February 22: Setting the Roof Trusses

Getting ready to lift the first truss.

The first truss starts its journey.

The first truss is being lowered into place by the crane.

Holding knee braces while the truss is set into place.

Truss #2 is ready and rigged to be lifted.

Doug guides the truss into place.

A tight fit is a good fit.

A view of the first two trusses.

The first ridge is flown in from above to connect the trusses.

The crane hook is poised for the third lift.

Truss #3 in flight.

The second crane day went smoothly and was documented by Matt Sircely, who generated hundreds of photos. It was difficult to choose only a few of the best to illustrate the process. For a Picasa album of many additional images, click here.

February 20: All is Ready for Our Arrival

The four assembled roof trusses are stacked in the living space.
A crane will lift them into place next week.

Each truss requires a complicated use of come-alongs,
which strap the trusses together with tons of pressure during assembly.

The peak is one of the first points of the truss to be secured
with serious, 14" screws with high tensile strength.

The four roof trusses are assembled and ready to fly into place next week. We'll arrive on island Tuesday afternoon (assuming we are able to catch the 3pm ferry). Erik has arranged for the crane on Wednesday, weather permitting, but if rain or wind is predicted, he'll bring the crane in on Tuesday. Can't wait!

January 29: Fitting the First Roof Truss

The first truss is assembled in the future living space. The test fitting is successful!

A closeup shows the chamfered end of the hammer beam
and a through-tenon extending from the queen post.

After weeks of working on the main walls, things seem to be progressing faster. Timbers were cut and test-fitted for the first of four hammer-beam style trusses. Work continues to create the other trusses and lift them into place sometime in February.

January 22: Next...the Floor Joists

Floor joists are in place.
See entire album.

To finish this phase of the timber framing, floor joists were seated in the housings on the summer beams. The joists will support the floor of the master suite and remain exposed in the kitchen below. For more views of the floor joists and the raising of the walls, click here.

January 20: An Exhilarating Day

The east wall is lifted, guided and seated on steel pins.

Both east and west walls are up and braced; a summer beam flies in from the right.

Rex is at home in the living space.

View more photos in the Picasa album: Timber Raising

It was an awesome sight on Wednesday as a crane lifted the timber walls. The results were thrilling for everyone involved. Careful calculations, cutting, shaping and pre-fitting of joints meant only two last-minute adjustments needed to be made as all the elements slipped into place, plumb and level as could be. First the east wall was lifted and temporarily braced, followed by the west wall. The summer beams were fitted, along with their knee braces, completing the structure by tying the girt walls together. Meanwhile, temporary braces were removed. An awesome sight indeed! Click here for more photos.

January 15: Stacked and Ready to Lift

Soon the crane will lift the walls into place.

Strongbacks reinforce the girts during the lift.

The east wall is now assembled - on top of the west wall in mirror image - and ready for the crane lift next week. 'Strongbacks,' the 2x material screwed to the outside faces of the girts (horizontal structural timbers), have been attached to add a little stability during the lift - they will then be removed. Hoping for good weather for Crane Day on Wednesday!

January 13: West Wall Comes Together

Admiring the west wall assembly.

After weeks of cutting, shaping and fitting timbers, the west wall is assembled and ready for the crane to come and lift it into place. Before that happens sometime next week, the east wall will be assembled - on top of the west wall but facing the other direction, a mirror image.

Snow and Sloped Housings

A snowish substance dusts the timbers in early morning.

Crazy cuts on Post 2B - the sloped housings
on the sides are desugned to accept girts.

One of a number of jigs Erik created to expedite the routing
of consistently-shaped sloped housings.

A dusting of snow covers the timbers in the early morning. Days this week have proven cloudy but excellent for doing most of the timber framing outdoors. Posts are being cut with sloped housings to accept girts, the beams in the post-and-beam timber frame structure.

December 12: Timber Framing Rolls Along

Each timber is an individual. The tops have unique
shapes that coincide with their eventual position in the frame.

The shaping begins with cuts from several directions.

Another cut with the chain mortiser.

Chiseling and chamfering smooth
the housings and tenons for trouble-free assembly.

A herd of sawhorses laden with timbers in various stages of completion.

Timber framing moved ahead this week as many timbers were drilled, cut, shaped and finalized for assembly.

To our readers: We apologize for having to password-protect Eye on Orcas, but from the beginning this was to be a blog for our family and friends...not the whole world. We needed to resort to passwords after we realized search engines were crawling the blog and a simple search showed it as #1 in Google (how ironic...one normally would be ecstatic!) Thanks for your understanding!

December 4: A Beautiful Week for Joinery

A view of the north porch post through the mortise in the center post.

Joinery layouts are drawn before any cuts are made.

Kaj works on laying out and cutting timbers.

Chiseling away at the Douglas Fir.

The chain mortiser is used for cutting mortises, the void
in the timber which accepts the tenon.

The center porch post features intricate cuts and a keystone.

Rex takes in the view from the front porch and entranceway.

Favorable weather this week permitted much work to be completed on joinery for the front porch and entrance. Before any cuts are made, Erik draws the joinery details in CAD, and then the mortise, tenon and housing areas are measured and marked on the timbers. During timber frame assembly. the tenon is inserted into the mortise, and then the hole in the beam or post is used to guide the drill bit through the tenon so a peg can be inserted. Needless to say, the cuts are made oh, so carefully, so everything fits perfectly.