I am building a 40 x 48 queenpost shop/barn and have been trying to figure out if I should use a dovetail or tusk tenon for the floor joists. I am using doug fir #2 btr heart center for all timbers except the girts which are #1 btr free of heart center (10x10). The floor joists I have are 6x10's. There are four bays and five bents in this frame.
I have read all of the tf books I have (and I think I have all of them) and I am leaning towards the tusk tenon for the floor joists for added strength for the second floor.
The questions I have are: Since the wood is doug fir vs pine would cutting two dovetails (instead of tusk tenons)in the top of each girt compromise the girt too much. I realize the tusk tenon adds complexity to the raising which I am ok with but I just read the post on using Timberlinx connectors for connecting the posts to the slab and was planning on using them myself.
My concern is that if I used the tusk tenon for the floor joists as well as the Timberlinx in the slab it might be too difficult (if not impossible) to raise the frame.
My raising expierence is very limited so it might be fine to use the tusk tennon and the Timberlinx slab connectors but I would like some professional opinions if I could get them.
are you using a crane to assemble the frame? cranes can lift quite a bit, so it could be possible to assemble the floor in big sections, with your tusks, then drop the sections onto the timberlinx.
