Nova bonsai garden

[markyscott]

My first project working as a wanna-be carpenter after architecture school was dis-assembling an old (1780s) chestnut mortise and tenoned post and beam framed house in central Virginia, and reframing it on a new foundation 15 miles away. I've since then designed a few post and beam houses and used some of the beauty of exposed structure in my work.

I've also been involved inone of those old school-to- luxury condo conversions (in DC). Those big windows should work well!

Can’t think of anything cooler. I really love timber framing - I could look at it all day.

- S

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Wow! Great progress already. My wife and I would love to visit in due time. Planning an Asheville NC trip and also to visit you when able (we are in Cville VA).

 

[Nybonsai12]

goood lawdddd this thread just keeps getting better and better and better....

 

[markyscott]

Crew is here!!!! Working on the forms for the foundation!

 

[markyscott]

Forms going in - pouring the foundation on Monday.

 

[markyscott]

Foundation was poured today. They’ll start pulling forms tomorrow.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Is that a mobile mixer backed up to the pump truck? You must be pretty far from a concrete plant!

 

[RJG2]

Is that a mobile mixer backed up to the pump truck? You must be pretty far from a concrete plant!

I was wondering how that worked!

 

[markyscott]

Is that a mobile mixer backed up to the pump truck? You must be pretty far from a concrete plant!

Yes it is a mobile mixer. In terms of distance, it’s about 30 miles, so not terrible. But they have to drive over the pass across the Blue Ridge and down some country roads, so it takes a little over an hour for a mixer to get from the plant to the site. The mud comes in pretty hot - OK for a small pour, but not for this job. It took 3 mobile mixers to get it done.

- S

 

[gooeytek]

You're livin' the dream!

 

[markyscott]

Forms coming down and the frame & flooring was delivered. Pictures don’t do the swing beam justice. It is a 30’ long 20”x10” beam. Very impressive- it must have taken a team of oxen to haul that into place in the early 1800s. Flooring looks awesome- it’s an old threshing floor from a different barn.

 

[namnhi]

WOW is all I can say with all the effort to save the old barn.

 

[markyscott]

Floor framing done.

 

[Mikecheck123]

goood lawdddd this thread just keeps getting better and better and better....

Really impressive stuff. But just wait until he builds his underground lair

 

[markyscott]

Flooring going in. Wood is salvaged threshing floor from several old barns in Ontario.

 

[markyscott]

Today was barn raising day - a thing that only a handful of us have ever experienced. Once a mainstay of American rural life, it is almost a lost tradition. I was very glad to have had a chance to watch it happen.

 

[markyscott]

The beams and posts are a combination of hemlock and oak. I spent a great deal of time looking carefully at the timbers. First- they are huge. Most are 10”x10” or larger. Some of the large purlins span the length of the barn (50’). The farmer who built this structure hitched a team of horses, went out into the woods and, by hand, cut down some pretty large trees. He then hauled them to his homestead, limbed them, and hewed them down to timbers - all with hand tools. He then custom made the mortise and tenon joinery- each beam custom cut. Then he lifted these huge beams into place. I am struck by the amount of skill and labor that went into making such a structure.

 

[markyscott]

I was also struck by the number of skills this person had to master - carpentry, farming, husbandry, construction - the list goes on and on. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this barn’s story and so glad that it is now part of our little homestead here in Virginia.

 

[markyscott]

Tomorrow the rafters go up and the team will take a break. They are heading home to Montana for a well earned week off. The week after next they’ll return to install the siding, the roof decking, and the underlayment. We have a roofer coming to put in a standing seam roof.

Gives me a chance to finish up the decandling.

S

 

[Dav4]

Timber framed structures are truly special. My first home in MA was a Federal style center chimney colonial built in the mid 18th century. The hewn posts and beams were massive and you could actually walk beneath the 6 fireplace chimney which was built on a wooden structure with posts that rested on stone footings on the dirt basement floor. That was the only part of the house that had apparently settled the least, as the rest of the house sloped away from the chimney. Living in a house where everything was basically made by hand was thought provoking to say the least, and I miss it (though I don't miss the drafts or lack of closet space). I know you appreciate what you have there and look forward to see what it becomes in this new chapter.