Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Tools collected, timber prepared, framing begins.

The moment of truth has become. The foundation and the ground works are over. Now the framing has started. All the timber is prepared by myself in my forest at the right phase of moon in deep and cold winter.

I have designed my family house and I will build it till the end only by myself. As much as possible I am doing with human energy. So I don't want to consume the other ones.

The house will have a traditional timber frame and the walls will be filled with hand hewn logs in one layer and then insulated with pine wood shavings mixed with clay. The roof will be apsen shingled as traditional here in our country.

At the moment I have made all the sills with floor joists and half of the posts.

Here is the flickr link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64220150@N06/sets/72157627142890335/with/5969163385/

Looks like a great start. It looks like a pine frame, not sure if it's rough sawn or planed timbers. What are the long grooves in the posts for? Do you have a pic of the frame design?
Did you make the foundation?
Are you from Sweden? If you put your location in your profile, it will show up in each post.
Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen.

Hey.

The frame is from spruce. All the spruces were over 120 years old. The timbers are rough sawn from the portable sawmill. The long grooves in the posts are for the logs that will fill up the walls the logs will be 17 cm wide, hand hewn. The grooves are 6 cm in width. Logs will be just the inside layer of the wall. Then will come 30 cm of pine shaving insulation. And then the double wooden board plank at the outside as the finishing.

The whole width of the wall will be approx 55 cm.

The frame will be burnt with fire and then linseed oiled - to get the medieval and antique look. I have a pic in another computer. I will post it later. I am nearby Sweden. I am from Baltic states - Latvia/Lettland.

Best wishes

Jacob

P.S. This is my first timber framing project ever. The first knee braces in my life I fitted just yesterday... I have learned just from the books, some old masters here in my land and the internet.

Yeah and the foundation is made 100 by myself. Just the rocks were splited by an old master.

Looks good. Piece in Piece, or more locally that would be referred to as a Red River building here. How did you make the long groove for the wall logs? What kind of joint will you use between the hewn timbers in your walls?

I've been looking at a system similar to yours recently. You were talking about a wall cavity filled with shavings, then a double plank siding. How is this done? Is it just board and baton with boards instead of batons?

The wall infill system will be:

1st layer - Hand hewn pine logs with tenons on both sides (160 mm thick) that will join in the mortise inside the posts (the long groove) that you can see in the photos that I have posted below.

2nd layer - 250 mm thick pine wood shaving mix with dry clay.

3rd layer - 25mm thick pine boarding (as the rough siding)

4th layer - 25mm thick vertical pine board siding (as the finishing).

So the whole thickness of the wall will be approx 50 cm.

I am the "victim" of the ecological philosophy - so that's why I was looking for possibilities to insulate the house with natural materials.

The realistic design photo is one prototype of my house. I took a picture of it and then in the Photoshop placed it just in the place were my house will come up. So my house will be very similar to the one you can see in the picture.

See the link for design pictures in flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64220150@N06/sets/72157627151434929/with/5973197263/

I am very interested in this project, and hope that you will makes it possible for us to follow your progress.

great pix, that tool collection is really impressive
I bet it felt good seeing the brace fit up eh?? Wait until the first bent goes up... hahaha what a rush!!
buckle up, this is going to be a ride of a lifetime bud.. I'm still on a wicked high and it's been a year since our frame went up.
Please keep the pickies and stories coming...I'm sure a lot of us will be tuned in

About the making of long groove in the posts. I made so: at first with circular saw I made a 5 cutlines and then with the 2 inch chisel I took out the wood. The groove is 2 1/2 inch wide.

Thanks for your interest. I like the wooden structures and I am learning while I am doing. No mistakes so far... I will post the progress of my project as much as possible. When I will end up my house (hope successfully) I would like to present my structure that combines traditional timber frame/log building and green insulation.