Oak Frames

[Lucy Murray]

Hello!
 

I would really like to build our house with an Oak Frame as I love the look but our budget is unlikely to be able to stretch to this.

 

Can any of you make any suggestions as to how we can achieve this look on a budget?

 

Thanks

[Crofter]

Two things spring to mind- subsitute a cheaper wood, like Douglas Fir, and move away from an actual structural oak frame to a cheaper structure with the solid timber only used in key areas where it will be seen. A true solid oak frame is a terrible thermal bridge anyway.

[PeterW]

Which look do you like ..? Internal or external frame in Oak..? 

 

If its external then you can get away with wide boards or similar. Internally you can use green oak sleepers as faux posts but using anything as a beam usually needs to be pretty hefty just to get the spans. 

 

How about a compromise with a "standard" house and an oak framed "extension" to it ..?

[Ferdinand]

You can approach this from several different ends.

 

On the one hand you can find cheaper wood, import from France etc,or use oak cosmetically as suggested.

 

On the other hand you *could* do something interesting like buy an oak woodland, or import it from eastern Europe yourself, do the entire build personally etc, to reduce the cost.

 

Or you could use a different wood. I am not very knowledgeable about alternative timbers as house structure if you want the "old wood" look rather than the "twisted Green Oak" look - but here is eg some reclaimed Greenheart. Greenheart was used eg for the foundation piers for Swanage Pier in 1860 and lasted until nearly 1930.

 

We used to have a large pile of 9" x 18" beams from a Victorian Mill which could presumably have been used in a newbuild. Even after 20 years outside we could have used them with just perhaps a few mm sliced off the face.

 

My comment is a little speculative, but my point is do not limit your options to the conventional.

Ferdinand

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Ferdinand