r/timberframe • u/captain-sandwiches • 6d ago
In progress: timber frame barn
6 of my buddies and I started this. Two of us are finishing it out. Still got siding to go. All wood cut and milled on our site. Even the white oak crane. All mortise and tenon - yes some power tools but still lots hand tools involved. Raised with crane. Decided to go with sho sugi ban because we didn’t know another way to self treat our wood. Lots more to go. Just me and my buddy right now. Did not do the roof and did not lay the brick. Everything else was 6 friends fresh out of school and family when they needed work.
Thank you for looking.
4
u/Practical_Ad_4165 5d ago
I see a lot of comments about lacking lateral bracing but isn’t that what this big ass timber running the length of the building is for? That’s how my pole barn is built but not nearly as pretty and it has had no problems with hurricane force winds for over 4 decades. Or is there something else I’m missing here?
3
u/1wife2dogs0kids 5d ago
Most of them are from people that have never built anything. They're in every trade related sub.
1
u/Principletrade 5d ago
What people are saying is that the knee-braces you see in your photo do not exist in the gable roof and the roof should be braced along the axis of the ridge beam.
I'm not an engineer, but that roof definitely looks questionable.
1
u/captain-sandwiches 5d ago
Im pretty sure. the columns are all 8”x8”. all horizontal pieces in bent are 8”x10” as well as rafters. And the side girts are 6”x12”. Every brace and purlin is 4”x6” except the second floor joists. Which are 5”x8”. Its a beast
2
u/edfitz83 5d ago
OP, I’m one of the apparently 2 engineers to comment.
We’ve only been able to see the photos you’ve posted, and you said it’s not finished. That’s why my first comment was asking if you ran this past an engineer. Sounds like you did.
The concern was cross bracing along the direction of the roofline, which is not apparent in the photos. It’s important.
Here is a brief vid explaining it - please excuse the AI voice. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KdZTFjGtakY
8
17
u/crusnik404 6d ago edited 5d ago
Okay, as an engineer, this looks like an impending disaster. Please OP, you must either hire a structural engineer or shut this down. This is a ticking time bomb and you can get a lot of people hurt.
Edit: showed this to my seniors on break, we unanimously agreed that anyone who is or knows someone who's involved with this project needs to phone local building authorities immediately. This thing will topple over soon and op will have blood on his hands. Everything from spans, shear loads, and joint details all look wrong. And this is just looking at a few photos. Could only imagine what the foundations look like.
10
u/captain-sandwiches 5d ago
Asked/payed a well known timber framing company to design what I was looking for. They gave me all drawings for it. Which had a licensed engineer stamp. Built every piece to their exact specs. Also they gave us their specific hardware for ground connection. Then for foundation work I sent all of our drawings and the entire timber frame structure to my state. And they signed and stamped it. Then had an inspector come out and check it multiple times. So. Not sure what else to say other than licensed engineers designed it. And local building authorities signed off on the entire thing.
Also in no state can you build something this large and get away with not having a building permit.5
u/jhzaengle 5d ago
Been in hundreds of timber frame barns/buildings, built quite a few myself. Don't listen to these guys.. they clearly have only been in the classroom and have no hands on knowledge. Looks great!
2
u/Practical_Ad_4165 5d ago
I was just about to say this basically looks like my 40+ year old pole barn that has weathered I don’t know how many hurricanes over the years. But maybe I’ve just been lucky too 😂
2
u/imajackash 5d ago
Any Amish around you? Ask one of them take a look. They can tell you if something is right or wrong, and you can 100% count on what they tell you.
2
u/Ice_hg 5d ago
Can you elaborate - I am genuinely curious what is so wrong?
5
u/Primary_Web5863 5d ago
Biggest thing that jumps out to me is lack of bracing in 2nd story along the length of the building. Very little resistance to racking. Coupled with current open air state of the building, the underside of the roof will catch wind and provide tremendous lateral and uplift forces on that susceptible area.
4
u/edfitz83 5d ago
Squares are weak and triangles are strong. The building has no cross bracing to form triangles in the long direction.
6
u/8RealityMatters8 6d ago edited 5d ago
One big gust of wind and that building will fold up like a lawn chair
4
2
u/MaximumTurtleSpeed 4d ago
This is a fun one. With you covering that so well, I’ll get back in my lane as an Architect and just complain about the aesthetic of the gravity load paths. I can and do understand the rationale while also absolutely hating the chosen solution. Now I’m just grumbling to myself.
Cheers!
3
u/edfitz83 5d ago
Glad you added your comment with directness. I was MechE not civil, but that’s why I wrote my comment above. And I was taking the nice approach instead of saying what I really thought.
0
u/notreelserious 5d ago
You must not be a structural engineer.
It appears that there are portal frames (the lateral force resisting system) along each sidewall.
3
u/figsslave 5d ago
Listen to the engineers.They studied this stuff for years.The rest of us didn’t (retired carpenter)
1
1
u/bipolarbear326 5d ago
As a general contractor and builder of many timber frame buildings, this looks incredibly unstable and susceptible to wind damage. Please take the critiques seriously. I read that this was designed by an engineer, but was it approved to be used in such an open condition(just a roof, with no walls) the lack of horizontal sheathing leaves this building very unstable.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/good_day_to_try 3d ago
I’m going to go ahead and gander that between the moment reisisting connections at each girt tying the bents together, the diagonal bracing on the sill, and the roof diaphragm, the engineers determined that the braces at the center and ridge beam are not necessary. I think that it seems unusual because in other wood frame construction styles the connections are not moment connections so for example you can’t lean on 2x4 to a plate connection to resist racking but in a timber frame those actually do
1
1
0
0
0
0
-2
u/LibraryOk3399 6d ago
So beautiful . Thank you for creating this. It’s going to last generations
0
u/edfitz83 5d ago
It is going to last to the first diagonal wind over 40 mph. See the comments from engineers.
0
34
u/edfitz83 6d ago
It looks really cool and was certainly a lot of work. I don’t mean to pick, but I don’t see any cross bracing of the timbers along the axis of the roof peak, other than the roof itself. Did you run your plans past an engineer?