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Carpenter Oak & Woodland would like to congratulate Accordia and all those involved in this award winning development at Brooklands Avenue in Cambridge. We are delighted to be associated with the project having fabricated and erected the oak structures that support the balconies and on the latter phases undertaken the installation of the balconies themselves.
The oak structural frame supporting the pre-fabricated balconies
Whilst the oak frames look like simplicity themselves, long lengths of oak connected by simple flitch plates, this appearance masks a complexity of working with green timber that many people overlook. When timber is converted from the round (the log) into the sections we need the natural stresses within it will cause some twist and deflection. This means that the ends of the timbers are unlikely to be in alignment with each other and the centre line of the grid on which they need to fall doesn’t necessarily run down the centre of the member.
The illustrations below show an end on view of one of the oak frame members showing how the timber has twisted and the two ends are no longer in alignment. The one on the right shows what would happen if we simply assumed that the flitch slots ran square to the face of the frame member. The slots in the illustration on the left have been cut to accommodate the natural twist in the green timber.
The slots in the left hand illustration will line up perfectly with the grid on site. Those on the right will cause a nightmare for the erection team
The illustration on the right below shows what would happen if we simply assumed that the flitch slots ran square to the face of the frame member. The slots in the illustration on the left have been cut to accommodate the natural twist in the green timber.
Deflection in the timber must also be accounted for if a joint is to be cut at a point along its length
Our experience in working with green timber underpins our success on commercial timber framed projects such as Lauder College, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Headquarters, Sandroyd School and many more.
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