Frame details: Side post

The part of the timbers facing the exterior are not sanded or finished as they will be covered up.

It's kind of a shame to cover up the frame. I'm actually a little glad we'll have Christmas to look at it some more.

Frame details: center post

The timbers that are visible from inside the house are sanded and finished with a nice pine resin, linseed, and citrus oil finisher. This is a detail of the center post which is interesting to look at not only because of the beauty of the the wood grain, but also because the beam dimensions are determined by function.

The beam at left is a 10'' x 8'' that spans 12 1/2' on the south side of the house. The beam at right spans only 7 1/2', and is therefor smaller at 8''x8''. The floor joist protruding outward from the post as one of 6 6'6'' timbers from the post is only 6'' x 6''. Unlike the other beams, which keep the house from collapsing, the joist only holds up the mezzanine floor.

Approaching the frame

It was deadly cold at the end of this week, so it was too cold to put the roof up. It was a beautiful sunny day today, so I took some pictures of the frame.

The frame actually looks quite impressive as you approach it along the driveway. It looks a bit like a chapel on the hill. Hard to believe that it's only a small house when you look at it from here.

For the panorama behind the house, you can go here. You can compare what the house site looked like with and without the frame in place.

Ceiling finish

This is the ceiling for the house. It is sanded, kiln dried hemlock, 3/4" x 6" x 16' tongue and groove. It is very dry. Willy wanted it that way to make sure the wood doesn't shrink. The finishing is the first thing applied to the rafters, and actually serves structurally to hold the rafters together in a single roof structure.

You cannot find dry, sawed hemlock here, so the day after the raising, Lisa and I went to Scierie Clermond Hamel in the Beauce to pick it up. We rented a 20 foot van to save on delivery charges. It was a bit of an adventure, with the roads freezing up before we got home. The next day we had to get it up the icy hill to our house. It was stressful, but the van avoided the ditch.

The roof should be finished (knock wood) next week. materials will be applied in this order:

• hemlock finish (3/4'')
• vapor barrier
• roof trusses (11'')
• Roxul wool insulation
• plywood sheathing
• house wrap
• SuperVic metal roofing

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).

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.

Order for roofing

References: VicWest Roofing, SuperVic (Data sheet, Installation Guide), Galvalume

Main roof

We ordered metal roofing for our house because it's guaranteed for 50 years. While shingle roofs will fly like kites with the first strong breeze comes through, and leak after 15 years, the metal will stay put.

VicWest is metal roofing made in Victoriaville. Ordering galvanized steel as opposed to a painted roof saves considerable money that we put into a thicker guage of metal (26 as opposed to 28; low numbers mean thicker steel, for some reason). The local code requires to use a galvanized metal called galvalume, which is steel with a zinc and aluminum coating. Only agricultural buildings are allowed to use regular galvanized steel roofs. I will have to bring this up at the next town meeting before some poor guy has to rip off his roof.

Ordered it form Cowansville RONA, a really great place. I've never been disappointed with the service there.


- VicWest Super Vic
--19' l x 30'' w; gauge 26
--30 sheets x $63.27/sheet = $1898

- Ridge cap (Fr: faitiere)
--10'2'' length x 15'' w; gauge 24
--8 sheets x $24.11/sheet = $192.88

-Eave trim S-122 (Fr: bordure de toit)
-- 10' length; 90 degree angle; 7/8'' on fascia; 2 7/8'' on overhang; gauge 28
-- 8 pieces x $11.89/piece = $95.12

-Foam closure, above profile, under ridge cap (Fr. lisiere fermeture)
-- 4'2'' length
-- 18 pieces x $2.38/piece= $42.84

- Foam closure, below profile, above eave trim
-- 4'2'' l
-- 18 pieces x $1.88 = $33.84- Screws
- 1 1/2 ''
- 1200 x $0.05 = $60.00

Filling in the foundation

This is Eric with the big loader filling in the foundation, covering the drainage pipes with 1/2'' clear stone. Fortunately, Normand is working a larger project very nearby and these machines just have to rumble over for these little jobs as they come up.

I was careful to remove the wooden supports gingerly and shovel the crushed stone around the drains manually so that they stayed at the level that the plumber installed. The ones seen here are actually the drains for the kichen and the adjacent walk-in pantry.

Finished foundation

Here are a couple of pictures of the insulated foundation. It gives a good idea of how we did it. It's about $2000 of stryrofoam SM, but it will pay for itself over our lifetimes in heat savings. The aluminum coating on the interior is very visible, held in place by tape. This may be overkill, of course, but the stuff is cheap. It's also effective. Lisa said it really heated up on the inside as she was finishing the job.

