First Pictures of Coach House Project

[Joel Eisner]

Here are some pictures of the first timber frame project that my wife Stephanie and I are building.  All the timbers, siding, flooring etc is comming from a few hundred feet of the site.  We have a Lumbermate 2000 and it is great!!  We are pretty much doing this ourselves other than the occasional help from others (thanks Bob from Lynchburgh).

It is a 5 bent frame (2 bedroom coach house) above a block walled first floor that will contain a garage bays and a staircase.

Here is the 1200 block wall going up:



We used timbers for headers above the wall openings and to support the second floor.  I made a mobile gin pole that attached to the back of the Farmall A (my skid stear):




Here is the completed first floor and now I have a "dry" and lighted place to do the jointery:



Here is the workspace and my first scarf joint:





The 15 posts are done, the girts are about 1/2 way done and the remainder of the joints need to be completed.  As mentioned before, we are in Chapel Hill area of NC so if anyone wants to stop by and cut some joints or check things out let me know.

Joel

[HARLEYRIDER]

looks good.
how much $ do you have into that concrete block foundation?

If I wasn't 13 hours awy, I'd come down and help

[Joel Eisner]

Herleyrider,

I have about $2-3K and the hottest couple of months of the summer laying block.  I put all of them up myself and bucketed the concrete into the cores with drywall buckets.

Joel

:-\

[HARLEYRIDER]

holy moly...now thats sweat equity.

I'm just trying to figure out what  would be the best foundation for the buck. block, or renting forms and pouring myself

[Modat22]

That is going to be a seriously nice place! I like that template in the background.

[Joel Eisner]

Thanks Modat!!  We poured the footings in late April so we are about 7 months into the project.  It seems longer though.  We are going to move into that space and then build the main house (1909 Gustav Stickely designed house) next to it and convert the coach house into a wood shop and guest house.

8)

[Modat22]

Did you hand saw and chisel all your timbers or are you using a chain mortiser?

[Joel Eisner]

I hid the circular saw and drill for the pictures.  :-\  It is a regualr saw so there is plenty of chiseling and hand sawing.

[Joel Eisner]

A friend of mine and I started the assembly of the first bent last night in preparation for the Feb 11th raising.  The scarf joint connecting the 22ft top girt came together with a few kerf cuts.  The two posts that we fit needed some more coaxing.  We used a come-along and a sledge hammer and block. 



The question I have is how much coaxing should be used?  The tennons on the posts were the very first ones cut and may not be the best cut (early in the learing curve!!).  Should the joint close up with the come-along? 

Joel

P.S. Things are shaping up for the frame raising party  (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=16637.0)

[Jim_Rogers]

Usually we do a full frame fit up, by doing the long wall timbers first, for one wall. Then take that apart and do the other long wall.
After those are done and taken apart you do the bents, leaving them together for the raising.
The tolerance in joints should be close. You should not be able to slip a business card between the tenon and the mortise, on all sides of the tenon, but the tenon should not bind up while sliding it into the mortise. If it binds up it could split the mortised piece.
Check your tenon to be sure it is truly 2" or whatever off the layout face and parallel to the layout face. If it 2" off and parallel then trim the opposite side of the tenon to make it fit the mortise. If you trim the layout side of the tenon then the two pieces won't have flush shoulders when seated.
There are photos in the stories I've posted about how to check your tenon for distance off the shoulder and parallel to the layout face. Use your layout tools, your framing square and combination square to check your tenons and mortises.....
Good luck
Jim Rogers

[thurlow]

joint connecting the 22ft top girt came
?

The powers-that-be seem to be quite tolerant of typos, syntax errors, etc; however misspelled words can lead to misunderstanding.  May we assume you meant "22ft top grit"?????? :D :D :D

[beenthere]

I thought he meant 'girt'

girt

Pronunciation: (gûrt), [key]
—n.
1. Carpentry.
a. a timber or plate connecting the corner posts of an exterior wooden frame, as a braced frame, at a floor above the ground floor.
b. a heavy beam, as for supporting the ends of rafters.
2. Print.(in certain hand presses) one of a pair of leather straps having one end fastened to the bed and the other to the rounce, for drawing the bed under the platen.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright

[HARLEYRIDER]

The powers-that-be seem to be quite tolerant of typos, syntax errors, etc; however misspelled words can lead to misunderstanding.  May we assume you meant "22ft top grit"?????? :D :D :D

another bad "GRIT" joke

[Jim_Rogers]

Definition again from Glossary of terms on FF Timber Framing site:

Girt: Horizontal timber joining wall posts at a level somewhere between sill and plate. A wall girt runs parallel to the ridge, a bent girt perpendicular; either can support the edge of a floor frame.


So, I guess it got it right.....

oh well.....

Jim Rogers

[Don P]

After much consideration, a bent grit just don't sound natural  ??? :D.

One thing I did learn was that if the joints are extremely tight tolerence, keep the mortises dry. We had a storm delay us a day and when we got back we had to roll timbers and dump out mortises. Joints that had swooshed together began to require serious oomph.

Inadequate grits can cause extreme fiberstress. :

[Fla._Deadheader]

Noticed something different about scarf joints, here in CR. They undercut the joint, instead of straight cut off of the jointed pieces. Makes more area to help hold the joint inline. Think of a half dovetail, one end fitting INTO the other. Never heard mention of that in this topic board ???