Timber Frame Housing

One Damp Problem after Another

Remember this key fact about Ireland: the place is wet!

It's a real nice feeling when the winter winds are throwing huge chunks of the Atlantic Ocean at your window to know that there's a couple of layers of cement and waterproof liners between you and the nastiness outside.

The "standard" system of construction described fully in the housing standard building method page is a triumph of modern materials and methods over wetness.

The essence of the system is to put up an outer wall of two parallel layers of cement blocks. Between the two layers of blocks is a gap. The weather beats against the outside layer, while the inside stays totally separate and protected. Even if the outer layer becomes saturated with water, there's no way for the water to cross the air space to reach the inner wall.

The countryside is littered with decaying wrecks of houses that, for all their stone solidity, allowed dry rot to seep up from the ground, through the walls and through every part of the house. So, now that a dependable system has finally evolved, there is a natural conservative tendency to stick with the tried and true.

Would an Irish Woodchuck Chuck Wood?

Despite the justified conservatism of builders, an alternative housing style is gaining hugely increased popularity. Timber framed houses have come to Ireland.

Despite the 70% of houses built worldwide of wood, the modern Irish have been reluctant to rely on rottable wood for protection from the rain. Until, that is, people see the system going up on a new house. Then they're frequently converted.

The industry predicts that by 2010 half of all new houses in Ireland will be built using timber frame construction.

The important thing to remember about the Irish style of timber framed houses is that the outer layer is still cement. The only difference between Timber Frame and conventional block-and-mortar construction is that the inner leaf of blockwork is replaced by a Timber Frame structure.

So, just as in the standard method, the wind and rain are stopped by stone or plaster and cement. Only the inner, protected layer is wood. There are some systems featuring wood on the exterior, but if you go this route, you'll want to be one of those people who enjoys crawling and climbing all over your house every few years with a brush and wood preservative. I'm a lazy sod so I want a solid layer on the outer walls.

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Believe it or not, this is a wood frame house - Irish style.