Many of us were taught at some point in our lives that it’s best not to judge people based on their looks, that it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

That might be true for people, but can it also apply to homes?

Davies Homes thinks so. For more than 20 years, they’ve been crafting exquisite luxury homes that last.

Daniel Davies, the company’s founder and Managing Director, has built his reputation on building homes that don’t just look pretty, but are the highest quality right down to the core.

“The best architecturally-designed home won't matter much if the walls — and what's inside them — are made of subpar stuff," says Daniel Davies. "That’s why we put such a huge emphasis on those aspects of our homes that you can’t see, like the framing.”

Davies Homes homes are built with laminated veneer lumber (LVL) to create stronger, straighter, and more durable walls. Made entirely from renewable radiata pine, this CodeMark-certified product is also known as J-Frame, manufactured by Juken New Zealand (JNL). As a result, the Davies Home team continues to provide exceptional quality homes within a favourable time frame.

How J-Frame works

In order to achieve different structural properties and stiffness, Juken's LVL is manufactured from pre-graded, rotary peeled wood veneers. Using a structural adhesive, veneers are glued together and pressed to form long continuous sections (panels) with the grain running parallel to the main axis. The glue is a Phenol Formaldehyde Resin and provides J-Frame with an A Bond classification, an internationally recognised record for ensuring build materials hold up against extreme levels of moisture and stress.

The resulting products have very high strength and stiffness, and are of reliably uniform quality. They are also straight, durable and easy to cut using standard woodworking tools. In addition, LVL is fire resistant.

Because of their high-performance characteristics, Juken's LVL products can be used as suitable alternatives to steel, reinforced concrete, solid timber and finger-jointed wood in many situations.

Structurally superior

Unlike traditional framing, which is usually made of a single solid piece of wood, J-frame is engineered, and so offers some advantages to working with solid timber.

“In solid wood framing, we run into issues like natural imperfections and warping and deforming over time. J-Frame is more straight and uniform, so you get a stronger, more consistent product,” Daniel says. “We can build longer spans with J-Frame because it’s lightweight but also robust, so it maintains structural integrity while allowing us to be flexible in our designs."

“The benefit to our customers is that they get straighter walls that provide a superior, more refined finish that looks simply incredible.”

Saves time

Before timber framing can be used to build a house frame, warped or knotted timbers must be manually corrected.

When this happens, construction of a house can take longer than anticipated, potentially causing problems for other tradespeople, such as electricians and insulation installers, who have to wait for the frame to be complete before starting their work.

“LVL framing is fantastic because we know it’s always perfectly straight and uniform, which saves us time from having to correct imperfections in timber," says Daniel. "J-Frame is very easy to install, so our teams can just get on with the job of getting the frame up and we can deliver our homes to customers faster.”

In addition to its superior strength and durability, J-Frame is also an environmentally sustainable choice.

Manufactured in the Wairarapa for more than 20 years, the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) has verified that the radiata pine used in the J-frame is sustainably sourced.

Compared to traditional solid wood timber framing, J-Frame has 100% usable lengths, which means less waste at installation.

“J-Frame is an extremely reliable product — very strong, always uniform, and it’s easy to put up, so it saves us time,” Daniel says. “We’re really happy with how J-Frame has performed in our homes, and we now don’t offer anything else. My main concern is ensuring our homes are of the absolute highest quality, inside and out, and we don’t compromise on materials.”