Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder

   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #311  
A few years ago I thought Cat 5 wiring was a good idea, but with everything being wireless now, I don't know if there is any reason for it. I didn't put it in my house, or my parents house. All you need is a router that everything in the house can pick up, and as technology improves, there is even less of a need for Cat5 or any other internet related wiring.

Eddie

I agree with this.

Sharon just bought one of those $35 Chromecast things that plug into an HDMI port on the TV. Watching cable-carried Netflix programs from our wireless router controlled by her Kindle Fire is a snap. I'm glad she keeps up with this stuff. :laughing: Wires are not as important as they used to be for general entertainment and computing devices.
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #312  
A few years ago I thought Cat 5 wiring was a good idea, but with everything being wireless now, I don't know if there is any reason for it. I didn't put it in my house, or my parents house. All you need is a router that everything in the house can pick up, and as technology improves, there is even less of a need for Cat5 or any other internet related wiring. Eddie

We did a complete remodel about 7 years ago and wired almost every room with Cat 5 cable. We currently only use 4 of the Cat 5 outlets. (1 PC, 1 MAC, 1 PS3 and a home server). All the others have gone unused. I just remembered a 5th one, our security camera has a DV hooked up to it that we can access over the Internet. So I think it is still good to hardwire your PC/MAC but I suppose we can use everything wirelessly. I just haven't tried.

I think the new standard for cable is Cat 6. Cat 5e came out after Cat 5 and now Cat 6 is what you wold install or if you can afford it fiber is probably an option.
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder
  • Thread Starter
#313  
Jeremy we had our electrical sub add a few switched outlets on top of the beams in our great room - useful for Xmas decorations and for hanging lamps - and they are hidden if not used.
We placed wall sconces around the great room and tracks over our summer beam (I think that is what Chris called it) to up-light the roof area - the great room will take a lot of light to get it bright but not so much to add contrast - think about where your furniture will be placed and how you will use the room.

For your can lights - don't use them in insulated areas where they will "break" the insulation or air seal boundary unless absolutely necessary - if this is the case think about the detail of how you will air-seal and insulate (it is possible but know the plan before everything gets covered up and the spray foam guy is gone).

I would not be overly concerned about thermal bridge in areas with > 2" x 8" as the wood will provide reasonable r-value (zone 6+ you need to worry) - for any area above the ceiling do as you say - as the spray is applied to depth be sure to enclose the rafter/truss to 2" and no worry's at all about thermal bridge nor air leakage (also significant strength increase to structure).
On the sloped areas - checkout greenbuildingadvisor.com for some details on how to do this properly - use poly-iso with foil face and you have an air/vapor barrior or if in an area you need vaper perm use EPS/XPS but as stated earlier not that big of a concern in your climate for > 2" x 8" boards.
The areas I notice this the most is by pantry area that is 2" x 6" framed outside my TF - we have several corners and framing around window with 2 or 3 boards side by side and I can feel the cold and my buddies thermal imaging camera shows these very brightly. - if all my cabinets were not installed etc I would add layer of poly-iso in here (probably no more than 1") -
talk to your Spray contractor if you have any areas that need rigid board as he may be able to provide/install and spray around it - mine did this and worked well. In my case these areas were rim board to garage and needed backing to spray against
Also are you insulating the garage? or any rooms over garage? My spray guy put 2"+ out there in the ceiling then filled cavity with open-cell. My bonus room over garage is ~ 7000ft^3 (500ft^2 finished) that we heat/cool with a single 1T Mitsubishi mini-split (almost never runs) - key was spraying the entire barrier envelope and detailing all joints the spray could not cover.

On other item we did was have the electrical folks run a sub-panel to rear of house opposite my main panel - thought was for future hot tub, out door kitchen etc.
Ran 2 exterior switched circuits for Xmas lighting (can be used for other switched application also
Ceiling fan(s) for great room - make sure the box/mount is installed now and is sturdy as you may want a significant sized fan (I was looking at BigAss fans but found very nice units at Home Depot that fit TF style very well!) go ahead and wire for light kits, although I have not used them and not sure they are useful 18' up in the ceiling:). We put fan mounts in every bedroom even though we have not put fans in most rooms (easier to add now than later)

I notice you have several young people living with you - think about sound transmission - the large open room style of TF also allows NOISE to permeate :confused2: look for areas to add sound deadening material before enclosing - our house used all hard surface but we placed insulation in barrier walls between bedrooms and great room etc that helped - I found homosote before I finished the bonus room and placed this behind the sheetrock - works very well keeping sound contained

A lot of very usefull advise. Thanks.

Jeremy we had our electrical sub add a few switched outlets on top of the beams in our great room - useful for Xmas decorations and for hanging lamps - and they are hidden if not used.

I especially like this one for Xmas lights and decorations. I would have never thought of that.

For your can lights - don't use them in insulated areas where they will "break" the insulation or air seal boundary unless absolutely necessary - if this is the case think about the detail of how you will air-seal and insulate (it is possible but know the plan before everything gets covered up and the spray foam guy is gone).

We only have two can lights that will be in insulated areas. I'll take a look at those tomorrow for options but they may have to stay.

Also are you insulating the garage? or any rooms over garage? My spray guy put 2"+ out there in the ceiling then filled cavity with open-cell. My bonus room over garage is ~ 7000ft^3 (500ft^2 finished) that we heat/cool with a single 1T Mitsubishi mini-split (almost never runs) - key was spraying the entire barrier envelope and detailing all joints the spray could not cover.

We have our master bedroom and bathroom over the garage. We will be spraying 4" of closed cell on the garage ceiling. The garage and basement wall are concrete. We plan to do 2" of closed cell on the basement walls. This will leave us enough room to run electric and finish the basement at a later date.

