how often would it be put on ? - in our case not alot.
But our previous house was also timber frame and it did have a chimney and open fire so the fireplace people deedee was talking to are pants ! (clueless)

Having said all that if i was building i would probably build concrete - all the insulation/build cost/solidity/fire proofing/longevity arguments aside i like the idea of being able to drill a hole and hang a shelf or whatever wherever i want and not having to find studs !

i agree with Kildarebuild, irish people do seem quite set in their ways, sure people in other parts of the world have been using timber frame homes for years without any problems and not having an open fire? Sure all you have to do is build the chimney out of blocks, i am in the planning process and will definitely be going timber frame when we build!

nai - the architect is old school (60 yrs old)- you know yourself offers no constructive agrument why etc Its either his way or no way. We were thinking of getting to sign off the various stages of the build. And he has said that he would not sign a timber frame structure. strong words.

looks like he will be seriously curtailing your build options then - have you asked his opinion on ufh or one-coat renders or cat-5 cabling or actis insulation etc. etc. - get my drift ? All new(ish) changes in building practice/products that you may want to use but "his way or no way" may exclude them. I'd take my business elsewhere - just my opinion - i know it's seriously tough to get an architect these days.