In November, I traveled to Illinois to help deconstruct a 100+ year old barn. It was not an immense building, but it still took plenty of muscle and ample time to deconstruct. Geez. I forgot how exhilarating it is to wield a pry bar for days on end. Well, the barn finally took the form of many piles of wood after dozens and dozens of hours of nail pulling and coaxing. It was a big relief to walk away from a few scattered foundation stones, the total remaining evidence of the building that once stood. Here are a few pictures of the process, petrified barn cat included.
Lloyd Kahn’s latest, Small Homes: The Right Size
Lloyd Kahn of Shelter fame has a new book out, titled Small Homes: The Right Size, and I feel much gratitude that our straw bale & timber frame home is featured within its pages. Lloyd’s books have been a big source of inspiration for me these past 10 years. Flipping through Shelter, Home Work, and Builders of the Pacific Coast have been powerful influences and have helped me to feel connected to the worldwide movement of folks creating beautiful, unique, hand-built homes.
The finished timber frame wood shed (sans siding)
In the fall of last year, I was contracted to build a small 8×16 timber frame wood shed and it was a great opportunity to get back to the ol’ chisel and mallet. I love this type of work — the materials, the scale, the tools, and the workflow feel so good. In my first post about the shed back in November, I shared some photos of the building process. Here are a few more pics of the raising and the finished shed.
A common design question when working with wood posts and concrete (or stone) is: how do you anchor posts to the concrete? Honestly, if we’re talking about a large structure with a lot of weight, gravity does most of the work and you don’t need a specific connection. A concrete post anchor may be necessary in a variety of situations, however. Here is a particularly slick way to anchor wood posts to concrete using a very discrete piece of hardware.
Gears quickly shifted this fall when I was contracted to build a wood shed in town. Up until a few weeks ago, I was trying to squeeze in as much work as possible on the ol’ homestead projects — the light clay straw outhouse in particular. I did end up getting the little outhouse to a good point. (Plastering season is over… unless for some reason we get a 60+ degree stretch in December. You never know these days, sadly.)
Anyway, the wood shed I’m currently building is a proper timber frame with wood joinery, which is obviously very exciting for me. Getting contracted to do a timber frame anything has been my goal since moving to Berea a few years ago. Here are a few photos of the building process.
Japanese craftspeople have the reputation of designing and creating some of the most intricate and complex timber joinery on the planet. The use of timbers in construction has a long and deeply fascinating history, and many of these astonishing joints have their roots in the building of temples. Historically, these techniques were fiercely guarded secrets of the carpentry guilds. (If you’re interested in Japanese joinery history and the current practice of temple restoration, check out the fascinating book The Genius of Japanese Carpentry.)
Check out this collection of beautifully simple animations of Japanese joinery in action. These are great little demonstrations of timber frame joints interlocking together.
This is Clear Creek, the valley we now call home
Last month, Scott Mann of The Permaculture Podcast came to our neighborhood to re-visit the community here on Clear Creek, the place we now call home just outside Berea, Kentucky. Last summer, he came for a visit to record a podcast and he had such a positive experience that he decided to make another trip. During his initial visit I was in Vermont attending a Permaculture Design Course, ironically enough.
We just accomplished one of the more exciting items on our remodeling to-do list — we raised a timber frame between the kitchen and living room. Before the frame went up, we methodically removed the original 2×4 wall. The intention here, of course, was to really open up the space and facilitate a better interface between the living and cooking areas, provide more light to the kitchen, and allow the heat of the (not yet installed) cook stove to move more freely though the house.
I’d say it’s lookin’ pretty good right now. I managed to capture a little video of the actual timber frame raising… watch the video above to see how smoothly the frame fits right into place in the opening we created by removing the stud frame. The video also illustrates some of the steps we took to ready the house for the new frame.
Click ahead for some photos of the new wall, as well!
We’re about to lift this timber frame into position inside our new house that we’re currently remodeling. Exciting times ahead… more news soon once I have a second to write. I’m also preparing to depart on a very exciting trip to New Mexico.
p.s. No, it won’t hit the ceiling… we planned for that!
p.p.s. I love working with poplar after so much fussing with white oak… what a dreamy wood!
The Whole Systems Design barn
I love this timber frame barn. Spending time in this building was a big highlight for me during the recent Permaculture Design Course I just attended in Vermont. Most of the “classroom” activity happened in this barn, as well as meals, playing ping pong, and general hanging out. While it’s not so much an agricultural barn (at least not currently), it’s a barn nevertheless, and I think it’s a great example of a well-designed multi-purpose space.
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
