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Building Framing Methods - A Guide to Estimating Building Age InspectAPedia®  -     How to determine the age of a building from the construction or framing methods used Building framing eras: log homes, balloon framing, platform framing, arkansas framing, modular construction, panelized construction, straw bale construction, welded wire construction, trusses, engineered lumber construction Building component age: construction materials, methods, including hardware, saw cuts, and other details can help determine when a building was constructed or when it was modified.

This article lists common building framing materials used in different epochs of residential construction. Knowing when certain materials were first or last in common use can help determine the age of a building. The age of a building can be determined quite accurately by documentation, but when documents are not readily available, visual clues such as those available during a professional home inspection can still determine when a house was built.

See Framing Materials Age for the history and date ranges of various building framing materials. Also see Nails and Hardware and Saw Cuts, Tool Marks for additional building age clues likely to be available when examining building framing materials. Page top sketch courtesy of Carson Dunlop

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Building Framing Methods as Indicators of Building Age

Building methods and building materials should be considered together as the materials available for construction largely defined the building methods used. In very general terms, in North American building construction, later than in Asia and Europe, evolved through log construction, rough cut hand hewn beams and plank construction, sawn lumber, machine sawn lumber, dimensional lumber, factory-produced lumber and sheathing, and engineered wood products such as laminated beams and factory-built trusses.

Arkansas framing system: 2x6 wall studs are spaced 24' on center, a spacing that permitted installation of more wall insulation volume than provide by conventional 2x4 wall studs.

The Arkansas building framing method became popular in North America following the 1970's arab oil embargo and addressed concern for high energy costs. You might read about Arkansas framing or OVE - optimum value engineering, just about the same design idea that was promoted by the Small Homes Council, SHC, now renamed the Building Research Council.

Modern wood framing uses sill plates, rim joists, floor and ceiling joists, wall studs, and rafters made from dimensional lumber, nominally 2x4's (3.5" x 1/5") and larger members (x" deep by 1.5" thick), spaced 16" on center or in some cases using 2x6 wall studs, 24" o.c. See Balloon Framing and see Platform Framing

Balloon Framing Building Construction Method History & Dates

Log Home Building Construction Methods, History, & Dates

Modular Construction Methods Defined & Described

Panelized Building Construction Defined & Illustrated

Panelized construction: floor and wall panels constructed in a factory are delivered to and assembled at the building site. Panels may be conventionally-framed stud walls in modular sections or structural panels may be constructed of a sandwich of OSB (oriented strand board), plywood, or wafer board on either side of solid foam board insulation. Panelized construction makes use of wall, floor, ceiling or roof "panels" which have been framed off-site and brought to the site by truck. Panels are lifted into place by crane and fastened together on a foundation, and possibly a framed-in floor which have been prepared before the panels arrive. Small panels for some kit homes (left) were light enough to be lifted into place by two workers. Some framing panels make use of special materials, such as plywood and foam roof panels for insulated cathedral ceilings. Please see Panelized Construction for our full article on panelized home construction history, identification, construction methods, and other photographic details.

Plank House or Box House Construction Method Defined & Described

A 6"x 6" or 6" x 8" sill beam was placed on the ground or on a stone foundation. Long vertical planks consisting of thick 5/4" (or thicker) boards of varying widths (up to 12" wide) were nailed to the sill beam and extended vertically to the building eaves, at a height of up to 20 ft. The vertical planks were often spaced apart, up to one inch.

In a plank home or box house the floor framing was constructed of floor joists set into notches in the sill beam. To support a second floor in a two story plank house, floor joists were nailed to a rim joist that had been itself nailed to the vertical planks at an appropriate height. In other words, the plank wall is also structural, supporting the upper floor as well as the building roof.

The walls of a plank house or box house were made weather tight by nailing a vertical batten 1"x3" board over the gaps between boards. The wall interior was finished by nailing lath strips to the battens and then applying a plaster wall. The walls were not insulated.

From the exterior these homes may look quite conventional since horizontal siding was installed over the original planks on the wall exterior. Owners may not discover that their home was originally a plank house until they attempt to open walls to add insulation, plumbing or electrical wiring. But a clue to plank construction might be the observation that all plumbing was run around the interior of the building walls (to avoid freezing in cold climates and because there was no wall cavity).

Some of the plank houses we've inspected were made from scraps or salvaged lumber such as a home in Dutchess County New York that was constructed from packing crate wood.

Platform Framing Building Construction Method History & Dates

Platform Frame construction (sketch above, courtesy Carson Dunlop): also called western construction: the most-common residential wood structure framing method in North America. Our photo (above right) shows typical platform framing from indoors, including an interior wall partition.

A floor is constructed atop of the building foundation, forming the first "platform". Walls are framed either stud-by-stud vertically as each stud is nailed to a sole plate which in turn was nailed to the floor platform, or wall sections for the first floor are framed flat on the floor (the platform) and tilted up into place.

The next floor (platform) is constructed atop these walls and subsequent walls for the floor above are framed on that second floor platform. Typically each section of framed wall is 8 feet high.

