HISTORIC AMERICAN

ROOF TRUSSES
III. Kingpost Trusses
THIS article is third in a series to discuss and illustrate the form, function and joinery of American timber-framed roof trusses of the past, showing typical examples with variations. The series was developed from original research under a grant from the National Park Service and the
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Its contents
are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official
position of the NPS or the NCPTT. Previous articles in the series have
treated Scissor Trusses (TF 69) and Queenpost Trusses (TF 71). The final
article to appear in TIMBER FRAMING will treat Composite Trusses.

HE kingpost is likely the earliest truss form. Its evolution

has been sketched by numerous authors, who cite
ancient examples thought to predate other truss types
and who speculate knowledgeably how a builder might
first try to span a great chamber. As in any other study of a particular object of material culture, we are limited to examining as
many as we can of the surviving examples, which represent only a
tiny fraction of the roof frames built in the past. In addition, we
can look at old drawings and read ancient commentary, sometimes
written by architects but rarely if ever by actual framers. Within
these limits it is still possible to discover something.
As soon as we exceed about 40 ft. of clear span, even the largest
timber, of the highest quality, of the best species, will sag under its
own weight if used as a tie beam, and the even-longer rafters above
it will both sag and put great outward pressure on the exterior
walls. The outward pressure on the walls can be mitigated by supporting the rafters at their peaks by a ridge or purlin supported on
posts bearing on the tie beams (Fig. 1a). Such roof frames were
common in Europe during the Middle Ages, examples of which
survive, and possibly during Antiquity, where examples dont. But,
unless the span is short and the tie beam stout, this configuration
will just depress the tie and allow the rafters to deform anyway.
Outward pressure on the walls can be eliminated entirely by
affixing the feet of each rafter couple to their own tie beam. The
problem of sag can then be addressed by hanging a joggled vertical
member, or kingpost, from these rafters and using it in tension to
support the midspan of the tie beam. (Fig. 1b). By a less obvious
intuitive leap, it might be realized that the midspan of the long
rafters can be kept from bending by struts rising from lower joggles
on the suspended kingpost (Fig. 1c).

Looking back, we hypothesize that successive highly experienced framers with good structural intuition developed a frame
where loading was axial, forces were balanced or balanceable by a
none-too-thick wall below and triangulation with fixed joints was
achieved. This was the truss and, at first, probably a kingpost truss.
It evolved in Europe or in the Mediterranean region and apparently did not develop independently elsewhere, even in the highly
sophisticated timber framing traditions of China or Japan.
Early examples from the Roman Empire exist as written
accounts of public buildings with clear spans as great as 90 ft.
(necessitating a truss), or suggestive early illustrations of framing
with abundant triangulation, such as those found on Trajans column shown below.

C. Chicorius, 1904

Panel from Trajans column depicting Apollodoruss bridge (ca. 105)

across the Danube. Trussed segmental arches spring from triangulated
supports to carry the bridge deck.Triangulated railings may help.

Ancient roof systems that survived into the 19th century, such as
the 78-ft.-span kingpost trusses at St. Pauls Outside the Walls, in
Rome, represented three different periods of construction between
the 4th and 15th centuries, and extensive repairs (Fig. 2 facing page).
However, at least two observers (Gwilt 1867 and Rondelet 1881),
while dating the trusses differently, agree that the kingpost was suspended and had tension joinery at its intersection with the tie beam.

Ed Levin

FIG. 1. HYPOTHETICAL DEVELOPMENT OF KINGPOST TRUSS: (A) CROWNPOST SUPPORTING RIDGE, (B) HUNG KINGPOST, (C) STRUTTED RAFTERS.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

Ostendorf, 1908

FIG. 2. OSTENDORFS DRAWING AFTER RONDELETS OF THE KINGPOST

TRUSS OF ST. PAULS OUTSIDE THE WALLS, BEGUN CA. 384-86,
REPAIRED IN THE 9TH CENTURY AND DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1823.

The mid-6th-century roof truss at the Monastery of St.

Catherine at Mount Sinai, Egypt, is our oldest securely dated
extant example. It is a kingpost variation known in England as
kingpendant, i.e., the pendant kingpost doesnt reach or suspend
the tie beam, in this case because the roughly 20-ft. span doesnt
require midspan support (Fig. 3).
The great Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris (roof system
ca. 1200) contains complex frames with kingpost-like elements
supported by pairs of principal rafters, but their functioning as a
truss is complicated by the existence of what Gwilt calls queen stirrups, that is, wooden suspension members to either side of the
kingpost that are hung from both upper and lower collar beams
that span between the upper principal rafters (see Fig. 2, page 8).

