How high can I go with this bent's cross beam, it is key tenoned?

Justin Bailey · July 05, 2016, 11:53:26 PM

Hoisting a front plate beam up in place. I have five 4x6's resting up on the bent ties, my most twisted ones that I was hoping would settle flatter a little. I clamped them together to make a handy platform to travel from one side to the other and not have to use the ladder as often.

Justin Bailey · July 07, 2016, 06:40:28 AM

7 of 8 plates in, this end of the frame is done.

Through the right brace 'triangle' opening you can see where in the back, I mistakenly made the peg holes at the spline joint closer than the rest to the bottom of the plate. 1-3/8" on center from the edge instead of 1-3/4"

Justin Bailey · July 10, 2016, 07:00:25 AM

Completed the basic frame. I'm going to use some 6x6 rafters directly over the bents, with two short vertical 4x6's M&T'ed into this and the ties below for extra strong doubled-up rafters there. The bent tie beams already have two mortises placed about a third of the way in from each end. I covered them up with 3" gorilla tape to keep out the rain as best I can months ago. The rafter count between bents is getting increased from 3 (4 spaces) to 4 (5 spaces), reducing the spacing from 4' down closer to 3', distributing the load across the plate better. 8)

Czech_Made · July 11, 2016, 07:20:33 AM

Looking great

Justin Bailey · July 16, 2016, 09:03:46 AM

Thanks Czech_Made.

The five bents will get a 6x6 rafter directly over them, here is one I am starting with. It is more complicated than it looks, because of the 2 degree slope of the plates, I had to shim up the beam to create angled mortises how I had it positioned on the machine's table, luckily, common door shims are 2 degrees. This also created angled tenon shoulders on the upper ends of the short pieces. The 6x6x16's are also green, so I anchorsealed the ends and have been hosing them down and wrapped them in stretch film, to slow the drying until I get to use them, I may leave them shrink wrapped for a few months and stain them some time later. The rafter mortises are 4" deep, not the usual 2.75" the rest of the angle brace one's are to help control any twisting as the beam dries.

Here was the load of 6x6's, 2x6's, and 2x8" I managed to get home safely with earlier this week. I bought some 2x8 for facia boards, some is for roof panel strapping, they didn't have 2x4x24 so I will rip a 2x8 in half. The end rafters will be a 2x6 and a 2x8 sandwich held to the plate with an L-bracket.

I notched the rafter only 7/16" deep to make it rest on the post/plate levels equally. There are two 10" GRK timber screws anchoring at least 2" into the spline (cross grain) at each end. I marked the angle and while I moved the beam back to the shop to mortise it, I drilled 3/16" holes, then used a 12" bit to follow down into the spline. I thought I would try some beeswax/turp mix spread on the screw, but didn't really need it. I alternated driving the screw part way, backing it out, and then searching with drill again to clean out the hole as I got the screws down all the way. I was worried I could possibly snap the screw off part way, but with some extra care they got down all the way and could torque them well.

It's a lot of extra work to brace these rafters into the tie beams, but I feel it will be worth it when the heaviest snow downfalls may occur. Not only does it help support the roof, but increases the resistance to racking force on the frame's width, meaning the front-to-back direction that the bents are oriented.

Here's how I am making the notch to seat the rafters on the posts (and also the plate beams atop the posts on the ends). It works accurately for me.

Justin Bailey · July 20, 2016, 08:08:53 PM

Got 3 of the 1st (I'm calling them 'primary') rafters installed. 2 more of them to do-1 on each end. All these latest pegged joints were draw-bored 1/16"-3/32". The frame just got more rigid, before I could shake the frame enough to almost spill a glass of beverage set on it (just testing w/ my body weight), now virtually no movement when doing this.

Here is the place they were set up for a 5 days now. I had 6 of the 6x6x16 and am down to 3 of these. Anchorsealed, clamped them, & used blankets to wet them down to keep them from twisting as they are green still. They came off a stack at the supplier very straight to begin with but also freshly treated. I will not have to worry about carpenter bees as much with this PT wood throughout the frame, just the fascia and roof strapping is non-treated.