In North America, up to about 1930 it was common for dimensional lumber to be full-sized - a 2x4 was really 2" x 4" in cross section. Modern wood framing wall studs 2x4's (a modern dimensional lumber "two by four" is actually 1.5" thick by 3.5" wide) and larger members (x" deep by 1.5" thick). See Dimensional Lumber for details.

Post and Beam Construction Method Defined & Described

Adze cuts and axe cuts are normally visible in the rough surface of early hand hewn wood structural beams. Our photos show a barn in upstate New York (above left) and an 18th century Norwegian timber frame building using brick infill and stucco to complete the wall enclosure (above right). See Hewn beams & planks for details.

Post and beam construction (1700 - est. in North America): (timber framing) uses horizontal and vertical timbers that are connected (joined) using mortise and tenon joints pinned with wood pegs (treenails). Timber frame construction initially used hand hewn beams, later manually or mechanically sawn beams cut by a pit saw.; Later timber frame beams were sawn in mills using circular saws.

Timber framing using post and beam construction with mortise and tenon joint connections was used in Europe for at least 500 years before it was first employed in North America.

By 1650 a typical timber frame building used multiple bents and girt beams, may have been more than one story tall, and included an exterior made of horsehair-reinforced cement stuccoed over hand-split lath. Our photo (above) shows an 18th century Norwegian timber frame building using brick infill and stucco to complete the wall enclosure.

Beams for a post and beam barn or home were typically cut to 4", 6", 8", or 12" square, sometimes larger, and not always square in cross section. Early hand hewn beams used a tree in rough form, hewing flat only the upper surface of the beam to which flooring was to be nailed. Modern post and beam framing uses the original techniques but beams are milled and are uniform in dimension (photo at left). (Some modern post and beam buildings also encompass engineered steel and bolt braces and more complex structural designs.) A sill was laid out on the ground or on flat stones at grade level, later atop stone foundations. Bents consisting of two vertical and one horizontal beam were raised and secured in place on the sills using block and tackle. Bearing beams connected the bents. Wall studs were set inside the bents to support siding (boards up to 2" thick), or walls were filled-in using stone or other masonry. See Saw Cuts, Tool Marks to learn how to distinguish hand sawn, pit-sawn (which could be by hand or mechanically-driven), and circular-blade sawn framing lumber. See our photo (below) for an example of treenail pegged mortise and tenon post and beam construction connections. Timber framing or post and beam frame construction was first employed in North American in the early 1700's and by the 1800's, when mechanically-driven sawmills were common in New England, timber framing using sawn beams this construction method was common for barns and for many homes as well.

Here is a photograph of post and beam framing with joint number markings. The observation of framing materials, framing markings, and framing styles provides considerable information about the probable age of a house. We discuss framing materials and styles here as an aid to house age determination. Also see our article on " Saw Cuts and Tool Marks" (links at page left). Antique and modern trusses are distinguished and modern laminated beams and I-truss beams and wood joists are discussed.

Keep in mind that even when we can identify specific types of building materials and building methods, precise dating of the time of construction of a building remains difficult: old building materials were often re-used, so beams, siding, and other components may appear in a building built later than when the materials were first made.

Also, in the U.S. various states had machines for making cut nails, screws, and sawmills at different times. For example, New York State was industrialized earlier than some western or southern states, so machine-made nails appear earlier in New York than elsewhere.

Also see Nails and Hardware and Saw Cuts, Tool Marks for additional building age clues likely to be available when examining building framing materials.

Welded Wire Sandwich Framing Panelized Construction

Welded-wire sandwich framing panels: polystyrene or polyurethane foam core insulation is surrounded by a welded-wire space frame.

For full details see our full text article at Framing Methods and Welded Wire Sandwich Framing

