Woodhouse® The Timber Frame Company, located in Mansfield, PA, has designed and built hundreds of timber frame homes over the past 30+ years, but did you know the company also specializes in barns and stables? After all, many of the original timber frame structures that date back hundreds of years are post and beam and timber framing is an advanced style of post and beam. These homes, commercial buildings, barns, and stables are as efficient as they are elegant, and are a perfect choice for any equestrian farmstead.

The roots of timber frame construction began with simple living structures in Europe. Small homes, barns, and stables were built using the wood that was on hand and simple mortise and tenon joinery techniques to hold the frame together. This same technique is applied in every project that Woodhouse produces but with a modern twist. The Hundegger CNC machine cuts the timbers (everything from Southern Yellow Pine to Douglas fir) with incredible accuracy and the finishing work is done by hand by craftsmen using many of the same tools that were used centuries ago. 

The finished structure comes together on-site in a magnificent frame raising event. Reminiscent of barn raisings of days past, where neighbors and friends gather to raise the skeleton of the barn or home, your frame will be raised by a local builder with the assistance of our technical representative. The frame is then enveloped in structural insulated panels (SIPs) that create a virtually air-tight environment. Pre-cut windows and doors are installed and the finished barn or stable can be detailed, exterior and interior, in any number of styles and finishes. Designing and building a timber frame barn or stable is limited only by your imagination.

Timber frame construction can span great lengths and heights, making it an excellent choice for large stables that create inspiration for open floor plans. Working with the Woodhouse design team can factor in the needs of your equestrian structure while also creating a breathtaking space of the highest quality that will last hundreds of years. In fact, Woodhouse offers a Limited Lifetime Transferrable Warranty on every residential and commercial property they build.

The use of timber framing in buildings offers various aesthetic and structural benefits, as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and allows for complete enclosure in effective insulation for energy efficiency.

Timber Frame Barn and Kits From Woodhouse

 

In modern construction, a timber-frame structure offers many benefits to the home owner:

·         Rapidly erected; an “average”-sized timber-frame barn can be erected within 3-4 days.

·         Frame is encased with SIPs for the drying in: that is, ready for windows, mechanical systems, and roofing.

·         Can be tailored to suit customer tastes and creativity such as carvings or incorporation of heirloom structures; such as barns etc.

·         Can use recycled or otherwise discarded timbers for any part of the frame itself.

·         Offers structural benefits as the timber frame, if properly engineered, lends itself to better seismic survivability.

·         Larger spaces between the frames enable greater flexibility in placing and re-locating windows and doors.

·         In North America, heavy timber construction is classified Building Code Type IV: a special class reserved for timber framing which recognizes the inherent fire resistance of large timber and its ability to retain structural capacity in fire situations. All three types of SIP panels used boast a Class 1 Fire Rating—the best available for combustible materials. Because the foam core is solid, there are no cavities or voids in the walls or roof to support a “chimney effect” that can occur during a fire in open-cavity construction. In some cases, this classification may eliminate the need and expense of fire sprinklers in public buildings.