Another group, these are the twisted 4x6 rafters, been hosing them down as well.

These are the roof strapping (running purlins) 2x4 and 2x8 fascia nice and flat, non-treated lumber. I'm keeping them dry with 2 of my roof panels laid on top.

Justin Bailey · July 23, 2016, 07:25:16 PM

The big rafters are placed now. The rest are 4x6's. A small branch fell out of a big white pine we have, so I stuck it in the frame as is done. ;D (this is after-all, treated (tanalized as our English fellows put it) southern yellow pine which could be any of 4 pine species) The 'timber' joinery is done, the rest of it is just screws. I was conscientious not to simply spread all the milling sawdust on the ground, and as it was consequently bagged and sent to the trash pick-up (landfill) sigh.

These are the rafters I started to stain but stacked under and through my sawhorses while I handled the bigger stuff. They have their twists, but they are mostly straight as far as bow or crown - I'll wrench them true and fasten them to the plates while also laying the 2x strapping on top simultainiously to correct them. I hope. I got this. hehe. That one with the circle cross drawn on it is a perfect one. I wrote '76' on one because I weighed that one-76 lbs. Trying to figure out 'dead load'.

Justin Bailey · July 28, 2016, 05:17:44 AM

We had a wild or European cherry tree (the bark is more like a birch not walnut as in major black cherry lumber species) in the backyard that had fallen down from either hurricane Sandy or Irene (I forget) but had topped it out and kept it off the ground for a few years in the idea of saving it for use for some lumber. I was considering adding 2 rows of some kind of 'spacer' purlins between the rafters to help straighten them out, so I decided to try and cut up the tree into small pieces to use. It is 'green' moisture wise but kind of mellow. I checked with my meter and read 25-30% or so...

I was researching a few different threads on purlin methods, like housed and tusk tenoned and also dovetailed, but I am leaning toward just either pinching them in between directly under the strapping runners or possible a very shallow 1/8" rabbet or housing, but am shying away from substantially weakening the rafters with any kind tenon or dovetail joint. I also read that since the wood can shrink, the dovetail would not be a good choice due to the greenness, but also read that cherry shrinks minimally. The pieces I have produced are random in the ring orientation, some are really rift and QTR, others 90 deg. converse. I need 44 pieces; five in-between each rafter, yet in two runs 4' apart x 4 bays, plus 4 for the gable ends. They are 36" mostly and would like to get some short 24" ones under the end (gable) overhangs. I'll run them at the equidistant 4' and 8' interval between the plates. Just two rows, kind of in line with the 6x6 rafter vertical braces. This will prolong the build further (yay!

).

Here is the log after day 2 (kind of blurry, sorry). It was about 20" at the bottom:

After I used the chainsaw and some drawn lines to divide a section in half & also a hand circular saw on the edges, some draw knifing, and scrub planning this one piece is something flat and square enough to fit through my 14" BS.

After a lot of cutting, jointing, and planing I am winding up with some good pieces. This was the first day where the bottom section of log yielded 7 pieces. I am up to 13. Waxed the ends. Will employ them green for use though in a mere week or two from now. I avoided the pith area as I was told the farther you can get from the center the more stable wood is. A baseball-bat size area in the center of the bottom piece of the trunk was punky but could eliminate it. Lot of shavings, and getting a better feeling working with something else besides PT lumber. If I were to get more PT wood for this as it seems to run 1$ bd/ft cheap, it would likely be wet anyway and this would have cost a good bit. A lot more work than buying wood but I'm saving $. I may not use the brown stain on these and just brush something clear on them to show off the grain and have a natural element under the roof looking up.

I rested my intended 4 rafters up in this bay just to get a look at spacing. This isn't really a registered build nor code-prioritized, but I hope it will suffice or at least be as safe as standing under a tree usually is.

