Raising the Timber Frame — Tiny Timber Frame House

WARNING: This will be a many-photo blog post!! Brian and I were fortunate enough to have a FANTASTIC raising day with many helpers and “supervisors” who brought food and moral support! That means we were also fortunate enough to capture a BUNCH of great photos!

Please check out our fun time-lapse video of the raising, HERE.

My father, Allan Corriveau, has raised many a frame - MUCH larger than this. He orchestrated the entire composition. Many hands made light work, be we weren’t without snags here and there!

The weekend before the actual raising, we made sure the trailer was level and then set up the floor frame: sills and floor joists. We also gave supports to the porch that had been suspended over the ramp of the trailer.

We then put one of the bents together so that we could raise it as a test run. We decided to assemble the bent against the goose neck of the trailer - also know as the beginning of our future bedroom!

The boys made sure it was square and level, and pegged it into the sills. Their first taste of raising a small portion of a timber frame!

Since we were not going to assemble any other bents and connect them with girts that day, we had to support that singular bent with 2x4s nailed into the sides of the posts and the sills.

Reviewing the work:

Watch a quick video of the very first timber frame bent getting raised:

This was a happy moment - the first shape that remotely resembled a house was formed! During the following week, we assembled and stacked up the other bents - ready to prop up and peg in the next weekend!

Climbing up and down from the frame is fun and exhilarating! I can’t imagine doing it on the MUCH LARGER frames, like Dad has been doing for so many years. I wonder if the pipe in his mouth makes it easier or more difficult?

Now I’m just going to start adding 1,456,789 photos of the process, but if you missed it please check out the YouTube video edit of the whole process, here.

Please feel free to comment with any questions about our strategy or the timber frame process in general!