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).

Preassembling rafters ...

... and we're ready for the crane! One last whack at the rafters. Note the collar tie running between the rafters to create a nice strong triangle. The collar ties will frame the upstairs loft, bringing the ceiling down a little and making it a more cozy, intimate space. We had a two day break for a winter storm since the other preassembly. The crane is ordered for next Monday! It will be the big day.

Werner is put to work

Well, a little anyways. Here I am scraping the ice of a rafter, the aftermath of the stack falling off the crane.

I helped out moving the timbers from the stack to the foundation, and helped rearranged the stack of rafters. Will was concerned that I'd strain my back, but I've been sawing, chopping and stacking firewood through most of the fall, so I'm not nearly as wimpy as I seem.

I have to say that some of those 8''x10'' beams were real effers to move. I can see why Will tried to sell me on some dried, light beam rather than these water- logged blocks of mass.

Lisa and I both love the Hemlock though. No regrets. This is a picture of a man happy with his choice of building materials.

The assembly continues ...

... with a big, wooden mallet knocking mortise into tenon. To make sure they stay that way, braces stiffen the frame, holding posts perpendicular to the beams.

Holes are drilled into the joints and wooden pegs driven into the holes to hold all the joints together. The joinery is all wood. As soon as you use nails or metal joints, you're timber frame becomes a mere (sniff) post and beam frame.

The sun goes down early behind the Pinnacle, making an already short day shorter, and a cold afternoon colder. makes you want to keep on moving just to stay warm.

The large wooden mallet is used, of course, to keep from denting the finished timbers. I think just for fun I'll bring a heavy steel headed sledge hammer to the worksite and ask Willy if I can have a go at it ...

Preassembly begins ...

... as the sun comes out in the afternoon. The snow actually stayed on two hours longer than predicted, mocking my weather forecast. Embarrassing ... how do you explain subgrid-scale orographic effects, a turbulent boundary layer, and the limitations of deterministic forecasts to a public wary of weathermen ...

All smiles now as Willy discovers to his pleasure that everything fits together. All measurements are punctuated by a "Perfect!" ... Willy says you never say "good enough" in front of a customer :-).

The saw is for cutting off the pegs that fasten the mortises to the tenons. That's timber framing jargon. The tenons are the parts that jut out at the end of a beam and the motises the holes in the beam that receive the tenons ... or is that the other way around?

The temporary power supply makes for a nice quiet worksite and easy access to power tools. Glad I did this ... don't need a diesel generator. The saw and drill actually inaugurated the power supply.

Viewers should click on all these photos to see how beautiful the timbers are. The sides of the timbers with marker on them will face towards the wall.

The timbers arrive ...

... along with the December snow. We had about 4 inches of the stuff that morning.

It doesn't look like there is enough here for a house frame but there is! It includes in 17 foot 8''x8'' post and a few large 8''x10'' beams. They were stacked in two stacks.

The unloading was eventful. Willy the framer joked to me that my cameea was there to record it in case they fell. Well, the second stack did fall. These are not construction grade 2x4's, but hand sanded, hand oiled, and hand finished timbers, so Willy was quite upset at this. Only one small rafter was slightly cracked, fortunately, and a few beams had a little mud on them. It's hemlock anyways, so it will check and crack as it dries.

Frayed nerves were soothed by the fact that the pieces all fit together and lines up with the foundation walls perfectly.