Timberfame construction

[db2]

Thought I would show some pictures of the house my dad has been working on for a while now.

In my dads way of timber frame construction(I say my dads way because he has never built a timber frame house before although he has read a book on it) you start out with the timbers and form all the mortises and other joints to form a bent. After a bent is formed you mark all joints tear it down and start on another. When all the bents are formed you take them down to to building site and "finish" fit all the joints. The first picture is the finish fitting and final assembly on a bent.

The second picture is the bents going into position. In an other post I stated there were 9 bents, well I was wrong there are 13 bents total, what do I know, I was in charged of building the deck :).

The third picture is the fireplace. The mantel is going to be wood, he just does not know what he wants yet. The stones are all indigenous to the area.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.
db2

[OldBob]

Very cool! Looks like your Dad is a good craftsman. My son and I did the plumbing/heating/electric in two story one a couple of years ago......... its a challenge to find a way to hide wires, etc. The heat was in-floor radiant and it worked out well despite the high ceilings.They make a beautiful home.

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

WOW!!!!!:drinks:

[shooter2]

I looked into this method of construction a while back and concluded that it was, by far, the best way to build a house. In the CA earthquake some years ago there was a timber frame home near groud zero. No stuctural damage, just broken dishes and such. It is going to be a fine house.

[db2]

OldBob yes the heat will be floor radiant type on both floors. The stick framing is 2X6's the timbers are 8X8. The inside walls will be standard 2X4 framing between the bents. There will not be a problem hiding the wiring and plumbing. There will still be 2 inches of timbers showing inside the house on the outside walls. Outside you will only see the timbers in the overhangs.

shooter2 that was the reason he used this method. He wanted this thing to last several generations.

By the way the timbers are 8"X8", the length varied up to 16 feet long, white oak. It did not take him long to learn how to use a chisel. I tried to talk him into a mortising machine, but a 2" mortising machine runs over 8 grand. He said no thanks and did the joints by hand. At least he used a crane to lift up the bents. I won't talk about what he was going to try to do. :)

db2

[Hackleback]

Great looking framing. Too bad OSB was used for the sheathing.