These queen members are described by Gwilt as having somewhat

more substantial tension connections at the tie beam than does the
kingpost; they are understood by Courtenay to have been installed
to support work platforms for the masons and their materials in
building the vaults below (Fig. 2, page 8 and Courtenay 1997).
This complex and indeterminate framing is often successful, not
because clear load paths exist as in the case of a truss, but because
experienced framers knowing the properties of their wood species
and executing appropriate joinery at a multitude of locations were
confident that they could design a rigid and enduring roof frame.
This old complex framing was common even in the prestigious
buildings of the 18th century and continued to be used by vernacular builders in rural America during the early 19th century, long
after builders guides and patented plans describing the details of
truss construction were readily available. Some of these complex
roof frames and truss variants will be described in the fourth part
of this series.
By the 16th century, illustrations of trusses and more-or-less
modern discussions of their behavior were available in numerous
Italian publications and, by the early 17th century, such trusses
were being built and written about in England as well. In Italy, the
truss was called trabo reticulari or beam in the form of a net, not
unlike some modern engineers descriptions of trusses as having
chords and a web (Yeomans 1992). In 1678, Moxons Mechanick
Exercises illustrates a fully developed kingpost truss with a flared
head and struts rising from joggles on the kingpost to the midpoint
of the raftersbut, inexplicably, over a fully studded gable wall in
an otherwise common rafter roof (Fig. 4).

FIG. 4. MOXONS DRAWING OF A KINGPOST TRUSS, 1687, DETAIL.

POSITION OF TRUSS OVER FULLY STUDDED GABLE WALL MAY ALLOW
PRESENTING NORMALLY DISPARATE ELEMENTS IN ONE DRAWING.

Amy Stein

FIG. 3. KINGPOST TRUSS INSIDE THE NAVE OF

THE 6TH-CENTURY MONASTERY
ST. CATHERINES AT MOUNT SINAI IN EGYPT.

Moxon does use the word truss and refers the reader to sections
on kingpiece or joggle piece for explication. (For the English etymology of the word truss, see the first article in this series in TF
69.) The 1681 Old Ship Meetinghouse in Hingham, Massachusetts, employs the oldest extant American example of a kingpost
truss, although in a roof system of unusual form. Kingpost truss
roof systems (and other truss form systems in lesser numbers) were
built sporadically during the first half of the 18th century, but then
by the tens of thousands during the later 18th and throughout the
19th centuries, by vernacular carpenters framing meetinghouses,
churches, public buildings and bridges all over eastern North
America.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

All drawings Jack A. Sobon

unless otherwise credited

FIG. 6. RAFTER, TIE AND PLATE JOINTS, LYNNFIELD MEETINGHOUSE,

AN ENGLISH TYING JOINT WITH OUTSHOT PLATE.

At least three reasons account for this explosion of truss construction in the New World. One was the increased availability of
builders guides that explicated and advocated timber truss work
(Nicholson 1837 and Benjamin 1839). A second was the availability of large and long timber that lent itself to truss construction, particularly with kingposts. (The old complex framing could
be accomplished with a multitude of smaller members, accommodating what timber was ordinarily available in medieval Europe.) A
third reason was the increased popularity of a sort of neoclassical
architectural design, even in rural areas, that used white painted
timber to represent masonry construction and took pains to eliminate any exposed framing. This style also emphasized wide, open
audience rooms under relatively low roof pitches and, in consequence, increasingly eschewed the aisled and galleried constructions, associated with outmoded political and social systems, that
lent structural support to the nontrussed roof systems.

FIG. 5. LYNNFIELD (MASS.) MEETINGHOUSE ORIGINAL TRUSS, 1714.

Lynnfield Meetinghouse, Lynnfield Center, Mass., 1714. The

frame at Lynnfield originally measured 32 ft. 4 in. wide and 38 ft.
long. Jowled wall posts, exposed to the interior, supported two
kingpost trusses, framed entirely of oak. These trusses used naturally curved inner principal rafters to trap and support a gently
tapering kingpost with a wedged, blind half-dovetail joint at its
foot supporting the midspan of the tie. Outer principal rafters rising from the cantilevered ends of the 35-ft. tie beams tenoned into
the slightly flared head of the kingpost and were supported at their
midspan by short struts rising from the arching inner rafters. Large
curved braces rose from elongated mortises on the flared posts to
long, three-pin mortises on the ties, to help support the inner rafters
where they bore on the tie beam inboard of the post (Figs. 5, 6).
In 1782, using a typical method of the time for enlarging buildings, the structure was sawn in half and spread apart. Sections of
sidewall, roof and two new trusses, similar but not identical to the
old ones, were installed in the middle, bringing the building to its
current length of 57 ft. The two new trusses were different in several details, representing both changes in architectural taste and
availability of materials. The kingposts remained oak but the tie
beam and rafters became pine. The inner rafters were still slightly

Lynnfield exterior is austere and without tower.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

Jack A. Sobon

FIG 8. EXPLODED VIEW OF PEAK JOINT, LYNNFIELD MEETINGHOUSE.

