Greater Chicagoland Home Inspection's new blog, "Life at the OLD Homestead" is meant as a primer forthose interested in intricacies of old homes. I love old homes...I love inspecting them, I love restoring them, I love living in them. This is dedicated to that passion, and hopefully will shed some light on some of the finer points of these time capsules.
Determining the age of a residence, Part 3
Wood Framing and Dating
Most wood framed houses in the history of the United States fall into three categories: Timber, balloon and platform. Prior to the early 19th century, timber framing was most widely used in home building.
Timber framing is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber carved and jointed together with various joints, but most commonly originally via lap jointing, and then later pegged mortise and tenon joints. Diagonal bracing is used to prevent movement of structural vertical beams or posts. Timber framing was an expensive venture, which made it difficult to afford for the increasing working class population.
The oldest known home in the US that was built by a timber frame method is the Fairbanks house in Massachusetts, built in 1636, and this framing method was primarily used until the early 1800's.
In the early 1800's the A call for more affordable housing for the population lead to the switch to balloon framing
In balloon framing, the wall studs extend from the sill of the first floor all the way to the top plate or rafter of the second floor. Both the wall studs and the floor joists rest on a sill anchored to the foundation. The studs (at the time actual 2" x 4" in width and depth, unlike the modern 2X4, measuring 1 ¾" by 3¾") and joists typically are toe-nailed to the sill.
While this method is considered extremely sturdy (as evidenced by the number of 75-150 year old homes still in existence), the term "balloon frame" was actually derogatory. The balloon frame, critics claimed, was destined to blow away in a strong wind. Most critics were the earlier timber frame builders. The plague of the balloon frame house was not the wind, rather fire.
The lack of fire-stops in wall cavities between the first and second floor made it difficult to contain fire. In most areas, current building codes require that fire-stops be used in balloon framing to prevent the spread of fire through open wall passages -- although they may or may not be present in older houses. The balloon frame was discontinued as the preferred method of home building in the early 1950's.
After 1950, platform frame construction became widely used throughout the United States. Platform framing allowed builders to build up several stories, since the studs are only a story high, unlike balloon framing which studs continue to the top sill. In platform framing, the floor joists for each story rests on the top plate of the story below and the bearing walls and partitions rest on the subfloor of each story.
While this is a general way to date your house, it is very helpful if you are between time periods.
Next Blog: How Old is My House? A Greater Chicagoland Home Inspection Primer Pt 4: Other ways to date your home
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