Choosing the Correct Timber Species of Wood

Congratulations on taking the first step into building your own timber home frame. You have a couple of critical decisions to make in the coming weeks. One of the most important is which species of wood your timber framer will use in the construction of your home. There are an abundance of options available, all with their owns strengths and weaknesses. This important decision may include you looking at the availability, sustainability, cost and suitability of the wood.

The most common types of wood species for timber framing are: white pine, red and white oak, Douglas Fir, hickory and cedar.

Availability

Depending on what part of the country you're in, will largely impact what materials are available to you. It is cost efficient to use local materials as the cost of transporting posts and beams across the country can rack up costs in a hurry. It's unlikely that the area you reside in won't have the type of wood species you desire. Species of trees grow all over the country and the number of types of wood with similar properties are in abundance so finding a wood for you shouldn't be a problem.

Cost

The cost of wood for your timber home is not set in stone. Lots of variance is at play. You may have several choices for the wood species to be used to build your post and beam and cost will always be a factor.

Strength & Suitability

You can't just slap any piece of wood on your timber frame home without thinking about the properties of the type of wood you're using. Some wood, like oak, is hard and strong. This usually results in the wood twisting and cracking. Other species have like Douglas fir is more stable and strong while cedar, hickory and pine do not have the same load capacity as a Douglas fir. Not all species can be used on the exterior of your home as well. If you timber framing on the outside, your options are limited to Douglas fir, cypress and oak.

Hickory Circle Construction uses locally milled, hard woods primarily building with Douglas Fir, Oak, Hickory, Cedar, and Pine species. Picking your choice of wood is instrumental in beginning your project. The type of wood species you choose affects the pricing, dimensions and the way we will engineer your home. If you are in Ohio, please feel free to call (330) 763-1122 to consult with us on creating your timber frame dream home!

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