Single Wall vs Double Wall Construction

[adias]

morganlady, I am envious. No Roaches in the walls either!!! ;-)



Edited by - adias on 06/12/2007 14:59:02

[Carey]

Morganlady, in Keaau, the last really damaging earthquake is the one in 1975 (32 years ago).

[haoleboy]

I like the old single wall stuff also. However, if I were to build new... I would seriously think about using that Castleblock system that Rob sells.

And Kathy, you couldn't offend me if you tried.Your house looks sweet.

Aloha
Richwhiteboy

"It's a little bit cheezy, but it's nicely displayed."-Frank Zappa

[haoleboy]

Frank Zappa, RIP. Probably didn't agree with any of his social or political opinions, but his his music was great and his lyrics and quotes are hilarious.

Aloha
Richwhiteboy

"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it."-
Frank Zappa

[David M]

Nice house Kathy - especially liked the floors.
Are you selling?
Hope to see your cabin pics.

David

Ninole Resident

[Les C]

I have some thoughts to add. Caveat, I am not a builder, never have built any houses. I've only had a housemate who was a "wood butcher" in CA and helped hang rock and run some electrical.

I grew up in Honolulu, mostly in a brand new single-wall constructed house, built c. 1956. I think it was redwood, the interior walls turned grey, as my parents chose not to stain, paint, or finish. It's still pretty sturdy, is standing, and my brother lives in it. It's located in the Kaimuki-Waialae area, so the climate is relatively dry. I don't have a recollection that it was noisy, probably because I grew up in that scenario, a busy street down from a super market.

The electrical cables were hidden in channel molding with surface mount switchboxes and receptacles. The ceilings were (and still are!) Canec board. I don't think I ever experienced an earthquake on O'ahu, so I can't address that.

What I have heard as a drawback of single-walled construction was recently from a hurricane scientist. He said that he would not choose to stay in his house when a hurricane threatened to hit if it was a single-wall construct. It appears that his work has revealed that single-walled houses don't hold up to hurricane winds as well as double-walled houses do. I don't know how well-founded his information was, he's a climatologist/meteorologist, not a builder. But he's obviously studied the results of hurricanes.

It does appear that the Islands are more subject to destructive hurricanes than earthquakes. So, I think that should be the disaster you should consider for your home decisions. Regarding my parents' home, Honolulu hasn't been hit squarely by a hurricane in recent history, so it hasn't been tested in that way.

Edited by - Les C on 06/17/2007 17:27:05

[Francesca]

Does anyone know of a carpenter who knows how to build single wall construction homes to code?

[Hotzcatz]

There are actually several different styles of single wall construction. What Leilaniguy has been describing is technically "post and beam" construction since it has the 4" x 4" posts with the beam across the top. Another method of single wall construction doesn't have the 4" x 4" posts at all but has vertical boards supporting the whole structure. They are generally face nailed to the side of the floor framing. Sometimes the vertical boards are tongue and groove, sometimes they are board and batten. The false "board and batten" you see on new construction is trying to mimic the old true board and batten houses, but the new construction folks put the false battens at 16" on center when the old board and batten houses used 12" wide boards at the widest and sometimes on 6" wide boards. Some of these houses had a belly band on the inside but not the outside of the house, some had it on the outside instead of the inside, some had it on both sides, some of the later ones had two exterior belly bands.

Also in these old plantation houses, the floor was made of tongue and groove boards and not sheets of plywood.

Last year I did three sets of plans for single wall houses. One had plank flooring and vertical 2" x 6" tongue and groove walls and double hung true multi-pane windows. She also installed a claw foot tub which seemed like a lovely touch.

[Francesca]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Hotzcatz

There are actually several different styles of single wall construction. What Leilaniguy has been describing is technically "post and beam" construction since it has the 4" x 4" posts with the beam across the top. Another method of single wall construction doesn't have the 4" x 4" posts at all but has vertical boards supporting the whole structure. They are generally face nailed to the side of the floor framing. Sometimes the vertical boards are tongue and groove, sometimes they are board and batten. The false "board and batten" you see on new construction is trying to mimic the old true board and batten houses, but the new construction folks put the false battens at 16" on center when the old board and batten houses used 12" wide boards at the widest and sometimes on 6" wide boards. Some of these houses had a belly band on the inside but not the outside of the house, some had it on the outside instead of the inside, some had it on both sides, some of the later ones had two exterior belly bands.

Also in these old plantation houses, the floor was made of tongue and groove boards and not sheets of plywood.

Last year I did three sets of plans for single wall houses. One had plank flooring and vertical 2" x 6" tongue and groove walls and double hung true multi-pane windows. She also installed a claw foot tub which seemed like a lovely touch.

---

Hotzcatz, Do you happen to know who built the single-wall homes you designed? We're trying to find someone with experience building this sort of home to build ours, but so far no luck.

Thanks!

[Hotzcatz]

Aloha Adias,

There is more than one way to build a single wall structure. Plantation houses used about three basic framing methods usually with several decades for each style depending on what materials were available. I have heard there is a fellow up in Waimea who is writing a book on the different construction methods, but I don't know if he ever finished it or published it.

One of the earliest methods of single wall construction on the island of Hawaii uses vertical board and batten construction. On the older examples, the vertical boards were twelve inches wide and one inch thick by about ten feet long. These houses were referred to as "twelve by ones" because of the size of the siding. The 4" x 4" posts were set on big sturdy rocks, no termite pans, braced with 2" x 4"s and the floor framing could be any size depending on how far the posts were spaced apart and how big the floor beams were. Sometimes they used 2" x 4" floor joists. The flooring was usually 1" thick planks from 6" to 12" wide. The nicer houses had T & G planks the rougher houses just had planks. The vertical wall siding was 1" x 12" planks at least ten feet long face nailed to the double end and rim floor joists. There was a belly band which was usually a 2" x 3". On the older examples, the belly band was just on the inside, then it was on the outside, sometimes inside and outside and in later examples there were two exterior belly bands. The belly bands are to keep the siding boards in line with each other. There are also small battens between each vertical siding board on the inside and the outside to cover the gaps. There is a sill plate up at the top of the siding which the roof trusses rest on and the ceiling is hung from the bottom of the roof trusses. Those trusses were frequently made of 2" x 4"s and spaced at 4' o.c. with 2" x 3" battens spaced at 24" apart. Tim metal roofing on top and you've got a house. The plumbing is either under the house or runs along the outside. This method of construction would have been used from approximately 1880 to 1920. After the wide boards became harder to find they started using narrower vertical boards and then went to horizontal T & G siding with the post and beam support structure to hang it on.

If the walls are made of 2" thick material instead of the 1" thick which was common on the early examples a modern single wall house can be constructed which will be quieter than many folks may have previously experienced. Placement on lot, design of living spaces and landscaping can also be used to provide a quiet house.

There's a housewarming for a single wall house which I drew the plans for last year coming up on the twentieth of this month. I'll keep in mind the concerns expressed here and see how they match a newly constructed single wall house.