It seems like a similar High-Posted post comes up here every few months on the forum, this drawing is why it is so important to drive home how dangerous this design is as drawn. (the first drawing, though collars in the gables alone do not resolve the problem)

That said I tapped this off before I saw your most recent post late this morning, but I'll put it up anyway because I see you are taking advice and evolving your design...

The thrust imparted to the Plates, and the bending moment this introduces to those Posts is massive. And yes, the planning of a three way connection and the removal of more section at the same location as the Tie and its Dovetail Tenon is poor planning and design.

I'm with DLB, it is not necessary or even architecturally interesting to insist that everything be in the same plane, if you raise the joists up so they override the Ties all or in part, this will also in part spread the moment over a greater section of the Post , and shift the flooring and the tieing action the flooring and the diaphragm it provides higher and away from the large amount of section removed for the Dovetail Tenon and its Wedge,. ( it also allows the Wedge to be driven from the inside, and provides access to it to allow it to be snubbed up as the frame seasons)

There is also no imperative to tenon the Girt, though moving it up to a plane higher than the Tie allows for longer tenons which might better handle the tension the braces and wind load will cyclically put them into.

A better solution would be to tack un-tenoned Girts (in reality simply a joist and one that carries half the load of any of the others) into shallow housings, and to pass the braces through them an on up into the Plates.

I'm also with Roger, you must introduce a system which will resolve or redirect thrust before it gets to the Plates. Simple rafter pairs will not work


"We build too many walls and not enough bridges" - Isaac Newton

http://bridgewright.wordpress.com/