Last night's (Wed 09 October 2013) Grand Designs on Channel 4 featured a house building project using Japanese larch sourced from Phytophthora ramorum fellings in Wales.
Includes apparently surprising timber strength-grading findings.
Available on line at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/4od
Tamayo Hussey has missed Japan ever since she moved to the UK with her husband Nigel. To stave off the homesickness they've decided to transform a forester's lodge into a Japanese house complete with roof bath, tatami room and sliding paper walls.
Keen to keep costs under control, Nigel and Tamayo decide to engage only the design skills of an architect and with no previous building experience they bravely go it alone, working without any detailed drawings and fire-fighting problems every step of the way.
The wood they're using for the timber frame - Japanese larch - hasn't been used for building houses before in the UK, so no one can be sure it will be strong enough, the new interior walls don't meet properly and the replacement window design can't cope with the rain.
But Nigel and Tamayo are determined to overcome any obstacle to get the Japanese house they're so desperate for.
Comments
Apparently the Japanese Larch is super strong, perhaps timber frame builders should be looking into using the fellings for construction.