Using timber to create a frame

Using timber to create a frame

In the construction business, there has been a clear trend towards increasing the insulation characteristics of buildings with a significant reduction in the mass of structures and their cost. Not the last place is occupied by the optimization of the pace of construction, its all-season. Lightweight construction is sweeping the planet by leaps and bounds, and it is all kinds of frames that help create quality homes in a new way.

Theoretically, metals and polymers can also be present here as load-bearing elements, but lumber subsystems occupy the leading positions. The apotheosis of the idea of ​​​​light wooden construction was frame houses (which we also call “Canadian”), where literally everything is assembled like a designer, even the foundation, instead of concrete casting, is often replaced with piece screw piles ... If you take such a house “on the shelves”, then a lot it will become clear how the system works, and how to make such constructions. But after all, frames are also used in stone buildings, and more often than it seems at first glance.

Where is wood frame used?

The most famous frames can be considered roofing slopes, where they work together: rafters, power plates, overhang boxes, struts and spacers, lathing / counter-latting, girders, trusses and other elements. The wooden roof is part of probably 90 percent of private houses in the post-Soviet space.

Then, a crate is made from the timber when sheathing the house from the facade, for example, using siding, a block house, imitation of a timber.

Indoors (walls and ceilings), drywall, plywood, plastic and wooden lining can be attached to the timber subsystems in the form of false walls ...

Complex stairs, boxes, cabinets, podiums (including stationary cabinets and beds ...) are made from pine beams and bars.

Ceilings in stone houses are also not always made of slabs, they are often assembled using powerful wooden beams.

Light piers or partitions - God himself ordered to be mounted framed, and from coniferous edged timber.

Various structures on the site: porch, attached balcony, terrace, shed, garage, fences, caisson for a well / well, pergola, toilet, dog house, greenhouse ...
Formwork made of wood, even with the use of plywood or OSB, is also a frame product.

The same can be said about scaffolding and wooden scaffolding.

For large expensive items during transportation, protection is made in the form of a rack frame structure.

And, of course, load-bearing walls - houses, arbors, baths, sheds. These can be racks filled with modern insulation, adobe, straw bales, etc.

What are the benefits of using frame technology

1. Weight loss. Using timber to create structures, we get a hollow subsystem, which at the same time has high spatial rigidity. In this way, it is possible to simplify the requirements for load-bearing walls and the foundation being built, to make a deep reconstruction of old buildings, and to build on soft soils.

2. Possibility to improve the insulation properties of the house. Having artificially created cavities, we can lay insulators and sound insulation of the required thickness in them, obtain characteristics that are inaccessible to massive structures. Moreover, a frame made of timber, which is separated from the base, makes it possible to adequately modernize the already existing full-bodied elements of the house: stone and log walls, flat roofs, ceilings and piers. It is important that a wooden beam made of pine itself has a very low thermal conductivity and does not become a cold bridge.

3. There is a place for hidden wiring of engineering communications. An extremely convenient solution, especially during reconstruction, because a modern home is literally crammed with wires, pipes, channels ... For example, a frame suspended ceiling is often chosen precisely in order to lay electrical wiring there, instead of doing chasing. Ventilation ducts and even plumbing pipes perfectly live in the interceiling space.

4. Work on the frame makes it possible to carry out construction several times faster. Lesson is easier, as well as more interesting and much more enjoyable. It has been noticed that it is easier for a non-professional to master the assembly of lumber than vertical casting of concrete in sliding formwork, bricklaying or plastering with putties.

5. The frame, by definition, is a dry construction method. Therefore, there is absolutely no problem of damage to other surfaces from water during repairs. You can build and reconstruct houses both in winter and in the heat.

6. Alignment. For example, the great value of the wall frame lies in the ability to make a clearly sheer and absolutely flat facade with right angles, which initially does not shine with quality. The main thing is to choose the right brackets, learn how to set the planes, and any difference can be hidden. The same applies to ceilings, walls from the inside.

7. Variation. If desired, it will be possible to assemble literally any spatial structure from the bars, everything is limited only by the flight of design ideas. You can even bend the tree, getting curvilinear, arched frame options.

8. Environmental friendliness - as they say, "no comment."

9. Beauty. On the crates, we sheathe the surfaces with various materials, improve the appearance of the house. But a well-assembled wooden frame is beautiful in itself, it is not for nothing that you can often find its open sections as a decorative “chip”. For example, there is a technique when the rafters do not break off near the wall, but go (“naked” and not hemmed, only opened with paint / varnish) far down, forming a false canopy.

