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English Barn in Lincoln, VT.

In the summer of 2014 we cut and raised the timber frame for a barn for some friends of ours in Lincoln, VT. The clients, inspired by the Goosewing Timberworks shop, chose some similar details including a bank-barn layout, 26×42 footprint, and live-edge cherry accents. We logged and milled the cherry and spruce for the posts, girts, rafters, joists and braces right on site; the rest of the timber (in pine) came from a local sawmill. A local contractor finished out the barn with very fine details, including a custom-built oak door, maple floor, and slate roof.

Trapezoid Porch in Weybridge, VT

In spring of 20124 we cut and raised the timber frame for an architect-designed porch featuring complex joinery and geometry. The walls weren’t parallel, and as a consequence the ridge was 4 degrees out of level. This one was a lot of fun to do, and gave us a chance to cross-check the computer geometry with full-scale layout and French and German developed drawing. The results speak for themselves.

— Architecture by Ginsburg Architects; general carpentry by Snowy River Design Build. —

Lakeside Cabana, Ferrisburgh VT

In the spring of 2014, we cut and raised a western red cedar timber frame for a swimming cabana, perched on steep cliffs just over the water’s edge on the shore of Lake Champlain. The difficulty of accessing the site presented some fun challenges; the resulting structure rises from the cliffs as if it’s always been there. The frame blends seamlessly with the building’s high-quality finish materials – the cedar, bronze, copper and limestone building will last for generations.

— General contracting by DCA of New England —

Jaruska Covered Bridge, Estonia

In August of 2012 I was invited to north-east Estonia to help lead the construction of the first wooden covered bridge in the country. Over the course of four weeks, an international crew of volunteers fabricated and erected the bridge, clear-spanning 28 meters (92 feet). The bridge replaces an older simple wooden bridge that had been destroyed by ice ten years ago. Part of the public road system, it connects a tiny rural community to a main road, saving them a 10-mile detour. Due to constraints with engineering regulations in the country, the bridge design used metal brackets and bolted connections; however the lattice-truss design mimicked those built across the eastern US in the 19th century.

The project went very well, with the team of volunteers, leaders, engineer, and local community all converging to lend a hand. The beautiful countryside, excellent farm cuisine, and welcoming people didn’t hurt. Plans are already incubating for the next visionary, international project to take place in Estonia.

I was privileged to join the lead team as a representative of the Timber Framers Guild, and to join the owners of two prominent Estonian traditional-building companies, Hobbiton and Tender Ehitus.

Geary Road Barn- Lincoln, Vermont

We found a dilapidated English barn in New Haven, VT (two villages away from Lincoln), took it down, restored it, and raised it on Geary Road for our clients, the Metta Earth Institute. The work was done with as little impact as possible: the dry-stone foundation was made of stone gathered from a local farmer’s land, replacement timbers were hewn from logs felled on the clients’ land, windows were salvaged from the local dump. The barn is used for Metta Earth’s homestead – sheltering a dairy cow, sheep, honey extraction equipment, gardening tools, feed hay, and much more.