A Timber Frame Home For Everyone: Designing the Perfect House

Wodhouse® is known for designing to specific considerations: maximizing stunning views, the mechanics of the perfect weekend ski retreat for multiple families, the maintenance and water management considerations of a waterfront home, or ensuring a retirement home considers the potential needs as the homeowners age. In our 30 years and over 700 homes designed and built we have come to realize that, with the right mindset and some creative work on the part of our design team and homeowner clients, timber framing can meet almost any requirement.

Consider the design language itself - the architectural "vernacular." We can (and have) designed and built Adirondack cottages, New England saltboxes, California "treehouses," South Pacific island retreats. Even homes to blend with the mid-eighteenth century villages common to the American hometown and their greek & gothic revival designs. The structural insulated panels (SIPs) with which we wrap our frames form a "blank canvas" on which the client and architect can draw whatever dream they share.

Size needn't be a limitation either. Some of the NYS Thruway rest stops that we built as timber frame in the early nineties measure over fifteen thousand square feet. We design and build many homes in the three to eight thousand square foot range every year. At the same time we have built many cottages in the 500 square foot range. In fact, we have designed a beautiful line of timber frame sheds and barns that start at about 150 square feet and utilize the same environmentally friendly frame material as our SmartWood™ timber frame homes but in smaller dimensions consistent with the lighter roof loads.

The breadth of scale and design aesthetic translates to the actual structure of our timber frames as well. A beautifully simple common rafter frame compliments the simplicity of a saltbox. A principal purlin / rafter system adds appeal to the vaulted spaces of a barn home. The soaring arches of a Hammerbeam truss system create the cathedral-like space in a formal Tuscan-styled great room. Low and heavy oak floor beams form a cozy space over an irish cottage kitchen. The use of organic "crook-truss" bents and entire tree posts translate the magic of a treehouse into the reality of a dream home. You get the idea - no-nonsense structural or light and lyrical, a timber frame works.

Instead of design limitations, we tend to work with some clients on budget limitations. A timber frame and SIP home costs more than a traditionally built home. But there are some simple ways to limit the impact of a timber frame project on the pocketbook. Specifically, we ask our potential clients to strongly consider the two highest impact cost reduction techniques: shrinking the footprint / going vertical and SmartWood™.

Consider this fact. It will always cost more for a home design to expand horizontally than for it to expand vertically. This is because for every foot your push a design out, you add a foot of foundation, roofing, excavation, etc. as well as the foot of floor and wall space. Pushing a design up or down, conversely, only adds the wall space (conceptually and in general).

Why is this important?

I would have to guess that about 80 to 90% of the homes we build are situated on a site that accommodates a walkout basement. Even so, our clients tend to put all of their space requirements on the floors above grade. When asked what will go in the lower level, they begin filling this space with afterthought - a rec. room, a bar, a play area for the children, a workshop, etc. We ask our clients to consider putting some of their required space in the lower level allowing for a smaller overall footprint and thereby reducing cost. Some living areas well-suited to the lower level are guest suites, TV rooms, home offices, etc.

One of the other best ways to reduce the cost of a timber frame project is to consider our SmartWood™ series of predesigned homes. These use "industry-standard" materials (expanded polystyrene SIPs instead of polyurethane, Andersen 400 series windows instead of Loewen, etc.) and the initial cost of design is amortized over multiple units. In addition, we use kiln-dried southern yellow pine (environmentally-friendly & the same strength characteristics as douglas fir at about half the cost) and design the structures in dimensions that the most cost efficient. The result is a beautiful timber frame home at a significantly reduced cost.

We believe that, within reason, we can accommodate almost any requirement with a timber frame home. We have designed homes in almost every architectural style, in almost every size and we know how to maximize value for those clients with a more constrained budget. Remain open-minded and flexible and give us a try!