Building the Timber Frame House: The Revival of a Forgotten Craft

If you've been in an old barn and marveled at the great beams and posts, then you know what a timber frame is....BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE...is a brilliant book on two levels, as a history and philosophical raison d'etre of timber-frame construction...and [as] a no-nonsense, how-to guide. —Boston Globe

Instructions are so complete that if you have (or can command) basic carpentry skills, this could be your sole house-building source. —Building and Remodeling

The Timber-Frame Home: Design, Construction, Finishing

The nearly forgotten art of timber-frame construction is again flourishing, due largely to the interest of designer-builders like Benson and, ironically, to the general availability of high-tech building materials such as stress-skin panels used to envelope the skeleton. Benson integrates a reverence for the beauty and integrity of this ancient building craft with an appreciation (and explication) of contemporary building concepts that make the timber-frame a feasible alternative to the normal stud-frame house. This handsome book, with line drawings and photos amplifying the text, is recommended for collections serving architects, designer-builders, and those with an interest in contemporary building arts. — Library Journal

Timberframe: The Art and Craft of the Post and Beam Home

In his third book, Tedd Benson delineates two dozen timber-frame projects of various sizes and styles. With 400 full-color photographs and dozens of line drawings, images are more prominent than text. The effect is nearly overwhelming, but it is leavened by an introduction from Norm Abram, the master carpenter of This Old House and New Yankee Workshop. Essential for woodworking collections. This may even find a place in art collections. — Library Journal

Timberframe Interiors

Timberframe homes offer an aesthetic appeal that can be achieved with no other building style. Their grace, lightness, and ability to span big interior spaces are much like a canopy of trees over a country lane. While timberframe homes naturally evoke a country or traditional feeling, TIMBERFRAME INTERIORS teaches that you need not confine yourself to that decor. Timberframe construction provides a wonderful beginning to create a warm, friendly atmosphere while responding to a unique set of interior designs and challenges. When the decor and the construction join together to establish a fully integrated look, the result is breathtaking. —Book Description from Amazon

Timberframe: The Art and Craft of the Post and Beam Home

Thirty floor plans along with tips from some of the field's premier builders and designers will enable you to incorporate the art of a centuries-old building craft into your home. Elegant in its simplicity and immensely strong for its fewer parts, a timberframe home is a thing of beauty, designed as much for its pleasing symmetry as for its strength and longevity. The TIMBERFRAME PLAN BOOK is a hands-on guide to choosing the floor plan for the home of your dreams. —Book Description from Amazon

The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live

Architect Susanka believes that the large homes being built today place too much emphasis on square footage rather than on current lifestyles. Here she shows how homes can be designed to feature "adaptable spaces open to one another, designed for everyday use." She describes how to examine occupants' lifestyles, how to incorporate the kitchen as the focal point of the home, how to give the illusion of space, and how, with storage, lighting, and furniture arrangement, a smaller home can be comfortably livable. Photographs of contemporary homes as well as those by Frank Lloyd Wright and other modern architects illustrate Susanka's ideas and show the timelessness of the style she advocates. This thought-provoking book will be a good addition to architectural and interior design collections. —Library Journal

Creating the Not So Big House: Insights and Ideas for the New American Home

Sarah Susanka has a not-so-insignificant idea in CREATING THE NOT SO BIG HOUSE. She contrasts the glamorous, glossy-photo house plans of vaulted ceilings and palatial living rooms with the livable, day-to-day pleasure of cozy window seats and comfortable breakfast nooks, and her conclusion is resonating with families across the country: bigger but shoddier isn't better than smaller and well made. Descriptors like "spacious" and "expansive" fill the real-estate promos, but Susanka seeks the elusive yet affordable qualities that turn a house into a home. And she provides more than mere ideals around which to rally. She selected 25 house designs, from a southwestern adobe to a Minnesota farmhouse to a New York apartment to a Rhode Island summer cottage, and she profiles each home in great and well-illustrated detail.

