Post-and-beam construction

Timber framing and "post-and-beam" construction are methods of building with heavy timbers (posts and beams) rather than dimensional lumber such as 2x4s. Traditional timber framing is the method of creating structures using heavy squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs (larger versions of the mortise and tenon joints in furniture). It is commonplace in wooden buildings from the 19th century and earlier. The method comes from making things out of logs and tree trunks without modern high tech saws to cut lumber from the starting material stock. Hewing with broadaxes, adzes, and draw knives and using hand-powered braces and augers (brace and bit) and other laborious woodworking, artisans or farmers could gradually assemble a building capable of bearing heavy weight without excessive use of interior space given over to vertical support posts. Since this building method has been used for thousands of years in many parts of the world, many styles of historic framing have developed. These styles are often categorized by the type of foundation, walls, how and where the beams intersect, the use of curved timbers, and the roof framing details. Three basic types of timber frames in English-speaking countries are the box frame, cruck frame, and aisled frame.

A simple timber frame made of straight vertical and horizontal pieces with a common rafter roof without purlins, the term box frame is not well defined and has been used for any kind of framing other than cruck framing. The distinction presented here is the roof load is carried by the exterior walls. Purlins are also in a simple timber frame.

A cruck is a pair of crooked or curved timbers which form a bent (U.S.) or crossframe (UK), the individual timbers are each called a blade. More than 4,000 cruck frame buildings have been recorded in the UK. Several types of cruck frames are used; more information follows in English style below and at the main article Cruck.

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