Lack of ridge beam in Will Beemer's design

[ShimodaLife]

Hi there,
I've just completed my first timber frame, copying the TF plan in Will Beemer's book "Learning to TF." Couldn't be happier with the book, the pictures, the hand-holding, and the final result it helped me deliver.



 

But since the start, I've had one niggling concern about the lack of ridge beam. I've searched the archive looking for this topic, and found loads of topics about ridge beams, but none about *no* ridge beams. Isn't the lack of ridge beam introducing a major weakness in terms of lateral movement? I added long screws through the rafter tail into the plate, then additional L-brackets attaching rafter to plate. And I have plywood as the first roof layer, which of course adds rigidity, but still...

You can see my cutting and dry-fitting of the rafters in the first video link, or the actual rafter building on site in the second link. Any guidance for my *next* TF will be greatly appreciated.

Cutting rafter tails and dry fitting:
Timber Frame Tiny House in Japan - Rafter Tails (S2E27) - YouTube

Final rafter construction:
I Built My Tiny House in Five Days, Pt 2 (S2E37) - YouTube

Cheers,
JT

[ShimodaLife]

PS. I know Will is a member in this forum, so maybe I'll get feedback from the horse's mouth (so to speak). Hi Heartwood. Love the book!! I hope more people buy it and use it.

[Don P]

The tie beams below the plates (rather than sills), tie the walls together to restrain the outward thrust of the rafters. This is an indirect way of restraining the spreading force relying on several connections and the stiffness of the posts and plates. Fine for smaller structures, starts to lose its appeal as spans and loads increase.

Just some critiques to help next time.
Draw to scale ahead of time, you should never be surprised by the lack of headroom in the loft, yet I see this very often. Scaled drawings are well worth the time.
When you mocked up on the slab, next time screw some scrap 1x across from plate to plate to hold the dimension. The trouble you were having with the step lap angle fitting on the right plate was because the plate was rolled in relation to the rest of the work, level the plates in all directions. Pythagoras ~"pith-ag-or-us". Stagger seams in plywood from one row to the next. If you start the first row with a full sheet, start the next row with a half or partial sheet. Do not line up seams all the way across a floor, wall or roof. Weave them so they reinforce and stiffen the entire plane. Use nails rather than screws to attach structural members together, unless you are using structural screws, nails are ductile, screws are brittle. Always set up ductile failures, (deform, screech) rather than brittle (snap, whump) whenever possible. Get a soft face deadblow hammer or make a beetle to knock timbers around with, that steel face pecker tracks fine timbers. When working alone or short handed strap or pin the braces together across the posts to avoid having to fight them in, that becomes nigh on impossible as things get bigger.

Neat ply, what is it? Looks slicker'n owl snot, and what dimension 1Mx2?

Cute building.

[ShimodaLife]

The tie beams below the plates...

Neat ply, what is it? Looks slicker'n owl snot, and what dimension 1Mx2?

Cute building.

Thanks for the great feedback, Don. Lot's of good things for me to remember.
The ply is used here for forms when pouring concrete. They typically don't use 2x lumber or ready-made form systems. Just the yellow ply with some 2x2s for backing and support. 900 x 1800 x 12mm (2'11" x 5'10" x 1/2" thick)

[Jim_Rogers]

When cutting any step lap rafter seat you have two choices.
1) measure all the rafters and find the thickest one. Then make all your seats that wide. Then any rafter can fit into any seat. No custom fitting needed to be done.
2) cut all your seats to the correct size. measure all your rafter tails and if the tail is wider than the seat dimension. plane the side of the rafter until it will fit the seat. easy to do and just plane the area where the tail intersects the plate. I usually plane off the none adjacent side. When one rafter tail has been fit to one rafter seat, label it. and label the seat with a matching label. Then that pieces has its own location in the frame.

Not to be too technical, but a sill is on the bottom of the wall. the floor joists connect to that. A plate is at the top of the wall and the rafters connect to that. There is no such timber as a "sill plate". (in my opinion) each timber gets it's name from its location in the frame.
Jim Rogers

[ShimodaLife]

Not to be too technical, but a sill is on the bottom of the wall. the floor joists connect to that. A plate is at the top of the wall and the rafters connect to that. There is no such timber as a "sill plate". (in my opinion) each timber gets it's name from its location in the frame.
Jim Rogers

You're right, of course, Jim. I made regular slip-ups when describing beams or posts etc. Must be very irritating for the pros in the audience.  Thanks for the feedback.