Styles & Trusses

(continued from previous)...A major benefit of this style of framing is that it allows for a great deal of flexibility in the design of the floor plan. The timbers still define the spaces in the design, but the grid is more forgiving than that of the Bent system. Posts can move to accommodate a door, and rafter centers can vary over the length of a building depending on the size of the spaces below that they help define. This flexibility in design, along with the ease of construction, is why Mill Creek uses this system of timber framing almost exclusively.

Mill Creek's style of timber framing also allows for a variety of different rafter systems based on the width of the frame, the style of the design, and the client's desires. We have already touched on the simplest style of roof framing, the collar tie system. In its most basic form, the individual rafter pairs in a collar tie system look like the letter 'A'. Two rafters connected at the peak, and tied together with a horizontal collar tie. There are a few variations on this basic form: the king post truss, the queen post truss, and the hammer beam truss.

The king post truss adds a vertical post from the collar tie to the peak, usually with angled struts running from the king post to the rafters. The queen post truss is similar, but has two vertical members equidistant from the center of the collar tie that connect into the rafters. Again, there may be angled struts running from queen post to rafter. Both of these styles may be used anywhere that a collar tie frame is used. Typically they are used as a design element, such as every other rafter or so, to add visual appeal, a consideration to be decided during the design process.

A hammer beam truss is actually a form of "Bent" framing. Typically, Mill Creek uses hammer beam trusses in a great room as a way of adding visual interest and as a way to delineate space. A hammer beam, as Mill Creek uses in our timber frame system, typically includes two large posts at each rafter, two larger than normal rafters, a larger than normal collar tie, and a series of braces and horizontal and vertical beams. The larger size of the timbers used in the hammer beam trusses make them stand out from the other collar tie trusses, and provide for impressive visual appeal. Your Mill Creek Representative will help you decide if this is something that would suit your project, and the best way to implement it into your design. 

>>>continue on next page>>>