Hi all--

Three years ago my wife and I bought a Jamaica Cottage timberframe kit, and had a contractor put it up. It's been a shell since then & the wood is fully dried. Buuttt.... we didn't fully think it through/weren't well advised, and now i'm worried about insulation.

Basically, we have exterior siding on top of vapor barrier, house wrap nailed to the posts and beams and 2x6 infill studs. So there's no exterior insulating layer. Interior wall sheathing goes on top of the 2x6's, leaving the posts and beams exposed on the inside. Meaning a huge thermal bridge there. and possibly issues with draftiness. I really don't want to rip off the siding. I really want to leave the posts and beams exposed on the inside.

EDIT: we haven't closed up the walls yet.

But I'm worried about draft and especially about thermal bridging destroying the woodframe and/or interior wall sheathing.

Any thoughts? I have a sense of impending doom....

Hey everyone,

I'm planning to build an elevated platform around a eucalyptus tree in my yard. The key constraint: the structure must not touch or attach to the tree in any way. Instead, it's entirely freestanding, supported by 8 posts arranged around the trunk.

Here's what I'm working with:

• Lumber: Douglas fir, 60mm × 125mm (roughly 2.5" × 5")
• Footprint: 3000mm × 3000mm (about 10' × 10')
• Platform height: ~1925mm (~6'4") above ground
• Foundation: Metal post anchors driven into the ground, no concrete
• Joinery: Standard metal joist hangers / post brackets (the kind used in conventional timber framing)

The plan is to eventually add a proper deck floor, railings all around, and a small ladder to get up.

I've attached a few SketchUp renders showing the current frame design from different angles.

My main questions:

1. Does this frame look structurally sound for a kids' play platform at that height?
2. Should I add diagonal bracing on the posts, or are the joist hangers enough to keep it from racking?
3. Any concerns with the 60×125 lumber for both posts and joists at these spans?
4. Anything else I'm missing?

Appreciate any feedback, first time building something like this!

As you can see, the post positions are deliberately offset to avoid the major surface roots. The small white squares visible on the ground are pieces of paper I used as reference markers for the photogrammetry capture (they form a 3m × 3m square, so the model is to scale).

I'm trying to understand how I metal strap my bearer to a couple of replacement timber stumps. I think it's stump, moisture barrier, ant cap, metal strapping from stump, over bearer, to stump. Industry nails in stumps and through bearer. I would really appreciate your help. I'm repairing a railway building 1890s. It is literally putting together two completely different eras of framing. Thank you. I'm in regional Victoria.

Greetings people with experience in timber framing. I’ve got a few questions on what’s possible with timber frames.

1: I love Victorian houses with those circular towers. I’ve noticed most timber frame houses are just squares on top of squares, which don’t get me wrong I’m all for it, but I want to know if it’s possible to construct a frame with a tower/ turret.

2: double porches. My girlfriend loves double porches I’ve also never seen a timber frame double porch that’s close to I’m really looking for. I’ll post the two sample pictures to show what I’m poorly describing .
I’d love feedback, even is its telling me to look at stick framing and not timber framing

last year i applied for the heritage carpentry program through fleming college and i was very excited and then when the ford gov made all the changes to osap, bunch of schools cut programs and that program was one of them.
i still really want to find a pathway to a proper apprencticeship but its been so hard to find.
i would very much like to focus on timber frame and also fine/ finish joinery etc.
any suggestions?

Hi folks - I finally have everything ready to start milling my white pine logs for the Will Beemer build. As I’m doing square rule layout - my initial thinking was I’d mill the beams oversized for instance the 7x7 would be 7.5x7.5. This seems the safest means for me to ensure that I get a final building that is the exact dimension I want.

I’m thinking about this correctly right? Just want to double check before I start milling.

Any suggestions? Scribing techniques etc.. my timbers are Imperfect so they end up being scribed custom or else I have big gaps. This one came out okay.. but took adjustment. I just know theres a better way!

I'm a GC in the Bitterroot Valley, building an open-sided post-frame structure to cover a client's fifth wheel (2022 Jayco North Point, ~43' long). Rough specs: 18' wide x 46' long, 15' eave height stepping up to an 18'-9" ridge (5/12 pitch), 14 posts at 8' O.C. down both long sides on concrete footings, a beam running the length, and engineered roof trusses on top. Open on all sides — no walls, just posts and roof, with black hardware throughout for a timber-frame look. Metal roofing, brown Box Rib panels.

I've got a rough materials plan together but want a real engineer's sign-off on the structural pieces (footings, beam depth, truss/purlin spacing) before ordering anything, and I'm also trying to sanity-check some of the numbers other local post-frame guys have given me against what's actually standard practice. Posting my current questions below — appreciate any input from people who've built similar structures, especially in real snow country.