In the first picture, Kitty inspects her new catwalk. It will not be one for long.

The second picture shows the sunset over Spruce Hill, with the access for the septic tank in the foreground.

Roof Dimensions

Time to order the roofing. The roof dimensions are shown in the image at right.

• Length: 37'
• Width: 19'
• Depth: 13 1/4''
• Horizontal overhang (gables and eaves): 18''
• Support height: 11' 6''
• Fascia: Raked, 13 1/4''
  
• Soffits: Raked, 13 1/4''

We are going with SuperVic metal roofing from VicWest ordered from Rona in Cowansville, (manufactured in Victoriaville, Qc.) with a Galvalume finishing, a metallic finish similar to zinc galvanized steel, but with some extra aluminum in it. It has a slightly less shiny look.

For some reason, the local Frelighsburg code allows a Galvalume finish, and not a regular galvanized finish (that's only allowed on "agricultural" buildings). It's the same price, so it's not a big deal, but on principle I will bring this up at the next town meeting as a somewhat obscure code item.

References: VicWest Roofing, SuperVic (Data sheet, Installation Guide), Galvalume

Foundation insulation continues

Lisa points with pride to the fine job she's done insulating the foundation (not to the post anchor). In this photo, the outside is finished and the inside is in progress. She has since finished the inside.

Today, she insulates the pilasters and I line the inside with aluminum foil vapor barrier. Aluminum foil vapour barrier reflects the heat radiation emitted by the crushed stone into the space between the crushed stone.

Did I mention that she's very handy with a knife?

Insulating the foundation

Here's a picture of my lovely wife and assistant cutting 2'' Styrofoam SM boards for the foundation. She's very crafty with a knife. We are installing 4'' on the outside and 2'' on the inside. Today we nailed it to the sill on the outside. We'll need to nail into the concrete on the inside. Hello power drill.

This gives us R-30 insulation value. Overkill? Not with a radiant slab. The temperature of the slab will be maintained at 75 C (22 C) whereas the temperature of the air will be closer to 65 F ( 18 C) (for very toasty toes). If you want to keep the heat in, you need to insulate the slab. Moreover, with a solar system you want to store solar heat from the day and summer through the night and winter. You need to insulate below the slab as well.

Installing Electricity

We had the temporary power supply for the workers installed on Tuesday. As soon as the house is enclosed, we're taking this puppy inside into the utility room once the house is enclosed. We still haven't decided whether to take the main power line (seen snaking into the panel at left) into the house through the frame wall or to drill a hole into the foundation wall (seen at right). Decisions, decisions. The piles of 1/2" clear, crushed stone in the background were delivered today
and will eventually fill the foundation and act as a bed for the hydronic slab.

The electrician actually had to come back on Wednesday to install our new address on the private pole shown here. Had to call town hall at Frelighsburg to find out what it was; they gave me all the permits, but not the adress! If you look carefully at the top of the pole you will see it.

The excavator and electrician cooperated very nicely to install the hydro pole. A few tense moment ensued when we found rock ledge a foot under the ground where the pole was supposed to go. Had to move it about 12 feet away from the drive (it was supposed to be inline with the oak tree shown at right). Fortunately, the electric line reached the pole.

Installing the drains

Martin (the plumber)of Plomberie Gilbert and his helper Ben arrived from Knowlton today on short notice (Alex told me this morning that he was coming to install the interior drains). Much to his relief, our foundation was not yet filled with crushed stone, making the work much easier.

The first order of business was to install the coil for the solar heat dump. The solar heat dump keeps the tank and solar collectors from overheating in the summertime when the need for heat is low and the supply of sun abundant. Martin pulled it out into a boingy slinky shape to help dissipate the heat even more. I'll be adding insulation above the coil to assure that the heat goes into the ground instead of to the slab, and to isolate .

Bill Northey and the technicians at Radiant Floor Heating Company customized the coil by adding two elbows and 42'' tubes to bring the cooling fluid from the ledge to the slab. He recommended burying in sand (instead of crushed stone) to maximize the thermal contact with the ground. The heat dump itself is pictured in the second image at lower right. We used it to measure out the position of the coil relative to the other plumbing.

Also shown here are the sewage drains under construction and, in the third image, completed. The main sewage drain runs out the hole in the foundation wall at back. You can actually see the top of the septic tank too. The floor drains runs out int he corner at left. The cruched stone supports the toilet drain. The whole foundation will eventually be filled with the stuff.

Great work by Martin and Ben.