You have ended up on this page because you want to know more about house constructions. It could be because you are taking a huge leap to your independence and ready to build your first home or a vacation cabin. You want, of course, the best that you could afford practically and efficiently. (We all want to save while maximizing the quality, after all.)
While there are many materials that you can use as a foundation in the construction of an establishment, among the most popular is wood frame. It sounds straightforward, yes. But there a little bit more things to fire up your excitement and help you decide if this one suits best for your soon-to-be humble abode.
So, what is wood framing?
Essentially this type of construction material is composed of wood in the form of studs and joists. They are assembled to create a strong foundation or framework that the walls, floor, and roof will attach themselves to. The woods used are naturally outsourced and are treated with chemicals to make sure they could withstand different stressors. These are further engineered to meet the design requirements for safety and durability.
It’s everywhere
This type of construction is one of the most popular in the United States. In fact, the majority of the houses in California owe their construction through this material. Using wood to build houses has been around for a very long time. It has been around for a few centuries now due greatly in part to its accessibility and availability. Relatively speaking, wood frames are lighter than either steel or concrete, contributing to efficiency in using them. You will rarely need gigantic equipment, such as cranes, to erect the structure.
The wood also has innate properties that make it resistant to weather shifts giving its inhabitants a beyond satisfactory level of comfort.
Although it may not be the most economical to use, it can be the fastest. With the right care for it, it is easy to sustain in the long term. It’s pretty much flexible that it is ideal to use for any architecture or style the building is.
Not only for houses
You might be thinking at this point now that wood frames are mainly used for residential purposes. While it may be true to this day, it wasn’t always the case. Even commercial establishments back in the day resort to this method. Some of them are still fully erected to this day.
As far as its durability is concerned, it is relatively softer than its alternatives, such as steel. Because of that, they need to be installed in the right kind of soil that can securely compress and put in place to give it the right kind of foundation. It needs to penetrate a certain depth to ensure that winter isn’t going to ruin it.
How to construct with wood frames?
After that, it has given the proper foundation; it’s time to build around the wood frames. For that, there mainly two established methods: Platform Frame and Balloon Frame. These two are the most popular, with the Platform Frame having more popularity as it is the easiest and most practical for house construction. In this method, individual studs are framed separately. On the other hand, the Balloon Framing has the studs extend to the building’s entire height.
So, how do you assemble the woods?
To put together the woods strongly and securely, there are many implements that your contractor will use. It is mainly a combination of different nails, such as ring and shank nails, plus other fastening accessories. Nails are used to making sure that heavy loads are well supported.
Once the wood frame is set up, it will undergo protection measures to ensure that it can survive decay and be bogged by termites. They will get the necessary treatment to make sure they can also survive weather temperature fluctuations. Among other protective measures are making sure that there will be no further growth of the trees around, so it won’t be annihilated and expunged by increasing root girth of surrounding trees – if there were. It will also be ideal that the foundation is inclined a little bit to make sure that no amount of water can close to it.