Hello, my first post here. I am planning my timber frame house and wondering how folks typically insulate them. On the inside of the house I want to expose at least some of the outer posts, girts, and plates, and plaster the walls in between the posts. I am building a reproduction of a ~1750 New England cape in Connecticut.
My initial plan is to nail some 2X4s to the inside of the 8x8 frame for nailers, maybe add some studs as well, put insulation in there kind of like a normal stick frame, then put my lathe and plaster over that (or put sheetrock then just a coat of plaster on the sheetrock but I hate sheetrock). Also, I planned to sheath the house with ~1" pine sheathing and tyvek.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, this is my first timber frame house build, only done small barns and outbuildings before
Thanks
Mark Giaconia
Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Suggest studying the effects of what you propose to do on the movement of moisture and how the timbers will move over time as they dry and shrink. Such resulting changes will happen over time and likely have an effect on the materials used.
Good catch on moving this duplicate message to the Timber Framing forum/board.
When we had our timber frame house built 22 years ago, we insulated it by attaching stressed skin panels to the outside of the frame, so the entire timber frame is visible from inside the house. We went with 6" thick panels on the walls, and 8" on the roof. Our panels had EPS foam. Our neighbors built their timber frame with urethane panels (at least I think thats what they had for the foam part - higher insulation per inch of thickness).
We've been very happy with it - the insulation is far greater than the same thickness stick-built walls due to the lack of thermal breaks in the wall.
Quote from: beenthere on December 09, 2024, 08:26:01 PMWelcome to the Forestry Forum.
Suggest studying the effects of what you propose to do on the movement of moisture and how the timbers will move over time as they dry and shrink. Such resulting changes will happen over time and likely have an effect on the materials used.
Good catch on moving this duplicate message to the Timber Framing forum/board.
Thanks for responding. I have researched it quite a bit and I do know that there will be shrinkage, and I figured I'd probably be patching some plaster for a few years, but maybe i'm underestimating how much movement will occur. Or are you saying that the timbers won't be able to breath properly in general with the way I'm thinking about it?
SIP panels could be an option, would have full exposure of yours posts/beams inside. Also helps with the "continuous insulation" some towns/cities are requiring if that's a factor. Would worry more about installation of windows than drywall when it comes to your worries of shrinking timbers.
My plan is to "wrap and strap" my cabin. I want all my framing to show. The windows will be framed out with my 4x6 girt stock with additional 2x11s acting as sills protruding out through the insulation. The entire frame with be planked on the outside with 1x T&G cedar, 5" rigid foam on the walls, 6" on the roof, 1x4 vertical strapping, horizontal Hardiplank, additional 1x4 horizontal cleats on the roof and standing seam metal.
I like exposed timber frame on the interior versus infilling, but if you're dead set on that style, then that is what it will be. What wood species will be used for your frame? Hardwoods will shrink more than softwoods. My frames are all hardwood because I like hardwoods, and that is what I have ready access to here in Indiana. My timber framed shop, which is finished like a living space, was started in 2016 and finished in 2019 or so. I've had a problem in the fall/winter of flies and wasps getting inside and hanging out in the windows all day. One lessen I learned was never have your rafters penetrate the envelope of the building. For your overhangs/rafter tails, attached short rafters to the outside. Shrinkage occurred and gaps opened up around some of the rafter tails that penetrate the building. We did a bunch of caulking this summer, but we're about to do some testing to find out if we have any gaps anywhere else.
If you're doing infilled walls, you can put some insulation in the wall cavity, but you'll need to put insulation on the outside of the envelope. You don't want your posts and plates exposed to outside temps as they will thermally bridge the cold. I know it gets cold in Connecticut. There's any number of ways to do that, Sips, wrap and strap, Etc. On my shop I built 2x6 walls on the outside of the frame and they got spray foamed with closed cell, and then open cell foam. One reason for that type of wall is that it's easier to run the electrical, and I knew there would be electrical changes along the way as I figured out what I needed for certain equipment and where I needed additional outlets. The other big thing I learned is to do plenty of electrical outlets. Even if you don't think you need that many, later you will be glad you did. If gives you more options for appliances, lamps and more. For my roof I did 3/4" Tongue and Groove white pine on the rafters. UDL Roof underlayment on the T&G. Then a vertical and horizontal grid of 1x4's (1.5" total). This spacer grid was used to run conduit for the ceiling lighting along and over the roof. Then 12" EPS sips, then UDL Roof underlayment on the sips. Then another spacer grid, then standing seam sheet metal roof. Spacer grid allows any possible water or condensation to run down and out. I've only noticed that occurring in late fall and early spring when I think frost is forming at night from daytime melting humid air. Then when the sun hits the roof the next morning or the next morning warm enough to melt the frost it runs down and out the eve.
Welcome to the forum! My last house was stick-built 1920's style, but had a lot of big gaps and drafts. I was very liberal w/ expanding foam and extruded foam insulation boards in the attic roof joists, made a huge difference! That foam is great stuff (pun intended)!