[Greenbuilding] Sustainable Post & Beam Construction

[Topher]

On 10/28/2013 6:19 PM, Lynelle Hamilton wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am posting this for a friend who wants a post and beam home (round 
> logs),

Round log are, I imagine, a trick to build against.  Perhaps squaring 
them on the outer surfaces would make things easier.  But the trick to a 
post and beam house, is to keep the frame fully inside the living space 
of the house, and put a light (i.e. non-structural), thick, well 
insulated shell around it.   Think of the post and beam as load bearing 
(only) and everything else as weather shell.  Consider putting the shell 
on a cantilevered floor (so that the posts can sit on the foundation wall).

One tricky part is finding places to run electrical chases and other 
utilities.  You don't want ANY penetrations of the wall and roof planes 
(which you will fail at, of course).  Correctly done, there is no reason 
one couldn't build a Passivhaus level of efficiency into a house like that.

[If, as some think, your friend means a log cabin structure, convince 
your friend to forget it.  The worst of all worlds.]

Thank You Kindly,

Corwyn / Topher Belknap

-- 
Topher Belknap
Green Fret Consulting
Kermit didn't know the half of it...
http://www.GreenFret.com/
topher at greenfret.com no