Here you can see these six main timbers of the floor system being drawn together with the aid of a chain and a come-a-long, a digging bar and a crow bar, and a few extremely large hammers made of wood.

Originally posted 2015-04-09 20:24:29.

I maintained a crew of seven men on this project… it took that many just to handle the heavy timbers that made up this house.

Four of these men were very talented carpenters who would pair off and work together on a shared goal.

And then two of the men were the stone masons… I would later add a helper to their efforts once the chimney would start to rise and additional labor was needed to get the stone and mortar ever higher.

And then, I had my lead man who would orchestrate the entire process. That role being the most taxing, both mentally and physically, but if you have the talent for it, it’s the best job in the world.

I did have another project going on at the same time. The crew on that job was busy converting an old barn into a museum for a private art collection. When it came time to erect this vintage timber-frame I would combine both crews to get this old home once again “up in the air”.

That week, the week that the crews merged, the week that we put up this frame, was a celebratory time. I dare say that each of those men to this day reflect upon that week with great fondness. I doubt if the same can be said of that week on any other construction site in this county.

Originally posted 2015-04-09 15:29:02.

This old timber-frame was very rare.

The vast majority of old frames that I encounter, whether a house frame, or a barn frame, have a rotted floor system. When we rebuild those homes we start the home with a new floor system and from there we start putting up the vintage timbered walls.

But not here.

This incredible floor system was still intact, gorgeous to look at, and as strong as the day she was built.

I could hardly contain my eagerness in building this feature… I’m not certain my client ever fully appreciated my enthusiasm. After all, when is the last time you were excited about your floor system?

This was better than Christmas morning as a child.

This timbers were handmade,
with an axe,
using the best trees from a virgin forest,
two hundred years ago.

Here we see in this photo that the main front-to-back timbers are now in place. These timber’s tenons are now pegged in place to the rear sill timber, and the other ends are supported on the front using temporary cinder blocks.

All we have do now is slide the front timber into those tenons… that should be easy… it’s not like these things are heavy.

Originally posted 2015-04-09 14:22:03.

So, let’s build this house!

As you can see in this photo the stone masons have finished the foundation. And, what a job they did. A solid stone foundation that will last for millennia.

Dan, the head mason on this project, passed away a few years ago from cancer. On occasion he would talk about his work and how it would be a testament to his life after he was gone. He was right.

There is something wonderful in creating a piece of art that will last. I get a sense of purpose out of it, in that I did something that will last, and be treasured after I’m gone.

I encourage everyone to build something, something that’s unique… if not a house, then maybe a shed, or a piece of furniture, or a piece of art to hang on the wall.

Originally posted 2015-04-09 13:48:18.

I have taken thousands of photographs over the many years that I have built handmade homes.

This photo may be my favorite.

The image reveals an incredible vintage timber-frame that we were re-erecting, complete with a solid stone foundation, and located on a scenic Virginia hillside.

The weather was perfect that day.

The birds were singing.

It was a really good day… life just doesn’t give anyone enough of those kind of days.

But what makes the photo pop for me, is the image of my lead man pointing instructions to the crew on what needed attention at that moment.

I felt like I captured a “Sistine Chapel moment”… where the creator was reaching out to create with the tip of his finger.

I could easily visualize this same scene having been played out, with this same frame, 200 years before.

Originally posted 2015-04-08 20:05:42.

Here is the Sugar Hollow house.

At this point in her construction the house is primed and ready for her final coat of paint.

I designed and built this home years ago on a wooded hillside in western Albemarle County.

My client wanted a Virgina farmhouse look. He liked the idea of an exposed post and beam interior for the main part of the house, and a we went with standard construction for the kitchen addition off of that.

I combined an old timber frame, with stone gathered from a couple of old foundations out of the Valley, and trim, removed from yet another home.

Here we have one of my favorite timber frames, put together by one of my favorite crews… all of them friends for life… men of great integrity and skill.

And the homeowner we built for… just a great guy… low key, and so appreciative, throughout the entire project.

Follow along in the coming days as I detail the construction of this wonderful home.

Originally posted 2015-04-08 19:24:51.

I salvaged an old house down near the North Carolina border many years ago. The home was built in the late 1700’s and she had brick nogging in the walls between the timbers.

Nogging was often installed in this part of the country where clay was bountiful to make bricks in the sun. The bricks were of course all soft and would crumble easily, yes, because of their age, but mainly because they had not been kiln fired.

The nogging served as a crude form of insulation, but mainly as a weather sealer and heat mass. Certainly it beat having nothing at all in the walls. I can say that the look is stunning… jaw dropping… to this old boy.

But the centuries of contact between earth and wood had rotted every piece within this home.

One of my crewmembers stepped forward and adopted this house as an outbuilding on his property.

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

We raised our food in the garden that we created.

We got our water out of a spring located on our property.

We kept our food cold in a make-shift refrigerator that I put together in the stream.

We slept in a “tent” that I built out of old lumber and plastic for eight months, as we built a small home using materials that we had salvaged from an old house, an old barn, and an old school.

We lived a simple life with no clocks, or calendars. But we had plenty of candles and books.

And then, children happened.

We moved back to Virginia and I began building for others. The rest is history.

I have shared all this with you to reveal a bit about myself, but also to remind us all that where we live, and how we live, is a choice. There is always another option. Anyone can have a handmade house, even those lean-in-the-wallet… but, it might require sacrifice and discomfort.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 13:49:16.

Shortly after getting married my wife and I took every dollar that we had and bought 15 acres of Tennessee wooded mountain land.

I felt at $350 per acre that it was a bargain.

We moved onto our land with an old Datsun pickup truck and all of our belongings packed safely in the back. We were excited for the adventure that lied ahead.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 13:25:28.

There was a time in my life that I would have loved to have had this little shed…

…to live in.

Seriously.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 12:34:16.