North Woods, Houses




	Houses Each house completed to date has been individually designed to meet the client’s brief and distinctive nature of sites. The size has ranged from 110 sqm to 210 sqm of floor area. In each case, the brief has called for more than straightforward living space. The ground floor of one house is entirely give over to a weaver’s workshop. Another house is specifically designed for commercial holiday lets. We specialize in unusual and complex requirements. The primary structure of all houses is a heavily insulated timber frame, the majority with recycled newsprint (Warmcel) but the most recent with sheep’s wool (Thermafleece). Most houses feature an internally expressed timber post and beam frame in the main living space — but the private spaces are more economically stud-framed. Insulation far exceeds minimum standards and underfloor heating helps to keep energy use to a minimum. A recent house utilizes a ground source heat pump drawing water from a well drilled into bedrock. Extensive glazing provides passive solar heating which requires special consideration in a region with steep and sometimes overshadowing hillsides as well as frequent cloud cover.
	All houses are clad in home-grown softwood, usually European larch, and this is often stained to add colour to designs and increase durability. We have become highly experienced in the detailing of timber cladding for the extreme environments in which we work. Aluminium trim is often used as part of this detailing. Roofs are usually metal for economy, colour ,simple clarity of line but also because they deal with wind-driven rain better than tiled type roofs.