I am shooting for at least 3x4 size. I may ratchet strap and clamp tighten the rafters against them and work from one end to the other, and place some screws through the strapping down into these. I am also considering toe nailing or driving screws from an angle hiding them on the top side. I really don't want to see any fasteners underneath but also would like to somehow eliminate gaps showing-I want them to be tight, I realize wood doesn't shrink along its length much. Maybe I can compress them into the rafters a little as the rafters are mostly dry and at least they won't shrink much anymore or I don't expect anyway. smiley_anxious

Justin Bailey · July 30, 2016, 08:19:58 PM

It's a large cut for this saw, slowly but surely. My roller stands are wobbly and maxed out beyond the set point. hehe. :D

23/44, plan to get to 29 tonight.

Sorry if this is deviating off timber framing topic, but it's still part of the frame build.

Justin Bailey · July 31, 2016, 05:38:28 AM

deleted

Justin Bailey · August 02, 2016, 06:05:00 AM

Earlier I forgot to mention that before I installed the 6x6 "primary" rafters over the posts, I had cut the post tops level with the plates, you can see they stuck out a bit, I figured and cut the dovetail parts to be 5.5" high, but the plates were planed down a bit smaller. Made them match is all.

Justin Bailey · August 04, 2016, 05:38:09 AM

44 purlin peices made. It took the whole tree. Back to staining the rafters. I loaded up on more stain and screws.

I was considering dovetailing the ends of each rafter into the 2x8 fascia boards, but that seems to be not much of an improvement, structurally weakening the fascia board. I may get angle clips for the 6x6 rafters and where the joints butt and use a metal strap on top where it won't be seen. I should have just gotten all 16' boards, but got 20's and 24's. trying to make it three pieces for the whole front instead of 4, but then there is a joint over the long spans making it not as strong there where it will receive the most strain. :-\

Maybe I'll just cut my 2 24's and 2 of my 20's down to 4 18's and my 2 other 20's down to 16' and pick up 2 16's later- that way I'll only have the butt ends where the big rafters are and I can use metal angle and straps there only, and the spans will be stronger to help the assist the plates as much as possible. ;)

Justin Bailey · August 09, 2016, 08:02:33 AM

Applied some clear stain base that has no pigment added, and drilling the angle-iron gable rafter brackets for screws.

Made a diagram to figure out how/what length decking or strapping (running purlins) 2x4's to make and how they'll hold out while staggering the joints. I have them all down to 24' 20' and 12' lengths-pretty simple. The left-most bay wound up being 2-3/4" less wide as the other three, so I figured out the rafter centers' distances separately from each gable end having a 25-3/8" overhang equally on both ends.

Justin Bailey · August 18, 2016, 06:24:06 PM

Stained all the runner purlins to match the bottom of the roofing sheets

Here's a sample of the bottom against the color I choose.

Also pre attached the gable rafter to the end fascia, stained them all together. I didn't screw the ends because I have to angle cut them to length, used some long 2x4's and clamps to get them offset accurately, the lip will capture the runners along the top edge of the frame. These are treated, all the other fascia are not.

Justin Bailey · August 26, 2016, 11:52:30 AM

I moved all my materials and sawhorses outside to get down to working on the rest of the roof structure. Earlier I strung a fishing line and trimmed off all the 6x6 rafters so now I can just string a line from each bay as I go. One at a time, I want to get the rafters all notched and trimmed to length and angle before I attempt to fasten them and add the top decking and cherry purlin pieces.

Notching the 4x6 rafters.

I'm using some blocks and clamps to deal with the twists, at least just to mark and cut them for now.

I'll go through this again one at a time as I screw them down to the plate, add the cherry pieces, lay the strip purlins, and attach the fascia all at once to each rafter, amounting to 15 different attachment points to it to keep them straight and immobile as I unclamp each one and proceed.

