The frame of my house is made of white oak timbers. I used 8″ x 12″ floor joists, 8″ x 8″ posts, beams and rafters. Most of the diagonal bracing was made of 4″ x 4″s, the roof braces were made from 4″x 8″s, and the arching braces forming the fanlights were cut from 4″ x 12″s.
Click on any photo to enlarge.
This is a half lap joint with a pegged through tenon.
Diagonal bracing using a housed pegged mortise and tenon at one end and a half lap with a through tenon at the corner.
This shows the diagonal bracing on the front wall which frames the fanlight. The braces and cross member at the bottom are all joined to the posts and the beam by pegged mortises and tenons. They are joined to each other by a pegged loose tenon.Pegged mortise and tenons joining bracing members to a post.Stopped splayed scarf joint joining two pieces of a 28′ beam end to end where they don’t meet over a post. Some of the top stop is covered by a piece of trim.
A pegged mortise and tenon joins each brace to a rafter. The braces butt against the brick wall. The supporting brackets, made by Paul Gove, are through bolted to the wall and lag screwed into the base of each brace.Four pegged and housed mortises and tenons join the lintel and beams to the two posts. Pegged mortises and tenons join the posts to the rafter.
This view of the living room shows the stone fireplace by James “Fuzzy” Monnes, with a heart pine mantel by Bill Wallace. The diagonal brace is connected to the post by a pegged mortise and tenon, to the horizontal beam by a half lap, and to the floor joist by a pegged half lap.
jim wallace 