Well before we leave this topic I have a couple of more unusual framing characteristics that I ran across as I was doing the documentation on this building, I am going to tell you what they were and Maybe you will give me your best guess at why the original framer did what he did:
a--The purling posts placement--
The building is 30 feet wide and as I measured the original mortise placement for the purling posts I noticed that instead of there being an equal 10 feet between the outside of the building to the centre of the mortise holes in each case the posts were 4" closer to the centre line of the building ie: 10'-4" from the outside to the centre of the purlin posts.
I replaced the posts in the same position during the reconstruction although I sort of wondered if it had been a mistake on the framer's part. In the end I discovered why this had been done.
What is your guess?
b--Ceiling timber placement--
In the east bay another irregularity showed up during the initial documentation of the building...
The east bay had a ceiling in it originally and was used mainly for horses and a few cattle. The ceiling timbers were framed in so that over the alley way they were 4" higher on that end than on the other end where they met and were mortised into the posts
Here again I thought a mistake had been made and I double checked to see if the posts had decayed on the bottom ends and created false readings. To my dismay though it was evident that this was not so and I really was torn between correcting this error during the reconstruction. It was decided though to not change things but keep the original measurements during the reconstruction.
The answer to this also became evident after the framing was complete and the floor in this section was installed--what do you guys think the irregular measurements were there for.
I hope you enjoy and don't be afraid to jump in with an answer I am sure everyone will enjoy
