May 2017 was when Matt contacted us with a view to providing oak framed elements to his new build family home that was going through the planning process near Newmarket in Suffolk. Despite everything running smoothly and to plan, it has still taken just over a year to be in a position to erect the frames. Building in the UK requires patience and stickability it seems.
We actually finished the oak work just before Christmas and parked the frames until Matt was ready for us.
In the workshop – the king posts and ridges all assembled complete with bracing.
Two porch crossframes with jowled posts for the project in the workshop.
Wallframe – ready for taking apart.
This year’s prolonged cold spells played havoc with the groundworks and caused lengthy delays, but finally we were able to load up and head East for the raising, hoping that a) the frame had not dried out and moved too much in the intervening 5 months, and that b) we could remember how it all fitted together.
Loaded up at Castle Ring Oak Frame
The oak had already been delivered to site earlier in the week and we were able to make a prompt start on Thursday morning with Simon our crane driver from Huntingdon Plant. The oak work consisted of a 2 bay single storey vaulted kitchen/dining room, 2 porches and 3 internal partition wall frames.
Gable truss being pegged together to lift in whole.
Lowering the gable truss onto the post tenons
Slinging the 2nd king post truss
Flying it over the masonry. We often attach the ridge braces to make life easier later on
Number 2 ready for landing
Last one, number 3 with a through tenon at the kingpost/tie beam joint
Just the ridge to go
Simon the crane driver from Huntingdon Plant
Pegging up the ridge
By lunchtime on a perfectly clear and baking hot day, we had finished the roof of the main vaulted structure, which meant we could concentrate on the porches and individual frames in time to send the crane home at 4pm having done all the heavy lifting. Matt had decided to temporarily support the porches on blockwork, with a view to propping them at a future date, and building the brickwork up underneath them – a good way to ensure that the brickwork ends up in the right place!
Friday turned out cooler and damp but we still dodged the rain and so were able to enjoy putting the finishing touches to our work with the pressure off – driving in all the hand made pegs, fixing the ridge and purlins down onto the trusses, and fitting the oak common rafters to the 2 porches.
Pegging up and fixing down on Friday morning
Porch rafters fitted
Main structure with side porch
The smaller of the 2 porches
One of the internal frames
So no, the frame hadn’t moved, and we didn’t forget how it went together. Good luck to Matt as he oversees the rest of the build!