2022 – Please visit our updated page on Timber Frame Construction – Sustainable & Energy Efficient.
Environmentally Friendly Buildings
Timber frame buildings are becoming far more popular across the UK. In part, this is because this construction method uses renewable, non-toxic and recyclable materials with excellent thermal and acoustical properties (the cost and time benefits are also a major factor).
Timber frame construction has the lowest CO2 cost of any commercially available building material. In addition to the environmental gains made during construction, the on-going energy costs of timber frame buildings is low due to the thermal efficiency of the timber frames making it the preferred building material for those seeking minimal environmental impact.
Here are some facts and figures…
- A typical timber frame house saves 4 tonnes of CO2 compared with a
house built from bricks and blocks - Timber creates less waste in its production compared with brick, plastic, concrete or steel
- Modern timber windows can be designed to last 60 years if properly maintained
- Using timber in construction improves the sustainability of buildings.
How do Timber Frame Buildings Rate?
One of the most commonly identified advantages of timber frame construction is thermal insulation. ’U’ values in even the most basic timber frame home will exceed the current building regulation requirements.
Noise pollution has become an increasingly common environmental complaint. With timber frame construction, noise pollution is minimised in two ways…
- Airborne sound is decreased by combining dense wall linings and absorbent insulation materials.
- Structure borne sound is reduced by ensuring that adjacent dwelling structures are structurally independent of each other.
Fresh clean air in buildings is important. Air sealing in timber frame buildings is controlled by tightly fitting structural panels with overlapping plasterboard linings. This is assisted by the vapour barrier that lies behind all internal wall linings. This vapour control layer also prevents the risk of harmful condensation occurring within the wall structure.
Contact us to find out more about timber frame construction from Vision Development. All timber frame kits and custom design builds from Vision Development are sustainable and meet government legislation as well as being cost effective and quick to build.
