Category Archives: Energy Efficiency

Timber Frames and Energy Efficiency

August 9, 2010

Well, it’s been hot this summer, some say record-breaking hot, but you couldn’t tell it by the energy usage for our timber frame home.   This timber frame, wrapped in energy efficient structural insulated panels, has met and exceeded our expectations.

Timber frames and SIPs are a great combination when it comes to a well insulated home.  Even with walls of windows, which are notoriously inefficient, and an electric dryer, we are not seeing the high power bills that might be expected.

Of course, we have all Energy Star rated appliances and fixtures, use fluorescent bulbs, and are manic about turning off lights when we aren’t in the room.  However, our 2 ton heat pump and fans are keeping our timber frame home cool and comfortable.

Last month we topped out at $74 and this month we went down to $72. We are pleased at the money we’ve saved…and at the energy we’ve saved.   Our home is 1700 square feet and we cook most days (heating up the house) and embraced daylighting and have more than our share of windows.  We do use our ceiling fans and we keep the house cool during the day just because it’s our “model” home.  I guess I can say our “model energy saving home”, can’t I?

All these years I’ve been encouraging people to consider using panels on their home and I am pleased.  I’d like to know how much energy is saved every year just in timber frames with insulated panel enclosures.  That would be a significant number, I’d think.  Sustainable homes are important to each of us.

So, I’ll sit here and not stress over the heat and high utility bills, and I might hope for cooler weather so we can open the windows and go back to our $30 power bills of the spring.

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Spring is Upon our Timber Frame

April 23, 2010

Spring has sprung.  Well, almost.  There was frost on Thursday morning (April 22), but the flowering cherry tree says it’s Spring as it smiles on the new timber frame home it didn’t get to greet last year.

Timber frames work easily with Spring weather.  Windows come open and sunshine fills the space.  The timbers stand proud and strong and welcome the fresh air. We open the windows during the warm days and close them as evening nears, saving the warmth in our well insulated home.  Heat hasn’t been on in several weeks even though some nights have been near or below freezing and we’ve had frost several times.

We are looking forward to having our windows open and a fresh breeze at night, breezes to bring us dreams of faraway places and wondrous things. Those days will be here soon enough.

Now, the planting has begun.  Garden, flower beds, cleaning up the winter debris…there are plenty of tasks for every day.  I do see how folks worked from sunup until sundown without ever going to town.

But, I need to head to the office, leaving behind this bloom-covered tree and my sheltering timber frame.

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Our Timber Frame’s First Snow

December 19, 2009

Snow settled into the mountains of Western North Carolina on Friday and on our new timber frame home.  Timber frames just seem to accept the snow as a given, still providing comfortable shelter and a serene presence.

While designing our timber frame, one of the items that was important was a Timber Frame View From the Officesmall home office, not isolated, but comfortable enough for me and my sidekick (also known as my laptop).  I wanted light…natural daylight.. and I didn’t want to feel closed off.  Well, it happened and this snowy day made me realize just how important it was.

We had about six inches of snow and with our heat set at 63, never felt a chill.  The double paned, argon gas, low e (and whatever else was included) in our Jeldwen Windows paid off.  The Thermocore insulated panels kept the heat in and the cold out.  That’s the way it’s supposed to work, right?

As the day closed, I sent David out into the snow to catch a couple of photos of the timber frame with snow on itTimber Frames First Snow (I grew up in far west Texas and snow wasn’t in our picture).  He’d already been to the barn and even driven me to town (where the grocery store was without power and closing for the day), so this wasn’t a big imposition.

So, our timber frame proved itself once more, sheltering and warm, we are pleased to live in a timber frame and to be a part of helping others do the same.

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Timber Frames and Structural Insulated Panels

November 18, 2009

I suppose that everyone gets much of this, but I can’t emphasize enough how important a tight, well insulated shell is to your timber frame home.  Even with temperatures dropping below freezing and “frost on the pumpkin”, our heat is seldom on and never comes on during the night.

SIPS (structural insulated panels) provide an enclosure for timber frames that, in my humble opinion, can’t be beat.  They enclose the frame quickly and efficiently and provide long term benefits.  What more can we ask for?

Our timber frame is enclosed with urethane panels.  Over the years Goshen has tried other panels and enclosure methods and we keep coming back to these panels.  Our experience with them and our research into the different products have made us believers in their durability, sustainability, and performance.

The walls around our new home are sound.  Our small home truly shelters us from the weather.

While our home is almost a full timber frame, our mudroom Structural Insulated Panels in Hybrid Timber Frame Homeis built with panels and offers the same comfort and efficiency as the rest of the enclosure. We design and build many hybrid homes with timber framing in the living areas and panelized construction for the rest of the home.  A great compromise without sacrifice (well…not much sacrifice).

So, we’ll continue to enjoy our new home and to embrace energy efficient, beautiful buildings as the only way to build.

