MBC timber frame delivered successfully

[RedRhino]

Folks, 

We are on our self-build journey, we selected timber frame then short listed 4 suppliers and in the end chose MBC. 

 

They erect our medium complexity house in 8 working days - very impressive. 

I think MBC's strength is their experience which shows in the detail / thought in the design office and the efficiency of their erection teams. 

Our site is constrained so working out the order to deliver materials, how things are stacked, the order that things are lifted by the crane is complex. 

The team didn't seem to make any mistakes and just kept working, rain or shine. 

[To confirm I'm just a paying customer and have no other association with MBC]

[ToughButterCup]

Good start. Head down - go -go go 

[JohnMo]

Well done  photos?

[Russell griffiths]

They do make a nice product, I’ve worked on a couple and they always feel very well put together. 

[deancatherine09]

We are really pleased with our MBC house. The installation team did run over and it took almost 7 weeks in the end but it was quite a complex build.

[Nickfromwales]

PICS PEOPLE!!!!! Let's see the goodies!!

[RedRhino]

As people correctly say: "Where are the pictures?"

[Nickfromwales]

 

To the untrained eye, most will miss that with MBC the (non load-bearing) stud walls are cut down short by the thickness of a 4x2 on flat, so the membrane can be continuous across the ceiling and then the counter-battens can fly through for far better airtightness detailing. 👌 

[JohnMo]

36 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

 

To the untrained eye, most will miss that with MBC the (non load-bearing) stud walls are cut down short by the thickness of a 4x2 on flat, so the membrane can be continuous across the ceiling and then the counter-battens can fly through for far better airtightness detailing. 👌 

Not just MBC - That's exactly how I did mine, but did the membrane before the studs to make life easier.

 

Before

 

After, stud walls do not attach to external walls either, gap then filled with mineral wool to prevent noise migration. External walls were later battened for service space.

 

[Dunc]

Great to see! Must feel like a big milestone achieved?

Hoping for our MBC frame up early May.

 

I see they've moved away from the green-faced OSB internal airtightness finish.

[Nickfromwales]

37 minutes ago, Dunc said:

Great to see! Must feel like a big milestone achieved?

Hoping for our MBC frame up early May.

 

I see they've moved away from the green-faced OSB internal airtightness finish.

Nope. That’s a wool / PIR frame above, the green OSB is on their cellulose blown frames  

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Not just MBC - That's exactly how I did mine, but did the membrane before the studs to make life easier.

Sorry, more referring to TF turnkey suppliers, for eg Heb homes have fully installed the stud walls on my current M&E clients home, and now all of these need to be cut back or removed entirely to facilitate downstream works…. 💩😣

 

Most turnkey companies want to be in / out / paid / gone, so either this is done well by good companies who have thought this through (a-la MBC) or hit & run merchants who don’t really give 2 hoots.

[G and J]

11 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

 

To the untrained eye, most will miss that with MBC the (non load-bearing) stud walls are cut down short by the thickness of a 4x2 on flat, so the membrane can be continuous across the ceiling and then the counter-battens can fly through for far better airtightness detailing. 👌 

Fab idea.  I’d been wondering about the order of assembly upstairs.   We’re planning on putting a VCL onto the bottom cord of our trusses then a layer of OSB then plasterboard.  Given that ours is a panelised TF kit methinks rather than getting them to make the panels short I can simply fit the upstairs internal walls last.  Unless there’s a complication I’ve not thought of…

[G and J]

10 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Not just MBC - That's exactly how I did mine, but did the membrane before the studs to make life easier.

 

Before

 

After, stud walls do not attach to external walls either, gap then filled with mineral wool to prevent noise migration. External walls were later battened for service space.

 

So you’ve just described exactly what I was asking about.  I should have reread the whole thread before posting. 
 

However another question. Our upstairs is timber clad.  By attaching the internal walls to the timber frame am I creating much of an acoustic conductor?  I assume some of our internal walls are bracing the long sides off our upstairs which would be a 11m x 6m open plan room otherwise.  Would I need such bracing?

[Nickfromwales]

7 hours ago, G and J said:

By attaching the internal walls to the timber frame am I creating much of an acoustic conductor?

I very much doubt this is a real life / measurable compromise tbh. 
 

I'd rather the walls mechanically fixed at junctions vs attempting to delete the equivalent of a squirrel coughing.

[Russell griffiths]

@G and J if you have bracing walls then I would presume the TF company would install them as part of the structural package, they are not going to risk the integrity of their frame by letting you put them in afterwards. 
they need to be in before any roof loading and frame sign off and hand over. 
non structural walls are a different matter. 

[G and J]

4 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

@G and J if you have bracing walls then I would presume the TF company would install them as part of the structural package, they are not going to risk the integrity of their frame by letting you put them in afterwards. 
they need to be in before any roof loading and frame sign off and hand over. 
non structural walls are a different matter. 

We’re buying a kit and putting it together ourselves (meaning joiners who, unlike me, have done it before).

 

In my mind I’m now thinking that I’ll be present (maybe even trying to help but actually hindering?) when the internal walls go up, partly to ensure the tony trays are put in but also to pop a strip of VCL in place vertically against the inside of the external panels to give a continuous airtight layer.  Need to think that one through.

[G and J]

34 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

of a squirrel coughing

Steady on.  There are squirrels on site and they aren’t my favourite (and at my advancing years and my tinnitus i have of course pin sharp hearing.   Honest. )

[Mr Punter]

47 minutes ago, G and J said:

We’re buying a kit and putting it together ourselves (meaning joiners who, unlike me, have done it before).

 

 

I think that is a large risk.  It would be far safer if you got a firm to design, manufacture, deliver and erect.

[G and J]

21 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

 

I think that is a large risk.  It would be far safer if you got a firm to design, manufacture, deliver and erect.

Couldn’t find one to quote as we have overhead wires which prevent crane use.   Besides, I’ve an impact driver.  What could possibly go wrong?

[G and J]

2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

 

I think that is a large risk.  It would be far safer if you got a firm to design, manufacture, deliver and erect.

Seriously, what are your concerns.......always happy to learn.....company are doing the first 3, as a panelised system, and it's a pretty straightforward rectangular build.

[Iceverge]

3 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

 

I think that is a large risk.  It would be far safer if you got a firm to design, manufacture, deliver and erect.

 

I'd have thought the opposite, certainly financially.

 

No massive deposit to be paid up front with stick build and you could avoid a crane too if you were able to lift a few timbers 

[JohnMo]

Just had a look at our quotes and kits were wanting 20% deposit and everything else a month before scheduled delivery.

 

If we had gone that route, delivery would have coincided with the start of COVID, having paid lots of money to them prior to knowing this. But the whole factory closed for 6 months plus, so money and kit would have been trapped for six months at least. Good for me I didn't go that way.

[Mr Punter]

2 hours ago, G and J said:

Seriously, what are your concerns.......always happy to learn.....company are doing the first 3, as a panelised system, and it's a pretty straightforward rectangular build.

 

I like the guaranteed airtightness results you get with the likes of MBC and the whole superstructure being the responsibility of one entity.  If something does not work out on site or BC pull you up, you know who needs to get it sorted.

[Mr Punter]

2 hours ago, Iceverge said:

 

I'd have thought the opposite, certainly financially.

 

No massive deposit to be paid up front with stick build and you could avoid a crane too if you were able to lift a few timbers 

 

They are having a panelised system so N/A.

 

Paying part by credit card could give some added protection.