Noah Bradley, Author at Handmade Houses with Noah Bradley

29 06, 2019

A hidden surprise when salvaging a house

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:47+00:00

So, I needed a lot of interior salvaged materials to finish up Western View.

And as fate would have it, I received a call from a farmer down near Franklin who had an old house on his property that he was planning on removing, and he wandered if I might be interested in doing any salvage work on the neglected home.

The house was just what I needed… lot’s of really nice interior woodwork. And when I crawled under the house, it was plain to see that the first floor system had a lot of rot and termite damage, which likely was spread throughout the frame… good, I didn’t need another frame anyway. We struck up a deal.

There are always surprises to be found when taking down an old house, almost all of those surprises are bad, but with this house we were surprised to find that a majority of the timber-frame was in very good shape, and, it was impressive to behold.

I tossed around some options with my client, from using these framing members in the rest of his house, to selling them to someone else and recoup some of our expenses, or perhaps we could build him the ultimate garage… a manly garage… yes, let’s do that.

Originally posted 2015-02-25 15:23:43.

A hidden surprise when salvaging a houseNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:47+00:00

29 06, 2019

The front door

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:46+00:00

“Ninety percent of home buyers have made their decision on whether or not to buy a home by the time they reach the front door”… at least that is what my realtor told me.

I have no idea if that is a proven fact or not.
But, there is a lot of reason to think that that statement might be true.

The entrance to a home says a lot about the character and quality of a home. Also, by the time someone reaches the door, they have seen the neighborhood, the curb appeal of the home, and the landscaping.

A new homeowner can do a lot to adapt the interior to their tastes… new paint, fixtures, appliances and furnishings and the interior is reborn, but what is outside is pretty well set in place, without major disruption and expense.

The door and surrounding glass on Western View came from an old brick home that was falling down in Culpeper County. That home served as a hospital during the Civil War, one in which Walt Whitman spent several months recovering, and in which he did some of his writing.

Every time you enter this home you can’t help but think of who has walked across that threshold before you.

A door can be so much more than something you pick up at the lumber yard.

Originally posted 2015-02-25 14:57:51.

The front doorNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:46+00:00

29 06, 2019

A handmade house requires unique materials

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:45+00:00

We needed a lot more material to finish up the new “Western View”. A lot more. The completed home tallied in at 4,000 square feet.

The old Western View house had provided the timber frame to create the front four rooms of this home, but there was “a lot of house ’round back”.

We framed all of this back section using new lumber and we finished the exterior with locally harvested poplar siding and trim.

But, we needed enough salvaged material to finish the interior of the kitchen, dining, laundry, mud, and baths, and the master bedroom suite upstairs. That meant I needed to round up an antique staircase, old doors, vintage flooring, trim, paneling, wainscoting… the list goes on and on.

My job title goes beyond designer and builder… I am also “seeker of old materials”… one of my favorite responsibilities. It takes me all over the state and beyond. I meet a lot of great people, and see a lot of old homes, and I save some of them from destruction.

Originally posted 2015-02-25 14:11:19.

A handmade house requires unique materialsNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:45+00:00

29 06, 2019

Bedrooms of a vintage timber-frame home

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:44+00:00

Western View’s antique timber-frame provided four rooms for this new home (not counting the hallways), there are the two downstairs rooms (the family room and home office) of which I have already posted photos.

And then, there are the two bedrooms upstairs. Each are mirrored images of the other… offering a fireplace, antique heart pine floors, vintage trim-work, and painted paneled walls.

Notice the tray ceilings which is a trick I often use on the second floor rooms of old houses, which often come with very low ceilings.

Originally posted 2015-02-24 16:55:43.

Bedrooms of a vintage timber-frame homeNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:44+00:00

29 06, 2019

Is it worth the effort?

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:43+00:00

Western View… so, the question comes up… was it all worth the effort? from the searching for an old house, to the struggle of saving it from being destroyed… the hard work involved, the dirt, and the dangers that come from salvaging a historic structure, and then, putting it back together… not to mention the added expense from the extra labor and materials needed to build something that is not a cookie cutter home… and don’t forget there are the grumblings from the tradesmen who have to work in situations out of the norm… and the government officials from whom we need their approval to build our homes. At times it can be overwhelming. So, is it worth it?

Yes, yes it is. 🙂

Originally posted 2015-02-24 16:33:24.

Is it worth the effort?Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:43+00:00

29 06, 2019

Building a timber frame in three steps

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:42+00:00

Here is Western View… from frame to finish in just three photos…

The first photo shows the nearly finished reassembly of the vintage timber frame that we salvaged from a neighboring county.

Once we had it all together we gave her a good bath using soap and water from a power washer.

Our next step in finishing a typical timber frame home would normally be the application of “stress skin panels” on the exterior, which are basically huge panels that are spiked into place. They create insulation and an interior wall surface of drywall that is found in most homes today.

We didn’t do that here. The homeowner wanted painted wood paneled walls instead of drywall, which is a more attractive, more durable finish to have on the interior.

So, after erecting the frame of the house, we applied paneling to the outside of the timber frame and then… we built a stick-built house outside of that, and then insulated it.

This home, is a house, that is within a house.

Talk about strength… this is THE place to be when disaster looms.

The final photo shows the finished details.

Originally posted 2015-02-24 16:00:15.

Building a timber frame in three stepsNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:42+00:00

29 06, 2019

Re-united

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:41+00:00

Have you ever heard the tale of the prodigal smoke house?

After my clients first rejected the offer to use the old Western View house for their new home, I had someone come through my door that really wanted a vintage outbuilding. I sold him the smokehouse that stood behind Western View and delivered it to him the following week, ready to be assembled.

