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Timber-Frame Screen Porch

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1.8K views 31 replies 11 participants last post by  bandit571  
#1 · (Edited)
After 30 mos. of planning, inventing, milling, planing, and cutting joinery, my TF screen porch is finally going up...

da model...
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da prints
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#17 · (Edited)
tomsteve said:
man, you're building this to withstand everything short of a nuclear bomb- I like it!!! the tools ain't to shabby either!
planning a metal roof or??
Click to expand...
Yeah it's a just a tad over built :rolleyes:... but the design snow load is 60 psf here. I'm putting 4-track taunt nylon windows in, and due to the limited sash width, I had to add extra posts to break up the walls.

Trying to mimic this look...

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Roof will be architectural asphalt shingles to match house and barn.
 
R
#20 ·
Beautiful project! I love timber-framing.

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When I began mortising green 8 x 8 posts for my Shaker Shed (above), I found that it resulted in significant wood-checking overnight, emanating lengthwise from the mortise. I wonder if that didn't happen to your post below.

My theory was that the deep mortise allowed the post's center to start drying too quickly, creating great stresses. My solution was to swab out the interior of the mortise (and sometimes the surfaces of large tenons) with water-based polyurethane as soon as I was done cutting. It never happened again.

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#22 ·
Roots said:
When I began mortising green 8 x 8 posts for my Shaker Shed (above), I found that it resulted in significant wood-checking overnight, emanating lengthwise from the mortise. I wonder if that didn't happen to your post below.

My theory was that the deep mortise allowed the post's center to start drying too quickly, creating great stresses. My solution was to swab out the interior of the mortise (and sometimes the surfaces of large tenons) with water-based polyurethane as soon as I was done cutting. It never happened again.
Click to expand...
This is my third TF (it's kind of an addiction) and I've pretty much concluded that unless you're using UV dried timbers (think big microwave oven and a lot of $$) you're going to get checking. The Oak posts were cut ~2 years ago and air dried in a tarp tent, the checking had already started when I cut the joinery.

I try to mitigate the checking by hitting the end grain of the timbers with Anchor Seal right off of the saw mill, and then I treat them with 50/50 BLO/mineral spirits on all faces after completing the joinery. I hit the inside of the mortises with the 50/50 on the long grain and Anchor Seal on the end grain... and they still checked some.

I much prefer to work with pine. But this project has ~60% of the timber coming off our lot from trees I cleared to make way for my COVID garage in 2020. Then an ice storm took out the big Oak you see me cutting (it was split in two at the first branch about 18' up).

I have to do these projects on the cheap, which means I work with what I have and do as much of the labor as possible myself.
 
#29 ·
fabien.huet said:
The portable planer thing is just awesome.
Click to expand...
When I scored a 15" Powermatic Planer for $100 (it was covered in surface rust and horribly misaligned, to the point that the owner thought it was junk) my wife wanted me to sell the old Delta lunch box on Craig's List. But I had this idea in my head, so I hid it in the shed for years. Then I got our machinist at work to help me fab the parts to cobble the Frankin-planer together. It works really well but has a fixed depth of cut (~1/16").

The key to getting the planer head mounted was making these cylindrical mounts from scrap phenolic bar. These fit snuggly into the post holes and then key into the Aluminum T-track.... secured with cap screws and T-nuts

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The pros seem all use the Makita or the Mafel 12" hand helds... but they run north of $3K... way out of my budget.
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#30 ·
I had to use the "think system" to come up with a plan to set the Queen posts and straining beam solo, and came up with a plan to use staging, clamps and temporary 2x supports.
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It all went up swimmingly, but when I was seating the tenons something was binding....
Ugh...one of the mortises in the tie beam for the Queen post foot tenon was incorrectly located.
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So I had to extract both Queen post tenons with a pry bar and secure the assembly to the staging, while I made a dash for a cordless drill, Forstner bit, and chisels to do an in-situ repair perched on top of an 8' ladder.
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a little drill-drill-chop-chop, a stub of 1x4, and some wood glue later....
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And then back to where I started (the angle of the shadow reveals how long this took)

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But all's well that ends well.....

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Check for level, strap and clamp to close everything up tight, then chase the pre-drilled peg holes in the mortises through the tenons...

I'll take it...
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