Plan your energy-efficient prefabricated timber house with Hanse Haus
timber house
The timber houses from Hanse Haus are prefabricated houses that are built using a timber frame and beam construction method. From the outside, you cannot always tell whether it is a timber house or not. There are also solid houses with wooden facades and the majority of modern timber houses are plastered these days. You can find all our prefabricated timber house designs in our catalogue, which you can request here free of charge.
What is a timber house?
Definition
A timber house is defined by its load-bearing timber frames. Unlike a solid house, the load is not distributed across solid walls, but is carried by a timber construction. This construction method is called timber frame construction and is implemented in different designs, for example in log houses or in a “Umgebindehaus” that combines log house, timber framing and stone construction methods.
Nowadays, a modern timber house is usually implemented as a prefabricated house. Like most prefabricated timber houses in Germany, the houses from Hanse Haus are built using timber frame and beam construction methods.
Why you should choose a timber house
Advantages and disadvantages
of a timber house
Energy-efficient construction
Wood is a traditional building material and at the same time meets modern requirements. Without much effort, timber houses fulfil the conditions of the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV).
In itself, wood is a material with excellent thermal insulation properties. This makes wood ideal as the basis for a building envelope through which hardly any heat is lost to the outside.
For example, high energy standards can be achieved with the multi-layered wall structure of Hanse Haus prefabricated houses in a timber panel construction. In combination with the appropriate, efficient heating technology, modern timber houses require less energy for heating.
2. Sustainability and the environment
Wood, the natural raw material, is grown in Germany and from sustainable forestry. Every year, much more wood grows back than is consumed.
In comparison with bricks, which are also made from natural raw materials, the energy balance of wood is better. The energy required to produce materials such as bricks, concrete or glass is much higher than for wooden building materials. Wood can also keep up with other building materials in terms of durability.
With its excellent CO² values, wood brings with it another unique property. Because trees absorb and bind climate-damaging carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, solid wood is the only wall-building material that is CO² neutral and thus very climate-friendly. The CO² emissions caused by the transportation and processing of the raw material can be reduced by using native wood from regional stocks.
Furthermore, wood is completely recyclable. Wood waste from clearing and processing can be reused or rots naturally. At Hanse Haus, wood chips from production are used to power the heating systems in our factories.
Hanse Haus uses around 30 cubic metres of spruce wood for an average detached house – an amount that grows back in German forests in just 23 seconds.
So while you have been reading these few lines, the wood required for a detached house has already grown back again.
Variety of planning options
Almost any dream house can be built as a timber house. The fact that timber frame construction requires only thin walls means that up to ten percent more usable living space can be created, with the same level of thermal insulation, as with other building materials.
The characteristics of timber walls also provide more freedom in planning the house and designing the floor plan.
Implementation in prefabricated construction
More and more builders in Germany are turning to prefabricated houses. In 2021 the proportion of timber prefabricated houses in building permits for detached and semi-detached houses was higher than ever before at 23.1%. In addition to the positive characteristics of a timber house, the prefabricated construction method brings with it many advantages.
- The individual elements of a prefabricated house are pre-constructed in the factory and assembled on the building site in a short amount of time. The high degree of prefabrication means that construction is not dependent on the weather. The roof of a prefabricated house from Hanse Haus is rainproof after just two to three days.
- In many cases, different expansion stages are offered, which include differing services depending on the prefabricated house provider. Furthermore, the planning and design of a prefabricated house can be individually adapted to your ideas and needs, just as is the case with a bricks and mortar house.
- Many prefabricated house manufacturers, including Hanse Haus, offer advice, construction and coordination from a single source. This ensures relaxed house building and fixed, manageable building costs.
Build for healthy living
Due to its open-pored structure, wood can absorb and release moisture. In this way, the humidity in the wooden house is constantly regulated in a natural manner and a pleasant indoor climate is created.
The healthy living environment in a timber house also has a health-promoting effect for allergy sufferers and asthmatics.
Energy-efficient construction
Wood is load-bearing and very stable, but also an elastic building material. At the same time, it is lighter than other building materials such as steel and concrete. Because of its lighter weight, a particularly high load-bearing capacity of the soil is not necessary to build a wooden house. Wooden houses are therefore also suitable for properties with difficult soil conditions.
Thanks to building regulations, any worries about fire protection in wooden houses are also unfounded. The same legal fire protection regulations apply to timber houses as they do to houses of solid construction. Almost every single component of the house is subject to a fire protection standard.
Timber house disadvantages
Wood ‘works’
Wood is a natural raw material that reacts to changes in temperature and humidity throughout the year. This is referred to as the wood ‘working’. This characteristic is not necessarily a disadvantage, but it must be taken into account during the planning phase so that there is enough room for the material to move. This is particularly important, for example, when laying cables or pipes.
Wood & Moisture
Wooden houses are particularly sensitive to standing water and permanent dampness. If there is major water damage, damp wooden walls require more expensive renovation work than brick walls. Regular maintenance is necessary to protect exposed timber from the weather, and also from pests.
Sound insulation
Compared to a timber house, a solid house has better sound-insulating properties. For the usual noise load, the sound insulation of prefabricated timber houses is usually completely sufficient. There are also ways to improve the sound insulation. In this way, particularly quiet rooms where concentration is paramount can be created.
How much does it cost to build a timber house?
Timber house prices
In terms of construction costs, there is no fundamental difference between a timber house and a brick house. Rather, the costs for building a house depend on a wide range of factors and vary from house to house.
At Hanse Haus, each prefabricated wooden house is planned, implemented and equipped individually according to the wishes of the homeowner. This ultimately results in the costs being unique to each and every house building project.
