Stub Tennon

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

Stub Tennons are very short tennons. Often no more than two inches long. They are most often found on the bottoms of major posts, such as the wall posts, but can be employed elsewhere, such as on studs, door posts, as well as other similar applications.

In general, they do not serve a purely structural function, that is, they don't act to tie anything together.

In the case of the wall posts, their main function is realized on the day of the raising; They provide a quick, easy, and definite way to locate the bottoms of the posts, thus preserving the spacing -- geometry -- of the structure.

Typicaly, there is no rigid connection between the floor and the rest of the house in a traditional timber framed structure, other than that provided by gravity, and the sheathing itself.

Is this a liability when resisting dramatic, and dynamic side-to-side forces, such as those generated by certain type of earthquakes?

One point in this; it is true that Most of the traditional timber systems used in North America can retain their shape, and their manner of resisting, and absorbing, various dynamic forces acted against them, at least for a short while, even if they rest upon the ground, and not upon sills.

Where that is true, it is generally a function of the, sometimes greatly, redundant bracing.

As a further note, examples of earthquakes in Japan do not translate well when attempting to understand how the same forces are resolved by European, and, American timbered structures.

Certain types of infill systems also