Timber frame vs. passive house for/against the respective building material?

Hello schmitzkatze,

we were also faced with the decision between a wooden house or a solid house. We have now decided 80% in favor of a brick house with monolithic construction. (So without additional external insulation, at most inside the brick).

I have been in timber frame houses several times, and I find the living climate really great. However, I cannot imagine living in a house where the walls are made of "insulation material" and "a few wooden studs." The OSB boards or the like are only there so that you can plaster and/or install things; the actual stability comes from the "wooden studs."
For example, if you want to attach something to the outside of the wall (e.g., fix a carport), you really have to know where the wooden frame runs...

What we can imagine and why the remaining 20% is still open is a wooden house made of solid wood walls. That means prefabricated stacked board walls are used, which then serve as walls. These, like any other wall, can either be plastered or clad with wood. However, I don’t like the whole drywall topic that much. You have to cover your entire interior house with drywall and fill joints if you want it plastered.

With the monolithic solid house, you don’t have additional wood chipboards or gypsum boards to install. The plaster is applied directly to the bricks and there is no additional layer in between. Allegedly, the temperature storage capacity of bricks is also better because they have more mass.
We were also in a modern brick house and the climate and warmth was in no way inferior to that of a modern wooden house.

By the way, acquaintances of ours saved a lot of money during the shell construction because they helped with masonry for 2-3 weeks with 3 helpers. They mainly carried and cut stones... the professionals did the actual masonry, or rather the "gluing."

For DIY wood walls:
You really have to work very precisely and especially the connections between the floor slab, walls, and ceilings are extremely important. If something doesn’t fit there, then you have a problem. I had always thought that all wooden house walls are machine-made?! Or are timber frame houses actually made by carpenters by hand? The solid wood house, for example, is cut to the millimeter by laser.

Hello,

just a quick remark:

There are indeed prefabricated house manufacturers who do not have any foil, whether vapor-permeable or not, in the walls.

Our prefabricated house with timber frame construction, for example, has a fleece in the walls and no foil.

Regards,

Dirk

Hi,
our wooden house is still under construction. But for your information:
Wall construction: without plastic foil. Insulation material: cellulose (also in the roof) and within the installation layer as well as in a few sections that cannot be blown in: wood fiber. Construction from inside to outside: gypsum board, wood fiber/wood, OSB board, cellulose/wood, wood fiber board, plaster. The roof is similar, only the wood fiber board is replaced by a DWD board, and the plaster by roof tiles on a corresponding substructure. In terms of indoor climate, it should actually be quite good – at least this is confirmed in houses from the same manufacturer or with the same wall and roof construction. Thermal insulation thanks to the mass of the cellulose insulation is also not bad (not only according to seller statements but also according to others who have built with the same concept), and also in sound insulation (already testable now – we are doing the interior finishing, and the neighboring sports field occasionally provides a decent noise level) the system performs well.
Disadvantage: the price. Aerated concrete glued houses are generally cheaper. With comparable thermal insulation, the timber frame house has slimmer walls; for sound insulation from outside as well as for summer heat protection, the mass (please try lifting a 365 aerated concrete block – it’s not much!) tends to favor the wooden house (depending on the insulation material and, of course, the wall thickness).
Regards
I.

Hello Schmitzkatze,

what does your architect say about the idea that you want to do the masonry work yourselves or that a carpenter from your family "builds" the house for you?

I think the doubts about your self-assessment simply come from the experience that has been made with such projects – after all, the internet and television are full of them. We personally also started with the thought that you could simply save a lot of money – since it can't be that difficult if you know professionals and have two right hands yourself (we also have carpenters in the family). But the closer the construction gets, the happier I am that I decided differently. A lot of money is at stake (one way or another) and the safety consideration ultimately prevailed.

What about a scaled-down version, where you sit down later in the phase when the trades are being contracted with your relative and see what he can actually take over?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those who says "It won’t work" before you’ve tried it, but I believe – many have already tried and failed...

Best regards

Hello Schmitzkatze,

also think about the perhaps, from your point of view, unlikely case that there might be disputes or problems with the related carpenter regarding the "compensation for expenses" or his workmanship (which you might not like).
Then he simply won’t go the extra mile for you anymore...
Such things have already broken very good friendships and families.

I would say that I have a good technical understanding and possibly above-average craftsmanship skills.
But the money you earn at work you won’t get back through doing it yourself.
Not to mention the aspect of the nonexistent warranty for the essential building fabric.

Regards

We have now been living in our timber frame house (by the way without any foil) for half a year and feel very comfortable here. So far, I don’t miss anything and I can’t think of anything that would have been better in a solid house. However, I also don’t see a big advantage of the timber frame house compared to a solid house. It all balances out and is a matter of personal taste. I think it’s cool that I can just screw a screw into the wall here and the picture, the cabinet, the shelf or whatever holds. Admittedly... a rather poor argument, but I enjoy not having to put in a plug every time first.

Regarding personal contribution: Even if you don’t set a deadline at first and think you have all the time in the world... it will become a test of endurance. When you come home from work every day and can’t go to the construction site without a guilty conscience sometimes. When the construction site is the focus every weekend... no joint activities, no meeting friends, no barbecues... When everything financially revolves around it during the construction and your conscience bothers you if you want to treat yourself to something. When you always have the feeling that this or that must be finished, when craftsman XY comes and you can’t coordinate because the carpenter buddy doesn’t have time until then. And so on.

There have already been good friendships and relationships broken on such construction sites. Neither is worth money to me and the longer such a construction takes, the more it strains the nerves.

I can only advise you to think carefully about the personal contribution...