Naming
One of the first people to use the term half-timbered was Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851)
who employed it in her book The Lady of the Manor, published in several volumes from 1823-1829.
She uses the term picturesquely:
‘passing through a gate in a quickset hedge, we arrived at the porch of an old half-timbered
cottage, where an aged man and woman received us’.
Timbers
Historically the timbers would have been hewn square using a felling axe and finish surfaced
with a broad axe. If required, smaller timbers were ripsawn from the hewn baulks using pitsaws
or frame saws. Today it is more common for timbers to be bandsawn and the timbers may sometimes
be machine planed on all four sides.
The vertical timbers include
posts (main supports at corners and other major uprights),
studs (subsidiary upright limbs in framed walls), for example, close studding.
The horizontal timbers include
sill-beams (also called ground-sills or sole-pieces, at the bottom of a wall into which
posts and studs are fitted using tenons),
noggin-pieces (the horizontal timbers forming the tops and bottoms of the frames of
infill-panels),
wall-plates (at the top of timber-framed walls that support the trusses and joists of
the roof).
When jettying, horizontal elements can include:
the jetty bressummer (or breastsummer), the main sill on which the projecting wall above
rests and which stretches across the whole width of the jetty wall. The bressummer is itself
cantilevered forward beyond the wall below.
the dragon-beam which runs diagonally from one corner to another, and supports the
corner posts above and is supported by the corner posts below.
the jetty beams or joists which conform to the greater dimensions of the floor above
but rest at right angles on the jetty-plates that conform to the shorter dimensions of the floor
below. The jetty beams are morticed at 45° into the sides of the dragon beams. They are the main
constituents of the cantilever system and they determine how far the jetty projects
the jetty-plates, designed to carry the jetty beams. The jetty plates themselves are
supported by the corner posts of the recessed floor below.
The sloping timbers include
trusses (the slanting timbers forming the triangular framework at gables and roof),
braces (slanting beams giving extra support between horizontal or vertical members of the
timber frame),
herringbone bracing (a decorative and supporting style of frame, usually at 45 ° to the
upright and horizontal directions of the frame).
Advantages
The use of timber framing in buildings offers various aesthetic and structural benefits,
as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and allows for complete enclosure in
effective insulation for energy efficiency.
The timber frame can give the home owner the ability to make a creative statement through the use
of design and specialty touches like carvings of favorite quotes and incorporating timbers from
heirloom structures, like a barn from a family homestead.
