Author: Dai

D frame in Shuswap lake

Shuswap has been good weather up till we started putting this frame together this summer. Traditional style timber frame, all frame will be covered to protect from the weather and fully exposed inside house. It took almost 8 month by the time we started design the frame to complete set up on site.

I was very pleased with fiber quality and drying result. All tight grain, no loose knot and dried evenly with RF kiln, moisture content between 12% to 14%.

Main feature of this frame is hammer beam truss and beam with corbel and steel integrate in. House is not finished, no picture for the steel yet.

After a lot of study from past hammer beam truss, anyone knows the structural system, they will not say yes to design and build this truss without tension support system in place. Tension rod for this truss were very ordinary which is okay but I would wanted to put a bid more thought and twist the idea a bid but my idea was not supported this time…..

All fits well, some place needed to be adjusted a bid on site but nothing major. I am not 100% clear but I think there were about 400 pieces in this frame and it took 8 full days to complete assemble.

Another one good frame up on earth!

Jay Mckimm

Jay is free timber framer, his trade name is Blue Water Timber Framing. I got him helped us raising one complex frame and I was very impressed. I am in this business 20 years and I have set up buildings so many. With him, I found that raising are going much faster than my usual pace is. He is so efficient, think a two steps ahead, he is in good shape, he goes up and down so fast and does not afraid of height. I can strongly recommend him for any assemble and I will not hesitate to ask high pay for him, it will be great addition for raising team any time any circumstance.

John and Ingrid Boys

John is my most important business partner that I can share my issue also satisfaction with. He is intelligent and reliable parson. I have been learning a lot from him especially how to look at the things, reality and fairness. Between me and John, our brain storming will bring up un expected result. Ingrid welcomes me and my family all the time, she shows me the joy of life, teach me fun of life. They become more than just part of business, they will remain in my heart does not matter what is going to happen to me. I thank that I met them,and also became the part of their life.

Nicola Logworks

Cross brace with steel

This trellis bracket can hang the huge weight as long as wall can keep the bracket in place. Steel are not decorative, it is structural. Timber looks a bid dirty, but this is patina effect. Timber are sand blusted and prepared patina finish. Actual aged look finish goes on top of this, recipe are complicated, John did hard resurch and test to acheive the result client a happy with.

Impel rod were installed behind steel where moisture can capture. Impel rod will release the chemical once moisture content raise more than 20% to prevent wood to rot.

Installing curved brace on site

Installing curved brace and fitting steels went well without any trouble. Though, I simulated the process of lay out, cutting and placing for a couple of days before I went to the site.

The most important factor that need to be consider is the twist in a curved timber. I can not assume the flat on curve timber are really flat, they are twisted. To deal with you, lay the piece on saw horse and set flat in level on both X and Y direction. If you find all the surface is level after, it means piece is flat, but you will see if you set one side level then other side will not, so find happy medium.

Then lay out all with level, square on line does not work! I used several trick to lay out this also drill the hole in a corner without jumping drill bid all over the place, but I did not had opportunity to take picture.

Drill long hole accurately

How will you drill end to end of timber 6 feet long? I had project that 1″ rod needed to go through the beam to install tension rod for hammer beam truss. I had to drill 18 beams, so what will be the efficient way? Some one said, I can do that free hand, I believe he can but I can’t.

So, I bought simple lineal guide from 80/80, took genius drill guide from my muffele drill stand, and put the long drill guilde together. It worked okay, not perfect for all the piece. If I do this again, I will make long drill bid first.

Valdes light house raising party

Light house shaped cabin, design by Karl Willms. No public road to the site, transported all materials and raised all by human power! No gas burned, only cans of beer runs the crew for hard work.

No one in a team complained, we all seemed enjoyed the time, part of this is because all the work and result were, slept out side, no electric, all work acheived by old fashion, end of the day, tired body gave good satisfaction each day.

After this raising, it gave me idea that I may want to continue doing this kind small cabins after I retire.

Happy Halloween, English Blog start!

I have been blogging in Japanese, trying to share what I learn from real project in timber frame. I would like to do same in English, any comment are welcome. Anyone capable read Japanese, here is the link. http://timberframe.dreamblog.jp/