Hello,

I come from a construction family, and grew up stick framing. I recently have become enamored with timberframe, and I'm planning to do the shelter institute online class (mainly for confidence boost).

My family is split on how much this will cost me, and chatgpt estimated 170,000 to 425,000 lol I plan on doinging ever step myself from foundation to drywall, so mainly it's just the cost of materials and inspections/utility hookups.

I'd love some to hear experiences from owner-builder projects.

My plan is a 24x24 on a crawl space will metal roof, and most likely metal siding. 2 bath and wood stove heating. People don't have AC around here, but might eventually need it...

Come join us for some free BBQ and see what else you can do with timber Hot Springs Demo Days – Norwood Sawmills

we're getting started on a flagstone patio and timber frame pergola, but first we've got to move a lot of rocks.

this corner of the property used to be an old field. like a lot of old farms, every rock that came out of the ground eventually ended up in a corner pile. instead of hauling them away, we're using them as accent stones throughout the new flagstone patio. it seemed like a good way to keep a little of the property's history in the finished project.

we're moving them with one of those little chinese mini excavators that's powered by a lawnmower-style gas engine.

i know these machines get mixed reviews, but for this kind of work it's been surprisingly capable. it's obviously not replacing a bigger excavator, but it'll move fieldstone, fit into tight spaces, and sip fuel while doing it.

that said, if you're thinking about buying one, i'd only recommend it if you're mechanically inclined. quality control on many of these machines is inconsistent. you should expect to go through the entire machine when it arrives—check every bolt, fitting, hydraulic connection, grease every pivot, change the fluids, and make sure everything is adjusted correctly. if you're willing to do that, they can be a lot of machine for the money. if you expect dealership-level prep and support out of the crate, you'll probably be disappointed.

anyone else running one of these little machines? what have you found they're actually good at, and where do they come up short?

I’m wondering if your engineer minds could just confirm that a joist system of 2x6 boards with an 8’ span and spaced 16” apart could support 2500lbs? (or what I would need to do that).

The “house” would be roughly 2000lbs of that total and would be sitting on 80 sqft (8x10) of a 10x15’ platform. I have read charts and ran numbers but feel over supported and under supported at the same time… each beam seems to be able to support 500-800 lbs. and also UDL set at 50psf (10 dead load) seems critically low.

any advice?

Finally finished!! Some before after pics for y'all.

My grandfather is rebuilding the Joyette from scratch all by himself.

Home inspection just came back on a 1950s church turned home renovation. There are no roof vents and the inspection also noticed some hairline cracks around most of the windows.

Wondering if the cracks around windows and interior beams are due to moisture issues.

The inspection itself was not very insightful. And I'm waiting to hear back from a structural engineer about scheduling a time to come out for a full inspection.

Any thoughts on ventilation, moisture, wood/beam integrity would be appreciated.

Looking for some advice! We just bought a house with an old barn that’s bowing pretty bad. Id like to keep it preserved and restore it down the line but money is kind of tight having just bought the place. What are some somewhat budget friendly things we could do to keep it from getting worse?

I'm not really talking about full blown design or plans, just simple illustrations to get ideas from.

I have a lot of books with nice illustrations, but not so many internet resources.

Where do you all go, other than here, to get ideas or rough plans

Cross posting realizing folks here might be interested.

Hello, working on an oak bed and am joining the head/foot bed posts to the rails with stub tenons and bed bolts. The posts are 3.5 x 3.5 in and the rail is 5.5 x 1.5 in thick. The plan is to make a 3/4 in long stub tenon on the end of the bed rails, with a thicker stub tenon, 1 inch, which leaves a small 1/4 shoulder.

Have to deviate from the 1/3 rule as a 1/2 inch thick tenon would get destroyed when I drill a 7/16 inch hole through it for the 3/8 inch bed bolt.

Suppose I can make the tenon 3/4 inch thick, which increases the shoulder from 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch, but is it necessary or recommended to do that, and what benefit would be gained? Thanks!

The metal garage building 30x40 that was on the property I purchased has a poured cement floor. However the footing seems to be on pressure treated wood. Perhaps the builder or home owner cut corners for $$$? Either way I am stuck having to fix this so the building remains safe. Nothing terrible has happened YET but I need to clean it up and prevent further damage.

My plan is to clean the dirt from the footer area seal cracks with form spray (?) seal wood as best I can and place gravel against this area.

Thoughts and advice please and thanks.

I have a 1967 stilt house on a steep slope with timbers anchored to helical piers in bedrock. I just noticed these cracks in one of the central support timbers today doing some chores. I have no idea if it was there before. The pictures I took when we first moved in are too low-res for me to tell whether this crack was there previously. See pics linked below. Thanks.

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1azAWk-Huzp9ADonHAFpgV2qR5gO6asj9/view?usp=drive\\_link\](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1azAWk-Huzp9ADonHAFpgV2qR5gO6asj9/view?usp=drive_link)

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4VEMQSAH\\_PrVV\\_vFSfDDWTc8S6CuVFY/view?usp=drive\\_link\](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4VEMQSAH_PrVV_vFSfDDWTc8S6CuVFY/view?usp=drive_link)

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yDejHroURFQTHoIvbSMiqTra1xjaW8Ry/view?usp=drive\\_link\](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yDejHroURFQTHoIvbSMiqTra1xjaW8Ry/view?usp=drive_link)