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TRADITIONAL
POST & BEAM
Post and beam (timber frame) construction is a classic and beautiful
technique. When a home is crafted using post and beam, you are
getting into a structure that is durable
and attractive. In post and beam buildings
the post and beams also support the homes roof by transferring its weight
and other loads through its post and onto its foundation. This configuration
eliminates the need for load bearing, partition
walls that you see with conventional framed homes. This enables the post
and beam homes to have large, open rooms with vaulted
ceilings and trusses, which are
two of the distinguishing characteristics of post and beam (timber frame)
homes. Find below some terms explaining the timber components that make
up the post and beam structure
Beam: A main horizontal
member in a building’s frame.
Braces: Smaller timbers placed diagonally
between posts and girts or plates to make a structure more rigid.
Collar Tie: A timber placed horizontally
and between rafters that control spreading or sagging of the rafters,
usually placed parallel to the girts, which connect rafter pairs at a
given height.
Common Rafters: Closely and regularly spaced
inclined timbers that support the roof covering, independent of the bent
system.
Found Curve: Naturally occurring crooked
timbers usually with two sides sawn and two sides with the bark removed,
used as knee braces, posts and beams.
Girt: Major horizontal timber that connects
posts.
Gunstock Post: A post having an increased
size at its top, providing extra strength for intersecting joinery.
Hammer Beam: A horizontal timber projecting
from the top of the wall or rafter that supports a roof truss. The design
creates a large roof span with relatively short timbers.
Joist: Smaller horizontal timbers parallel
to each other to complete the floor frame.
King Post: A central, vertical post extending
from the bent plate or girt to the junction of the rafters at roof peak.
Knee Brace: A short diagonal timber placed
between the horizontal and vertical members of the frame to make them
rigid.
Plate: The major horizontal timber, which
runs from one end of the frame to the other and supports the base of the
rafters.
Post: Upright or vertical timbers erected
within the frame that provide structural support for the members above.
Principal Rafters: A pair of inclined timbers
that are framed into a bent and used with either purlins or secondary
rafters or alone.
Purl in: A horizontal member of the roof frame, which runs between rafters.
Queen Posts: A pair of vertical posts of
a roof truss standing on the bent or girt and supporting the rafters or
collar tie.
Rafter: Sloping main timber of the roof
frame.
Ridge Pole: Horizontal timber, which connects
rafters at the peak.
Ridge Purlin: The beams connecting rafter
to rafter at the apex.
Secondary Rafters: Smaller sized timber rafters placed between principle
rafters.
Sill Timber: Major horizontal timbers,
which lie on the foundation and form the lowest part of the frame.
Strut: A short timber placed in a structure
either diagonally or vertically, designed to act in compression along
the direction of its lengths
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