Blog - Page 27 of 123 - Handmade Houses with Noah Bradley

Wood working shop… part 4

Here’s a great photo if you want to see the process of building a solid stone foundation that will pass today’s building code.

The least inexpensive person on the crew, aka… “newbie”, is in charge of mixing mortar and delivering it to the masons, and, digging the stone out of the pile so that it is easily found by the masons, and, laying the first course of stone (as seen in this photo). That first course will be buried with back-fill once finish grading has been done, so it’s a great way to learn the skill.

Notice that I have poured the footers nearly to the top of the excavated trenches making it over a foot thick rather than the standard four inches. Concrete is expensive, but it’s cheaper than stone and the labor needed to lay it.

Originally posted 2015-06-04 21:56:48.

Wood working shop… part 4Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:23+00:00

Wood working shop… part 3

There is no finer roofing material to have on a house than slate that is mined out of Buckingham Virginia.

Period.

It is beautiful to look at and it lasts forever. And a roof that lasts forever, (longer even than copper), will one day eventually work out to have been the lowest cost roofing choice.

Actually, they say Buckingham slate has a life expectancy of 175 years, but I am here to say that I have salvaged it off of houses that old and the slate on those structures still rings true… just like a bell when you hit it with your knuckles.

This house had an addition off one of it’s sides. There was no salvageable materials within this 20th century section… but we did harvest it’s slate… by using these pieces, as replacements for missing and damaged slates on the main section of the house, we now had enough material to put a slate roof on the future wood-working shop.

Originally posted 2015-06-04 14:38:27.

Wood working shop… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:22+00:00

Wood working shop… part 2

That’s Zeke at the top of the ladder.

For many years he was part of the crew.

I don’t suppose many construction companies would allow a dog on site, and I understand that, but Zeke was more than a dog, he was an unpaid member of the team.

I did give him a treat occasionally though (when his owner wasn’t looking) (I think everybody else on the crew did too)

Originally posted 2015-06-04 14:21:50.

Wood working shop… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:21+00:00

Wood working shop

I once received a call from a man who had sold salvage rights to an old house that he had on his farm. The buyer of those rights had come in and extracted the highly-valued, easily-removed items including… the mantles, flooring, interior doors and locks, and the wainscoting… and then left the rest for the farmer to burn down.

I would say this is the case in half the calls I’ve gotten over the years. There is no shortage of individuals seeking to salvage for the sake of the easy materials and the quick money, and only a few who are interested in preserving the individual house and it’s history.

I would have loved to have rebuilt this old gal just like she was… but I didn’t have that option. But her frame, dating to the 1830’s was mighty fine, so I worked out a salvage purchase price for the abandoned shell and dug in, knowing that a client would soon appear wanting something just like this.

And none appeared.

So, I accepted this as destiny, that it was at long last, after many years, time to build my dream wood-working shop.

Originally posted 2015-06-04 13:50:28.

Wood working shopNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:20+00:00

An early 20th century home… part 3

A peek inside.

Originally posted 2015-06-03 13:30:41.

An early 20th century home… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:19+00:00

An early 20th century home… part 2

I’ve really loved my job… all these years of witnessing old houses. From the louvered doors seen on this addition “out back”… to the special decorations often found like the spare tires that leaned up against the porch.

Originally posted 2015-06-03 13:25:48.

An early 20th century home… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:18+00:00

An early 20th century home

I really loved this farmhouse.

This was a house that quickly felt like “home”.

She is the finest example of the very end of an era of exceptional American homes.

Built in the very early 20th century, almost all traces of timber framing had vanished. There were no axe-shaped beams of wood within her walls. Plastered walls and one-board wainscoting were now a thing of the past.

But, she was beautiful. Her style and proportions still echoed the past. Materials of high quality and workmanship were found throughout.

If someone asked me to design them a house similar to an old farmhouse… this would be one of my references.

Originally posted 2015-06-03 13:11:49.

An early 20th century homeNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:17+00:00

An energy efficient home?

I must admit that the first time I saw this magazine I chuckled out loud. Now don’t get me wrong, I was flattered that a home that I had designed and built had made the cover of a magazine… but on a special issue from the folks at Timber Home Living on Energy Efficient Homes?

I do my best to build a tight house, to insulate and caulk everywhere that I can. Stress skin panels and spray-in foam are unmatched in their insulating capabilities but there are two features of my homes that I must confess should eliminate my work from the cover of such a magazine.

First of all, most of my clients, myself included, love having an old antique door for their front entrance. They are beautiful and add so much charm to a house. They also never completely keep the outside air where it is supposed to stay. I can get them tight with an hour or two of fussing, but as soon as the temperature or humidity changes they either don’t close properly, or there is air infiltration leaking around them.

And the second reason for my disqualification is that old log cabins are not air tight… I don’t care how much effort one puts into getting them sealed… and believe-you-me I try harder on each successive one that I build to get them as sealed as much as I can, but when the wind and rain are hollering outside, air is going to find it’s way in.

There is a reason they don’t build submarines out of logs.

I should make myself clear… my homes are very comfortable, the air leakage found around old wood is minimal, not even noticeable unless you are looking to find it. And besides… I don’t agree with the current trend of making a house so tight that there is no air exchange. I don’t think it’s healthy to continually re-breath the same air, air that is contaminated from all the products within the home.

We, at the Bradley home, open the windows and doors wide on every pretty day to let that outside air in. Anyone else an open window fan?

Originally posted 2015-06-02 14:26:32.

An energy efficient home?Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:16+00:00

House Design 101

I was so concerned when it came time to design and build an addition for this precious cabin that I had built five years prior.

I was increasing the square footage of the house by nearly four fold… it would have been so easy for the cabin to have been visually lost.

I wanted to honor that sweet little structure, not kill it.

I think I did pretty well.

What do you think?

Originally posted 2015-06-01 15:04:04.

House Design 101Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:15+00:00

House Design 101… part 4

And you know, everyone just loves that bow window.

The homeowners tell me that visitors tend to stand around that window and just gaze out at the view for the longest periods of time. And, that this window is the “go to window”… when something is happening outside this where everyone flocks too.

That window is there because the designer (me) wasn’t too proud to admit that he could have done better. And it’s there because the builder (also me) was onsite everyday making sure that when the house was finished that were be no regrets.

Regrets are terrible things.

Avoid them whenever possible.

Originally posted 2015-06-01 14:51:37.

House Design 101… part 4Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:37:14+00:00