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Post
& Beam was the framing technique used when this country
was first settled. Until the onset of the Industrial Revolution,
many of the most exquisite--and enduring--homes and public buildings
throughout the United States were built using the Post & Beam
technique; the vast majority of barns continued to be built with Post
& Beam until well into the 20th century. Many of these early
Post & Beam structures are still being used right now.
How are today's Timberpeg Post & Beam homes built? It's fairly
simple. A series of large, vertical timbers (posts) and horizontal
timers (beams) are carefully joined together using mortise and tenon
joints to form a complete structural framework. The exterior shell
of the building is then built around the outside of this frame,
leaving the frame itself exposed inside the building. Aside from
the posts and beams, no interior partitions whatsoever are needed to
support the upper floors or roof, so the building's interior may either
be left completely open or divided into smaller rooms.
 Wood is nature's most beautiful building material, and in a Post &
Beam home the exposed timber frame is more than just an important
structural element, it can be a visual focal point as well. In
Timberpeg's homes, the aesthetics of our frames are every bit as
important as their geometries. We design each frame to please the
eye and enhance the sense of space, and pay careful attention to form,
line, sizing and proportion. And whether you prefer to have a lot
of wood left exposed in any particular room, a little, or even none at
all, a Timberpeg frame can be designed to suit your taste.
Timberpeg's homes may indeed resemble the Post & Beam buildings of
our forebears, but they are in no way old-fashioned. In most
stick-built homes, fiberglass insulation is placed between studs in the
outer walls. Wherever their is a stud (usually every 16 inches)
the insulating barrier is broken and outside air may infiltrate into the
house. Up to one-third of the energy consumed in a stick-built
house, in fact, may be attributable to air infiltration. In
addition, fiberglass insulation can lose much of its effectiveness when
it's compressed--as it must be to fit behind plumbing or wiring, and it
can lose up to 50% of its effectiveness when it becomes moist--as it can
from the condensation present in almost every home.
Timberpeg uses another insulation method entirely. Because our
frames are completely enveloped by the exterior walls, we have no studs
to break our thermal barrier; the walls and roofs of our homes are
wrapped in a virtually continuous sheathing of insulation. We
don't use fiberglass. We provide an advanced, rigid foam
insulation system that reduces the effects of condensation. We
also provide Andersen Perma-Shield high performance windows and patio
doors, as well as superb exterior doors.
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