UPPER TRUSS CHORDS ARE INDEPENDENT OF ROOF RAFTERS.

FIG. 7. KINGPOST-TO-TIE JOINT, ASSEMBLED AND EXPLODED VIEWS,

LYNNFIELD MEETINGHOUSE. ORIGINAL TRUSSES ARE ENTIRELY OAK;
LATER ONES USE PINE RAFTERS AND TIE BEAM.

curved, but there was no provision for large curved bracing rising
from the wall posts to support them. On the old trusses the
wedged half-dovetail at the kingpost-to-tie joint is not in a through
mortise, the dovetail has 2 inches of slope, and it is transfixed by
a single 1- in. pin (Fig. 7). On the new trusses the kingpost is not
as wide, 8 in. as opposed to the 10 in. of 1714; the mortise passes through the 10x11 tie beam, the slope of the dovetail is only 1
inches and it is transfixed by a single -in. pin. The old trusses are
performing better at this joint than the new ones; the explanation
may be the crushing of end grain in the mortise in the pine tie, the
reduced slope on the dovetail tenon or the relatively small pin
solely or in combination.

The old trusses had stopped chamfers cut on the arrises of all
major members, absent on the new, perhaps because in 1782 (or in
a later remodeling) a plaster and lath ceiling was installed and the
wall posts likewise covered. Today the roof system is again exposed.
The new trusses, unlike the old, also have no flared abutments
or joggles at the kingpost head (Fig. 8); but if there is anything surprising that our examination of a great many historic trusses has
shown, it is that normal bearing or the lack of it at chord-to-kingpost connections results in no truss deformation. The 1801
Windham Congregational Church in Windham, Vermont, with its
very heavily built kingpost trusses of 45-ft. span, is just one more
example of many whose rafters, both inner and outer, engage the
kingpost with no cut joggle of any sort, instead using a 2- or 3-in.
tenon with shoulders cut at the roof angle (Fig. 10 below). It may
be that the kingpost-to-tie joint is always weaker and that failure
will occur there rather than at the head. It may be also that the
weight and nailed-together matrix of roof boarding and shingles
keep the joint together at the very head of the post.
Another possibility is that when a truss initially bears its load,
the end grain at the upper end of principal rafters or braces compresses itself into the side grain of the post, developing enough friction that a smallish tenon with a pin is enough supplemental
restraint to provide a rigid joint with no slippage.
The Lynnfield Meetinghouse has all the appealing characteristics of late medieval framing: everything is hewn or hand surfaced,
all members either curve or taper slightly and the timber edges are
decorated with a nonmechanical sort of easement that widens and
narrows with irregularities of the hewn surface. Meant to be
exposed, and well protected over time, the trusses have a beautiful
patinated color. This roof system is in very good condition, particularly the older trusses.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

FIG. 9. CASTLETON FEDERATED CHURCH, 1833. LONG-SPAN KINGPOST TRUSSES ARE CONSIDERABLY STRENGTHENED BY PRINCEPOSTS IN TENSION.

Castleton Federated Church, Castleton, Vermont, 1833.

Castleton Federated is a large brick church with a timber roof system
and a storied steeple that terminates 132 ft. above the ground. The
roof is composed of kingpost trusses spaced 10 ft. apart, spanning
59 ft. 1 in. in the clear, with a single-stick 11x11 bottom chord
length of 63 ft. 7 in. overall. The trusses are fitted with princeposts
(sometimes called queenposts) that flank the kingpost and further
divide the span. The chords are not the only long members in the
building. The 8 x 9 purlins notched over the truss rafters
directly above the princeposts are single timbers nearly 70 ft. long
(Fig. 9). The pendant mast of the spire, originally a 51-ft. 9x9
chestnut timber, was replaced with an equal-sized stick of pignut
hickory in 1989 by the author.
The builder of the church was Thomas Dake, a well-known
house joiner of Castleton who designed, framed and notably finished a number of houses still widely admired in that village.
Dakes aesthetic sense is revealed in the church roof frame as well,
where 6 in. of camber in the tie beam, sizing and shaping of members proportional to load and function, and the dramatic entasis of
the kingposts, produced a graceful and eye-pleasing truss. The
hemlock kingposts measure 11 x10 at the bottom and taper, at
an increasing rate as they ascend, to measure only 5x10 below the
normal joggles for the 8x8 principal rafters. The kingposts extend
for another 12 in. above the rafters, providing adequate shear distance for the shoulders and ultimately carrying a notched-in ridgepole for the common rafters.
The truss at Castleton has single principal rafters with three
lines of purlins lodged atop the rafters, carrying a deck of 4x4 common rafters. One purlin is the aforementioned large timber above
the princeposts, but the other two are lines of 3x9 interrupted timbers sitting against cleats at the approximate quarter points along
the principal rafters. The princeposts, which have joggles top and
bottom, are correctly supported by low-angled struts, one rising
from the lower joggles on the kingpost and the other from a mortise in the bottom chord about 3 ft. inboard of the bearing walls,
so that the princeposts suspend the bottom chord as well, rather
than bearing upon it. The kingpost suspends the center of the bottom chord with a 2-in. through tenon assisted by an iron strap with
1-in. iron pins, while the princeposts use a mortise and tenon joint
with two wooden pins and no ironwork.
This treatment of secondary posts as suspension members, with
their own truss work within the larger truss, was not universal in
the roof frames of the 18th and 19th centuries. In a typical example, at the Windham Congregational Church (1800), 4x5 struts
rise from an unshouldered mortise high on the kingpost to support
the inner principal at approximately its upper third point, while

