Anyone live in a wooden house?

[guest5234]

I am a rare breed in England as I live in a Swedish 60 year old house made completly from cedar with even a cedar shingle roof, love it as it is unique and is it excellent condition for age and just needs a good paint job every 6 or 7 years, bricked central chimney and one end of the house has an 18 inch brick wall with an capped off unused chimney.
Anyone else live in a wooden house?

 

[North of 60]

I think 98 percent of us do on this side.
Cheers

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, lots do....or did. Now we have aluminum siding and no more cedar shingles.

 

[guest5234]

I think 98 percent of us do on this side.
Cheers

Brilliant, hard to talk to people in the UK about wooden houses as not many people have them, how long does you average wooden house last? houses like mine are still standing in sweden after 100 years and are still good for another 100 years.

 

[North of 60]

I think allot in the lower 48 of the States have been around for that for sure. They do have a poor insulation value.

 

[szmaine]

Well, mine was built in 1840. Functional houses 300yrs old are not unheard of on the east coast - but ya got to remember we haven't really been settled here that long relative to other countries...and there sure was/is plenty of wood here.

Yeah, an English friend of mine marvelled at our wooden houses while doing her post doc here. I was just as amused then as I was to read the title of this post.

EDIT: There is a thread over in the Picture section of the forum where some members posted their house including me - one picture shows some of the damage we had to remedy. Water is the enemy of wooden houses - neglect a problem too long and you are in trouble.

 

[nate379]

What else would be used to build a house? Steel?

House I used to live in had cedar shingles on the house and shed, original to the house, around 1910. Could see daylight in the attic, yet somehow it never leaked.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Stone. Sod. Ice.


Edit: oops, forgot brick, which is what this house is!

 

[begreen]

Stone, brick were common construction materials in areas where forests had already been depleted by the previous generations. Mud wattle was also common. Wood is still plentiful in many areas here and thus still commonly used, but go to Greece and a wood house is a rare thing.

 

[guest5234]

What else would be used to build a house? Steel?

House I used to live in had cedar shingles on the house and shed, original to the house, around 1910. Could see daylight in the attic, yet somehow it never leaked.

Bricks are what 99.9999 % of house in the UK are built of.

 

[Heem]

My house is 200 years old, built of 1" solid chestnut (Currently vinyl sided) You can see how each piece was just simply cut from a tree. some even has bark.

 

[szmaine]

Neil - What exactly makes it a "Swedish" house?

 

[nate379]

Gotcha, brick is super expensive here compared to wood.

Never been to Europe before, would be fun to visit some time though. Not sure I could figure out how to drive on the wrong side of the streets though haha!

What else would be used to build a house? Steel?

House I used to live in had cedar shingles on the house and shed, original to the house, around 1910. Could see daylight in the attic, yet somehow it never leaked.

Bricks are what 99.9999 % of house in the UK are built of.

 

[Renovation]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the insight. Living here, we tend to assume all houses have a wooden frame, as the vast majority do here.

My house is just over 100 years old, and used a common technique--the exterior is covered with 3/4" horizontal boards that overlap at their edges, called shiplap. Unlike modern construction, this skin actually provides much of the strength, like modern unibody cars. The framing itself is inadequate by modern standards. Then there's an airpace, and an inner wall of plaster over narrow horizontal wood strips with gaps between--plaster and lathe.

Insulation is minimal, and I frequently ponder on how rough life was, huddled around the old wood stove.

To answer your question, with proper upkeep, a wooden house will last forever. Of course upkeep is far from trivial, and in my renovation it is like the guy who says he's replaced his axe handle twice, and the head three times, and is happy to say it's the best axe he's ever had!

Be warm and well!

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

Who says Europeans drive on the wrong side of the street?

Yeah, I know the Brits do; but Europeans?? Nahh....


Henk (Flying Dutchman)

Gotcha, brick is super expensive here compared to wood.

Never been to Europe before, would be fun to visit some time though. Not sure I could figure out how to drive on the wrong side of the streets though haha!

What else would be used to build a house? Steel?

House I used to live in had cedar shingles on the house and shed, original to the house, around 1910. Could see daylight in the attic, yet somehow it never leaked.

Bricks are what 99.9999 % of house in the UK are built of.

 

[Later]

I think 98 percent of us do on this side.
Cheers

Brilliant, hard to talk to people in the UK about wooden houses as not many people have them, how long does you average wooden house last? houses like mine are still standing in sweden after 100 years and are still good for another 100 years.

Ours was built in 1860 - eight inch floor joists are tree trunks - most with bark still on them. Property was next to the site of a war of 1812 field hospital - that wood building is still standing.

 

[nate379]

Shows how much I know, thought all of Europe drove on the left side.

Who says Europeans drive on the wrong side of the street?

Yeah, I know the Brits do; but Europeans?? Nahh....


Henk (Flying Dutchman)

Gotcha, brick is super expensive here compared to wood.

Never been to Europe before, would be fun to visit some time though. Not sure I could figure out how to drive on the wrong side of the streets though haha!

What else would be used to build a house? Steel?

House I used to live in had cedar shingles on the house and shed, original to the house, around 1910. Could see daylight in the attic, yet somehow it never leaked.

Bricks are what 99.9999 % of house in the UK are built of.

 

[Wood Duck]

My house is like most houses in the US - it has a wood frame. The bottom floor has wall made of concrete bloacks ('cinder block'), again, like most houses here. There is a concrete slab beneath the whole house. The inside walls are gypsum board ('drywall'), and between the wood framing is insulation. The outside has vinyl siding, the roof is shingled with asphalt shingles. There is fiberglass insulation between the wooden joists (horizontal structural members) in the floors and ceiling. Most houses in the US are pretty similar to mine in construction.

My wood house has lasted almost 20 years! There are plenty of wood houses in this area that are far older than mine. When a house like mine finally wears out or is torn down, the reason is much more likely to be neglect and overall deterioration of the house than failure of the wood frame. The wood seems to last a very long time if the exterior of the house is maintained so the wood stays dry.

 

[bogydave]

In Alaska, Brick + earthquake = pile of ruble
Wood houses move & give in the quakes. Easy to insulate. + Costs.

 

[remkel]

Built my first house out of straw- darn wolf came by and blew the house down. Then built a wood frame house, shot the wolf, and am still in the house after 5 years. Hoping I never have to rebuild using brick.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I am a rare breed in England as I live in a Swedish 60 year old house made completly from cedar with even a cedar shingle roof, love it as it is unique and is it excellent condition for age and just needs a good paint job every 6 or 7 years, bricked central chimney and one end of the house has an 18 inch brick wall with an capped off unused chimney.
Anyone else live in a wooden house?

66% stone
33% wood

 

[cmonSTART]

Wow, Neil. I didn't know that. We live in an older wood farmhouse, still having some of the original pine log floor joists and rafters.

 

[fishingpol]

Over here in Massachusetts, there are house dated to mid 1600's era. These are in Essex county and I am sure that there are a few from a few years earlier. Many of the houses were built by early English settlers. Look up Ipswich, Massachusetts on Wikipedia for more info and go from there. Salem, Massachusetts has an abundance of 1800's era houses and some from the 1700's. The great part of this area is the architecture from the last few hundred years.

 

[kettensäge]

Yep, Built in 1991 with western red cedar siding.


I personally like it. Was a little worried about the upkeep when we bought it but it isn't bad at all, I'm sure it is much more expensive than other types of modern siding but it adds tons of character.
If I were building new I would use more brick/stone veneer for siding than what is normally done.

 

[Samoyed]

We live in a log house. Built about 25 years ago. Roof is metal.