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Designing Efficient Timber Frames

November 13, 2009

When home plans are discussed, we tend to talk about floor plans, elevations, sections, details, and foundations.  We need to make “efficiency” one of those key elements.

Your timber frame home should be efficient in every manner.  It should, of course, be energy efficient.  It should be space efficient.  It should make efficient use of materials.  This list can go on and on, with efficient being the key word.

Of course, designing only the amount of space you use is the first step.  While we’d all like to have unlimited room to roam and to escape, be realistic.   Think through the way you live as you design your new timber frame.  Timber Frame

Don’t build too small and then necessitate remodeling in a few years…but don’t build rooms that no one will ever occupy (maybe Aunt Sue will come to visit someday, but if you are building that room just for her and she’s never left her hometown, then maybe you can better utilize that money and rent her a nice room at the local B&B if she arrives).  Don’t build just to keep up with the Joneses or Browns.    They will be spending money to maintain those rooms when you can be spending yours to travel.

If there are two of you for eleven and three quarter months of the year, do you need three more bedrooms and three more baths for the two weeks you have company?

A timber frame does give you the flexibility to move walls without major engineering. This means you can enclose or open up rooms as your life and lifestyle changes.

Efficient use of materials is important.  Plan your home wisely, using products that are sourced locally or regionally whenever possible.  Don’t put in cabinets that you know you really don’t like…planning on installing better ones in a few years.  Buy the best you can afford and live with it.  Hardwood and tile should be a “forever” product, so chose carefully.

Energy efficiency, of course is such an important part of building.  A timber frame, wrapped in energy efficient insulated panels is an excellent choice.  The panels provide a tight, well insulated shell and will be far more efficient than any form of conventional framing.

Our new home is so comfortable.  It is small (smaller than some would like and larger than some might want), but just right for us.  We used many salvaged materials in our home (not for everyone, but something we love) and it is wrapped in panels, providing shelter from cold and heat.

Building efficiently will reward you for years to come.  Small steps will make a big difference.

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Timber Frame Home Open House

October 19, 2009

Our timber frame home open house was a great success!  Legions of visitors (well…150 plus) toured, ate, drank and shared their time with us.

Our timber frame welcomed all with grace.  The timbers, stately and warm, were the perfect backdrop for the guests.  There were surprises for all.  The screendoor on the bedroom closet was a hit and the glass loft railing opened lots of discussion, but he timber frame itself, charming and welcoming, was the centerpiece.

The large crowd in the small house was an early concern, but the open floor plan and covered porches handled it all with ease.  Even small timber frames entertain well!

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WNCGBC 2009 Solar and Green Home Tour and Open House

October 1, 2009

We are pleased to have been chosen as a home for the WNCGBC 2009 Green and Solar Tour of Homes .  We encourage you to take advantage of the WNCGBC tour and visit the other 18 homes on the tour.  There is much to be learned as you visit these exceptional homes.

We have decided that this is a great time to invite our friends, family, and folks interested in learning more about timber frame homes to visit us, also.  We will have an open house on October 10th and October 11th from 1:00 pm until …. well, until.  Be sure to email for directions and so we can add you to our list of attendees.

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Living In A Timber Frame

October 1, 2009

Well, we are now settled in and enjoying our timber framed home.  It seems much, much larger than it’s 1699 square feet and sometimes we forget it is a small home, but it lives well.

The frame still speaks to us softly in the night, as timber tends to do, but we haven’t experienced the more pronounced “pops” that we’ve been told about.

We’ve not hung anything on the walls, yet, and don’t have all the furniture in, but we are taking our time to make sure that what we do bring in…we love.

So far, neither of us has found anything that we would have changed.  The home fits our needs and is peaceful.

Stay tuned.

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Energy Efficiency in Our New Timber Frame Home

September 10, 2009
Pickartz Power BillPickartz Power Bill

Energy efficiency is probably the most important step in building a sustainable home.  Our timber frame, enclosed with energy efficient structural insulated panels, is off to a great start in living up to its “energy efficient” label.

Our first electric bill arrived with the grand total of $38.49.  Power tools were still being used to do “punch list” items and we ran the dishwasher much more than usual to clean up dishes that we’d stored in the barn (and the novelty of having a dishwasher again after 12 years without one).

We have fluorescent bulbs in most fixtures (and most fixtures are Energy Star rated), not one incandescent bulb in the house, Energy Star rated appliances and heat pump.  Our on demand water heater is propane, but we expect the cost to operate that to be minimal.   We have more windows than a typical home and a west facing window wall.   We didn’t use the air conditioner much, but the house is so comfortable that we don’t need it.

We will be posting our power bills monthly, so you can help us keep track of our savings.

Timber frames and structural insulated panels present a great opportunity to build a home that will not only be beautiful, but will conserve energy long term.

David and I are excited about this opportunity to live in a new home that “sits gently on the land” … and saves us money.

Also posted in Cost, construction, green building, timber frame, timber frame homes, timber frames – 0 Comments
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