The Beginning of the Timber Frame House: The Pieces and Parts

Timber framing is an old construction technique. The structure is made of massive timbers of white pine that are interlocked together with tenons on the ends of some boards that fit into mortises on other boards, and are locked in place with pegs. The holes for the pegs are drilled in such a way as to NOT line up and the pounding in of the peg then pulls the boards closer to each other in a precisely designed way. The vertical members of the frame are posts and the horizontal members are beams and there are specific names for different types of these. Our home has a pair of queen beams for example, instead of a ridge beam.

It all starts with a standard glue-lam joisted floor over a standard concrete foundation. The 'blank slate'.

Tenons.
Mortises.

The special decorative acorn pendants. These are at the ends of what actually serve a structural purpose in a truss system as a king pin.

Some of the joinery that will make the peaks of the rafters.

Each joint of a post and beam is triangulated with an arch brace.

Just a portion of the posts and beams. They are laid out flat on supports to keep them off the ground. The whole site was a sea of timbers. Hand loaded off the truck and hand carried to the house when needed. This is a hand crafted home.

Buckets and boxes of oak pegs in a number of lengths.