My timber frame is up!!

[grandmajoy]

They started last friday in the freezing cold and finished thursday

http://i13.tinypic.com/2dwe1yx.jpg

Try to find the timber monkey! -LifeisStrange
The person on the frame is the timber-framer this is the first bent, it is supported by 2 lag bolts and 2 braces, acrobats would not try this trick! When he got down we told him he looked like a monkey climbing up the frame, he said he's been called a timber monkey before!
Bent no. two was in place when we got back from lunch.
This is with all the bents and girts, this was taken just before they started putting the joists and purlins in on thursday.

http://i16.tinypic.com/2cojsxx.jpg

This is thursday afternoon about 2:30 all the joists and purlins are in, ITS DONE!!

http://i14.tinypic.com/4i2y4k0.jpg

Well that part any way, now the hard part starts ::)

[tufhelp]

That is one great looking structure! Please keep us up-dated with your progress.

Tufhelp & Lindawoman

[desdawg]

I like it!

[Backwoods_Bob]

Looks like a good solid frame.
Whachya gonna fill it in with?

Looks kinda cold and snowy up there.
Where are you located?

[grandmajoy]

I'm going to infill with straw of course, Bob. I first started looking into straw bale about ten years ago(an article in The Mother Earth News). The timber framer's house and his sons house are both strawbale/timberframe. If I could have done differently I would have liked to try load bearing, but had to go with some framing. Chose timberframe for its strength and beauty, it really looks awesome with the straw. I will maybe do a shed or something with loadbearing. When I first read the article in TMEN, I was sold on strawbale, it also helped that my Dad built potato cellers out of logs and straw, so I already knew how well the straw worked as insulation. Now that the frame is up I CAN'T WAIT TO START THE REST!!!!

joy

I'm in S.E. Idaho in a little town called Drummond.

[CarolAnn]

Joy,
This is just fantastic! What a thrill to see this taking shape!

I just watched a new straw bale construction documentary on cable, and it was so beautiful! They plastered it with a mixture of clay and sand . . and lime, I think - and they'll never have to paint. Seems like it would have had to had some cement in there too.

Do you spray the straw bales with something to keep them from mildewing or getting bugs? Seems like if there was a single critter in the bale, it would make a family and set up house keeping!

[Backwoods_Bob]

Carol,
My cottage is plasterd with an ordinary mix of Red Top plaster and sand inside, and with a standard stucco mix outside consisiting of Portland cememt, lime and sand.

The outside was left raw, the inside was white washed with a mix of ordinary lime and water.

Looks like this -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/P2230071-1.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/P1010146-1.jpg
If you look closely, you can see the rough textured walls in this picture -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/P1010142.jpg

The straw isn't treated in any way - It was just field grass done up in big tight two string bales.

Bugs never eat straw. As long as it is dry, it will last forever. I have drilled a few holes in the wall to install electrical conduits over the years, and the straw inside was as bright and fresh smelling as the day it was bailed.

Note that it is very important not to have any moisture barriers anywhere in the walls!!
If you use moisture proof paint on the inside or use tyvek or plastic in the walls, the moisture barrier will accumulate condensation, and the straw walls will rot out.
The trick is to let the house breath. It's better for the house, and better for the inhabitants!

[Backwoods_Bob]

Grandmajoy,
I did some work on the infill house built the Spokane neighborhood's Action Program ( snap ) on 8th and Altimont in Spokane.

This was back in '97, I think, a year before I built my place.
I found the infill work was a pain!
Your always retieing bales to the right length.

The real pain is when you get to the top of the wall.

The problem was, the roof of the building was already up. The straw was stacked in piles inside the house.
This was done to protect the straw from rain while building.
Great idea, right? Wrong.

See, like with most straw bale walls, we were sticking rods through the bales as we stacked 'em up, so they would be connected to the row below them.

( bamboo in this house, 1/4 inch rebar in my cottage. Rebar is lass expensive, easier to work with, and is made from recycled metal anyway )

Then we got close to the top of the wall...
How do you get the rod into the top of the bale and drive it down?
Since bamboo is flexible, some of us tried mightily to bend it and force it in...

I can tell you from first hand experience that bamboo is as sharp as a razor when it shatters, and can cut you to the bone! :P

The architect gave up and directed us to drill holes in the brand new roof so we could drive the rods home!

So, it is probably wise to put the roof on after the walls are up!

Also - Next time i build with straw again, I don't think i'll bother covering the walls with the stucco wire -
It simply isn't needed.

Are you going to have the timbers visible on the outside of the wall or the inside?
Since ordinary two string bales and stucco outside and plaster inside makes a wall about two feet thick, how are you going to manage exposing the timbers at all?

Will they not be imbedded in the thickness of the wall?

Are you going to try and set the bales in the wall on their sides? That is, with the strings showing on outside and inside of the wall?
This makes a thinner wall, but isn't as strong or stable.

