Basic Timber Truss Styles

The Truss is the heart of the timber frame and is functional as well as decorative. Our clients can choose their truss style based on their stylistic vision for their home and the load bearing requirements of their structure. Today we’re going to look at 4 basic styles of Timber Trusses. There are more styles, variations, and modifications to these styles but these are where we usually begin.

King Post Truss

The King Post Truss is one of our most popular and efficient Truss designs. When people think of Timber Framing, this is often the Truss style they visualize. The king post truss is strong, beautiful and simple. It can use straight webs or have curved webs as an embellishment.

King Post Truss Design

King Post Truss

Queen Post Truss

The Queen Post gives a different style of visual appeal to the frame while still supporting the frame structurally.  One of the advantages of the Queen post is that it offers more usable space in the center.

Queen Post Truss Design

Queen Post Truss

Scissor Truss

The Scissor Truss is aptly named because it looks like a pair of scissors opening, with bottom chords that crisscross each other. A scissor truss, with its angled bottom chords, brings more visual height to a room. It opens up the space to more of a cathedral ceiling.

Scissor Truss

Scissor Truss

Hammer Beam Truss

The Hammer Beam Truss is one of the most striking and dramatic Trusses and provides a high ceiling with plenty of visual space. A true hammer beam will require buttresses outside of the frame to push it together, or a steel tie rod can be added.

Hammer Beam

Hammer Beam Truss

If you have any questions about any of these trusses or incorporating them into a project, submit a question on our ask the experts page or give us a call at our workshop.

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