markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Can’t think of anything cooler. I really love timber framing - I could look at it all day.
- S
Nova bonsai garden
- Thread starter markyscott
- Start date
- S
D
Deleted member 47471
Guest
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
Masterpiece
goood lawdddd this thread just keeps getting better and better and better....
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Crew is here!!!! Working on the forms for the foundation!
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Forms going in - pouring the foundation on Monday.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Foundation was poured today. They’ll start pulling forms tomorrow.
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
Is that a mobile mixer backed up to the pump truck? You must be pretty far from a concrete plant!
RJG2
Omono
I was wondering how that worked!
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
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
Shohin
You're livin' the dream!
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
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
Masterpiece
WOW is all I can say with all the effort to save the old barn.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Floor framing done.
Mikecheck123
Omono
Really impressive stuff. But just wait until he builds his underground lair
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Flooring going in. Wood is salvaged threshing floor from several old barns in Ontario.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
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
Imperial Masterpiece
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.
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markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
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
Imperial Masterpiece
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
Gives me a chance to finish up the decandling.
S
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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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.