I'm curious to learn more about your project! :)

[grandmajoy]

Bob, first let me tell you this project has been thru so many incarnations its amazing I've gotten anywhere.
I first had three acres in an area I thought was off the P.Z. radar but lo and behold a realtor bought a piece near me. He had this idea to put in very restrictive covenants, I did not agree, from that point on if I nailed two boards together he ran to P.Z. to see if I had a permit. Finally after five years of fighting I told him if he wanted me out he was going to have to pay big. We reached an agreement last spring and I bought two city lots in the town site of Drummond ten miles from where we live now.
I had finally got a building permit for a timber frame straw bale house, no way the co. would go for load bearing, a few months before I sold. The timbers were cut and ready to put up, when I sold. I kept all the building materials we had accumulated.
As soon as we closed on the property in Drummond I started working on getting a new building permit. The foundation had to be changed because of the slope of the ground and the fact that on the property I was going to build on, we were going to put the house on a rock formation. I got the building permit reissued and had the foundation done in June, also had the septic done. the foundation and septic were done professionally because of the amount of excavation that needed to be done. We spent most of the summer moving our building supplies to our land in Drummond.
We were finally able to get the timber framer and the money to get the frame up together. But the soonest he could do it was last week.
During the fall we received a letter from P.Z. informing us they have no jurisdiction in the city of Drummond and refunding our building permit fee, this is after the very expensive foundation that the engineer wanted was done! With the foundation in and the wood ready there was no reason not to use the frame. What you cannot see in the pic is the top of the foundation its 18" wide, it tapers down to 8" 4' down(frost line). there are two columns down the center 1' diameter also going down 4'.
The south 2/3 has been back-filled so I can do an earthen floor(with radiant tubing). the north 1/3 is where the kitchen and bath will be and that will now be framed(so the plumbing remains accessible). I will butt the bales against the timbers, they will be visible from the inside. On the outside I will stuff straw behind the timbers I won't be using stucco netting I will use bird net(plastic 1/2x1/2 " net) for behind the timbers and around the doors and windows and also some fiberglass netting that I found. I know it will be a pain retying bales but it will be worth it. I'm not going to pin the bales, recent articles on bale building are turning away from pinning, I will "stitch" the bales to the frame with twine(hard to describe but was working very well on the first building we tried to build). I am also planning on putting in one of these.
http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/rostforcobbu.html

I'll be using red top also for the interior and a lime/ cob plaster for the exterior, as I stack the bales I will fill holes with cob. I will most likley stack the bales on their sides.
Thats the plan anyway.

joy

[grandmajoy]

Buy the way Bob thanks for the pics of you're house. It looks great.

joy

[Backwoods_Bob]

Hmmm, what is a Rocket Mass Heater?

I have a soapstone stove from the woodstock company.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/P1050102.jpg
It's our only heat, and we go through about four cords of softwood a year.

Heh, those are buckets of snow we're melting for water next to the stove -
No running water for us!

I don't mind one bit -
I built this place without a single permit. Living in the backwoods off grid really really has it's advantages!
I'm reminded of this every time I hear a story like yours.

I'm very glad you haven't given up. Some day soon, your gonna have a very unique and beautiful house, better than any house near by, and for a lot less cash!

[Backwoods_Bob]

Grandmajoy,
You mentioned an "earthan" floor with radiant heating pipes underneath -

Ya know, I though about doing the under floor pipe thing myself.
I was gonna run the pipe through the back of my wood stove.
What I couldn't figure out was how to circulate the water with now electricity.
I gave it up as needlessly complicated and just not needed.
My cottage is only 20 x 30 outside and 16' x 26' inside - Those walls are thick!

I made a "brick on sand" floor. Really patio blocks.
Got 'em quite cheap at the time!
A nice easy floor to build.

So, how big is the house going to be?

[grandmajoy]

Bob the interior is 22'x36' with a half loft. I want to have a wood stove(the rocket mass heater) but I also want a secondary system. I'll hook the tubing up to my water heater. I'm still kicking around ideas for the floor. I've kind of decided on the earthen floors because they would be the cheapest and simplest. I would love to get ahold of some pavers for cheep but I haven't ran across any. I wish I could of got my hands on the brick of the old high school that was tore down here last year, I would have used that. The co. that tore it down would not let anyone get anything, it just made you sick to see all that stuff go to waste. We have been given a building that was built in 1917 to tear down we will use the beautiful 1"x12" sub floor boards for the loft, bath, and kitchen floors, the clapboard siding we will use for the ceiling. I'm also going to use the great double bowl double drain board kitchen sink. We will get a bunch of 2x8s and 2x4s full dimension lumber we will use for the porch and the interior walls.

joy

who are the kitties? They are beautiful!

[desdawg]

Here is a link to the actual building of a Rocket Mass Heater and a review of the book Glenn used for reference:
http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1167119392
http://www.oasisdesign.net/energy/woodheat/index.htm
If you are into building projects this is a good forum to hang out at. Lot's of info on many different approaches to building.
http://www.countryplans.com/

[rassd71]

It looks great! Keep us posted on your progress.