Ceiling fan(s) for great room - make sure the box/mount is installed now and is sturdy as you may want a significant sized fan (I was looking at BigAss fans but found very nice units at Home Depot that fit TF style very well!) go ahead and wire for light kits, although I have not used them and not sure they are useful 18' up in the ceiling:). We put fan mounts in every bedroom even though we have not put fans in most rooms (easier to add now than later)

We have already foamed the roof of the great room and loft. We ran wiring for one fan in each. Our fans will not have lights but we did wire for lights in case we want to add a kit later on. Our fans are also from home depot. They are Hampton Bay Altura 68" fans that fit the house style well. I'm guessing you probably have the same ones? All of the bedrooms will get fans as well. Lighting for all of the kids rooms will be recessed cans. We will probably insulate most interior walls. We did for our current home and really helps with the noise between rooms.

Thanks again for the tips.

Jeremy
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #314  
A lot of very usefull advise. Thanks.



We have already foamed the roof of the great room and loft. We ran wiring for one fan in each. Our fans will not have lights but we did wire for lights in case we want to add a kit later on. Our fans are also from home depot. They are Hampton Bay Altura 68" fans that fit the house style well. I'm guessing you probably have the same ones? All of the bedrooms will get fans as well. Lighting for all of the kids rooms will be recessed cans. We will probably insulate most interior walls. We did for our current home and really helps with the noise between rooms.

Thanks again for the tips.

Jeremy

Yep those are the fans:) great price and really work well with the TF - my GR pitch is 8/12 and we found the remote control unit would not allow the fan to hang straight down - you may need to make some "shims" to adjust angle if hanging from the purlins - if hanging from your ridge no problem (just be sure to get a long down rod)

Great project -
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder
  • Thread Starter
#315  
Yep those are the fans:) great price and really work well with the TF - my GR pitch is 8/12 and we found the remote control unit would not allow the fan to hang straight down - you may need to make some "shims" to adjust angle if hanging from the purlins - if hanging from your ridge no problem (just be sure to get a long down rod)

Great project -

Figured so. Same pitch on ours but hanging from the ridge.
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #316  
Great thread and very impressive work. My wife and I have discovered this thread and read it with particular interest. We are currently in the process of looking at timber frame for a house we hope to build this year (or at least get it started!) up here in Iowa.

I'm curious about your research into timber framers. How many did you look at before choosing to go with Clydesdale? Obviously, they do top notch (pun not intended) work based on the great documentation you've put together in this thread.

One concern we have is finding a general contractor that can navigate the idiosyncrasies of a hybrid timber frame. You mentioned one of those issues regarding insulating before wall sheeting. Do you have any advice on this regard? The builders we've interviewed to date have not done a timber frame build, and I'm very leery of having them 'get up the learning curve' on my dime.

I'm open to PM if this isn't something you want to share with the world.

Thanks,

Rick
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #317  
Rick I think your question was directed to Jeremy but I'll give you my feedback as I have gone through the same experience.

In my case I have always enjoyed woodworking and rustic decor - Early in 2011 my wife and I stayed in a log home on vacation and this kicked us into gear about building a house. Early on we arrived at Timber Frame approach - seemed to align (less exterior maintenance, better efficiency (my perception?) etc.

Anyway as I started looking for a TF'er most of the contacts were far away (Minnesota, Vermont, Texas, etc) - I ran across an add in Timber home mag from ClydesdaleFrames located in Hutchinson, KS (35 miles from my building site) - my first thought was "no way":)

Anyway quick call confirmed they did exist and in fact were in the timber framing business.
We arranged to visit their office the next week - at which time John and Chris spent an entire day with my wife and I - showing us several homes locally they had cut/raised, showing us the process, answering our questions getting to know us (TF home is not a light endeavor).
They also introduced us to a couple of the skilled craftsmen that cut the frame - let us watch some activity they were working on.

Probably helped that I was able to meet John in person (vs talk to others via phone) but it was clear to me these guys knew what they were doing and were what I would call "Good People"
I spent the next several months working with Chris to design my house, get approvals etc and then committed Dec 2011. We raised the frame/SIPs week of April 10, and moved into our house Jan 2013.

In our case I did the GC myself (I have done this on 1 house in 1994, and significant participation again on my 2nd house in 1998 but I have no other building experience, but significant woodworking as a hobby experience). I do have a few friends in construction and access to expert advice. Most of my subs ended up being local people that stopped by the site as I was doing initial dirt work:)

In general I found the TF construction relatively simple with the most different part being decisions about lighting, electrical, windows etc all done in design phase vs walk-though stage (linked to my using SIPs, Jeremy's approach is more like typical stick construction in this regard

As for SIP, vs spray foam, or other - I agonized over this quite a bit (trying to hit a budget) - had the design set to use Polyiso panel (found a good price from a guy in Idaho - he still has inventory), but in the end I was able to adjust my design to make using the SIP for slightly higher cost but very quick install - we used spray foam for basement, and bonus room over garage.

Jeremy has done a great job covering his experience in this thread

Feel free to PM me if you would like to discuss my experience further
-Rich
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder
  • Thread Starter
#318  
Rick,

My computer is down at the moment. Ill try to reply tomorrow when I'm not typing via cell phone. Should be our last week without heat. Started spraying today.

 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #319  
Man heat will make it soooo much easier to work. Lookin' good...keep 'em coming!
 
   / Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder #320  
Cool - like the pic with snow(you have a bit more than we do)
Be sure to inspect the foam to sheathing adherence - sometimes a cold surface does not lead to a good bond
I expect your foam contractor understands this - but it is your house;)

also are you filling the cavity or something short? Best if cavity is full, but not protruding - closed cell is difficult to level and your sheetrock guys won't do a very good (careful?) job if they are left to take care of it (experience speaking here)
 

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