Timber framer tradition

It is traditional for timber framers to hoist an evergreen tree on the highest part of the house as a good luck gesture. As our timbers are hemlock, I went and chopped one down. Willy was all too happy to raise it.

This also gives a good view of the finished frame as it appeared at the end of the day. It took them 7 hours to raise the whole thing.

Finishing assembly

The last piece of the puzzle was the second principle rafter at the back of the house. The first thing to do was to place the post (I actually missed an "Iwo Jima" shot as three of the crew were raising this post).

The principle rafter was then slowly lowered into place, with particular care taken to align it properly with the frame. Again, it needed to align perfectly in five places, making this a tricky fit. Will then drove the golden spike, hammering in the collar tie into the post to make it a tight fit. A well deserved round of applause followed.

Great work by a great crew. Very focussed and no one stood around. You could tell they've done this before.

Hoisting the rafters

This was the fastest part. The rafter pre-assembly meant they could do this in an hour. The preassembled trusses were stacked beside the house and Francois was responsible for attaching the crane straps to the assembly and sending it up to the crew working on the house. The crew nails it down to the rafter plate temporarily and later drill holes into the rafters and pounds in pegs to hold them in place permanently.

Note that every other rafter is held together by a collar tie; the others are held together by a temporary tie used to keep the trusses together while they are being hoisted. We like the collar ties a lot. They not only strengthen the roof assembly, but the will make the upstairs loft more cozy, bringing down the ceiling a little. Lats (2 x 1) hold together the rafter assembly temporarily. They are nailed to the outside of the rafters, as the outside of the rafters face outward and will not be visible once the roof is on.

Happy home owners

Here we are taking it all in. Papa came as the second bent was being raised. Lisa and I got there just in time to see the first bent hoisted. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around as I had a class to teach in the afternoon. I did see them complete the frame, though.

Principal rafter assembly

The principal rafter is installed on the front of the house. In addition to holding up the roof, it also acts to solidify the bent, and is therefore thicker and stronger than the other rafters. A collar beam ties together the two rafters into a truss assembled before the big day. Note that it attaches to the post assembly in five places, and requires several crew members to install. It's strong as all heck, though, the triangle being geometry's strongest shape.

With the principle rafter in place, it starts looking like a house. Again, this assembly will be visible from the living area of the house. I wanted the collar beam for esthetic as well as strength purposes.

Mezzanine floor and connecting girt

The mezzanine floor is not really a bent as it is not holding up the house. Itis there to give some extra floor space overlooking the living room and to provide a landing for the stairs from the first floor. You'll actually get the best view of Mount Sutton from this part of the house.

Finally, the last of the connecting girt goes in. Note that the cathedral part of the house is actually propped up by the back of the house, with the floor joists and double girts providing enough strength for the whole house. This makes the cathedral part of the house possible.

Floor joists

The floor joists went in next. This solidified the structure and temporary braces could now be removed. Love those big wooden mallets. I believe these too were dovetail joints as floor joists are particularly prone to twisting. Also visible are the nylon ratchet belts used to pull the timbers together.

Connecting girts and rafter plates

Connecting girts connect the bents to each other and solidify the structure. The rafter plates on top are somewhat smaller, adding extra strength to the connection, and also serving as supports for the rafters.

The crew adds braces into the hollowed out mortises. Holes are drilled into the mortises and tenons and wooden pegs hammered in to hold the joinery together.

Note the dovetail joint on top of the center post. I believe Willy uses this to keep the beams from twisting as they dry. Green timbers are used in timber frame construction because it is softer and easier to carve. However, the timbers will shrink as they dry. This actually locks the timbers in place as they shrink. Hemlock, unlike most other wood, retains it's initial dimensions, but will check (i.e. crack) as it dries. This also makes hemlock beams notorious for twisting they dry.

Lisa and I don't mind because this is what adds character to a home; if we wanted straight, we'd order a prefab from Allouette. Carpenters hate twisting though because they like their work to be "Deutschgrade", as John Liptak would say. Willy says "Enjoy the frame now, because this is as stright as it ever will be." No, no, no ... watching the timbers twist is the part o' the fun in a timber frame. :-)

Center bent

Up she goes ... the center bent has the biggest, heaviest timber, a 8'' x 10'' beam that extends across the center of the house. This was the heavy sucker that Will and I moved onto the house site during the preassembly stage.

Lifting the second bent

Up goes the second bent at the back of the house. The center post here is designed to frame the bedroom at the left and the hallway/bathroom/utility area at right. The beam will also act as a girt for the floor joists, and hence will determine the height of the floor. The posts are 11'6'' and will support the rafter plate (the beam that holds up the roof). Note the third center bent still lying on the ground.

Lifting the first bent

The day of the raising was a little bit of a dull day. We'd had 4'' of snow the night before courtesy of the Pinnacle, which triggers extra snowfall if there is a little humidity and a little bit of a northwesterly wind. It was, however, relatively warm for this December.

Timber frames are divided into structures called "bents". These are the wall assemblies pre-assembled on the ground and lifted on the day the frame is raised. These can get quite fancy (see here for some examples) but Lisa and I decided to keep it as simple as possible.

Here the crane lifts the first bent into place at the front of the house. Temporary braces keep the bent from tipping until the rest of the structure is raised.

The center post is 18' tall and is the longest timber in the house. It will be fully visible from everywhere in the house living area and is part of the cathedral ceiling structure in the living room.

The cross beam is actually higher than it need to be and designed to be flush with the porch rafters (which will be built when the old place is renovated).