Whether you're in the market for a new house, want pragmatic renovation ideas, or are interested in the concept of space-saving abodes from a city-planning, philosophical perspective, Susanka's book is an eye-opener and a mind-expander, providing conceptual and practical tools to assist you in planning your own livable home.

Timber-Frame Houses

A compilation of articles from the last ten years of Fine Homebuilding magazine, this attractive volume reflects the full-scale revival of the timber-framer's craft as applied to house construction. More than half the 30 or so articles document the design and construction of specific houses, and the remainder survey the latest methods and materials. Included are such topics as milling timbers, cutting and forming various joints, hoisting impossibly heavy frame members, and working with stress-skin building panels and other product innovations. An important addition for any library serving designers, architects, or builders (professional and amateur alike). —Bill Demo, from Library Journal

Timber Engineering

Timber construction is one of the most prevalent methods of constructing buildings in North America and an increasingly significant method of construction in Europe and the rest of the world. TIMBER ENGINEERING deals not only with the structural aspects of timber construction, structural components, joints and systems based on solid timber and engineered wood products, but also material behaviour and properties on a wood element level. Produced by internationally renowned experts in the field, this book represents the state of the art in research on the understanding of the material behaviour of solid wood and engineered wood products. — Book Description from Amazon

("Long Term Report"), Richard J. Schmidt and Garth F. Scholl, University of Wyoming, August 2000. The report describes research by the University of Wyoming to determine the load duration and seasoning effects on mortise and tenon joints in tension.

"Long Term Report" Spiral Bound, 111 pp. $20.00

("Joint Report"), Christopher E. Daniels and Richard J. Schmidt University of Wyoming, April 1999. The objective of the research is to determine the strength and stiffness characteristics of timber frame connections in tension. A Major sponsor of the work is the USDA National Research Initiative/Competitive Grants Program.

"Joint Report" Spiral Bound, 98 pp. $20.00

("Peg Report"), Richard J. Schmidt and Robert Mackay, University of Wyoming, October 1997. The research includes a study of the mechanical properties of the pegs used in mortise and tenon tension connections.

"Peg Report" Spiral Bound, 87 pp. $20.00

("Frame Report"), Richard J. Schmidt and Robert G. Erikson, University of Wyoming, August 2003. Timber framing is a method of construction in which heavy timber members are connected with carpenter-style joinery and wood pegs. The intent of this research was to provide a basis for implementing provisions for this type of structure in building codes. Specifically, this project investigated the effects of lateral load on the stiffness of full-scale timber frames.

"Long Term Report" Spiral Bound, 111 pp. $20.00

Richard J. Schmidt and Joseph F. Miller, University of Wyoming, February 2004. Traditional timber frames use hardwood pegs to secure mortise and tenon connections, resulting in shear loading of the peg. Despite the historical usage of such connections, no applicable building codes or guidelines are available for engineers and designers to follow. The object of this research is to quantify the shear capacity of wooden pegs in a mortise and tenon joint by both physical testing of full-scale specimens as well as modeling their macroscopic behavior by the finite element method.

"Capacity Of Pegged Mortise And Tenon Joinery" Spiral Bound, 77 pp. $20.00

("Wind Load Design") D.M. Carradine, F.E. Woeste (P.E.), J.D. Dolan (P.E.), and J.R.Loferski, Forest Products Journal, October 2003. Current design methodologies for timber frame structures do not formally incorporate the structural benefits of structural insulated panels (SIPs) as diaphragm elements, which contribute significantly to the ability of these buildings to resist lateral loads.

"Wind Load Design" Spiral Bound, 27 pp. $15.00

David M. Carradine, J. Dan Dolan, P. E., Frank E. Woeste, P. E., August 2003. To assess the effects of screw spacing and edge boards on diaphragm stiffness, quasi-static cyclic stiffness tests were conducted....

"Effects of Screw Spacing" Printed Material, 10 pp. $10.00

Reprint of A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engineering. Forest Products Society, Fall 2004. Four articles on TF Engineering issues.

"Wood Design Focus" Printed Material, 23 pp. $5.00

Richard J. Schmidt, Robert B.. MacKay, Brent L. Leu, University of Wyoming, July 1996. Reprint from International Wood Engineering Conference.