Some are severely twisted, but I am confident my method will yield good results. I alternated the worst ones throughout so there is no one area where there is nothing but. franken-smiley

Justin Bailey · September 07, 2016, 02:12:36 PM

All rafters notched & trimmed to length, attached the fascia boards only to the primary rafters directly over the bents. Now am working on fastening the smaller rafters down, with two cherry 'spacer purlin' pieces in between each. Blocks & clamps keeping about four rafters straight at time. Will 'leapfrog' this blocking and clamping advancing as I go along, while also laying the longer grey 2x4 decking on the top.

Drill press set up at 45 for pilot holes

Justin Bailey · September 19, 2016, 04:48:00 PM

Progressing along with the purlins, and rafter attachments about 3/4 done.

I left the gable ends unattached and not trimmed to length, I will do that later when spacing and laying the sheet roof, which I'll try to center out over everything.

Used ratchet strapping to help stabilize it as it progresses.

The cherry pieces appear tight. On a few of the joints I had to flatten off the side of the rafter with block plane where they had a cup. Light touching up with stain afterward. The stain really dulls a plane iron to cut through but a necessary evil I guess.

They intersect at the short upright spacer blocking at the bents. The pegs in that joint were cut flush and recessed a sixteenth or so, invisible now. The upright spacing is not centered or equidistant, so a few of the upper deck has a little irregular spacing, but they are all 24" O.C. or under.

Here I was working at night, (beat the heat) and used this 4x4 predrilled on the press to use for a drill guide for the rafter pilot holes.

There's 8 holes in the guide, but only used 4, the other for the other end. I spaced them to screw slightly inward of the center of the outer 4 laminations.

The diagonal fasteners, invisible from below and also covered by the 2x decking material. I used a 1/2" pipe clamp threaded backwards to act as a spreader and handscrews as a stop to drop them in. They were starting to warp, so needed blocks and clamps that held them flush to the rafters. Some were particularly difficult to get straight and neat. At first, I just clamped across the rafters, but they would drop when snugging the screws, so I had to clamp them up under little blocks that bridge over the joints to get them tight without moving. Things I had to learn as I went. There are then also 6 3" simpson structural framing screws over the top that have a large head. The grey decking has also has 2 3-1/2" grip rite exterior phillips flat head screws per rafter. The fascia/rafter ends have three 4-1/2" spax timber screws w t40 washer heads. I put them diagonally, opposite the twist of the rafter, they are opposite on each end. So far nothing has split or cracked at all which I am happy with. Some of the spring back left the rafter not square to the fascia, although I clamped them as such. It's a fight with this crazy twisted wood, hehe. I am hoping it will all take set, and become stabile over time. It just got like 3" of rain on it. I quick clamped up the last two worse twisted rafters while they were wet.

6" screws here into the cherry purlin spacers, through the drill press pre drilled 45 deg. pilot holes.

The first bay had around 32-3/4 lengths, but the rest were 33-5/16. The 1st bay got shorter by mistake, but just by 2-1/2" or so.

I am doing OK, I pushed too hard one time with my chest on the drill and I think strained my pectoral minor muscle that goes to one of my ribs, got to try to never do that again. I'll be alright though.

Justin Bailey · October 12, 2016, 10:03:55 PM

I have the metal on the top, restacked the piles underneath and added some lights. ;D

Shot of the trimmed off purlins, fascias, and plate beam ends before the gable rafter end is attached, all the same length, then the gable 2x6 and 2x8 fascia sandwich fit in between it all. The 2x6 rafter is notched and supported by the beam and the fascia overhangs a bit.

The angle iron and angle clip brackets, and also where I added some 2x4 blocking in between the purlins along the gable end, to make a wider area to screw into to fasten the roof sheet and gable roof trim on the top. Drove some screws diagonally and filled the holes, stained over them in the grey color. Also some of that boat bottom anti fouling flat black paint on the beam ends. The paint is thick stuff! Says it has cuprous oxide (copper) in it.