KIT HOMES
Tailored to fit with a kit You decided to build your own home to get exactly what you want and there are kits waiting for you to do just that – be it ‘off the peg,’ slight alterations to suit or your own, personally designed product – your new home will be perfect for you
Above: Today’s timber frame kit is light years ahead of the original designs of 40 years ago in terms of looks, computer-aided construction and insulating materials. A true building revolution and Scotland helped lead the way.
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it homes, be they timber, modular, SIPS, clad in wood, brick, stone or harling, are ready and waiting for you. Computer-aided design and build sees the traditional trades working with the most sophisticated plans and materials to create cost-effective and ecologically-sound kit homes to erect and run. Scotland is in love with timber-frame kits. The ease of construction, good cost ratios and the fact that so much can be done off-site to get a property weather tight as quickly as possible on-site, has seen the timber frame kit of today evolve from what was considered a radical idea 40-years ago. Compared to a traditional brick-build, timber-frame can be more expensive up front, as you enter into a contract to buy the kit, but this is balanced by the shorter construction time. When it comes to eco-friendliness, today’s materials and construction techniques mean a smaller difference in the carbon footprint. Today more than 85 per cent of all new homes in Scotland
are built using wood; nearly three times more then the rest of mainland UK. Meanwhile extensive tree planting, plus research and development of woodbased products is going ahead to redress that fact that only one-third or so of the timber-built homes in Scotland are made out of home-grown wood. Timber-frame companies all have their own designs and these can be modified to suit your needs and the dictates of your site. Or they can work with your architect to create your own unique vision. Some of the UK’s longest established and most experienced timber frame companies are here in Scotland – this love affair with wood will run and run. ABODE MAGAZINE |
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