The beginning of a timber frame home
In the midst of what proved to be a summer of barns we had the opportunity to raise a classic purlin plate house frame in Sugar Hill, NH late in June of 2012. With 16″ of fresh snow on the ground here on the last day of the year it is hard to remember working in the hot sun, catching the last of the summer light while cutting pegs flush at 8pm and the sound of frogs peeping as we all headed down the driveway, tired but satisfied.
The project started back in the fall of 2011 when the clients contacted us with interest in a timber frame home and wondered if they might be able to use their own trees for the frame. David visited the site in the winter and declared it not only spectacular but also positively littered with quality eastern white pine. Clearing the house site during the winter yielded more than enough logs, which were trucked across the river to Newbury, VT where Mike Gendron turned them into timbers and 1x boards for roof and wall sheathing.
Working with the client we developed a floor plan and frame design during the spring. As the site is a little too far from Vershire for a TimberHomes LLC turnkey project, we worked with local contractor Tim Daley providing him with plans for the foundation and the enclosure system that we have developed which takes advantage of the rough sawn lumber which comes as a byproduct of milling the timbers and features solid EPS foam in the roof and wall lattice framing filled with cellulose.
With characteristic organizational wizardy, David and Sean arranged for Foggs to deliver the frame with their boom truck the afternoon before raising, then to have Mike Gendron bring two trailer loads of boards back to the site ON raising day so that we could use the crane to effortlessly unload the banded bundles and conveniently arrange them on the rather crowded site.
In addition to strategic use of some naturally curved cherry braces, the home features a lovely gable entry porch with naturally curved pine braces and english tying joints. All in all the clients were tickled and we were thrilled to remember the delightful lightness and smoothness of planed and oiled white pine timbers in the midst of The Summer of Hemlock Barns!
Full Timber Frame House with Purlin Plates & Common Rafters
Nice cherry braces in timber frame house
Flared corner post in entry way with English Tying Joint
Timo in a sea of curves
