Timber Frame Home more pictures up May 3
 

Hi Guys,
We my wife and I have decided that we are going to sell our mobile(I know terrible time to sell anything)
And we are looking at building a Timber Frame home. We are building it ourselfs, my father built log homes for many years, and he is going to help.
10"x10" white pine timbers, everything on the house except the roof will be wood.
Does anyone on here own a timber frame?
Things to look for? to do? Not to do?
I will be doing all the joint work in Mortise and Tendon joints with oak pins.
32' wide by 40feet long, with a half loft, 10'walls, and 14' from top of the wall to the ridge.
I have a local saw mill that has some great wood to mill all my lumber and my beams. So that part is taken care of.
Thanks

I’m no help but it sounds cool and please post pictures of your progress. Timber framed structures are works of art!

Is the wood properly dried and seasoned?
I would imagine that would be critical to reduce cracking and perhaps bending.

Do you plan to have exposed wood walls visible both inside and outside. I realize that looks amazing but the insulation value is not spectacular (I recall 1 R value per inch of wood, but that likely varies with kind of wood).

You will need to carefully plan how to run wires and plumbing pipes.

About 50 years ago I was quite enthusiastic about living in a log house, though have not done that...….yet.
Good luck
Hawkeye

I don't have anything to say that would assist in your build, I don't have a timber frame, but I love it! Cheers to your successful build. Say tenon from now on as opposed to tendon :)

So a timber frame home differs from a log house, as my 10"x10" timbers will be sitting vertically with 8foot to 10 foot spacing between them, then timbers sitting ontop of them all the way around. The rafters are also large beams 10x6 and get birds mouth jointed to the wall timbers, and sit ontop(notched) on another huge beam 12x9 that runs the length of the ridge.
The walls then get framed in with 2x6 in the dead center of the 10x10 beams, insulated,wired, and plumbing,
On the inside and outside will be stacked horizontal 2x4 and other width of boards, with a gap between them, sealed with log home chinking. Effectively giving us 10 inch thick walls.
The timbers will be seasoned naturally, this helps as then the entire structure drys evenly and shrinks together(you can not use some kiln dried and some natural wood together) as this will cause problems.
I am planning on hand hewing the beams, and burning them to give a old look to them. Again a ton of work, but the end result is beautiful.
We are trying to do most if not all the work ourselves as then I will not have to borrow a thing from the bank, I hate the bank.
Also this allows us to build it the way we want, not the way a lender tells you that you must build it.
It will all be built on steel piles, with a insulated 3 foot crawl space.
When I am in the process, I plan on updating this thread with pictures so those that are interested can fallow along.

I'm with a couple others, no experience on it, but do look forward to following this thread.

Good luck!!! :)

cant wait to see the development of this beauty...good luck.

Yup to all the above and a lot of work and specialized tooling to boot. You'll want planed lumber for consistency as well. I'm betting there's an engineer in your future. Very impressive though, when it's done.

Grizz

Sounds like a great project Lee, I wish you all the luck. I tried hewing a couple logs this spring and it’s quite the challenge. Will it be an axe hew or an adze hew for your finished look?

So are you going to spend a bunch of time prefabbing all of it then just hire a crane for a day to put it all up? Sip panels for the roof might be worth looking into for efficiency. Pricey but good. Not sure it’s worth it for the walls. Sound like a very time consuming project. But a fun one

There's a fellow that last I heard was up in Rimby that did timber framing for a living. He might be willing to help you out.

Just wondering if you’ve checked out or joined “the forsestry forum”. They have LOTS of info on timber frame building. Sift thru as much as you have time for and use what you want.

Geo

The roof will be insulated with foil back(not the store bought stuff, but I have a in with a manufacture that produces the high end stuff for the military, and aviation industry, then 4" styrofoam, then 2x4 then snap lock tin.
I will hand hew the beams with axe after they come from the mill, lightly burn them with the torch, then sand to finish.
I have a monster planer that can plane any boards that I need to do.
I will be doing all the joint work on the ground then putting the frame work up.
I have a crane at work as well as telehandlers and skidsteers I can use for assembly.
You will see the rafter beams from the inside as well as the 1x6 that will be sheeting them from the top side, then the next set up rafters.
I am using mostly rough cut lumber, because I want the look to not be even, so it looks old, and the minor differences in each board will add character.
I know this is a large undertaking, but I have built log homes and cabins in the past with my father and grandfather, and I want to involve my kids in the building, as I have fantastic memories of doing this with my father and grandfather(though a few scares and such)

All the ones I've seen, prefabricate the frames in a shop setting and assemble them on site.

Grizz

THis will be similar to what we will be doing, we will build and fit all the timbers first, then assemble them on the piles, and build the floor and the rest.

I’ve built many in past career.
We always used 8x8 posts and 8x10 for beams and 4x10 for rafters.

Good luck.
Any questions, I’d be glad to try and help.

First load of timbers home

Do you have a building permit?
Although I do not have timber frame building, I do have some experience with solid wood timber use. That's why I asked about the building permit.
Also, you really should speak with a civil engineer before getting too far into it. It will be money well spent.

I just finished this project yesterday.
10 x10 pine timbers.
They were cut to length and delivered wet.
As they dry, they are cracking Abit but staying straight so far.
Was a fun project
Attachment 165132

They are supposed to be dry before you start, basic premise of any building. Shrinkage is not to be toyed with.

Grizz

Most timber framers do not dry there timbers before starting, as this has been the way for 1000years, they dry naturally and shrink naturally. Same with building a log home, if the timbers are cut at the correct time of year(sap down) you of course get shinkage, and have to know have to do your joint work because of it, it actually gets tighter as they dry.
There are alot of fantastic resources mostly out of the states and europe but this is the way it is done. Kiln dried timbers don't work well for timber frame buildings.

Most civil engineers have no clue about timber frames. There are a few out of the states that specialize in timber construction, and I have been in contact with one of them on proper joint work for the long timbers, and how large of timbers needed for spans, and how big the scarf joints need to be.

Walls on my Buddy's log house shrank 8 in. over time.

Grizz

Timbers dry stacked. And the first tenon cut

I had a lake place where I did the extension that style.
The one mistake I did was a shallow crawl space. After the pressure tank, furnace and backup furnace, water filters etc all went under there I sure did wish I would have made that crawl space higher. Mine was about 3 feet as well.

Osky

Timber Frame
 

We built a Timber Frame inn 05-06, all Douglas fir posts a 10x10, beams are 10x12. Exterior is stucco with steel roof. Roof pitch is the only change I would make, it is12/12 I wanter 8/12 but architect thought it would be more spectacular. I should have listened to my self. All the material had laid for three years before being milled and we still had a few beams check, as wide as an inch.

Ridge Beam scarf joint cut. These are huge timbers

Not sure if you have one but look up a slick chisel. It’s basically just a very large chisel but will make your life a lot easier. Looks like an awesome project. Nice joint. Will you use a hardwood for your wedges?

You are doing an excellent job. The timbers we used inside our house were fir radio frequency kiln dried from BC. Timbers sure make the house look awesome!

Keep posting and thanks!

I love timber frame homes and hope to build one as my dream home some day. I will be watching this thread closely for all your updates and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Yes i have several. Just layed the small chisel on there for scale.
Yes i am using red oak for my wedges.