Posted By: pringles
Old Ontario Barn - Joinery Questions - 01/24/10 08:42 PM
Hi,
I just spent this weekend looking at the details of a barn that was build in 1903, on my neighbors property. I noticed some rather strange joinery, at least strange to me given my limited experience.
The barn is a 36' X 60' bank barn built into a hillside. The bank entrance is on the 60' side on the higher grade side (as per usual). The foundation is in the shape of a "U" with the low side being completely open (no stone work at all) The floor joists on that side sit on a sill supported by posts instead of the foundation like on the other three sides. There are five bents spaced at 15 feet. It has common wall plates and common perlin plates (I hope I have my terminology correct). Perlin plates supports the rafters at midpoint and wall plates tie the outside bent posts together and support the rafters at the eave. I noticed the following.
1) 60 ft wall and perlin plates were scarfed. one side had two scarfs, the other had one scarf joint. That is, one side was made up of two timbers and the other three to make the total 60ft length. The scarf was a stop splayed scarf without wedges. That is there is nothing in the joint that holds the joint from pulling apart in the direction of the beam length. Each scarf joint was centered over a post with the tenon of the post going right through the top of the plate. There was a pin driven through each side of the scarf and into the tenon of the post to hold it together. This would have the tendency to try and split the post tenon length wise. There were no signs of failure but I have never seen this type of joint before. Has anyone else, and are they a good joint?
2) I noticed that the reference face for the bents was odd. The north gable bent had it's reference edge to the north, the second bent beside that one had it's reference edge to the south, the third and fourth bents had reference edges to the north again and the south gable bent had it's reference edge to the south. Is it normal to have the reference edge of the internal bents on opposite sides or do they normally have their reference edges on the same sides. I would have expected all bents to have their reference edge on the same side either north or south and the other gable bent to be reversed to the other four.
Thanks.
I just spent this weekend looking at the details of a barn that was build in 1903, on my neighbors property. I noticed some rather strange joinery, at least strange to me given my limited experience.
The barn is a 36' X 60' bank barn built into a hillside. The bank entrance is on the 60' side on the higher grade side (as per usual). The foundation is in the shape of a "U" with the low side being completely open (no stone work at all) The floor joists on that side sit on a sill supported by posts instead of the foundation like on the other three sides. There are five bents spaced at 15 feet. It has common wall plates and common perlin plates (I hope I have my terminology correct). Perlin plates supports the rafters at midpoint and wall plates tie the outside bent posts together and support the rafters at the eave. I noticed the following.
1) 60 ft wall and perlin plates were scarfed. one side had two scarfs, the other had one scarf joint. That is, one side was made up of two timbers and the other three to make the total 60ft length. The scarf was a stop splayed scarf without wedges. That is there is nothing in the joint that holds the joint from pulling apart in the direction of the beam length. Each scarf joint was centered over a post with the tenon of the post going right through the top of the plate. There was a pin driven through each side of the scarf and into the tenon of the post to hold it together. This would have the tendency to try and split the post tenon length wise. There were no signs of failure but I have never seen this type of joint before. Has anyone else, and are they a good joint?
2) I noticed that the reference face for the bents was odd. The north gable bent had it's reference edge to the north, the second bent beside that one had it's reference edge to the south, the third and fourth bents had reference edges to the north again and the south gable bent had it's reference edge to the south. Is it normal to have the reference edge of the internal bents on opposite sides or do they normally have their reference edges on the same sides. I would have expected all bents to have their reference edge on the same side either north or south and the other gable bent to be reversed to the other four.
Thanks.