Ken Rower

Castleton Federated, 1833, in Greek Revival style (though with

Gothic arched windows), including colonnaded porch; tower is supported by front wall and sleepers over first three trusses.

additional 4x5 raking struts rise from bearings on the bottom

chord midway between the kingpost and the wall posts to support
the same rafter lower down. Five short struts then rise from this
inner rafter, none of them directly over the lower struts, to support
the outer principal rafter that carries the purlins for the common
rafters and roof deck (Fig. 10 facing page). In a second instance, at
the 1826 Newbury, Vermont, Methodist Church, square 8x8 timbers rise from truss chord to principal rafter in a kingpost truss as
if awaiting the support of galleries below that were never built.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

FIG. 10. WINDHAM, VERMONT, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,1800. STRUTS AND UPPER CHORDS BEAR ON UNJOGGLED MORTISES.

The Castleton roof system is framed almost entirely in hemlock.

The pins are ash, 1-in. diameter in the larger members and -in.
in the smaller. Of interest are the white oak poles woven in
between the common and principal rafters toward the front of the
church, reaching into the steeple perimeter. These were likely some
of the rigging used to build the tall steeple once the roof trusses
and roofing were already in place. Also located at the rear of the
steeple are braced and now cut off 10x10 posts that probably
served as the bottom of the derrick for erecting the steeple or perhaps the trusses themselves. The trusses are functioning well, even
carrying some of the steeple load on a pair of sleepers crossing the
forward three trusses. Other than small openings at the kingpostto-tie joints, they show no signs of stress.

FIG. 11. KINGPOST-TO-TIE JOINT ASSEMBLED AND EXPLODED, WINDHAM CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1800. JOISTS ARE INSERTED AT ONE END
AND SWUNG INTO PLACE AT OPPOSITE END VIA PULLEY MORTISES, SEEN IN TRUSS ELEVATION ABOVE.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

FIG. 12. STRAFFORD, VERMONT, MEETINGHOUSE, 1799, WITH DETAIL OF UPPER CHORD ABUTMENTS.
Strafford Meetinghouse, Strafford, Vermont, 1799. Strafford is a
late example of an older style of New England meetinghouse, with
a plain exterior little influenced by classicism and a steeple rising
from the ground at one gable wall rather than engaged with the
body of the building atop a portico, as was already stylish at the
time. The roof is steep, pitched 9 over 12, and its trusses, framed
by the scribe rule, are monumental and complex: the span is 50 ft.
1 in. and the height of the kingposts themselves 22 ft. Bay spacing
is slightly irregular within several inches at around 12 ft., with no
two (of five) bays identical. The hewn bottom chords, principal
rafters, kingposts and plates are spruce, while the vertically sawn
braces, struts, joists, common rafters, purlins and flying plates are
hardwood: a mixture of beech, yellow birch and maple (Fig. 12).
The 12x14 bottom chords show, variously, 5 to 7 inches of camber. An 11x14 kingpost rises from a three-pinned through tenon at
the bottom chord to measure 10x11 at the peak. The inner rafters
taper from 7x10 at the bottom to 7x7 at the top, and tenon into
the kingpost with 1-in. bearing shoulders, indicating that these
members were intended to be the top chords of the truss (Fig. 12
detail). The outer rafters measure 9x10 at the bottom and again
taper toward the top where they are tenoned and pinned, without
flared shoulders and with very little relish, into the top of the kingpost. These outer rafters carry the two lines of 8x9 purlins, and
consequently the 3x5 common rafters and the roof deck, the
weight of which helps keep them in place. The inner rafters, providing main support for the kingpost, bear on the bottom chord
right over the inner edge of the wall posts. The outer rafters bear at
the very ends of the bottom chord with very little relish (Fig. 13).
In four cases this short relish has failed in double shear, a result of
the innate vulnerability of the joint and the unfortunate addition
of slate roofing on a frame designed for wood shingles; these four
joints are now restrained with steel bolts.
The inner and outer rafters are not parallel. The inner ones have
a lower pitch and are thus shorter and potentially more resistant to
buckling. However, this choice of inner rafters as the important top
chord of the truss, unattached to horizontal purlins or the weight
and diaphragm of the roof, leaves them vulnerable to buckling
under load. The framers at Strafford tried to deal with this problem by adding supplemental struts and a raking strut to each side
of the truss, but with only partial success. The supplemental struts
are more or less typical, 4x4s rising from an unjoggled mortise in
the post at a steep angle and tenoning into the inner rafters at

