house construction

[Pocky-man]

i'm totally confused about what the difference is between a japanese 2x4 4x2 whichever and a 2x4 4x2 glued and nailed together.

can someone explain...........

in my country we made many stud partitions using 2x4 sawn wood, easy to get and cheap to use.

[myhobbyis]

Hi Pocky-man,

Can't quite work out your request, you wrote

i'm totally confused about what the difference is between a japanese 2x4 4x2 whichever and a 2x4 4x2 glued and nailed together

a '2x4 glued and nailed together' is just that ?
Some timber put together with glue and nails the other isn't?


Do you mean the difference between the Japanese use of 2x4 and other countries?

If so I understand your confusion and remember experiencing the same confusion when I was looking into log housing last year.

As far as I can work out:

Certainly in Britain, the 2x4 is a standard timber with the cross cut dimensions being 2"x4" (although actually 1 1/2" width to 3 1/2"height).
Those dimensions don't change.


In Japan,
it's commonly used to talk about a house with wood frame construction, which is a hell of a lot of houses. It particulalry comes up with property that has a European or American/Canadian feel to it though　(you often see it with the kanji 欧米, 北米　or 北欧 not far away).

I thought it may be used as a lumber profile ratio of 2 width to 4 height (2:4), so the timber dimension may vary but the profile remains constant but I don't think even this is true. I think if you walked into a DIY store and talked about 2x4 in terms of a piece of timber confusion would arise because they'd think you were talking about house construction.

Here's an example of it's use by a log house company:

Talo Log Housing

表面を2x4や軸組工法で仕上げる仕上げるログハウス

And here's info from Wikipedia Japan:

木造枠組壁構法

まったく同じものを指すものではない

Hope that helps.

[karamatsu]

I don't know the answer for certain, but will post this with the hope that someone who does will confirm or correct it.

The "2 by 4" houses Japanese people refer to are what is called "platform construction" in (American) English. With this method, the walls are load-bearing and no dedicated frame is provided unless there are large internal spans. The walls tend to be made out of standard 2x4 or 2x6 lumber as studs that are then braced hopefully with thick plywood, but in some cases with OSB or other "more glue than wood" type materials. Since the walls are load bearing, you can't have huge openings in them.

Japanese buildings generally use post and beam where the load is supported by a frame made of wood or steel. The walls don't support the roof and merely keep out the cold. You can have "car showroom" sized openings if you like. The frame needs to be engineered and skilfully joined together. No simple nail guns here.

In an earthquake, platform construction is stronger. It is also stronger in a fire, since a compromised frame will bring a whole PnB house down. For light and space, open plan layouts, and future modifications, a PnB design wins hands down. Air infiltration and insulation performance depend on how each house is built and finished. I can see how either could be intrinsically better. 2x6 means more insulation than 2x4, however.

There is a fair chance that what some Japanese builders sell as "2x4" is greatly compromised compared to what decent builders put up overseas.

[edin日本]

I was perusing the selections over on my favourite bit torrent site and found this

http://www.demonoid.com/files/?categ...gs&uid=0&sort=

I thought it would be useful as well as eye opening for many of the people who want to live self sufficiently out in the country.

[Gay Archer Boy]

I was perusing the selections over on my favourite bit torrent site and found this

http://www.demonoid.com/files/?categ...gs&uid=0&sort=

I thought it would be useful as well as eye opening for many of the people who want to live self sufficiently out in the country.

Well I own a restaurant and properties in West Tokyo

I guess I was lucky--even though I came from a working class background. And the reality is, money does by class--in addition to my Alfa Romeo and 3ldk in Nishi-Azabu (plus the 2dk in Hiroo which I rent out). .

If you want any more fantasist bullshit, just ask me

[edin日本]

Well I own a restaurant and properties in West Tokyo

What does this have to do with house construction?