An oak framed house in Suffolk
Thurston is a rural village in the heart of Suffolk, close to Bury St Edmunds and more than a canter away from the Castle Ring Oak Frame workshop here in Wales.
Last Wednesday however, Rob, Rune, Lui and Nat gathered their kit, tightened their toolbelts, and scooted down the A14 into the relative flatlands of the East of England.
The mission? To erect a huge 2 x storey oak framed dwelling made up of hundreds of individual pieces of oak, and featuring an epic cruciform truss at its centre, with a span of over 10m. To keep us on our toes, the cruciform truss being at the confluence of two different spans and pitches. Naturally John, the client, had also insisted on oak floor joists along with oak rafters. 57 tons of oak in total!
Five days for the oak frame raising
The crane was booked in for three days so there was barely time to stop for tea breaks. The plan was to get up to wallplate height on day one, fit the trusses on day two (10 of them!), install the cruciform trusses, purlins and ridge on day three, common rafters on day four and jack rafters on day five.
A spectacular cruciform truss
Naturally we were behind by the end of the first day. Oops, but somehow pulled it out of the bag on day two – in time for the piece de la resistance at the start of the third day. The huge cruciform truss helicoptered up into the sky resembling some giant alien insect and slotted down perfectly into the open mortices of the four receiving posts. An incredible moment for all to be part of!
No time to rest though, as the roof still had to go on. Lui and Nat left for other commitments (or quite simply a rest), leaving Rob and Rune to finish off. Lumpy 4 x 4 rafters sapped the arms, and then the compound jack rafters sapped any remaining brain cells. Bashing in over 2000 pegs was almost an afterthought.
Miraculously it all went to plan, and the schedule remained intact.
Going to need a couple of months off now to recover. Might go and explore Suffolk. It looks lovely….