Ken Rower

Strafford Meetinghouse, 1799, modest and chaste except for its proud
octagonal steeple over a square clock tower.

about their upper quarter points. Further short supplemental

struts, tenoned and pinned, rise on the opposite faces of the inner
rafters to support the outer rafters near, but not under, the 8x9
purlin joints.
The intellectual genesis and the function of the raking strut are
harder to understand. A hardwood 4x4 springing from about the
quarter point of the bottom chord to a point nearly two-fifths up
the outer rafter, it has half-dovetail laps at both ends, suggesting an
attempt to suspend the bottom chord from above, or perhaps

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

restrain the outer rafter from upward buckling or outward slippage

(photo below). Crucial to understanding the framers thought is
the halving and tight trenching of the 4x4 where it crosses the
inner rafter and is fastened as well by a 1-in. pin. The joinery
suggests the raking strut is to help the inner rafter resist buckling,
adequate in an upward direction but a marginal construct against
horizontal buckling. On the Strafford trusses, several inner rafters
have buckled outward, away from their joints with this raking
strut, or have bent or even broken the member when a rafter elected to buckle toward one already weakened by excessive slope of
grain. The half-dovetails on the raking struts also have bearing
shoulders that can work in compression to help the outer rafters
bear the lower 8x9 purlins. That is what the raking struts seem to
be doing at this point in the life of the trusses even though the
purlin bearings are 2 ft. away.
In an unusual arrangement, the Strafford roof framing includes
floor-level 4x7 horizontal braces that tenon into the sides of the tie
beams, notch over the plates and tenon into the sides of the 4x6 flying plates to help support them near their midspan (photo below).
The Strafford trusses are generally performing well at more than
200 years of age, sagging a bit due to the weight of slate but profiting from not having to bear any steeple loading thanks to the
appended rather than dependent steeple.

Jack A. Sobon

At top, pinned dovetail lap at lower end of raking strut connecting tie
beam with upper rafter at Strafford. Above, brace that helps support
the interrupted flying plate spanning from tie beam to tie beam.

FIG. 13. STRAFFORD MEETINGHOUSE, ASSEMBLED AND EXPLODED

VIEWS OF TYING JOINT WITH UPPER CHORD SEATS.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

FIG. 14. UNION MEETINGHOUSE, 1870, APPARENTLY CLOSELY PATTERNED AFTER THE BUILDERS GUIDE DRAWING BELOW.

FIG. 15. ASHER BENJAMINS DRAWING OF A KINGPOST TRUSS WITH QUEENPOSTS, PUBLISHED IN HIS PRACTICAL HOUSE CARPENTER, 1839.
DETAIL SHOWS METHOD OF FASTENING POSTS WITH VERTICAL BOLTS THROUGH TIE BEAM TO CAPTIVE NUTS SUNKEN IN THE POSTS.

Union Meetinghouse, Huntington, Vermont, 1870. The kingpost truss with princeposts at the Union Meetinghouse spans 41 ft.
8 in. in the clear with the bottom chord 44 ft. long overall (Fig.
14). This truss is an example of the persistence of good design; it
is nearly identical to one shown on Plate 54 of Asher Benjamins
Practical House Carpenter (Benjamin 1839), which he describes (p.
78) as very ancient, strong and simple . . . and the best constructed plan of any now in use (Fig. 15). Unions unusual feature,
which suggests direct copying from the pattern book, is the double-strutted kingpost, from which one pair of struts rises to the
approximate upper quarter point of the rafter while a lower pair
rises to brace the head of the princeposts (or queenposts in
Benjamins terminology). Each pair of struts rises from its own set
of joggles on the kingpost, diminishing the kingpost twice until it
is only 4x8 before flaring to near-perpendicular bearing at the
heads of the rafters.
In spite of Benjamins assertion that this truss is of ancient lineage, the double strutting from double joggles is rare in practice or
in the literature surveyed. There are minor departures in joinery
between Benjamin and the Huntington truss. Benjamin, in 1839,
recommends using the then-modern center drilled bolt to join the
kingpost with the bottom chord. In this system, a long hole is
drilled up through the end grain of the post, arriving at a square
chisel-cut hole where a nut will await the bolt that also passes
through the bottom chord (Fig. 15 detail). The possibility of turning or restraining the upper nut is provided by grooves filed in the
sides of the square nut that can be hit with a cold chisel. Further,
at Huntington, both the king and princes have wedged half-dove-

