Jan and John Maggs Antiques

August 15, 2017 - September 23, 2017: Erecting the frame

____________________________________________________________________________

The new foundation - ready to support the new timber frame

____________________________________________________________________________

Some of the commercial lumber that will be used to frame the deck and the roof

____________________________________________________________________________

Nick Potter, grading the front of the barn to make it accessible to the framing crew

____________________________________________________________________________

Jesse speaking with the operator who delivered the Douglas fir 2X12s that will support the roof

____________________________________________________________________________

The dimensional lumber piled in our front yard - no mowing for a while!

____________________________________________________________________________

Jesse overseeing the delivery of the first load of the massive timbers for the frame

____________________________________________________________________________

Jim McRae of Warwick Carpenters, laying out a new stairway to connect old and new buildings

____________________________________________________________________________

Jesse Brown shaping one of the timbers of the frame

____________________________________________________________________________

Four posts and six beams in the background, ready to be installed, and a section of sill being cut in the foreground

____________________________________________________________________________

One of the tenoned lap joints that will make the sills perfectly rigid sits on the foundation.

____________________________________________________________________________

The next timber joins the first.

____________________________________________________________________________

The north sill: three timbers joined to function as one

____________________________________________________________________________

Installing one of the beams that will support the first floor

____________________________________________________________________________

Nick Potter controlling the heavy lifting

____________________________________________________________________________

Tyler Slocum, Tim Slocum, and Liam McRae aligning and fitting two mortise-and-tenon joints

____________________________________________________________________________

The sills and floor beams are complete; many of the floor joists are installed.

____________________________________________________________________________

View from the basement

____________________________________________________________________________

A layer of plywood will serve as subfloor for the pine boards of the first floor -

____________________________________________________________________________

and as the ceiling of our basement workshop and storerooms.

____________________________________________________________________________

The crew: Tim, Jesse, Steve Slocum, Tyler, and Jim - enjoying the chocolate chip cookies that Jan baked as a reward for finishing the deck!

____________________________________________________________________________

The basement - under cover

____________________________________________________________________________

  

Dave Bernard and company, back to pour the floor under the lean-to

____________________________________________________________________________

 

We'll park our van here and use the remainder to store materials and yard machines

____________________________________________________________________________

Dave, creating the smooth finish of the new floor

____________________________________________________________________________

Nice!

____________________________________________________________________________

While Jesse continued to cut timbers, the Slocum team began making rafter trusses -

____________________________________________________________________________

assembling the seven-piece trusses one by one -

____________________________________________________________________________

and piling them next to the foundation, ready for the crane to lift them to the top of the frame.

____________________________________________________________________________

More timbers arriving from Jesse's New Salem shop

____________________________________________________________________________

Jesse's joinery is beautiful to behold; it's a shame that so much of it will be lost from sight once the frame is assembled.

____________________________________________________________________________

Most of the timbers are stored upside down, to keep water out of the mortises.

____________________________________________________________________________

  

Still more parts of this enormous woodworking enterprise

____________________________________________________________________________

The upper part of the frame will be held together by these king-sized 32-foot timbers.

____________________________________________________________________________

The crew used Jesse's tractor to gently carry the timbers to the deck -

____________________________________________________________________________

where they were then moved by hand -

____________________________________________________________________________

and then matched up, using the complex coding that Jesse applied to keep everything in order.

____________________________________________________________________________

Next, the individual timbers are assembled into "bents".

____________________________________________________________________________

 

The barn will be supported by four bents, each containing three twenty-foot posts and two fourteen-foot beams.

____________________________________________________________________________

The white oak floor joists for the second floor arrived on Saturday.

____________________________________________________________________________

This little pile of lumber weighed more than eight tons!

____________________________________________________________________________

On a misty Monday morning, September 18, our crane operator arrived at 9:00 a.m. 

____________________________________________________________________________

The components had been assembled in advance,

____________________________________________________________________________

and final preparations were being made.

____________________________________________________________________________

The four posts at the rear of the lean-to were put in place and braced.

____________________________________________________________________________

Then, one by one, the three beams that frame the west wall of the lean-to were put in place.

____________________________________________________________________________

  

Jim shepherds the southwest tenon into its mortise,

____________________________________________________________________________

while Tyler does the same to the other end.

____________________________________________________________________________

  

The same procedure sets the rest of the west plate.

____________________________________________________________________________

Time to lift the first bent: Jesse orchestrates the delicate operation,

____________________________________________________________________________

while the remainder of the crew control the rise of the huge bent.

____________________________________________________________________________

When the first one was finally in place and upright, we all felt greatly relieved.

____________________________________________________________________________

The north bent rising

____________________________________________________________________________

The team made sure that the bent was controlled at every moment.

____________________________________________________________________________

This was our crane operator Doug's first raising, and he responded to instructions and the demands of the crew like a veteran.

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Finally the frame was ready to accept the 32-foor ties that would hold everything together under the weight of the roof. 

____________________________________________________________________________

The first tie rises from the forks of the tractor

____________________________________________________________________________

 

and is moved to the waiting posts.

____________________________________________________________________________

Each of the four ties is installed.

____________________________________________________________________________

As the final tie rises to its place, we caught Jesse recording the moment in video.

____________________________________________________________________________

The final timber takes its place.

____________________________________________________________________________

Then, one by one, the thirty-five roof trusses are lifted into place,

____________________________________________________________________________

and braced temporarily. The roofers will connect them all with the horizontal nailers that will secure the wood shingles.

____________________________________________________________________________

Halfway through.

____________________________________________________________________________

All trusses are in place, awaiting final adjustment.

____________________________________________________________________________

Finally, the roof rafters over the lean-to are in place.

____________________________________________________________________________

The profile of our new barn

____________________________________________________________________________

Click HERE for the next installment.

or

Click HERE for an index of this series.

or 

 Click on this image of our house to visit our website.