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AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
  Architecture & Style
  Building Records
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  Flooring Materials
    Asphalt Tile Flooring
    Cork Flooring Tiles
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    Non-Resilient Floor Coverings
    Laminate Wood & Other Laminate Floors
    Wood Floor Types
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  Flooring Materials
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  Framing Materials Age
    Dimensional Lumber
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    SHEATHING, Plywood
SHEATHING, FOIL FACED - VENTS
    Straw Bale Construction
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  Framing Methods Age
    Balloon Framing
    Log Home Construction
    Modular Construction
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• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, have provided us with (and we recommend) Carson Dunlop Weldon & Associates' Technical Reference Guide to manufacturer's model and serial number information for heating and cooling equipment ($69.00 U.S.). Technical Reference Guide, Carson Dunlop Weldon & Associates, Ltd., 120 Carlton St. Suite 407, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 4K2 Canada, ISBN 1-895585-90-2 165pp.
• America's Favorite Homes, mail-order catalogues as a guide to popular early 20th-century houses, Robert Schweitzer, Michael W.R. Davis, 1990, Wayne State University Press ISBN 0814320066 (may be available from Wayne State University Press)
• American Plywood Association, APA, "Portland Manufacturing Company, No. 1, a series of monographs on the history of plywood manufacturing",Plywood Pioneers Association, 31 March, 1967, www.apawood.org
• Asbestos products and their history and use in various building materials such as asphalt and vinyl flooring includes discussion which draws on Asbestos, Its Industrial Applications, D.V. Rosato, engineering consultant, Newton, MA, Reinhold Publishing, 1959 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 59-12535 (out of print).
• Building Research Council, BRC, nee Small Homes Council, SHC, School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, brc.arch.uiuc.edu. "The Small Homes Council (our original name) was organized in 1944 during the war at the request of the President of the University of Illinois to consider the role of the university in meeting the demand for housing in the United States. Soldiers would be coming home after the war and would be needing good low-cost housing. ...  In 1993, the Council became part of the School of Architecture, and since then has been known as the School of Architecture-Building Research Council. ... The Council's researchers answered many critical questions that would affect the quality of the nation's housing stock.
  • How could homes be designed and built more efficiently?
  • What kinds of construction and production techniques worked well and which did not?
  • How did people use different kinds of spaces in their homes?
  • What roles did community planning, zoning, and interior design play in how neighborhoods worked?
• "Hurricane Damage to Residential Structures: Risk and Mitigation", Jon K. Ayscue, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, published by the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, November 1996. Abstract:
  "Property damage and loss from hurricanes have increased with population growth in coastal areas, and climatic factors point to more frequent and intense hurricanes in the future. This paper describes potential hurricane hazards from wind and water. Damage to residential structures from three recent intense hurricanes - Hugo, Andrew, and Iniki - shows that wind is responsible for greater property loss than water. The current state-of-the-art building technology is sufficient to reduce damage from hurricanes when properly applied, and this paper discusses those building techniques that can mitigate hurricane damage and recommends measures for mitigating future hurricane damage to homes." - online at www.colorado.edu/hazards/publications/wp/wp94/wp94.html
• "Evaluating OSB for Coastal Roofs," Paul Fisette, Coastal Contractor, Winter 2005, online at coastalcontractor.net/pdf/2005/0501/0501eval.pdf . Fisette cites: "Jose Mitrani, a civil engineer and professor at Florida. International University in Miami, was ... Florida’s official damage assessment team. ... After Hurricane Andrew, Florida code advisers ruled OSB sheathing inferior to plywood
• Isham: "An Example of Colonial Paneling", Norman Morrison Isham, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 5 (May, 1911), pp. 112-116, available by JSTOR.
• OSB: "Evaluating OSB for Coastal Roofs," Paul Fisette, Coastal Contractor, Winter 2005, online at coastalcontractor.net/pdf/2005/0501/0501eval.pdf . Fisette cites: "Jose Mitrani, a civil engineer and professor at Florida. International University in Miami, was ... Florida’s official damage assessment team. ... After Hurricane Andrew, Florida code advisers ruled OSB sheathing inferior to plywood."
• Manufactured & Modular Homes: Modular Building Systems Association, MBSA, modularhousing.com, is a trade association promoting and providing links to contact modular builders in North America. Also see the Manufactured Home Owners Association, MHOAA, at www.mhoaa.us. The Manufactured Home Owners Association of America is a National Organization dedicated to the protection of the rights of all people living in Manufactured Housing in the United States.
• Pergo AB, division of Perstorp AB, is a Swedish manufacturer or modern laminate flooring products. Information about the U.S. company can be found at http://www.pergo.com where we obtained historical data used in our discussion of the age of flooring materials in buildings.
• Plank House Construction: Yuroak Plankhouse - plank houses were built by native Americans, see
  Large 1:6 Scale Plank House Construction / P8094228, Photographer: Mike Meuser , 06/12/2007 documented at yurokplankhouse.com where scale model Museum quality Yurok Plank Houses are being sold to raise money for the Blue Creek - Ah Pah Traditional Yurok Village project:
  

  The earth and its peoples are facing multiple threats. Indigenous people always suffer the worst during these times. The Yurok people are threatened from without by the effects of climate change, diversions of their waters, collapse of the Salmon population, unaffordable energy, land takings and misuse. They are threatened from within by drugs, alcohol, cultural disintegration.

  The Yurok people once lived within a network of sustainable self-sufficient villages. Our village will find solutions to today's problems and their effects and serve as an example for others to follow through becoming self-sufficient and sustainable, cultural preservation and renewal, community building, ecological stewardship and individual renewal and healing.

• Radiographic Inspection of Plank-House Construction, Mary Joan Kevlin, Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1986), pp. 40-47
• Indian houses of Puget Sound, Waterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot) and Greiner, Ruth, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1921
• Scott C. LeMarr has provided his file of keys to decode Furnace and Water Heater Age from the data provided on the manufacturer's equipment labels. Mr. LeMarr is a professional home inspector, Certified Professional Inspector/President, MASTER Indoor Environmental Specialist (MIES). Vice President of Wisconsin NACHI. He and his company, Honest Home Inspections, LLC. can be reached at 262-424-5587 or by email to scott@honesthomeinspections.com
• Weaver: Beaver Board and Upson Board: Beaver Board and Upson Board: History and Conservation of Early Wallboard, Shelby Weaver, APT Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 2/3 (1997), pp. 71-78, Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), available online at JSTOR.

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