Best House Framing Systems for Building a Home

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Wood framing can produce buildings with curved- or straight-wall designs.
Wood framing can produce buildings with curved- or straight-wall designs.
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Straw-bale builders “upcycle” crop plant fibers into well-insulated, locally-sourced walls.
Straw-bale builders “upcycle” crop plant fibers into well-insulated, locally-sourced walls.
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A clay and straw mixture forms the cob infill for a homeowner’s stud-framed wall.
A clay and straw mixture forms the cob infill for a homeowner’s stud-framed wall.
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Builders can produce compressed earth blocks (CEBs) using local soil.
Builders can produce compressed earth blocks (CEBs) using local soil.
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Cordwood builders use spare wood pieces to create unique, structurally sound wall designs.
Cordwood builders use spare wood pieces to create unique, structurally sound wall designs.
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Conventional, wooden stud-framing and concrete foundations generally meet building code requirements.
Conventional, wooden stud-framing and concrete foundations generally meet building code requirements.
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Builders can choose improved wood frame designs like dense-pack cellulose insulation over fiberglass.
Builders can choose improved wood frame designs like dense-pack cellulose insulation over fiberglass.

In the sustainable home building industry, many prospective homeowners want to make environmentally friendly choices, but struggle to make sense of a building industry that labels every house framing option as “green.” For environmentally conscious builders, like me, sustainable construction encompasses many factors, including ecosystem impacts, carbon footprint, material waste, energy efficiency, cost, durability and indoor air quality. Ultimately, those sustainability considerations must mesh with practical concerns, such as labor, building compliance, and material sourcing and availability. One measurement that helps builders and future homeowners compare various materials’ environmental impact, embodied energy (EE), totals the amount of energy invested in a product during sourcing, shipping and installation. Further, when sustainable home builders include the energy associated with a material’s use and disposal, or that product’s “downstream,” they have completed a life cycle impact assessment. Now, no house framing system — neither cob, compressed earth blocks, straw bale, nor wood frame — scores top marks in all criteria, and embodied energy and life cycle analyses differ based on site-specific circumstances, so homebuilders must determine their priorities and make choices that best reflect those goals. One size never fits all in green building.

House framing systems are often the first thing an owner-builder wants to discuss. And no wonder: Walls support the windows and doors that physically define a space, play a crucial role in a home’s energy efficiency, and dominate a building’s aesthetic.

To help homeowners refine their ideas into buildable homes, I created these charts: Wall-Framing Systems and
Conventional vs. Improved Wood Framing. The charts compare five house framing systems systems according to 11 criteria, and show how each system rates relative to the others. Many people assume that alternative wall systems (such as straw bale, cob and compressed earth block) are more sustainable choices, but if you study this chart, you’ll see that wood-framed walls perform well when paired with improved materials.

Straw Bale Building

  • Published on Jan 7, 2016
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