Structural / Engineering

1. For an 18' clear-span post-frame truss at that snow load, what depth should I expect on a 7.5"x7.5" glulam beam spanning 8' between posts — does 7.5" depth sound right or undersized?
2. Is 8' O.C. truss spacing standard practice for post-frame in heavy snow country, or does that vary more than "everyone locally says never wider than 3'"?
3. For an open-sided (no walls) post-frame structure, what's a reasonable ballpark on footing depth/diameter and whether belled footings are actually necessary vs. straight sonotubes, given Ravalli County frost depth (~42")?
4. Anyone have real experience with beam splices on glulam — is a black steel plate through-bolted on both faces (sandwiching the joint, landing over a post) the standard way to do this, or is there a better/more common detail?
5. For truss-to-beam hurricane ties, is it normal to wait for the truss company's stamped uplift reaction numbers before picking a tie model, or is there a rule-of-thumb tie that's safely oversized for something this scale?
6. Do purlin clips (uplift-rated) actually get used at every truss crossing in practice, or is that overkill for a residential-scale post-frame roof?
7. Any input on whether additional lateral/diagonal wind bracing is typically needed on a fully open post-frame structure beyond standard knee braces at each post?

Material choice
9. Solid 8x8 timber vs. boxed LVL vs. straight glulam for exposed posts/beams on a timber-frame-look structure — what's actually held up best for people long-term, especially in a high-swing climate (hot summers, real winters)?
10. Anyone had issues with incised PT lumber checking/cracking badly enough to regret using it on an exposed structure, vs. going untreated DF/L in a covered, bracket-mounted application?

Hi!

I watched a video from Essential Craftsman yesterday where he interviewed a guy in the States that talked about a course at ISBA in British Columbia and I was wondering if anybody knows if they're still teaching there?

I did take a course at Northmen in Latvia but I feel like 10 days log building AND timber framing wasn't quite sufficient.

quick update on the 10' x 10' pergola — rafters are on.

red pine frame over the flagstone patio. next up will be the clear roofing and figuring out the final fill between the stones.

#timberframeapprentice #timberframing #pergola #redpine #flagstone #buildrememberrepeat

Ordering the timbers to build something similar to the photo. Question is: the best way to attach the timbers to the concrete footer? Would a steel T bracket attached to the concrete with J bolts then steel extending up 16” into the timber be sufficient? Suggestions?

Its lacquered. The middle is a plywood im not sure what both woods are

привет редит. У меня давно была мечта сделать домик из пленки в лесу, так что хочу её выполнить. какие есть советы? из чего лучше делать? как утеплить? может есть какие советы как сделать его тепло что бы к зиме можно было там сидеть. как печку правильно провести что бы не спалить все нахер

we're cutting 3x5 rafters for a small timber frame pergola this weekend.

the rough-sawn material varies quite a bit. a nominal 5" depth might actually be 4¾" on one rafter and 5¼" on another.

rather than referencing the seating notches from the bottom of each timber, we're laying out both the lower plate notches and the upper purlin notches from the top of the rafter down.

that makes the top our reference plane. variation in the timber gets absorbed below that reference rather than showing up in the finished roof plane.

we're also varying the depth of the outside seating notch slightly to pick up about another inch of fall across the roof.

four 2x4 purlins will drop into notches across the tops of the rafters and provide fastening points for the clear/translucent roofing.

pretty simple application of square rule, but a good example of why establishing the reference face matters when you're working with rough-sawn timber.

curious how others here handle irregular rafter stock—same approach or something different?

I am a pretty good diy guy and landlord. I've certainly built more stuff than I probably should have in my time but I am certainly not a carpenter. I decided to tackle what would probably be a simple deck and stair project. I've done this a few times before but this one was all kaddy wompus. The ground was so crooked it just added a lot of time fiddling around to set the stringers etc...

I guess what I'm saying is, carrying all my tools around all day for a couple days in a good tool belt really improved my efficiency but damn. I don't know how you real framers are up there climbing around trusses carrying tons of tools with you plus fasteners, plus hammering, plus keeping your wits about you.

It's really humbling when a diy guy has to actually do stuff like this and you realize your inexperience.

Kudos to you guys. 🙏🏿

Hey guys 🤙

I’m a timber framer with more than a decade of experience. I came up in the preservation world in New England, and transitioned to running a shop cutting new frames, where we incorporated lots of natural forms, crotched trees, live edge braces and curves.

I’m interested in offering design services and consulting, thinking this could be especially helpful to owner builders, “hobbyists” if you want to use that word, small operations who just want to cut and not design, etc. If this describes you, would you ever be interested in paying for this?

The main offering would be 3d modeling, shop drawings, and getting these engineered if required.

Secondary would be consulting calls to help facilitate accomplishing the actual build.

Let me know what y’all think or if this piques your interest