Ecostructure

Walls:

When calculating whether a wall meets the minimum Construction R-Value, the building code assumes that timber wall frames have 14-18% timber, because it only counts plates, studs and dwangs.

 

But a recent study by Beacon has shown that when we count what's actually in a frame (including lintels, sills, jacks, trim studs, understuds, junction blocking, soffit nogs, cladding studs, etc etc), there's an average of 34% timber in a wall frame. Some houses have more than 50% timber in their walls! There's not much room left for insulation. Especially since the corner junctions usually go uninsulated too.

 

Less insulation and more timber makes our brand new houses colder in winter, hotter in summer, and increases dampness and mould risk.

 

Some of this timber is unnecessary, specified in a blanket manner or out of an abundance of caution. But this practice is contributing to new housing stock that's not warm, dry and healthy, plus it adds to the build cost.

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As an experienced frame and truss detailer, I see a lot of house plans specifying more timber than is required. But once the plan is consented, it's usually too late to make any changes. I see a lot of missed opportunities. I've created Ecostructure to help designers minimise excess timber with confidence.

 

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Roofs:

The new H1 regulations include a huge boost to ceiling insulation requirements, and not a minute too soon. But extra insulation means a bigger temperature difference between the rooms and the roof space. This increases the risk of condensation forming, so ventilation is more important than ever.

 

If the insulation is too tall for the perimeter of the roof, it blocks the ventilation path and will cause condensation and dampness issues in the roof space.

 

While detailing trusses, I've seen many well intentioned designers specifying a standard truss heel with insulation products that won't fit. Each insulation manufacturer has their own solution for this. In many cases, standard truss heel is still possible with an insulation guard to keep the ventilation path clear, but it's situation dependent and low roof pitches or scissor trusses sometimes require 50-100mm extra truss height.

 

Ecostructure can check your design's roof and ceiling pitch and insulation type and make sure your truss heel heights are compatible with the roof perimeter insulation.