top of page

Structural Framing

Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Here in the Northeast we are fortunate to have an abundance of forested landscapes to source materials from. However due to industrialized building systems and higher labor costs in the United States, it is common practice in conventional building for raw materials to be exported, converted into finished goods and imported back into the United States often as engineered lumber high in glues and formaldehydes  that off-gas toxic compounds  in our buildings.  We look to locally or regionally harvested and milled lumber and when possible utilizing and processing trees cut from building site. We often build heavy frame structures of larger timbers or round poles which can use less wood overall as well as "Hybrid frames"  a combination of light frame and heavy framing systems to increase building efficiency.

​

What is Conventional Stick Frame Construction?

Conventional stick frame construction refers to a building method where the structural framework of a house is built from dimensional lumber (typically 2x4 or 2x6 studs) assembled on-site. It's the dominant method of home building in North America since the mid-20th century, especially after World War II. Stick framing uses lightweight, standard-sized lumber, fastened with nails or screws, and built piece-by-piece ("stick by stick"):

  • Walls: Built with vertical studs, usually 16 or 24 inches apart.

  • Floors and Roofs: Framed with joists and rafters.

  • Sheathing: Covered in plywood or OSB (oriented strand board).

  • Insulation: Installed between studs.

  • Cladding: Exterior finishes (like vinyl siding or brick veneer) are non-structural.

It replaced older, labor-intensive systems like timber framing due to its speed, lower labor cost, and compatibility with mass production.

 

The Post-WWII Housing Boom & Decline in Durability

After WWII, a huge demand for housing emerged—driven by returning veterans, suburban expansion, and the Baby Boom. Builders responded with faster, cheaper methods. Here’s how and why quality started to degrade:

 Material Degradation

  • Old Growth vs. Fast-Growth Lumber: Pre-WWII homes often used dense, old-growth wood with natural durability. Post-war homes shifted to fast-grown, younger trees—softer, weaker, and more susceptible to rot and pests.

  • Synthetic & Disposable Materials: More plastics, OSB, MDF, vinyl, and petrochemical-based products replaced natural, durable materials like solid wood, stone, or lime plaster.

Design Life & Planned Obsolescence

  • Modern stick-frame homes are often designed for a 30–50 year lifespan, not for centuries like vernacular or timber-framed structures.

  • Code Minimums replaced craft—builders do what’s required to pass inspection, not necessarily what’s best for long-term performance.

Craftsmanship vs. Mass Production

  • Traditional Buildings (vernacular, timber frame, adobe, etc.) were built with local materials and climate knowledge—by hand, with joinery, and skills passed down generations.

  • Post-war homes were mass-produced using tract housing techniques—assembly-line style—with minimal individual attention to detail or site conditions.

​​​

The Consequences Today

 Timber framing are in part a response to the shortcomings of stick-frame suburbia.

.​

Northern Dipper Temple

Timber Frame

Timber frame construction is a traditional method of building with heavy timbers, creating structures of open expanses  carefully fitted and joined timbers with mortise and tenon joints secured by large hardwood pegs.

 

Key characteristics of heavy timber framing:

  • Large wood members: Typically 6x6 inches or bigger for structural framing instead of smaller, dimensional lumber like 2x4s or 2x6s.

  • Joinery: Traditional techniques like mortise and tenon joints, often secured with wooden pegs instead of nails or screws.

  • Exposed wood: Beams and posts are usually visible in the finished interior, creating a very warm, rustic, and architectural look.

  • Materials: Common woods include oak, Douglas fir, cedar, and pine.

  • Fire resistance: Interestingly, big timbers char on the outside in a fire but retain strength longer than steel, making them surprisingly fire resistant.

  • Applications: Used in barns, churches, homes, lodges, and commercial spaces — both historic and modern.

​

80168026-C638-4E84-93B4-25FEF0127555_1_105_c_edited.png

Post & Beam

Post and beam is similar to timber framing in that both construction styles honor the rustic appearance of exposed timber, making it a central element of the building’s visual profile. The use of large timbers in post and beam construction means fewer support beams are needed, thus creating dramatically open interior spaces. Exposed beams and wooden interiors lend a warm and airy essence of natural elegance to the building. The critical difference between post and beam construction and timber framing is how the individual woosa are joined. Timber frames rely on wood joinery indtead of steel joinery. Post and beam structures are joined with meta connectors and fasteners.. Post and  beam is advantagious because  it requires reduced skill labor cost.

