← Building on the homestead H62-03 · Module 3 of 7 · Pages: 20 · Worksheets: 4

Timber framing

Choosing and seasoning timber, protecting it without poisons, sizes for posts, beams and rafters, joints, bracing and checking old timber, with a timber calculator and a cutting list

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Whole series: Building on the homestead, €39

Timber framing

In short

  • For framing use timber at up to 20 % moisture; green timber air-dries in roughly a year for every 2.5 cm (1 in) of thickness.
  • Timber never touches soil or concrete: post on a post base, sole plate 20–30 cm above ground, roof with an overhang.
  • Only black locust (robinia), oak heartwood or sweet chestnut goes in the ground untreated; spruce and pine rot within a few years.
  • Every frame is braced with a triangle: brace, tie or sheathing. A rectangle without a brace racks over.
  • Sizes in this module are for light outbuildings. For anything housing people or livestock, heavy roofs and deep snow, get a structural engineer.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. Timber as a building material
  2. Moisture and seasoning
  3. Protecting timber without poisons
  4. Sizes: post, beam, rafter
  5. Joints
  6. Bracing: a triangle holds, a square falls
  7. Light framing: stud walls
  8. Floors and lofts
  9. Old timber: inspection and repair
  10. Tools and safety
  11. Common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Cutting list
  • Timber calculator
  • Labels for the timber stack
  • Seasoning log and calendar

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

This guide in other languages:

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