I am in the designing stage of building my own timber frame home and have a few design questions. A small bit of background on myself my help in getting my questions answered. I own 200 acres in the North Georgia area of old growth forest with large numbers of pine, popular, hickory, cherry, ash, and a few more. My plans of now are to supply the lumber yard with all timber that I will need to construction the house.
Here in the South the readily available and widely use type of wood for posts and beams is pine. My question is this: Is pine use because it is the best or because it is cheap? If not the best, What type of wood is and why?
And
I am wanting to span 24' across the middle of the house with no support columns with an steel "I" beam. What size "I" beam do I need to use or is this a bad idea (the "I" beam will be holding most of the weight of the second floor)?
Thanks for all the help.
Benjamin
