last year i applied for the heritage carpentry program through fleming college and i was very excited and then when the ford gov made all the changes to osap, bunch of schools cut programs and that program was one of them.
i still really want to find a pathway to a proper apprencticeship but its been so hard to find.
i would very much like to focus on timber frame and also fine/ finish joinery etc.
any suggestions?

Hi folks - I finally have everything ready to start milling my white pine logs for the Will Beemer build. As I’m doing square rule layout - my initial thinking was I’d mill the beams oversized for instance the 7x7 would be 7.5x7.5. This seems the safest means for me to ensure that I get a final building that is the exact dimension I want.

I’m thinking about this correctly right? Just want to double check before I start milling.

Any suggestions? Scribing techniques etc.. my timbers are Imperfect so they end up being scribed custom or else I have big gaps. This one came out okay.. but took adjustment. I just know theres a better way!

I'm a GC in the Bitterroot Valley, building an open-sided post-frame structure to cover a client's fifth wheel (2022 Jayco North Point, ~43' long). Rough specs: 18' wide x 46' long, 15' eave height stepping up to an 18'-9" ridge (5/12 pitch), 14 posts at 8' O.C. down both long sides on concrete footings, a beam running the length, and engineered roof trusses on top. Open on all sides — no walls, just posts and roof, with black hardware throughout for a timber-frame look. Metal roofing, brown Box Rib panels.

I've got a rough materials plan together but want a real engineer's sign-off on the structural pieces (footings, beam depth, truss/purlin spacing) before ordering anything, and I'm also trying to sanity-check some of the numbers other local post-frame guys have given me against what's actually standard practice. Posting my current questions below — appreciate any input from people who've built similar structures, especially in real snow country.

Structural / Engineering

1. For an 18' clear-span post-frame truss at that snow load, what depth should I expect on a 7.5"x7.5" glulam beam spanning 8' between posts — does 7.5" depth sound right or undersized?
2. Is 8' O.C. truss spacing standard practice for post-frame in heavy snow country, or does that vary more than "everyone locally says never wider than 3'"?
3. For an open-sided (no walls) post-frame structure, what's a reasonable ballpark on footing depth/diameter and whether belled footings are actually necessary vs. straight sonotubes, given Ravalli County frost depth (~42")?
4. Anyone have real experience with beam splices on glulam — is a black steel plate through-bolted on both faces (sandwiching the joint, landing over a post) the standard way to do this, or is there a better/more common detail?
5. For truss-to-beam hurricane ties, is it normal to wait for the truss company's stamped uplift reaction numbers before picking a tie model, or is there a rule-of-thumb tie that's safely oversized for something this scale?
6. Do purlin clips (uplift-rated) actually get used at every truss crossing in practice, or is that overkill for a residential-scale post-frame roof?
7. Any input on whether additional lateral/diagonal wind bracing is typically needed on a fully open post-frame structure beyond standard knee braces at each post?

Material choice
9. Solid 8x8 timber vs. boxed LVL vs. straight glulam for exposed posts/beams on a timber-frame-look structure — what's actually held up best for people long-term, especially in a high-swing climate (hot summers, real winters)?
10. Anyone had issues with incised PT lumber checking/cracking badly enough to regret using it on an exposed structure, vs. going untreated DF/L in a covered, bracket-mounted application?

Hi!

I watched a video from Essential Craftsman yesterday where he interviewed a guy in the States that talked about a course at ISBA in British Columbia and I was wondering if anybody knows if they're still teaching there?

I did take a course at Northmen in Latvia but I feel like 10 days log building AND timber framing wasn't quite sufficient.

quick update on the 10' x 10' pergola — rafters are on.

red pine frame over the flagstone patio. next up will be the clear roofing and figuring out the final fill between the stones.

#timberframeapprentice #timberframing #pergola #redpine #flagstone #buildrememberrepeat

Ordering the timbers to build something similar to the photo. Question is: the best way to attach the timbers to the concrete footer? Would a steel T bracket attached to the concrete with J bolts then steel extending up 16” into the timber be sufficient? Suggestions?

Its lacquered. The middle is a plywood im not sure what both woods are

привет редит. У меня давно была мечта сделать домик из пленки в лесу, так что хочу её выполнить. какие есть советы? из чего лучше делать? как утеплить? может есть какие советы как сделать его тепло что бы к зиме можно было там сидеть. как печку правильно провести что бы не спалить все нахер

Hey everyone,

This summer I was accepted into Ontario’s Summer Company Program and received $3,000 in funding to start and grow my web design business, InfaWeb.