Pole Frame

​Pole framing or post-frame construction (pole building framing, pole building, pole barn) is a simplified building technique adapted from the labor-intensive traditional timber framing technique. It uses large poles or posts buried in the ground or on a foundation to provide the vertical structural support, along with girts to provide horizontal support. The method was developed and matured during the 1930s.Poles, from which these buildings get their name, are natural shaped or round wooden timbers 4 to 12 inches (102 to 305 mm) in diameter.[4] The structural frame of a pole building is made of tree trunks, utility poles, engineered lumber or chemically pressure treated squared timbers which may be buried in the ground or anchored to a concrete slab. Generally the posts are evenly spaced 8 to 12 feet (2.44 to 3.66 m) apart except to allow for doors. Buried posts have the benefit of providing lateral stability[5] so no braces are needed. Buried posts may be driven into the ground or set in holes then filled with soil, crushed stone, or concrete.

Light frame construction is a building method where a structure is made with closely spaced, lightweight members — usually wood or metal — to form the frame of a building. It's the most common way to build houses and small buildings today, especially in places like North America.

​

Here’s a simple breakdown:

  • Materials: Typically uses wood (like 2x4 or 2x6 lumber) or light-gauge steel.

  • Structure: The frame carries all the building loads (roof, walls, floors).

  • Components:

    • Studs: Vertical members in walls.

    • Joists: Horizontal members for floors and ceilings.

    • Rafters/Trusses: Members forming the roof structure.

    • Sheathing: Boards or panels (like plywood or OSB) attached to the frame for strength and as a base for siding or roofing.

  • Advantages:

    • Fast and economical to build.

    • Flexible in design.

    • Good thermal performance when insulated properlyThere are two main types:

Platform framing (most common): Each floor is built as a platform and walls are built on top of it.

  1. Balloon framing (older style): Long wall studs run continuously from the foundation up to the roof.

0-5.jpg

Braced frame

​A braced frame  is much more rigid than a balloon frame. Exterior studs extend only between floors and are topped by girts that form a sill for the joists of the succeeding floor. Girts are usually 4 x 6 inches. With the exception of studs, braced frame members are heavier than those in balloon framing. Sills and corner posts are customarily 4 x 6 inches. Unlike the studs, corner posts extend from sill to plate. Knee braces, usually 2 x 4 inches, are placed diagonally against each side of the corner posts. Interior studding for braced frames is the same as for balloon-frame construction

IMG_1925.jpeg

Balloon Frame

​The balloon frame is a widely used type of light framing. The major difference between balloon and braced framing in a multistory building is that in balloon framing the studs run the full length, from sill to rafters. It is customary for second-floor joists to rest on a 1- x 4-inch ribbon that has been set into the studs. Balloon framing provides a direct load path down to the building foundation. Due to the longer framing members used in balloon framing structures, it is easier to achieve higher resilience structures, therefore, balloon framing makes a structure more stable and able  to withstand gusty and speedy winds

The Conventional Stick Frame

Platform Framing (aka Western Framing)

  • Most common method today for houses and small buildings.

  • Each floor is framed separately: you build a floor platform, then walls on top, then another platform.

  • Advantages: very quick building

  • Relies heavily on nails, steal fasteners, and plywood for structural stability of building. Disadvantages are that glues break down and deteriorate with age, steal fasteroff-gassing of volatile compounds. steel fasteners (like nails, screws, bolts) can loosen over time in wood framing as wood naturally expands and contracts with changes in temperature and especially humidity levels.

 

Balloon Framing

  • Older method, not used much except restorations however can be an efficient method for framing with hempcrete wall systems

  • Long, continuous studs run from the foundation up to the roof.

  • Advantages: Fewer horizontal breaks which may be beneficial for bio composite envelope systems such as hempcrete.

  • Disadvantages: Requires long straight lumber.

 

Post and Beam Framing

  • Heavy timber vertical posts and horizontal beams create the structure.

  • Walls are often non-load-bearing and can be filled in later ("infill walls").

  • Advantages: Open interiors with fewer load-bearing walls, beautiful exposed wood.

