half-timbered construction

half-timbered construction

Building construction in which all supporting and bracing members are heavy timbers as in the medieval system of braced timber framing of a house; to provide additional rigidity and better thermal insulation, the space between the structural timbers is usually filled with brick or filled with plaster, wattle-and-daub, or a nogging consisting of clay (often taken from the cellar excavation) mixed with chopped straw to act as a binder. Also see columbage, fachwerk, false half-timbering, pierotage.