Hello all,

My wife and I have been dreaming of building a timber frame home with straw bale infill walls. In the July 2018 issue of Fine Homebuilding, there is a 960 sq/ft house that checks a lot of boxes for us (floorplan, shed roof, small, simple). However, it's just a stick framed house.

I've done mortise and tenon joinery in a shop, but I've never done the actual planning and design. I have attached a few pictures of my SketchUp plans and was hoping for an experienced critique!

Here's the house: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2018/05/15/make-small-house-work

And here's the first iteration of my plans:
[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/NMAzwMdStzC8vVP39[/img]

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/jXZeo7cETzE6CBwt6[/img]

[img]https://photos.app.goo.gl/TTtUpaAaarSXqtoQ8[/img]

Posts as of right now are 8x8, beams are 8x12, and rafters are 2x12. If the rafters are scarfed at each upper beam, the longest span is 16'. Are 2x12's on 2' centres overkill? Roof material will be metal.

There are a couple places where knee brace mortises are a bit too close to beam mortises, but those can be shifted. I have the right angle legs of the knee brace (the post and beam) at 2' right now - is there a standard size for that?

Thanks very much for any input!

Edit: Hmmm, not sure why the photos aren't embedding... Anyways, the 3 links should work to view them.