Months later I went on to rebuild Western View, after protracted debate on whether it was the right structure for them. As we were finishing the house up the following year, my clients asked if I knew of any old outbuildings available, that they wanted one to use for garden tools. That very week the fellow that had bought Western View’s smokehouse called me up and informed me that he had never put the building up, that his plans had changed, and, that if I ever wanted to buy it back to let him know.

So, the two buildings were reunited.

And, they lived happily ever after.

Originally posted 2015-02-23 16:17:29.

Re-unitedNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:41+00:00

29 06, 2019

Stone… for the centuries ahead

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:40+00:00

Everyone loves a good mystery. At least I do.

And, everyone that works on old houses is always looking for that hidden treasure that no one has ever found before.

I had the thrill of finding both, in one item, while taking down the old house known as “Western View”. That memento was hard for me to give away, but I did. And, it took me fifteen years to solve the mystery behind it, but I believe the answer was finally revealed.

Up near the top of one of the chimneys I found a stone with my initials carved into it… NB. The “N” was inverted (that part of the mystery I still haven’t solved).

It’s not uncommon for masons to carve the date on a stone in the chimney, and perhaps their initials, but when they do so it’s always at the base of the chimney where all can see it.

This stone was near the top and on the side of the chimney that faced the roof. A mason rarely gets up on a roof, he works from a scaffold and the roof side is the back of the chimney to him, he just reaches over to that side. Every indication was that this stone was carved by someone sitting on the roof after the chimney was built… how odd was that?

Now, I clearly owned this stone, it was mine. I bought the salvage rights to the house. I found the stone. It had my initials in it… how many times will this happen in my life? It was a keeper for sure.

But when it came time to build my client’s fireplace I felt that the stone belonged there in plain site, to honor that mysterious engraver from so long ago. I just wished I knew why someone would sit on a peak of a roof to carve their initials in a rock.

Fifteen years later I received a call from a potential client who owned the farm across the road from where Western View once stood. He had on his property an old stone kitchen that had once belonged to Dolly Madison’s grandmother. He wanted me to restore it and add on to it a vintage log cabin (which I did, but that’s a story for another day).

When I went to look at this stone kitchen I was pleased to see that it was built out of the same kind of stone that Western View’s chimney’s was built out of. This new client pointed out all the names and initials that were carved into the stones, put there by Civil War soldiers while based there on the property, some of the names had inverted letters. Ah Ha!

I did a little research and found out that it was common practice to assign someone during that war to take a lookout position on rooftops. I then had this vision of some young man stuck up on a Western View’s roof, sitting next to a chimney, with nothing to do but carve his initials in one of the stones.

Likely the only thing that young man ever did that still survives to this day is that one carving. Now that is something to think about.

Originally posted 2015-02-23 15:23:32.

Stone… for the centuries aheadNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:40+00:00

29 06, 2019

An ugly house on it’s way to regaining it’s lost glory

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:39+00:00

There is no doubt about it… the old house known as “Western View” was… one… ugly… house.

She was sitting in the middle of corn field and had been abandoned and neglected for decades. Her doors, floors, and mantle pieces had long ago been stolen. The last tenant had left all their trash and unwanted furniture in the house and scattered around the yard. And, someone had had the great idea of wrapping the entire house in green roll roofing… a nice finishing touch.

When I had first met with my new clients, after I had given them a tour of some of my previous completed projects, they decided that they wanted their home to have an exposed vintage timber frame as the heart of their new home.

And as fate would have it, I had Western View to show them. (it’s an interesting thing that matching materials and clients have always appeared in my life at the same time).

After viewing the mess that was Western View, my new clients quickly rejected the home, and on top of that, I believe they pondered whether I was the right person to build their home. The house was that bad.

So, I went ahead and took the home down and stored it inside of a tractor trailer… for some future unknown client. The house was ugly to everyone in the world, but me. I was always impressed with the home.

Western View had an early 1800’s oak timber frame at it’s core… oak frames are very rare in Virginia. And it was the only frame that I have ever seen in which the different parts were numbered in Aramaic numerals, not Roman numerals as every other frame has been. The stone chimneys and foundation were also very nice with an abundance of good stones. This house had great potential.., “potential” being the most dangerous word a person can use when building a home… it can get you into a lot of trouble.

So, a month or two passed by, and no other timber frames were found. I brought back up the possibility of Western View to my clients and how wonderful it was… and the clients asked… “Are you SURE???”… “Yes, I’m SURE…” (no pressure there)

And the rest, is history.

Originally posted 2015-02-23 14:19:52.

An ugly house on it’s way to regaining it’s lost gloryNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:39+00:00

29 06, 2019

Western View

Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:38+00:00

I’d like to share with you all today a couple of “before and after” photographs of one of my favorite design/build projects. (I trust you can tell which is the “before” and which is the “after”) lol

This house is “Western View”, which acquired her name from the green derelict house pictured. This severely neglected historic house was salvaged by us and used to create the main part of this new home. All told, materials were brought in from nearly a dozen vintage structures in order to create a home “like no other”.

My client has been asked many times over past few years whether they had acquired any spirits or ghosts from all those old houses, his response was always the same… “Not that I am aware of, but I can say that if we have gotten any, that they all get along with each other very well.” lol… I love it… what a great reply!

Over the next week or so I hope to share with you the story behind the design and construction of this home. I guarantee you that you will find it entertaining and educational. I have plenty of good construction photos as well as finished interior photos to share.

This house was also published in a couple magazines and books, and I will either post those articles in full here, or provide links.

Originally posted 2015-02-22 22:32:16.

Western ViewNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:10:38+00:00