Hi all,

I'm toward the end of cutting my own frame for a house/cabin I'm building for my family in central vermont. It measures 26' by 32', and consists of four bents (12', 8', and 12' bays). The roof is principal rafter and purlin system with a 12/12 pitch.

I designed the frame myself but consulted an engineer with timber framing experience for the beam sizing. I have done my own joint design... which is getting us closer to the subject of this post.

I decided to use mostly "drop-in" joists and purlins with, only one tieing (pegged tusk tennon) joist per bay. I've been doing some more reading on the subject and I'm getting cold feet about the structural integrity of this system. Unfortunately, the joists, purlins, and tie girts are already cut. So I was thinking of using a metal fasteners (cheating, I know...) to effectively tie two joists (or purlins) across the supporting beam.

My question is, does anybody have experience or advice with this technique?

Thanks

Jon