 

Timber Framing

  • Traditional, historical technique using very large wooden posts and beams.

  • Connections are usually made with wooden pegs (mortise and tenon joints), not nails.

  • Advantages: Aesthetic appeal, super strong.

 

Light-Gauge Wood Framing (Stud Framing)

  • Uses lots of small, closely spaced studs (2x4s or 2x6s).

  • Includes both walls and roof framing (rafters/trusses).

  • Can be used in combination with platform framing.

 

6. Advanced Framing (Optimum Value Engineering)

  • A technique to maximize energy efficiency and reduce material waste.

  • Wider stud spacing (24" instead of 16"), lined up studs, single top plates, etc.

  • Advantages: Better insulation, less wood used

  • With hempcrete wall systems systems framing

The interest in spray-applied hempcrete (or "hemp-lime") wall systems for low-carbon building is growing fast, especially now with the push toward. 

 

Structural Capabilities of Hempcrete

 

Minimizing Framing with Hempcrete

Builders are actively experimenting with:

  • Lighter framing: Since hempcrete stiffens the wall against lateral loads (wind, minor seismic), it allows for reduced infill framing compared to typical 16" o.c. stud walls.

  • "Ladder framing" or "open stud" systems: Using wide spacing like 24" o.c. or larger, often with minimal horizontal blocking, because hempcrete fills the cavity and adds racking resistance.

  • Some are testing post-and-beam structures spraying hempcrete infill between the larger members, with a lattice frame minimizes the amount of wood even further.

 Key idea: Hempcrete enables framing to be optimized for point loads and shear, not for infill support like traditional stud walls.

 

Current Structural Testing (as of 2024)

  • ASTM Standard: ASTM D8369 (published 2022) now provides a Standard Specification for Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Thermal Insulation — it standardizes mixture ratios and application methods.

  • Racking/Shear Tests: Several universities (notably in the UK, France, and a few U.S. schools like UMass Amherst) have shown hempcrete walls can provide meaningful shear strength to light timber frames (though not enough alone for seismic Category D or higher without extra bracing).

  • Fire Resistance Tests: Hempcrete walls show excellent fire resistance (can exceed 2 hours without additives).

  • Moisture and Vapor Testing: Hempcrete provides excellent vapor permeability and capillary action — meaning less risk of trapped moisture vs. fiberglass or foam insulation systems.

 

Emerging Hybrid Framing Systems

  • Some companies (especially in Europe) are developing prefabricated "hempcrete panels" with minimal framing — using light CLT (cross-laminated timber) panels or engineered wood studs embedded inside.

  • There are experimental monolithic spray systems where framing is reduced to only key load paths, and hempcrete acts almost like SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels), though strictly speaking the hempcrete itself is not taking major loads.

 

Challenges Still to Solve

  • Code approvals: In the U.S., hempcrete is still "alternative construction" under IRC/IBC — you often need an engineer’s signoff (though Appendix AU on hemp-lime construction is in development for the IRC! Should help by 2026).

  • Consistency: Sprayed hempcrete can have variability if not properly controlled during mixing and application.

  • Drying time: Full drying ("carbonation") can take weeks to months depending on thickness.

​

​

Typical Light Frame, Spray-Applied Hempcrete Wall Section:

Layers (from exterior to interior):

  1. Exterior Cladding (e.g., wood siding, lime plaster, rainscreen cladding)

  2. Rainscreen gap (optional — battens creating a ventilated gap)

  3. Water-Resistive Barrier (WRB) (breathable membrane like building wrap)

  4. Light Framing (typically 2x4, 2x6, or 2x8 wood or metal studs)

  5. Spray-Applied Hempcrete Infill (sprayed to fill and encase framing; usually ~12" thick)

  6. Interior Scratch Coat (optional thin lime render or mesh-reinforced layer)

  7. Interior Plaster Finish (breathable — lime, clay, or gypsum plaster)

Key Details:

  • Hempcrete is non-structural — the frame bears the load.

  • Framing often exposed or partially embedded inside hempcrete (thermal bridge minimized).

  • Top plates, sill plates, openings are all prepared carefully to allow continuous spraying.

  • Mechanical/Electrical runs sometimes embedded or surface-mounted to preserve hempcrete integrity.

bottom of page