Dealing with warped post and beams

kevwalters | Posted in Wood and Materials on July 24, 2006 05:22am

I am building a 10’x14′ post and beam shed using pressure treated 6″x6″ lumber. As you might suspect the 14′ lengths have enough warpage to throw cap and sill plates out of square making mortise and tenon alignment a challenge. Any tips for squaring the plates and/or getting the joint alignment correct would be much appreciated.

Replies

jackplane | Jul 24, 2006 05:33pm | #1
Snap chalklines lengthwise on the big timbers and mill them to suit, with a powerplaner, beltsander, beamsaw or other.
frenchy | Jul 25, 2006 02:18pm | #2
Kevwalters.

It depends on how far out they are and how many are that far out. (boy that was helpfull wasn't it? <G>) Slight twists can be corrected when you assemble them together.. Assuming that you intend to lag bolt or thru bolt the connections once you put the assembly together things will be forced into line..

Most timbers used in construction are pretty green and green wood moves around pretty easily. Nails have little resistance to pull out so don't count on them to do your work for you .. if a timber is really bad drill a hole the size of bolt thru the wood you want to connect. then lag it into the twisted timber. tighten it up as tight as you can get it and leave it for about a week. longer is better.. come back and tighten it untill the timber is twisted back into shape..