Assembly, Installation and Raising Timberframes| Vermont Timber Works

36 Fairbanks Road
N. Springfield, VT 05150
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Raising a 40 Foot Hammer Beam Truss

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After fabricating a timber frame, our crew often travels to the job site to do the assembly and raising. The same craftspeople who cut the frame also put it up. Most of our timber or post and beam frames can be erected in a matter of days. We pre-assemble parts in our shop whenever possible, and then use large cranes to raise the frame. In less than a week the timber frame is complete and ready for a local contractor to finish.

Parts for our timber frames are delivered "knocked down" to job sites on 48' tractor trailers. All the pieces are marked and labeled so the installation crew knows exactly where they go in the building.

When the trucks are unloaded, timbers are organized according to bents and bays. the parts for the bents are put close to the building to be pre-assembled, and the purlins, connectors and ridges are put where the crane can reach them on the day of the raising.

Hemlock Barn Frame Being Delivered

The bents are assembled and stacked on the deck prior to the crane coming for the raising. A bent is essentially a cross section through the house. Connectors, purlins and ridges span between the bents to finish the frame for the house. The purlins are often dovetailed, and the connectors have tenons on the ends to fit into the bent's mortises.

Bents for the Breed Pool House

Heavy Timber Historic Church Truss Flying

The crane picks the bents or trusses up off the deck and lowers them into the proper position. Care is taken during this process to make sure that the joints stay tightly together. Often strong backs are clamped onto the joints to give them a little extra support.

Truss for the First Presbyterian Church in Texas

Bents are brought down and secured to the deck, then temporarily braced with 2x4 cross bracing. this photograph shows timber framers aligning the bottoms of each post into the proper position.

Later, the 2x4 bracing will be released and the bents will be spread open a few inches so the connectors can be put into place. Once the connectors are in, the bents are pulled tight with come alongs and the connectors' tenons are pegged tight with hardwood pegs.

Bents at the Southern Vermont Welcome Center

Entire sections that can be pre-assembled are picked up and lowered into place. This picture shows the cupola for a monastery in Virginia. The cupola is a 20' by 20' octagon with a peak that is 44 feet high.

Notice the tenons on the cupola post bottoms - they have tenons that fit exacting into the supporting rafters below.

Cupola for Bethlehem Monastery

Post & Beam Barn Purlins Being Assembled

Purlins are lowered into their pockets. The bents for the post and beam barn have been spread and pulled back together - the connectors have been pegged off and now the dovetailed purlins are fit in. Once the purlins are in place, hardwood wedges will draw them tight and finish the roof framing.

Small Barn Frame

Finally the timber frame is tightened, finished and a tree is nailed to the high gable.

Nailing a tree to a timber frame is a German tradition, that builders carry out even to this day.

Bethlehem Monastery

Vermont Timber Works - Full Service Timber Frame Company and Post & Beam Supplier for Homes, Houses, Churches, Barns and Commercial Projects 06130 - Delivery Nationwide.