BALLOON

FRAMING
STRUCTURE
 Balloon framing is a method of wood construction – also known as "Chicago
construction" in the 19th century – used primarily in areas rich
in softwood forests: Scandinavia, Canada, the United States , and
around Thetford Forest in Norfolk, England.
 It uses long continuous framing members (studs) that run from the sill
plate to the top plate, with intermediate floor structures let into and nailed to
them. Here the heights of window sills, headers and next floor height would
be marked out on the studs . Once popular when long lumber was plentiful,
balloon framing has been largely replaced by platform framing.

 It is not certain who introduced balloon framing in the United States.

However, the first building using balloon framing was possibly a warehouse
constructed in 1832 in Chicago, Illinois, by George Washington Snow. In
1833, Augustine Taylor (1796–1891) constructed St. Mary's Catholic Church
in Chicago using the balloon framing method.
 In the 1830s, Hoosier Solon Robinson published articles about a
revolutionary new framing system, called "balloon framing" by later builders.
Robinson's system called for standard 2x4 lumber, nailed together to form a
sturdy, light skeleton. Builders were reluctant to adopt the new technology,
however, by the 1880s, some form of 2x4 framing was standard.
 The name comes from a French Missouri type of
construction, maison en boulin, boulin being a
French term for a horizontal scaffolding support.
 Historians have also fabricated the following
story:
 As Taylor was constructing his first such
building, St. Mary's Church, in 1833, skilled
carpenters looked on at the comparatively thin
framing members, all held together with nails,
and declared this method of construction to be
no more substantial than a balloon. It would
surely blow over in the next wind! Though the
criticism proved baseless, the name stuck.

 Although lumber was plentiful in 19th-century

America, skilled labor was not. The advent of
cheap machine-made nails, along with water-
powered sawmills in the early 19th century made
balloon framing highly attractive, because it did
not require highly skilled carpenters, as did A very unusual example of balloon
the dovetail joints, mortises and tenons required framing: The Jim Kaney Round
by post-and-beam construction. For the first Barn, Adeline, Illinois, U.S.A.
time, any farmer could build his own buildings
without a time-consuming learning curve.
 Balloon framing is a style of wood-house building
that uses long, vertical 2" x 4"studs for the exterior
walls. These long "studs" extend uninterrupted,
from the sill on top of the foundation, all the way
up to the roof. When it first came into use, well
before the mid-nineteenth century, it was a
radically different type of construction from the
"timber frame”. The earlier style timber framing
used large timbers interlocked with chiseled joints
(mostly mortise and tenons) secured with wood
pegs. The balloon frame relies solely on nails to
secure each piece. The only chiseling is for the
horizontal boards that support upper level floor
joists, the diagonal boards, or for corner braces
that are "let in" to the studs so as to be flush with
the wall surface.

 There certainly are many, many balloon-framed

structures, between 75 and 175 years old, that
haven't floated away. When balloon framing first
appeared, there's certainly plenty of evidence that
there was disdain for this new type of construction.
Many of those only familiar with the heavy timber
framing of earlier times felt it would be suitable
only for temporary structures. Some also assumed
this type of framing could only be used in
utilitarian, box-like buildings.
 At first, most balloon framed buildings were rather plain and simple. This may
be at least partly due to the architects and designers of that time ignoring the
potential for new forms that could be created with the lighter frames. Another
likely reason is, the simpler framing method made it easier for settlers to new
rural communities spreading west, farmers and others, not trained in the
joinery of timbers, to quickly construct simple dwellings with the machine-
made, standardized lumber and nails.

 As this method of construction became more popular, it gradually gained

acceptance from designers and was eventually used in the construction of
many diverse and even very complex structural designs of the late Victorian
period.

 Balloon framed buildings are certainly lighter than those built with the earlier
braced frame method, but ,they have survived quite well. Most have very thick
planks for the exterior sheathing, nailed either perpendicular or diagonal to
the exterior wall studs, significantly strengthening the framing.
 The creation of a path for fire to readily travel from floor to floor. This is
mitigated with the use of firestops, now called fireblocks, at each floor level.
 The lack of a working platform for work on upper floors. Whereas workers
can readily reach the top of the walls being erected with platform framing,
balloon construction requires scaffolding to reach the tops of the walls
(which are often two or three stories above the working platform).
 The requirement for long framing members.
 Present-day balloon framing buildings often have higher heating costs, due
to the lack of insulation separating a room from its exterior walls. However,
this can be remedied through the addition of insulation, as with any other
framed building.

 A disadvantage of this type of framing is its fire hazard potential. In the

event of a house fire, wall cavities extending from the foundation to the roof
structure can be an open path for it to spread quickly, like smoke up a
chimney. There have been numerous reports of fires originating in the
basements .The spaces between ceilings and floors are also interconnected
to the wall cavities, which can allow a fire to quickly spread and possibly
cause structural failure to floors without warning.
 In major remodels involving opening walls and ceilings, it's possible to
meet the current standards for fire stopping by installing solid blocking at
the required locations in the open cavities. Another method is to install
insulation, filling the empty cavities. resistance. Stuffing some fiberglass
insulation up into the bottom opening of the wall cavities, from a basement
or crawlspace can reduce the movement of air in the voids.

 CONCLUSION

 Since steel is generally more fire-resistant than wood, and steel framing
members can be made to arbitrary lengths, balloon framing is growing in
popularity again in light gauge steel stud construction. Balloon framing
provides a more direct load path down to the foundation.
 Additionally, balloon framing allows more flexibility for tradesmen in that
it is significantly easier to pull wire, piping and ducting without having to
bore through or work around framing members.