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Timber Framing for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction

Timber Framing for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction
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Timber Framing for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction

 
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2152210311

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Many natural building methods rely upon the use of post and beam frame structures that are then in-filled with straw, cob, cordwood, or more conventional wall materials. But traditional timber framing employs the use of finely crafted jointing and wooden pegs, requiring a high degree of craftsmanship and training, as well as much time and expense. However, there is another way . . .

Timber Framing for the Rest of Us describes the timber framing methods used by most contractors, farmers and owner-builders—methods that use modern metal fasteners, special screws and common sense building principles to accomplish the same goal in much less time. And while there are many good books on traditional timber framing, this is the first to describe in depth these more common fastening methods. The book includes everything an owner-builder needs to know about building strong and beautiful structural frames from heavy timbers, including:
the historical background of timber framing
crucial design and structural considerations
procuring timbers—including different woods and recycled materials
foundations, roofs and in-filling considerations
the common fasteners

A detailed case study of a timber frame project from start to finish completes this practical and comprehensive guide, along with a useful appendix of span tables and a bibliography.

Highly illustrated, this book enables "the rest of us" to build like the professionals and will appeal to owner-builders, contractors and architects alike.

Rob Roy is a former contractor with 11 previous books to his credit. He has been utilizing timber framing techniques for the past 25 years in the construction of homes, as well as in the numerous outbuildings at Earthwood Building School which he founded in 1981 with his wife, Jaki. He is most recently the author of Cordwood Building: The State of the Art (New Society, 2003).

 
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Product Details
Author:Rob Roy
Paperback:176 pages
Publisher:New Society Publishers
Publication Date:April 01, 2004
Language:English
ISBN:0865715084
Product Length:8.98 inches
Product Width:7.54 inches
Product Height:0.46 inches
Product Weight:0.86 pounds
Package Length:8.9 inches
Package Width:7.2 inches
Package Height:0.6 inches
Package Weight:0.85 pounds
Average Customer Rating: based on 13 reviews

Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:4.0 ( 13 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 found the following review helpful:


3Some great nuggets of info but.......  Aug 22, 2004 By Mark Niawt "Mark"

Some great nuggets of info but fails to deliver the "How-to" that the title hints at. I was dissappointed and am now looking for a "cookbook" or "how-to" style book.

I can not recommend this book.

21 of 22 found the following review helpful:


5Rob Roy is a powerhouse proponent for alternative building!  Dec 29, 2004 By mikathem
This book is written in a very easy to follow style. The concepts all come across as clearly and the illustations do. There is loads of informative content for the alternative builder who is concerned with incorporating natural building methods such as straw bale construction, cordwood masonry, and cob building into thier home. What makes this book stand apart from other texts on the subject is its emphasis on the use metal fasteners to achieve a strong well built frame. While most other timber framing books use joinery that requires a high degree of craftmanship this book uses simpler techniques that the non-professional can learn quickly. It is great for the "do-it-yourselfers" out there that want a book that makes sense! Highly recomended.

21 of 23 found the following review helpful:


3Not enough info, spam  Jul 12, 2007 By Del Mack "Del"
While this book does cover the general building process, I feel it does not go into enough detail. While talking about timbers and larger pieces of wood, the charts in the end are all for regular 2x wood. There are so many references to other works where info can be found, that the whole read felt like one large advertisement (many for the author's other publications). Needs more detailed sketches, diagrams, and important detail pictures, and less useless pictures taken from too far away to be useful.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:


5Practical and Inspirational  Dec 04, 2009 By Doh
Roy brings out new home building books every year, it seems. The last few years have seen major treatments of all his basic building strategies, timber, earth, log ends. The new books are handsomely produced, up to date, and comprehensive.

With timber frames there are several major threads. The uber domestic architecture movement, based largely on church architectural norms, very difficult to home build. The modernist post and beam thread, now out of favour; And the domestic level shorter post and beams method designed for home architecture. This book is mostly towards the latter thread, with additions as required. In other words, even a person working alone with modest tools can do these builds. (Other good books in this scale are Sobon's books that cover traditional settler forms for modern makers, and Mitchell's West Coats classic The Craft of Modular Post and Beam. Sobon's diverts from simplicity in favour of some of these older forms, and Mitchell in favour of West coast style, though they are both still practical)

Often the glaring omission in timber frame books is the lack of any engineering treatment of how to size beams. This is a major stuff where the fancy frames are concerned, but it is within the realm of possibility for simpler homes. Roy covers this ground simply, and it is essential stuff for anyone who wants to do some design work before talking to the local planing office or a professional architect. This chapter can be skipped, but ads to the comprehensiveness of the text for those in need of the information.

One doesn't have to be planing a house to use this book. Timber framing is a practical form for smaller buildings like sheds, workshops, picnic shelters. Due to their scale these structures can often be timber framed within the span of only a few posts and beams of dimensional lumber, saving money with an elegant approach, and increasing interior space.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


3Timber Framing for the rest of us  Jun 08, 2009 By M. Adams
Author did not use enough examples, really only sited building one structure. It was imformative though.

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