Village Green Timber Frames

11/23/2024

Almost all the posts here are of structures I designed and built. I didn’t design this one, but it’s what I’ve been working on as a timberframer for most of the year. A Dutch Gambrel frame with cross gable at one end and hip at the other.

12/06/2023

The case for dry-stack stone walls instead of concrete, with Japan as an example, and carbon and ecological benefits emphasized…

The energy intensity of concrete is an intractable climate problem. What about using stone instead?

12/02/2023

I’m in Rouen for a couple weeks, so sharing some pictures of some of the timberframes—colombage or pan de bois in French—in the old part of the city. The Norman tradition, by way of Quebec, Louisiana, and the Caribbean, have inspired me as much as any other. In fact, it was on a trip to New Orleans during college that I first fell in love with vernacular buildings and the beauty of wood and plaster. I’ll be back with more pictures of my own work soon.

11/28/2023

11/26/2023

A simple board-and-batten door made from 3 locally milled pine boards and some salvaged scraps of white oak and mahogany. Wedged pins hold it together.

11/15/2023

Here’s the dining room, insulated and with lath in place, ready for plaster.

10/22/2023

Buildings and trees…and new shop-built casement windows with cremone bolts for the new dining room.

08/28/2023

Changing perspectives: This used to be an exterior wall with a pair of casements that matched the window on the right. I left the opening—and framed in a pair of gothic arches—which looks out on a new dining room, creating a new view of the timber framed ceiling.

08/15/2023

The floor is in and the dog is happy. Wide eastern white pine.

05/06/2023

Wood lath over conventional framing in the original part of the house, much modified now. I dropped the 11-foot second floor loft down to a more reasonable 9 feet, and installed the massive carrying beams to carry the new timber joists. I made the windows too, and added 2x4 framing and insulation to the original 2x6. Less heating fuel—wood in this case—and a more comfortable living space year round. But the lath: lightweight and easy to install, almost no waste (and the few tiny scraps can go right in the fire), and walls don’t all need to be 8’ to match the economics of a modular industrial building product like sheetrock.

07/29/2022

Ceiling boards going on…1x4 t&g spruce, locally milled.

07/21/2022

Some more pictures of the completed cruck-frame addition. 20’ x 30’ 17:12 roof pitch eastern white pine.