My parents’ timber house is from the 1780s and is still solid. So, 240 years at least, give or take. I’m aware of plenty of timber houses from the 1600s that are still standing and functional as well.
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localhost443@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Also here in Europe this is the type of construction we use for a garden shed, not a house.
Even when we do modern timber frame, it’s generally still brick or block at the bottom. How long do these houses last in the US? I imagine a lot of the continent is pretty humid
UnpledgedCatnapTipper@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Is a timber frame house from back then the same as one built post 1950 though? Some Q’s:
- Have materials/practices decreased in quality?
- Has there been a shift from a sense of pride in craft and duty to build well towards cutting corners and saving $?
- Has the density and properties of wood changed as we use smaller trees grown more quickly in monocultures compared to old-growth harvested lumber of pre 1900s?
UnpledgedCatnapTipper@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Well, the house I’m living in now was built in the 1960s, and is also still very solid.
pendulous@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When wood is properly sealed up in walls, it lasts a very long time. We don’t really have buildings on an old world timescale, but we do still have colonial wood frame buildings.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Timber frames are sheathed in treated plywood and then wrapped in siding. Rain doesn’t reach the wood of a barely-maintained house, exterior humidity won’t do damage in any hurry, and wood is rarely making ground contact. These houses last at least a hundred years given that this style is approaching 100 years. It’s usually storm damage through the roof that causes the rotted wood you’re imagining, not normal wear and tear.
dan@upvote.au 2 weeks ago
In California at least, houses made with a wooden frame are usually on top of concrete (either a concrete slab under the whole house, or a concrete perimeter under the exterior walls), and the frame is bolted into the concrete along the entire perimeter.
Older homes often aren’t bolted into the concrete, but it’s common to retrofit this to improve earthquake resistance. The government here has a program (Earthquake Brace and Bolt) where they cover part of the cost of doing this work.
Masonry (houses made of bricks, stone, etc) are much less common here, since they perform much worse in earthquakes.
pumpkinseedoil@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
👍 in Europe earthquakes luckily are less of a concern, so we care more about longevity (you’ll find many places where pretty much every house is over a hundred years old) and good isolation (to keep the heat inside in winter and outside in summer so we can heat less / don’t have to use air conditioning on our way to net zero)
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
It’s a good thing you aren’t a building engineer.