Homes with Soul

Most houses built in the U.S. are "stick built", meaning that they are framed of 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, or 2x12 lumber. Frames are made and covered with plywood, and these walls are tied together and roofed over. The structure is completely hidden inside sheetrocked walls.

In contrast, in timber frame construction, the first step is to build and raise a massive post and beam frame, and then the house's skin - wall panels, roof - is hung on that frame. The timber ends and joints are mortise and tenon, and pegged together with wood pegs.

Therefore, when the house is done, its skeleton is out in plain view- and you are surrounded and protected by this massive wood. The sense of enclosure and welcoming is powerful. As craftsmen say - "Timber Frame houses have soul."

Raising a Frame

Pegging a Joint

Flying in a Timber

Fitting

Dining Nook Showing Exposed Timbers

Building the Timber Frame From Local Lumber

Store-bought timber frames are now becoming more common, but we have taken the concept several steps further.

A building site might, for example, be forested with pine, tamarack and fir. When we clear it, we work to save all of that wood, and have a local sawyer come saw it into timbers and boards with a bandsaw mill. If it is old pasture, a fair portion of the wood may be curvy, and is normally considered worthless. However, by following the grain and keeping the curve, the strength is kept. All timbers are finished with hand planes, and carefully labeled so that the frame can be assembled from the varying wood. In that way, the curved local wood turns from junk into a hand-carved gorgeous feature!

Timbers From Stump to Kitchen

Clearing the Site

Judging a Timber

Hand Planing

Curved Local Timber in Final Location