Green Larch Timber Frame

[ucoulddoit]

I'm about to start fabricating a frame for a small timber framed outbuilding which will be similar to a green oak frame but I'm using green larch instead. I just wondered if anyone has any experience using green larch compared to green oak and in particular if similar joint details work OK? For instance, when draw boring for the pegged mortice and tenon joints will an offset of 3/16 inch work OK? I assume that oak pegs will be fine?

 

The outbuilding will be mainly used for air drying timber that I've milled for my own use. I've used my Alaskan mill to cut the larch beams and posts from trees about 100 years old which had been felled on land behind our house and were given to me. The timber looks to be excellent quality and hopefully the natural preservatives in larch will mean that it doesn't deteriorate for many years. I'll post some pictures over the coming months as it progresses.

 

Andrew

[delabodge]

larch will be fine, you could soak the bits in the ground with creosote, or alternatively sit them on old concrete slabs, my shed down yard has been there for 17yrs so far and still going strong!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Be good to see as it comes along if you can post some pics 👍

[ucoulddoit]

larch will be fine, you could soak the bits in the ground with creosote, or alternatively sit them on old concrete slabs, my shed down yard has been there for 17yrs so far and still going strong!

 

 

Thanks for that. I was also worried about the whole thing blowing away in a gale so have cast concrete plinths to raise the posts off the ground/slab and cast a threaded rod right through the slab and plinth with a steel plate under the slab. All a bit fiddly to get everything set out properly and difficult to cast the slab in the open with the recent poor weather. Also, it will be awkward to lift the posts over the threaded rods and get a nut on the end, through a hole drilled into the side of the posts.......! Picture below shows a plinth and threaded rod. Also a picture of milling a beam on the hillside behind the house, early last year before the midges were too bad. Quite difficult to do this and move the logs, working alone. Also, the outbuilding required planning permission and despite getting this, a neighbour used a loophole in my title deeds to stop me progressing so it needed an application to the Lands Tribunal which was successful. So after two years and many difficulties since the first posts/beams were milled, it is good to be making progress. Should all be worth it. Not sure that those first posts/beams are still 'green' which may make cutting the joints a bit more difficult.......

 

Andrew

[ucoulddoit]

A (slow) progress update on this project. Quite wet in Scotland this summer which is not great for woodworking outside and I'd underestimated the time it would take to cut the scribed mortice and tenon joints in the slightly irregular timbers straight off the Alaskan mill. But it's looking good with the first frames lifted over the weekend by my wife and I. I reckoned the heaviest frame was about 350 lbs weight which took some effort to raise it safely.

 

Andrew

[delabodge]

:thumbup:Looking great and it will see us all out with the correct roof

[ucoulddoit]

:thumbup:Looking great and it will see us all out with the correct roof

 

It would be great to have a pitched roof with timber shingles or something like that, but I needed to keep it as low as possible due to neighbours concerns. So unfortunately it will just be a simple monopitch with steel cladding. I had thought about a green/grass roof, but the extra weight would have needed very heavy roof beams. So it will be quite simple and functional but a useful covered area.

 

Andrew

[nick1854]

That looks magnificent Andrew. I reckon you could have adapted that to take the weight of a green roof

[Will Heal]

Yep looks pretty sturdy

[ucoulddoit]

That looks magnificent Andrew. I reckon you could have adapted that to take the weight of a green roof

 

Thanks Nick. I am really pleased with how it's going. It would have been possible to have a green roof and I thought about doubling up the rafters to keep their weight down. Another option would have been to cut a vertical slot along the length of the rafters for a steel plate to make them into flitch beams. But as my first choice of a double pitched roof with traditional finishes, space inside for extra storage, etc. wasn't possible, I just decided to keep it simple and relatively low cost. The rest of the frame is more than strong enough. It's quite 'chunky' as I've made allowance for timber framed wall panels to be fitted in the future if I decide to change it's use to a workshop, and so it's designed as a fully clad structure to withstand hurricane force winds which occur most winters where it's built. Typically 90 to 100 mph every year and more in the really bad storms!

 

Andrew