Size of the timber house
The size of the footprint of a house is one of the most important cost factors. Therefore, it is worthwhile to weigh up how many rooms you actually need and how large they should be.
With a well thought-out floor plan and clever planning details, you can save square metres and thus reduce the construction costs, while the timber house still offers full living comfort.
Expansion stages
Anyone who wants to have a timber house built, can often choose a level of expansion stage and thus determine whether and which work is to be carried out themselves.
At Hanse Haus, we offer the expansion phases: bare-bone house, technology-ready, almost ready and turnkey ready. The construction stages require craftsmanship and enough time, but offer a good opportunity to save costs. A turnkey timber house is finished ready to move in, but is also more expensive.
Roof shape
The choice of roof shape also has an impact on the cost of timber houses.
The gable roof, the mono-pitch roof and the flat roof are all simpler in their construction and thus usually cheaper to implement than a hip roof or a pyramid hip roof.
Construction method
From the log house to the prefabricated wooden house to the timber-framed house, there are many ways to implement the dream of a wooden house.
There are also differences in price depending on which timber house suppliers take on the project.
Energy efficiency
The final cost of building a timber house also depends on the energy efficiency standard that is to be achieved.
Even if particularly efficient, sustainable house and heating technology is used, this initially involves relatively high costs. However, this investment is worthwhile and pays off in the long term.
Planning and architecture
A glazed bay window, a dwarf gable, a large roof terrace, a spacious basement or two full storeys?
Although planning many extras adds value to the living comfort in a timber house, they also make themselves felt in the construction costs.
Design and fittings
Design details such as a fireplace, a bench window, real wood floors, facade cladding or a fancy front door also add to the costs.
Here, too, it is worth weighing up which wishes are worth the extra cost.
Be inspired by our timber house designs
Modern timber house
Modern timber houses leave nothing to be desired. From the size of the facade design to the roof shape, the most diverse variants can be implemented. As inspiration, our architects have already designed a few proposals, which will give you an insight into the diversity of planning possibilities at Hanse Haus.
We will show you which creative and individually designed customer houses have already been built – for example, on our Instagram channel or in our Home Stories section.
Comfortable living on one floor
bungalow
Whether for a family with children or as a cosy home in old age – a single-storey timber bungalow is the perfect home for anyone who wants to live comfortably on one floor and also offers the best conditions for barrier-free planning.
Take a look at our Bungalow 148 design proposal as an example, which offers many extras due to its practical room layout across 148 m².
Space for the whole family
detached house
Are you planning a house for your family? With a gable roof, as a modern urban villa or on a hillside plot – a timber house as a detached house offers a wide range of possibilities. The result is a home that is perfectly tailored to your wishes and your family’s everyday life.
Our design proposal for Variant 45-154 with a steep gable roof and 139 m² of living space, for example, shows what a detached house in timber construction can look like.
Bring nature into the house by adding a conservatory or bay window, or extend the living room outside with a covered terrace
A bay window.
A terrace.
Who wouldn’t want that? Bring a bit of nature into the house? Our Hanse Haus prefabricated houses are flexible. Many of our house suggestions make it very easy to plan an extension.
For some houses we have developed planning options that are particularly suited to them. However, there are (almost) no limits to a home’s design: adding a conservatory, bay window or terrace is almost always possible.
For example, we have planned a bay window for our Urban Villa 134 or our Cubus 148. An optional conservatory can be added on both sides of our Semi-Detached House 139, and with Semi-Detached House 131 a covered loggia upstairs protects the terrace on the ground floor from rain.
Second living unit, many possible uses
with annexe
As rental space, as living space for grandparents or your own children, or even as an office space, a second living unit in your timber house creates a lot of flexibility and can also make a valuable contribution to house finances.
In our Duo 210 prefabricated house design, the 44 m² annexe is integrated into the structure and has a separate house entrance.
Spacious living in a modern timber house
villa
Whether a Mediterranean Tuscany-style house or a modern city villa, timber houses in this style have in common that they offer a lot of space to feel at home in on two full storeys. Detached houses, apartment buildings and houses with a granny annexe can all be built in this style. Most wooden houses in the villa style have a hipped or pyramid hip roof.
The versatile possibilities of such a timber house, with 168 m² of total living space, can be seen in the Villa 174 house design. At the Prefabricated House World exhibition in the Black Forest, we present this city villa with a gable roof as a show house.
Several living units under one roof
multi-family house
Plan your timber house as a two-family or multi-family house and create plenty of living space under one roof – whether as a multi-generational house, shared with friends or with a separate apartment to rent out. There are numerous design options regarding the size and the layout of the living units.
An example of a multi-family house is our Duo 315 design. In the modern timber prefabricated house, two living units of approximately the same size are arranged next to each other.
This is what floors plans of timber houses can look like
floor plans
- In the case of a timber house built with timber panels, the floor space can be used optimally due to the thin wall thickness and there is lots of freedom in the design of the floor plan.
- Modern, open living concepts can be implemented in a timber house. These days, the living, dining and cooking area in particular are planned openly and as a spacious room with flowing transitions.
To ensure that the room layout of your wooden house suits you and your everyday life, every floor plan in Hanse Haus prefabricated houses is planned individually. Let our architects’ clever floor plan suggestions inspire you!
Discover our best prefabricated timber houses
dream houses
Request without obligation & free of charge our prefabricated house catalog with detailed information about the company as well as all house designs or construction performance and equipment descriptions. In addition, you will find the prices for our campaign houses in our campaign brochure.