Building Concepts II Course CMCC- 8' x 12' Post and Beam- Completed Floor System Week 11

 We got a lot of work done this week with 3 full school days! We completed the flooring system and got all the corner posts cut to length and notched. As much as a good tongue and notch is important, the shoulder length is equally as crucial. A shoulder is the portion of the cut that does not sit inside a member but instead on that same member butts up too it. Cutting those to the right length creates the size of the building cutting them wrong defeats that joist or rafters usability completely. When building one for the first time, the notching is important but if the notching isn't perfect its not the end of that member, however if its cut short on its shoulder length, that member can no longer be used.

 Here in the photo to the left you can see a a dovetail joint was made for the jointing of the sill and floor joist. A dovetail as you can see pretty clearly it a joint between wood in the shape of a dove's tail or bird tail. A popular joint because of its strength and inability to flex out of the joint in any direction other than straight up which wont ever naturally happen once the building it completed.