"Design of Joints" Printed Material, 8 pp. $3.00

Tracy Davis O'Connell and Dr. Paul M. Smith, Pennsylvania State University, 1996. In 1996 the timber frame industry in the US and Canada consisted of an estimated 216 firms that produced about $133.8 million in sales of timber frames, and employed about 1710 workers…

"The North American Timber Frame Housing Industry" Spiral Bound, 46 pp. $15.00

Tracy Davis O'Connell and Dr. Paul M. Smith, Pennsylvania State University, 1997. Timber frame homeowners are older with higher education and income levels than non-owners. Low interest non-owners are similar in age and income to owners, but they differ in....

"Consumer Attitudes Towards Timber Frame Homes" Spiral Bound, 38 pp. $15.00

J. Rouleau & Associates, 1998. Public relations is a specialized marketing communications tool. Obtaining free publicity for your product can become an important source of leads and exposure. In order to obtain this free exposure certain guidelines have to be followed....

"Timber Frame Business Council Public Relations Manual and Marketing Guide" Spiral Bound, 36pp. $15.00

J. Rouleau & Associates, 2000. The survey's purpose is to help Industry participants better understand the timber frame market. The results are based upon respondent's answers to a comprehensive, 69-question inquiry. Sixty-three companies from various geographical locations within the U.S. and Canada participated in the survey. The results are summarized in this report.

"Timber Frame Industry Sales & Marketing Survey" Spiral Bound, 25pp. TFBC Members $25.00 / Non-Members $50.00

Historic American Timber Joinery

54 pages, including numerous drawings and photographs

This illustrated catalog discusses the joinery in American traditional timber-framed buildings of the past, showing common examples with variations as well as interesting regional deviations. It was written and drawn by architect and timber framer Jack Sobon under a grant from the National Park Service and the National Center for Preservation Technology, and appeared previously in a series of six articles in the Guild's quarterly journal, Timber Framing. Guild Publications Director Ken Rower has here assembled the articles into a compendium that includes a bibliography and index to joints and useful terms.

Historic American Roof Trusses

HISTORIC AMERICAN ROOF TRUSSES is a compilation of six articles that originally appeared in Timber Framing, the Timber Framers Guild's quarterly journal, plus new material. Primary author Jan Lewandoski covers the principles of building various trusses, including scissor trusses, kingpost and queenpost trusses, and compound and raised bottom chord trusses, using historic examples. Ed Levin provides structural analyses for each type, and Jack Sobon provides detailed drawings.

New material includes an introduction to trusses by noted timber engineer Dave Fischetti, a treatise on the evolution of trusses by Jan Lewandoski, and a comprehensive glossary and bibliography.

The original research for this book was partially funded by a grant from the National Park Service and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

Timber Frame Joinery and Design Workbook

The TIMBER FRAME JOINERY AND DESIGN WORKBOOK is a collection of 30+ technical articles on the engineering and design of timber frame structures. Many favorite articles from past issues of Timber Framing Journal and Joiner's Quarterly, are combined with hundreds of illustrations to make this workbook the most comprehensive reference published to date on timber frame design and engineering.

Now in its third revision and its fourth printing, the workbook is divided into four sections: Editorials, Technical Articles, Examples, and Frame Drawings. It also gives the design values for many species of timber, as well as recent articles from academia on important research.

It is not the intention of the Guild or any author whose work is contained in the collection to "endow" designers with an education. Rather, it offers the reader an appreciation for the complexities involved in the engineering of semi-rigid structures constructed with anisotropic materials.

Timber Frame Joinery & Design, Vol. 2

This is the follow-up for THE TIMBER FRAME JOINERY AND DESIGN WORKBOOK, the TFG's most popular publication. Volume 2 is now in stock and available only through the Guild.

It contains all new material, including more than 50 articles on design, engineering, layout and joinery, enclosures and vernacular timber framing. A "must-have" for everyone's library, from the novice timber framer to the advanced engineer.