An extremely unique and complex nine sided reciprocal roof frame in Ashland, Oregon. Exterior walls are insulated with hempcrete and sheathed in a proprietary manner for shear capacity.

We love reciprocal frames!

Timber framer: Jiri Vrsek Deep Spring Timberworks LLC

Project Manager: Ryan Kirkby 

Rafters, braces, hips, purlins...  all wanting to occupy the same space on this heavily loaded frame.  Great execution, and, great wood fiber.

In a normal structure, one might use a heavy steel girder.  But in this commercial space, a rather stout 54' parallel chord truss fit the aesthetic better.  Complete with 2-1/4" diameter high strength steel rods, the truss has several thousand screws as well holding some hidden steel plates in place.

A project near Philly, with a very detail oriented design architect (Rayford W. Law out of Marblehead, MA), with a good GC and local architect, turned into a great project.  NordicLam timbers  - a lot of them - some curved - various grades - all come together well with the help of Jean-Paul.  A lot of great custom heavy metal connections as well.  A lot of work, but fun, all around.

A project near Philly, with a very detail oriented design architect (Rayford W. Law out of Marblehead, MA), with a good GC and local architect, turned into a great project.  NordicLam timbers  - a lot of them - some curved - various grades - all come together well with the help of Jean-Paul.  A lot of great custom heavy metal connections as well.  A lot of work, but fun, all around.

A project near Philly, with a very detail oriented design architect (Rayford W. Law out of Marblehead, MA), with a good GC and local architect, turned into a great project.  NordicLam timbers  - a lot of them - some curved - various grades - all come together well with the help of Jean-Paul.  A lot of great custom heavy metal connections as well.  A lot of work, but fun, all around.

So what to do with a big carport, with substantially undersized (sagging) ridge and eave logs?  Hang the middle of the eaves off a king post truss... and then turn the ridge into an inverted king post truss as well.   Amazingly efficient - I only wish we had come up with the idea.

This 12 sided on-farm classroom has a reciprocal roof with a hip roof over top.

This 12 sided on-farm classroom has a reciprocal roof with a hip roof over top.

The best spot to break lower and upper rafters isn't always over the support.

When left to our own devices, this is the sort of thing we do on our personal projects.  (Joe's grindbygg frame)

One of the most unique connections we've done - a purely mechanical connection of a undercut dovetail for slender vertical tension members. 

Not much to say, other than three layers are better than two.

Timber framing can spiff up a strip-mall storefront - especially when a few keyed beams are thrown into the mix.

In a hidden connection, getting enough bearing for steel plate washers can sometimes be problematic.  One option is to install fully threaded screws and then bear a plate washer on their heads - more uniformly distributed load throughout a timber.

Moment-resisting connections are notoriously tricky to do in timber.  They aren't perfectly rigid, wood shrinks/swells, and they can often impart all sorts of nasty cross-grain tensile stresses.  But, sometimes you hide what you can where you can. 

With a nearly 90 foot clear span in the middle opening, continuous bottom chords aren't that easy to ship, so they were split in half width-wise and length-wise (at mid span) with a few novel connections.  We threw a few boslter beams into the project too, just because.

An interesting office mezzanine in an upper floor a Chicago high-rise (helicopter required to get the materials onto the roof...).  The lattice is structural, as it supports Lignatur floor planks.

Larch is one of those species we love working with - great from an engineering standpoint (on par with Doug fir) - but more durable in exterior environments.

Floor framing for a loft needn't consist of rectalinear grids.  Using European spruce glulams fits with the non-traditional look.

Just because you can't get FSC certified South American hardwoods to your site that are long enough doesn't mean you can't have big spans.  As long as you are creative with bolsters and keyed beams.

When building in termite prone regions (like Costa Rica), putting your post bottoms in a moat of oil to keep termites from crawling up the timbers isn't that far fetched.

20' plus keyed beam cantilever

So much we could say - but, the photo speaks so much more eloquently.

BC Doug fir logs provide a nice contrast to this suburban natural foods grocery store just outside of Frankfurt, Germany.  FTET provided engineering for this log structure, including design of connections and roof framing to support the living roof system.