tails at their bottom chord joints and, in the case of the trusses
helping to support the steeple, the princes are closely paralleled by
1-in. iron rods dropping from the rafters and passing through the
bottom chord. The rods may be contemporary with the truss but
could also have been installed during the next 50 years with no
identifiable difference in their form or manufacture. In addition to
the bolt, Benjamins drawing also provides for a larger wooden
shoulder at the principal rafter-to-tie point of bearing than that
found in the Union Meetinghouse.
While the Union Meetinghouse truss appears similar to the
Castleton Federated truss, Castletons support of the princeposts is
more fully realized: the latter are trussed themselves by struts, serving as small main braces, rising from kingpost and bottom chord
on opposing sides (Fig. 9). The difference may be attributed to
Castletons greater span. At Huntington, the princes are strutted
from the kingpost but depend on a shoulder and pins at their junction with the principal rafter to resist movement toward the eaves as
the princes are pushed and pulled downward. Meanwhile, a strut
rises from a joggle at the foot of the princeposts at Huntington to
support the rafter at its lower quarter point, while the head of the
prince supports the rafter near its middle. As is often the case in
traditional framing, the purlin loads are not supported by posts or
struts directly under them, so as to avoid weakening the principal
rafters by excessive joinery at any one point.
A steeple rises from the front end of the Union Meetinghouse,
the corner posts of its lower stage resting on sleeper beams that
cross the front eaves plate and two successive truss bottom chords
(ties). At the nearer truss, the load at the rear of the steeple has

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

forced the shoulders to open a small amount at the post-to-tie

joints. Any dovetail joint, particularly if fixed with but one pin, will
be subject to deformation under load since its main source of resistance is the relatively weak side grain compression on the edge of
the tail. The increasing density of the compressing material on the
edges of the tail eventually brings this to a halt. In addition, the iron
rods paralleling the princeposts at Huntington can carry all the tension at the joint, even though they stretch a bit and their washers
indent the side grain of the rafters and chords where they bear.
The concerns of modern engineers contemplating the reuse of
the building led to the introduction of a supplementary steel truss
at the rear of the Huntington steeple. Fortunately, concerned
preservationists involved in the project kept the new truss independent and nondestructive of the historic truss. This process of
underpinning or overlaying the historic with the modern is not
new. Patrick Hoffsummer illustrates a nave roof at Liege in
Belgium composed of 12th-century collared rafter frames largely
deprived of function when sistered by late 17th-century kingpost
trusses little different from those we have been discussing
(Hoffsummer 2002, 103).
JAN LEWANDOSKI
Jan Lewandoski of Restoration and Traditional Building in Stannard,
Vermont ([email protected]), has examined hundreds of church attics
and steeples. As co-investigators for the historic truss series, Ed Levin,
Ken Rower and Jack Sobon contributed research and advice for this
article.

Bibliography
Benjamin, Asher, The Practical House Carpenter, Boston, 1839.
Brunskill, R.W., Timber Building in Britain, London, 1985.
Courtenay, Lynn T., Scale and Scantling: Technological Issues in
Large-Scale Timberwork of the High Middle Ages. Eliz. B.
Smith and M. Wolfe, eds., Technology and Resource Use in Medieval
Europe, Cathedrals, the Mills and Mines, Aldershot, UK, 1997.
Hoffsummer, Patrick et. al., Les charpentes du xi e au
xix e sicle, Typologie et volution en France du Nord et en
Belgique, Paris, 2002.
Gwilt, Joseph, The Encyclopedia of Architecture, London, 1867.
Kelly, J.F., Early Connecticut Meetinghouses, New York, 1948.
Moxon, Joseph, Mechanick Exercises, London, 1793.
Nicholson, Peter, The Carpenters New Guide, Philadelphia, 1837.
Palladio, Andrea, The Four Books of Architecture, London, 1738.
Rondelet, Jean Baptiste, Trait thorique et pratique de
l'art de btir, Paris, 1881.
Yeomans, David, The Trussed Roof, Aldershot, UK, 1992.
_______, A Preliminary Study of English Roofs in
Colonial America, APT Bulletin, XIII, No. 4, 1981.

Huntington, upper part of truss with strutted princepost. Wind-braced

principal purlins overlap the upper chords and connect the trusses.

