This is our master bathroom that we’re currently renovating.
Our home was built with traditional wood framing members like studs, headers, and top plates
and bottom plates.
Wood is a conductor or a thermal bridge.
It allows heat to flow easily from the exterior to the interior or vice versa.
This reduces the energy efficiency of walls and increases heating and cooling costs.
To solve this problem, a company in the States, called US Engineered Wood, has invented the
T-Stud, a framing member that improves the energy efficiency of buildings by acting like
a thermal break instead of a thermal bridge.
In this video, we’re going to compare a traditional wood stud and a T stud in terms
of dimensions, performance, feasibility and price.
Thermal bridging is the flow of heat by conduction through the studs in a building.
Bare Naked T Studs stop the flow of heat because of a gap between the flange and spline.
The gap in between is approximately 1.5”.
Wooden dowels are installed through one member into the other at opposing angles, forming
a web-like pattern.
There are several types of T-studs: 2x3 flange and 2x3 spline which is 2.5” wide and 5.5”
deep - 2x6 replacement.
2x3 flange and 2x4 spline which is 2.5” wide and 7.25” deep - 2x8 replacement
T Studs can replace most framing members like wall studs, top plates, bottom plates as well
as king, jack, and cripple studs.
They can be used in either direction.
If you need more surface area on the outside to secure sheathing and outside insulation,
this surface can face the exterior.
If you need more surface area on the inside to secure cabinets and shelves, you can reverse
the T stud.
T studs are made of high quality 2 by 3 and 2 by 4 pine studs.
The studs are manually inspected and only the best studs are selected.
They don’t have large knots or cracks and they don’t warp.
A machine then drills holes in the studs, glues the dowels and shoots them in at an
angle.
You can see one end of the dowels on this stud, but it doesn’t extend to the opposite
end.
I asked the company what the dowels are made of, but they couldn’t tell me.
They said it’s a secret hybrid material.
Now let’s compare the R-value or thermal insulation of these products.
About 25% of a typical wall consists of wood studs which lower the R value of the entire
wall.
If you use R20 insulation in between the studs, thermal bridging can bring the effective R-value
down as low as R15.
If you put an R20 batt into a steel stud wall, you may only get an effective R-value of approximately
R5.
Steel conducts heat much better than wood, hence why shipping containers are terrible
insulators.
US Engineered Wood used to sell an insulated version of these T studs.
Due to supply chain issues and shutdowns, they had to stop marketing them and move manufacturing
from Canada to the States.
Right now, they are only making these BareNaked T Studs.
You can fill the gap in between with closed or open cell spray foam, blown in cellulose,
fiberglass, hemp wool or mineral wool.
If you use closed cell spray foam in the T stud and R20 insulation in the rest of the
wall, the assembly actually acts like an R20 wall, not R10 or R15.
T studs allow a 96% complete thermal break through the wall assembly.
Another issue with traditional wood studs is moisture accumulation or ghosting.
Moist, cool air attracts dust and forms dark lines on the ceiling and in closets where
a lot of framing gets mashed together.
Accumulation of moisture in the wall can lead to the growth of mold and rot which affects
indoor air quality and compromises structural integrity.
T-Studs act as a thermal break and reduce moisture accumulation in walls.
T studs are 4 times stronger than traditional studs which fail in the x axis if there's
too much of a load on it.
T studs don’t behave the same way because they are turned 90 degrees.
They don’t deflect or fail in the x axis.
While a 2 by 4 can hold 900 pounds and a 2 by 6 stud can hold 2,200 pounds, T studs can
hold 8,600 pounds.
In addition to reducing thermal bridging, the gap in T studs is a huge advantage for
running utilities.
The base plates in my home have ridiculously large cutouts for drains.
Wall studs are also damaged to run electrical wires.
Instead of hacking through perfectly good studs, we can run pex pipes and wires through
the gaps in T studs.
In this way, we won’t compromise their structural integrity.
If you need to run larger pex pipes, you can cut an inch from the inside stud but not the
outside stud.
Installing T studs is very similar to nailing traditional studs so there is a minimal learning
curve associated with it.
One thing that’s different is the fastening of T studs to the ground.
Instead of just a threaded J bolt or lag bolt, you need a wide plate that straddles the two
wood studs and transfers its hold down power.
Before we move on the cost of T studs, I’d like to introduce the sponsor of this portion
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Now let’s compare their cost.
T studs are obviously more expensive than traditional studs but their increased cost
is offset in a couple of ways.
The first is waste.
About 5% of traditional studs are usually too warped and damaged to be used.
On the other hand, less than 1% of T studs are unusable.
The second is reducing the number of studs needed.
These can be spaced 24” on center instead of 16” on center.
The third is the reduced weight.
T studs are lighter than traditional studs, which lowers the cost of other framing members
and even the foundation.
The last point is the lower energy consumption of your HVAC system and other appliances.
By eliminating the thermal bridge in your walls, the interior space is essentially unaffected
by the temperature outside.
T studs can help lower your energy consumption and carbon footprint.
The one downside I can think of is that it takes up more interior space because it’s
as deep as a 2 by 6.
It may not be a viable alternative in tight enclosures when every square foot counts.
It’s also not going to be used for interior studs because it’s more expensive and because
thermal bridging is not an issue inside.
T studs can raise awareness of the problem of thermal bridging and the need to address
it.
In addition to T studs, you can create a thermal break by using continuous exterior insulation,
or by applying strips of insulation of wood studs.
Let me know what you think about T studs in the comments below.
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See ya