Are timber frames durable?
Yes; if you have a good design and have used the appropriate timber species there is no reason why with appropriate maintenance, the frame shouldn’t last for hundreds of years. The earliest timber-framed buildings found by dendrochronology cluster around the late 12th/early 13th century. Evidence from archaeology suggests that the late 12th century represents the time when fully timber-framed buildings start to appear. Some more recent research has indicated that a number of buildings once thought to be earlier have timbers that were felled in the mid 13th century. A few timber-framed buildings have been dated with timbers felled before 1230; seven are aisled halls, one an aisled barn, and the ninth a church bell tower.