Photos Ken Rower

Union Meetinghouse, Huntington, Vermont, 1870, finished in late

neoclassical style, now converted to a public library.

Lower part of truss. Toe-nailed 2x8 joists pass under the tie beams to set
lath 2 in. below ties. Long-serving tension joints have been reinforced.

TIMBER FRAMING 72 JUNE 2004

Kingpost Truss
Engineering,
An Addendum
The following commentary accompanies the article Kingpost Trusses,
published in the last issue of this journal as part of our continuing historic truss series. The author and the editor regret the delay in coming
to publication. The thumbnail truss elevations at the top of the facing
page can be seen in their proper size in TF 72.The Editor.

S with the scissor and queenpost trusses described respectively in TF 69 and 71, the four kingpost roofs described
at length in TF 72 were tested virtually via Finite Element
Analysis (FEA), subjected to a standard roof live load based on 65
psf ground snow load, plus dead load of ceiling, floor, frame and
roof as indicated. The results of these analyses are presented below.
In the axial force diagrams printed on the facing page, compression
is indicated by blue, tension by red.
The Lynnfield (Mass.) Meetinghouse (1714) stands out in age,
material and morphology. Lynnfield is 83 years older than the next
frame in sequence and, on average, well over a century older than
its fellows. In its original form, it was framed entirely in oak, unlike
any later structure we visited. The pattern of the Lynnfield truss,
with its curved and tapered members, harkens back to the late
Middle Ages, antecedents it shares with its closest chronological
neighbor, the 1797 Rindge (N.H.) Meetinghouse (see TF 71).
The Lynnfield truss model performed well under load. Given
mitigating factors like the modest span (32 ft., 4 in.), the stout
material (oak) and the lack of a ceiling load, this does not come as
a surprise. Predicted deflections remain within allowable ranges.
Likewise bending stress, with the exception of the main braces at
midspan where they share roof load with the rafters via connecting
struts (which carry 6900 lbs. in compression). Here the deeper,
stiffer braces take the lions share of the load, supportingand
minimizing bending inthe rafter above at the cost of a 1650 psi
spike in bending stress in the braces. Axial load distribution is
ideal, with the major elements handling the bulk of the force
(16,600 lbs. tension in the tie beam, 18,000 lbs. compression in
the main braces). Tension at the kingpost foot is a mere 4100 lbs.
Given the minimal force in the rafters near the peak, above the
main brace junction the kingpost goes into compression, signifying the absence of uplift at the peak.
The Strafford (Vt.) Meetinghouse (1799) also evokes older carpentry traditions, with its distinctive strut layout and doubled,
divergent upper chords, evocative of scissor trusses. Here long and
large section timbers are spruce, the smaller, shorter pieces mixed
beech, birch and maple. FEA output for the Strafford truss again
shows deflection, shear and bending stress remaining in the fold
save for local maximums in the tie beam where it cantilevers
beyond the wall to support the flying plate and principal rafter
foot. Given ample real world proportions (as opposed to the slender single line geometry of the model), this can be mostly written
off as a computer artifact. Resultant axial forces break down as follows: 24,700 lbs. tension in the tie beam and kingpost, 13,400 and
18,200 lbs. compression in the main braces and principal rafters,
6400 and 7200 lbs. compression in outer and inner struts.
Contrary to the builders expectation as indicated by strut lap
dovetail ends, the Stafford outer struts are loaded in compression
rather than tension.

