Archive for August, 2018

The Titley frame raising

We’ve been working on a double height and vaulted oak framed extension for a while now, and on Thursday of last week, Jake, Angus, Lloyd and I made the arduous 4 mile trip down the road to Titley to erect the frame. Bizarrely, despite the relative proximity of the job, it didn’t seem to stop me worrying about forgetting bits and bobs even though we could have walked home to pick them up. Frame raising day always seems to set the butterflies off in the pit of the stomach…….mixture of excitement and trepidation as everything builds to a climax.

Having lived through one of the longest driest summers on record it was slightly disappointing (well bloody annoying actually) to be slopping around in the aftermath of a heavy downpour the night before in my steel toe capped flip flops. Hey Ho.

The wind died, it did stay dry, the crane turned up, everything went to plan. Here’s a pictorial guide of progress throughout the day.

An early but important job – Lloyd chief peg waxer! Driving in the pegs is so much easier that way.

Jake and Angus assembling in the mud.

Pegs being trimmed. Much easier to put this together in one “H” on trestles rather than separately – those pesky tight curved braces are really tricky.

Flying in an “H” frame over the scaffolding.

Dropping the “H” into place and clamping to the scaffolding so we can let it go.

Lowering the first wallplate onto the jowl posts and braces. This frame has no mid height girding rail as it is double height with no first floor.

Once the wallplates are on, we can start to assemble the first truss…

We stand it vertical so we can fit the ridge braces…

Before we lift it fully assembled…

Ready to drop down onto 6 tenons.

Easy. Ready to peg up.

The last crossframe forms part of a minstrels’ gallery which will be accessed from the existing house. The balusters need inserting as we go along or it will be too late.

Another truss in the impending gloom…

After lunch we make a start on the roof. First the purlins with wind braces…

Dropping the ridge beams into place.

The end of day 1. Main structure now pegged up.

The minstrels’ gallery looking a bit safer now. At a later date, oak floor joists will contact the frame to the existing house.

The following morning Jake and I cut and fixed the oak rafters to the roof and took some final photos.

This extension has been designed by Andrew Thomas architect from Hereford and forms part of a major refurbishment of an old oak framed house in Titley near Kington, Herefordshire. Ian Hamilton of Covenhope Construction is managing the building works.

We’ll keep you updated as the build progresses.

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