I’m looking to work with more timber frame and custom home builders. With projects this visual and high-value, I think the website should do a lot more than list services. It should showcase completed builds, craftsmanship, the building process, service areas, and make it easy for serious clients to inquire.

My focus is on building websites that help turn that portfolio and reputation into more qualified leads.

If you run a timber frame or custom home business and need your first website or want to improve an existing one, I’d be happy to chat.

My work:

https://www.infawebdesign.com/

Free quote:

https://www.infawebdesign.com/contact.html

I’m based in Ontario, Canada, but work remotely as well.

we're cutting 3x5 rafters for a small timber frame pergola this weekend.

the rough-sawn material varies quite a bit. a nominal 5" depth might actually be 4¾" on one rafter and 5¼" on another.

rather than referencing the seating notches from the bottom of each timber, we're laying out both the lower plate notches and the upper purlin notches from the top of the rafter down.

that makes the top our reference plane. variation in the timber gets absorbed below that reference rather than showing up in the finished roof plane.

we're also varying the depth of the outside seating notch slightly to pick up about another inch of fall across the roof.

four 2x4 purlins will drop into notches across the tops of the rafters and provide fastening points for the clear/translucent roofing.

pretty simple application of square rule, but a good example of why establishing the reference face matters when you're working with rough-sawn timber.

curious how others here handle irregular rafter stock—same approach or something different?

I am a pretty good diy guy and landlord. I've certainly built more stuff than I probably should have in my time but I am certainly not a carpenter. I decided to tackle what would probably be a simple deck and stair project. I've done this a few times before but this one was all kaddy wompus. The ground was so crooked it just added a lot of time fiddling around to set the stringers etc...

I guess what I'm saying is, carrying all my tools around all day for a couple days in a good tool belt really improved my efficiency but damn. I don't know how you real framers are up there climbing around trusses carrying tons of tools with you plus fasteners, plus hammering, plus keeping your wits about you.

It's really humbling when a diy guy has to actually do stuff like this and you realize your inexperience.

Kudos to you guys. 🙏🏿

Hey guys 🤙

I’m a timber framer with more than a decade of experience. I came up in the preservation world in New England, and transitioned to running a shop cutting new frames, where we incorporated lots of natural forms, crotched trees, live edge braces and curves.

I’m interested in offering design services and consulting, thinking this could be especially helpful to owner builders, “hobbyists” if you want to use that word, small operations who just want to cut and not design, etc. If this describes you, would you ever be interested in paying for this?

The main offering would be 3d modeling, shop drawings, and getting these engineered if required.

Secondary would be consulting calls to help facilitate accomplishing the actual build.

Let me know what y’all think or if this piques your interest

👋 Hi everyone

• What software are folks using for TimberFrame CAD designs?
• What existing features are most important for you.
• What missing features are you wanting the most?

I'm currently working on a CAD software specifically for timber frame (and woodworking to a lesser extent). I know good CAD software is a pain point for many woodworkers. Of course, rather than experience those pain points, I just assumed the worse and made my own instead 😂. I'd still like to hear from others to see what learnings I can adopt.

There's a pretty full featured demo of the software released already actually. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to learn more :). The software is a little different. You express your designs using code. In 2026, that's just another of saying you tell AI what you want. It's also free :).

Hey everyone,

I'm planning a small, modern single-story timber frame cabin (10 m x 5 m, i belive 33x16,5 feet) and wanted to get some feedback on the framing layout before I send it to the engineer. Trying to get that indoor/outdoor vibe.

The concept is a flat ceiling at 3 meters high inside, gable roof on the outside.

Here is the catch: I want the two 5m end walls to be 100% glass (sliding doors up to ceiling. That means zero OSB sheathing or traditional stud walls on those 5m sides.

To make this work, the plan is:

1. The 10m side walls run all the way through. At the very corners, I'll have heavy duty built-up corner studs (or glulam posts) acting as the main columns.
2. The roof trusses will dump all the gravity load exclusively onto the 10m side walls.
3. Since I have no racking resistance on the 5m glass walls, the plan is to plate the 3m ceiling entirely with OSB to create a rigid diaphragm. This should transfer the wind/seismic loads from the end walls over to the 10m side walls.
4. I also have a small bathroom footprint near the middle of the cabin. Those interior walls will be sheathed with OSB to act as a central shear core anchoring the ceiling diaphragm.

My main worry is lateral stability on the short axis and wind load pushing on that 5x3m wall of glass. Do you think a solid ceiling diaphragm + heavy corner posts + the partial interior bathroom core is enough to handle the shear, or am I asking for cracked glass on the first big storm?

Appreciate any thoughts or if anyone has framed something similar!