Hi,
Assuming global warming is happening what are the potential downsides to timber frame houses here in the UK? From what I read, global warming is going to give us wetter more humid Summers and allow lots more creepy crawlies from the Med to start living here (termite type things?).
Obviously I am bored this morning :-)
John.
Probably not as bored as your timber frames will be by termite grubs.
French properties seem to be prone to woodworm -- is this due to the climate? AFAIK a woodworm check is mandatory when purchasing property in France.[Source: one of those "Place in the Sun" TV programmes]
Another point: will global warming make leylandii grow even faster? Bruce
In Germany and most of the Continent, timber frames are not treated, and they still give guarantees of 20-30 years. Attention to detail keeps the timber fine for 100s of years. Crawlies can be deterred quite easily.
Timber is great for the environment if home grown. The UK imports 87% of its timber at the cost of approx' £5 billion a year. Grow it ourselves instead of leaving the land and paying farmers to keep it idle, and the trade balance would be greatly reduced. Forests also look nicer than boring English fields. They could be opened up to the public too.
Growing trees in planned forests absorb far more CO2 than mature trees,so help clean up the place. Masonry absorbs enormous amounts of energy to make. Using cellulous insulation that protects the timbers using borax, keeps crawlies away and gives high R values and makes the structure air-tight. The insulation makes the house warm in winter and cool in summer.
SIP panels can have a house up in a few days. Thermal mass can be added to timber homes by having the odd internal dense concrete block wall and a concrete slab. on the ground floor. A sand/cement screed on TJI "I" beams can add mass and sound insulation to the first floor.
Timber is the way forward. It is eco friendly, fast to construct, easy to pick up skills, etc, etc.
Not much. Timber we use in the UK is fairly bug-resistant. Our problem is fungal rots, and a climate that gets wetter might make this worse.
We don't have a lot of trouble with wood borers in timber framing. Those that do attack it just don't make enough damage to really weaken things - a powder-post beetle attack in a chair leg is one thing, but in a roof timber it's just an irrelevance. The big-hole borers (like Death Watch beetle) are far less common.
An increase in winter temperature will probably increase the range of one house longhorn beetle sub-species that's already found in the far SE and Kent. There are several widespread UK wood-boring longhorn species, but they don't attack dry timber, except for this one species. Having that range further afield could be a problem, as these beasties leave 1/4" holes.
The UK climate would have to shift a _lot_ before we saw termites.
The main problem with termite attack, compared to beetle larvae, is that termites are eating timber for food, beetles for living space. Termites will hollow a timber out completely from the inside, but most beetle species will actually leave a gap between adjacent tunnels. Although they do weaken things to some extent, it's nothing like the total collapse that termites bring.
Amazingly IMM, for once I agree with you, more or less anyway. However perhaps you would like to have a word in the ear of your cronies in government and get them to change the law. It is quite legal for farmers to plant trees, and indeed there are even grants for such, but we're often not allowed to harvest them as we can't get logging permits !!!!!
Global warming doesn't mean everywhere gets hotter. In the UK it may get colder in fact as the Gulf stream moves southerly.
Or switches off completely.
That will do wonders for shares in Kingspan :-)
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