Our homes are one of the most important things to us in our lives. We didn’t say house but instead said home because of the emotional importance that we put on it. The various relationships, the ups and downs, the fights and the bonding that we go through in a house is what makes it a home.
Moreover, what makes a house a home is not only the human aspect that is involved here, but it also involves the very foundation and construction of the house. Just like something that is very precious to you just because you yourself built it or was in close proximity to it, the same way, the way your house is built is what makes it a home.
Visit Hamill Creek Timber Homes to know more about timber houses and flooring. In this article, we’ll be talking about what post and beam homes are, the various things you need to know about it and how long a house made from them is likely to last. With that being said, let’s get into this!
What Is Post And Beam Construction?
People use post-frame construction and posted beam construction as if they’re one and the same. Well, they’re not. We’ve done our homework on this subject so that we can give you some basic understanding of the two types of structures. First of all, we’ve got purists that understand post and beam construction.
Let’s just say that we’re not going to talk about post beam versus timber frame construction. today, we’re going to be telling you about posts and beams, where they’re butted together, and held together by steel plates.
The first thing we want to look at is how these different types of buildings are anchored to the ground. Traditionally, post-frame construction uses posts that go into the soil usually about four feet deep depending on the area of the country you’re in, and then they’re backfilled, sometimes partially with concrete or just with dirt.
A lot of these systems now include plastic sleeves or other mechanisms in order to separate the posts from the soil and prevent deterioration.
How Is Each Of Them Made?
Some post-frame construction is done by concrete filling piers and then putting rebar brackets down inside of them or using masonry walls either with bolt down or rebar into wet concrete in order to secure the post-frame structure.
Post and beam construction is very similar to those latter ways of doing it, either to concrete piers with brackets on them or a slab that’s got footers and totally reinforced and actually, that’s the closest that post-frame and post beam are to each other.
When those latter methods of securing the buildings are in place, the second thing to look at is how the walls of the buildings are constructed. Post-frame construction uses dimensional lumber to tie the building together from one wall and one post to each other post.
Beam construction ties the post with beams that go between them and those types of beams are then held together with steel brackets. Post-frame construction doesn’t show the framing in the finished product if it’s finished on the inside. Post and beam construction uses a higher grade of material and the beams in the posts actually become an integral part of the interior and are used to highlight the building itself.
Pros And Cons Of Both
Now there are some advantages to each method. One of the big disadvantages of post-frame construction in the past was that they had a limited life expectancy, oftentimes 50 years, but in today’s modern construction method, using ways of protecting the posts from the surface of the ground or using masonry in order to put anchors they’ve gotten a lot better.
False beam construction is also durable by design and can be expected to last a long long time so the difference in life expectancy between the two different kinds of structures has been greatly negated over the last couple of years.
The advantage of post beam construction is it’s aesthetic. It is a beautiful looking structure when it’s done and there’s no comparison in a post-frame structure to post beam so if aesthetics are important to you, then post beam construction is the way to go.
The disadvantage of post and beam construction is that it’s going to come at a much higher cost than using post-frame construction. Post-frame construction has the advantage of the fact that it’s quick to build and it’s relatively inexpensive.
How Long Do They Last?
For starters, the thing you need to know about these houses is they last long and are highly resistant to the tests of time. They are generally made of quality materials that are quality tested and approved by the manufacturers of the wood for the post and beams. We’ve talked previously about how well these houses last.
Straight off the bat, these houses easily last over 40-60 years depending on the quality of the construction. The house, if constructed with the idea of using post and beam techniques, needs to be of good quality and build or else, the house will be easily susceptible to problems such as succumbing to soil erosion and other problems.
Houses that are built like this are most likely to last around 10 years less, as in 30-40 years in essence.