10. Reliability. Admirers of brickwork have an opinion that a frame house and any crate is a “plywood, paper structure”. But in fact, prefabricated systems, having elasticity and some mobility, show very good results in terms of resistance to various types of dynamic loads, including seismic or frost heaving forces. If we talk about the durability of a frame made of wooden beams in terms of decay, fire safety, pests, then the facts say that modern methods of protecting wood make it possible to build from a forest for centuries.

11. The cost advantage of frame technology is questionable. At least, not all lightweight structures come out cheaper than massive ones, but sometimes the savings are significant. In addition, hidden opportunities for cost optimization should also be taken into account here, for example, a cheaper foundation, less expensive maintenance (no need to repaint the surface of the facade every year), less heating bills, etc.

Which timber is suitable for assembling frame structures

The cross section of lumber is selected depending on the expected loads. In some cases, powerful products are needed, in others, a bar and even a rail will work normally. Very often, the section of the elements of the subsystem is calculated with reference to the thickness of the insulating materials. For this reason, the most popular options are multiples of 50 mm: 50X50, 50X100, 50X150, 100X200 mm, etc. For example, when insulating the facade, it makes sense to use bars with sides of 5 cm, which are sewn into two mutually opposite tiers (sheathing and counter-lathing) + a remote rail to create a ventilation gap under the finishing sheathing.

It is not necessary to purchase only GOST sections. If you need to have a certain number of parts and underestimated dimensions can be applied - that is, the option to use a more inexpensive aspen timber TU.

The length of the products should be such that the racks of the frame are solid, which eliminates end joints and helps to maintain the strength characteristics of the skeleton. Usually this is not a problem, because you can buy coniferous timber up to 6 meters long.

If we talk about the quality of cutting and processing, then, definitely, one should give preference to products with minimal deviations in thickness and width. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to set the frame in one plane. It is equally important to have right angles, as well as straight edges. Curved workpieces are best used on crossbars or other auxiliary elements.

The grade of lumber in the frame often plays an important role, because a knot / crack reduces the bearing capacity of the timber, and pests - its durability. Visual defects, of course, can be ignored, because the skeleton is usually sewn up. Timber of the second grade is also in demand.

It is very important that the frame is stable - it does not dry out and does not deform after assembly and sheathing. That is why for critical structures the best options would be dry planed timber.

Some features of preparatory and installation work

Preparatory work usually comes down to removing weakly adhering layers from the base and subsequent hanging / measuring planes and marking.
A separate operation is the inspection and selection of material, its calibration in size and quality.

The frame can be assembled from coniferous beams without the use of additional fasteners. Cuts and tie-ins are still used by domestic carpenters.

The most convenient way to mount frames is the technology of using perforated fasteners (corners, plates, brackets…). They allow you to fasten the bars to each other end-to-end.

Self-tapping screws with a protective coating (yellow and white) are recommended as fixing elements, as they are more reliable than black phosphated ones. Nails are inferior to self-tapping screws, since it is difficult to set them on them, and the fixation is not so reliable, although some models of modern nails are relatively technologically advanced (screw, knurled, etc.). For the assembly of especially loaded elements, it makes sense to buy bolts or threaded studs that pass through both parts and tighten them.

To bind wooden frames to the base, threaded fasteners (to metal), self-tapping screws (to wood and metal), expansion anchors and dowels (to concrete and stone) are used. Fixation is carried out both through the body and with the help of brackets.

The subsystems are placed along the threads, which are stretched between the extreme already fixed racks, which act as beacons. The frame itself is assembled mainly on the spot, but, for example, the walls are sometimes assembled in the workshop, and then simply with the help of a crane (or several hefty guys) they put it on the foundation and bandage it.

It is always recommended to make a frame with a full perimeter. Many masters prefer to put jumpers between the racks to control the step and to stabilize the skeleton. In wall structures (especially at the corners), it is desirable to install diagonal braces that eliminate the transverse movement of the racks. When assembling, it makes sense to also use temporary fixing adjustments from a rail or a narrow board.
The ligation of two adjacent frames (internal corner or T-junction of walls / partitions) is best done through the sheathing.

When placing a beam, it is recommended to choose a clearer side of the beam on the important side, as well as to find its “base angle” (where there is the most clear 90 degrees), according to which the distance between the posts of the structure is measured.

The step with which the elements of the subsystem are assembled can be different. Let's say that the logs are set after 40-70 cm, for the rafters it will be normal 900-1200 mm, under drywall they traditionally make an axial distance of 40 or 60 cm (50 cm - if the American method of horizontal arrangement of GKL sheets on the walls is used). For good siding, you can make a crate with spans of 60-70 cm. Frame houses are often assembled from racks that are 300 mm apart from each other. In each case, it is necessary to take into account the properties of the finishing material for sheathing, loads and other technical conditions.