The major loads at Straffordin main brace, rafter and tieare

equivalent to or smaller than those for the comparable span, double-rafter queenpost roof at Rindge (TF 71). Perhaps Strafford has
an advantage because of its steeper pitch (about 9:12 vs. about
7:12). Offering dual vertical load paths to Straffords one, the
Rindge queenpost retains the advantage in post load. Outboard of
the main brace feet at Strafford, tie tension drops from 24,700 to
14,200 lbs. And in the Strafford kingpost, tension falls off above
the main braces and below the inner struts, to 10,500 lbs. at the
peak and 11,600 lbs. at the kingpost foot joint.
In load sharing between doubled upper chords, the key issue is
the relative stiffness of the end joints of the principal rafter versus
those of the main brace (see TF 71, 21). The inboard locations of
the braces allow them ample relish beyond their mortises into the
tie and kingpost, a potential advantage over the principals, which
land right at the tie and post ends. Foot joints are often difficult to
examine in situ. Those we can inspect seem more prone to failure
and impairment than most other connections in the truss, for a
combination of reasons: the lack of relish beyond the mortise and
the large forces involved, coupled with the low angle of attack of
rafter to tie, all exacerbated by a high incidence of leaky eaves. The
significance of the roof slope is that the geometry of low-pitch
roofs channels more horizontal force against potential long-grain
shear failure in the tie at the foot joint than it does comparable vertical breakout load on the kingpost at the peak (see TF 72, 19).
The point: on both empirical and theoretical grounds, the principal rafter-to-tie beam joint is the likely weak sister in the mix.
All in all, its a fair assumption that the load-carrying capacity of
the Stafford main braces is greater than that of the principal rafters,
a conjecture reinforced by the absence of housing or joggle at the
head of the kingposts. The Strafford truss was modeled first with
the foot joint as a pinned connection, with results detailed above,
then as a roller bearing (vertical support but no horizontal restraint),
and finally with full vertical and partial horizontal restraint.
Under the roller bearing scenario, tie tension rises to 30,400 lbs.,
kingpost tension to 27,900 lbs. Main brace compression climbs to
36,300 lbs., while principal rafter foot load falls to a paltry 980 lbs.
Strut compression grows to 8900 and 5500 lbs. in and out. The kingpost foot joint carries 13,300 lbs. in tension, while the post peak goes
into compression to the tune of 10,700 lbs. (thereby putting the
rafter peaks in tension).
The third, and perhaps most realistic, loadcase shows tension of
20,700 and 25,900 lbs. in tie and kingpost, 24,800 and 9300 lbs.
compression in main brace and rafter, 8400 and 6000 lbs. in inner
and outer struts. Some 12,100 lbs. hang from the kingpost foot,
while the kingpost peak is almost a no-load situation, with 530 lbs.
compression in the post. Tension load at the tying joint (rafter foot
to tie) is a modest 6900 lbs..
The Castleton (Vt.) Federated Church (1833) moves us firmly
into the classical kingpost idiom, with a truss spanning an ambitious 60 ft., 7 in. Nesting inside the major triangle are two minor
trusses built around princeposts which, fractal-like, echo the parent truss. The central struts rising from the kingpost foot double as
struts descending from the princepost peaks, each opposed by an
outer strut paralleling the main upper chord (principal rafter).
The Castleton computer model predicts tension loads of 37,900
and 15,500 lbs. in tie and kingpost, 31,000, 17,800, 12,800 and
2700 lbs. compression in rafter, inner strut, outer strut and princeposts. The kingpost pulls tension throughout, carrying 4900 lbs.
at the foot joint and 15,500 lbs. at the peak. The princeposts lift
2600 lbs. at their feet and carry a compression load of 8500 lbs. at
their heads. Tying joint tension at the eaves is 26,500 lbs. Nothing
alarming about these numbers, but there are multiple instances of
bending stress up in the 1600 psi range, pretty high for Eastern
hemlock, and a 1-in.-plus sag in the rafters.

TIMBER FRAMING 73 SEPTEMBER 2004

Jack A. Sobon

Lynnfield, 1714, 32 ft. 4 in.

Strafford, 1799, 50 ft. 1 in.

Trying the partial or total foot thrust release (as at Strafford,

above) is no help. Deflections increase to over 2 in. and then over
4 in., and bending stresses inflate, first slightly, then off the scale.
So Castletons load-carrying capacity doesnt seem to measure up to
expectations engendered by its elegant design and neat construction, although I cant say that we found visible signs of structural
inadequacy during our inspection. It may be that the truss was
never fully loaded in service (indeed Vermont snow load tables
specify a design load of 40 psf in Castleton compared to 50 psf in
Strafford, 60 psf in Huntington and 70 psf in ski-country Stowe).
Or perhaps, as we have also suggested before, the old-growth hemlock used in Castleton outperforms modern design values.

Lynnfield Bending Stress (psi)

Strafford Bending Stress (psi)

Castleton Bending Stress (psi)

Union Bending Stress (psi)

Huntington, 1870, 42 ft.

Castleton, 1833, 60 ft. 7 in.

Maybe it would have helped to adopt a truss pattern more like that
of the 1870 Union Meetinghouse in Huntington, Vt., an almost exact copy of a pattern from Asher Benjamins Practical House Carpenter
(1830). The FEA model of the Union truss does not disappoint.
Predicted deflections are minimal. Bending is modest save at the
ends of the princeposts where impacted by strut loads, and even
there, stress does not exceed allowable values. Axial loads are among
the lowest we have seen: 22,200 and 14,100 lbs. tension in tie and
kingpost, 27,800 lbs. rafter compression. Strut compression ranges
from 4300 to 5800 lbs. Princeposts feel scant axial force at midspan,
2400-2500 lb. compression at their end joints. Adjacent princerods
pull 2500 lbs. Tension at the kingpost foot joint is a mere 2000 lbs.
ED LEVIN

Lynnfield Axial Forces (lbs)

Strafford Axial Forces (lbs)

Castleton Axial Forces (lbs)

Union Axial Forces (lbs)

TIMBER FRAMING 73 SEPTEMBER 2004