I am preparing to build a timber frame home in 2 stages:
The 1st stage will be a basement in which we will live until the finances become available to build up. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by doing something that I will later regret.
We were trying come up with storage so we thought we would poor the basement and put down the floor joists and then go ahead and put down the subfloor. this would allow much storage and a finished floor - but wait... how do you go up from there??

1. Can the large beams rest on the subfloor and joist at the edge of the home just as they would a sill plate? Or are the joist too weak.

2. Possibly could we place in large metal connectors on the sill later that would allow direct connection the the concrete wall?

4. is there any special reinforcement that needs to be placed where posts rest on a basement floor?

5.The last complication is we want to have about half of the basement exposed thus half of it will be stick frame or structural panels (OSB). Once again we are faced with how to bear the load and keep the walls evenif we use large timbers for the upstairs? Will the panels carry this or what are my options?(perhaps a smaller post to even out the load)

If my plan is hopeless let me know!
thanks for your help in advance...

My advice to you is to design your home before you do anything. You want to make sure your foundation and bearing is adequate for the loads of the timber frame. Also the intermediate posts in the frame will need supports and footings in the basement, you want to make sure they are in the right places.

I am assuming you will be hiring someone to design the main house, so contact them now and have the house designed for two stages. Each state, and sometimes town, have different requirements for tie-down at the foundation. So it's very hard to give a blanket answer. Also the frame type will determine it as well. We don't use a timber sill beam, so we always drop the timber through the first floor framing to sit directly on the PT plate on top of the foundation wall. We use different connectors to tie it to the wall or floor girder.

We've had people contact us who have done what you are looking to do. A couple of them built their foundations without designing their home first, and the foundations couldn't be used for a timber frame. They had to build a conventionally framed home or bulk up the foundation.

So, design your house first, even the timber frame. If you don't it could cost you a lot more money when you do build.

Drew

Ditto^2 on Annemarie's comments.

New construction by it's nature is easily focused on job completion over other concerns, occupied buildings are much harder to finish around a families life and belongings. So, if I had to build a two phase home, I would for instance build the eastern half then the western rather than the lower then the upper. A finished half could be a nice small house on it's merits, that can be added to without invasive construction. You could perhaps mortgage a small house to further construction on the additions, a basement that's part of an incomplete building would not be as easy to mortgage.

If you need storage during construction look into leasing an old trailer or shipping container.

Try in your planning to budget tasks as discreet and during construction to hold costs down keep tasks discreet.

Take care, Roger.