T-burg Timber Frame -- Week One

Trumansburg is located on the west side of Cayuga Lake -- the longest of the Finger Lakes located in central NY just south of Rochester and Syracuse. This project is a special one for us at Woodhouse because it is to be the summer home of my parents (my father has been a mentor to the company for many years and everyone at Woodhouse knows them) and, because it is close to my own residence, it's relatively easy for me to document -- I'm also likely to be more involved in it personally than many of our projects (we regularly ship all over the United States).

The photo to the left shows the project about 4 hours after delivery on Monday, August 20, 2007. The site had been prepared with driveway access, a staging area for material, foundation completed (we used insulated concrete forms (ICFs) and the first floor deck installed. A tractor-trailer arrived at about 8:00a and was unloaded in about 1.5 hours. The shipment included the first floor frame and second floor joist system and was staged about 200 yards from the build site. Our crew (5 plus our foreman) began standing and bracing the douglas fir posts and, by this point, had placed one beam connecting two of the posts. Generally, we begin construction by creating one "box" of posts and beams -- the frame grows from there.

This photo also shows how beautiful the site is. The home is approximately 20 ft. above the beach area which has a nice area for a lawn and dock facilities. What may not be apparent from the photo is that the home is nestled between two high hogbacks which create a very dramatic site but one fraught with drainage issues. There is actually a 2 ft. culvert all the way under the house!

The photo to the right shows the project about 2 hours later. The "box" in the center will form the entrance foyer and it was erected first. Just behind it you can see the tall posts which will support the king post trusses over the great room. To the left of those posts is a "box" which will be the dining area.

The blue line in front of the frame is actually the boom of an all-terrain forklift which is what we use to erect most of the frame and, later, the structural insulated panels (more on them later). This happens to be a Gradall brand. We specify that this piece of equipment must be on site for all of our project installations.

This photo shows the frame on the beginning of day 2. After one day of progress the crew has unloaded the package, staged the material, and erected most of the first floor frame. Pretty good for 9 or 10 hours!

The area to the right of the frame is actually a panel-only section which will make up the master bedroom suite and, above it, a guest bedroom and bathroom. We call this kind of design a "hybrid." That is, it is a timber frame structure in most of the house with some section(s) made out of structural insulated panels (SIPs) only.

Structural Insulated Panels or S.I.P.s are comprised of two skins (usually 7/16" oriented strand board (OSB)) surrounding a central core of insulating material. They are also sometimes referred to as "stress-skin panels." They are installed on a timber frame outside of the frame members to form a continuous blanket of insulation. The result is one of the best-insulated structures possible -- far outperforming traditional insulating methods.

After two days of work (photo taken about 7:30a on day 3), the second floor system over the timber frame has been completed and sheathed with Advantech (this is a 3/4" tongue and groove plywood impregnated with a resin to prevent it from absorbing water and swelling). In addition, you can now begin to see the SIPs being installed in the panel only area. Woodhouse uses only Murus brand polyurethane SIPs which we believe to be the highest quality producer of SIPs in the world. This will be an incredibly well insulated home! You can also see where the crew has preassembled the king post trusses and staged them for when the crane arrives (they are stacked on the floor in front of where the SIPs have been installed).

Day 3 was spent installing SIPs on the first floor (after unloading the second shipment which included the second floor frame abd first floor panels). You can see more SIPs standing in the panel only area and can barely see that the SIPs have been installed on the left side as well (the kitchen & dining areas). Woodhouse supplies the sheetrock for the exterior walls and installs it over the timber frame prior to SIP installation. This is not only the most cost effective way to install the exterior wall finish but also produces the best long term asthetic results. We use blueboard instead of standard drywall because it can be rained on and still retain its shape.

In front of the house you can see a stack of SIPs. The yellow color is a polyurethane core (you may have seen white ones which have a core made of expanded polystirene (EPS)). Polyurethane panels have almost twice the insulating capability of EPS panels. The little black pieces on the edge of the panels are cam-locks made from recycled plastic and replace the spline system found on all other panels. The cam locks reduce installation time by about 30% and make it easier to form the kind of seal necessary to maximize energy efficiency. This cam-lock system and the polyurethane core are just 2 of the reasons we only use Murus brand SIPs!

This photo was actually taken the morning of day 6 (Saturday). Days 4 and 5 were both shortened by steady rain and some pretty severe thunderstorms. The crew usually works through the weekend (they work a schedule of 14 days on / 4 days off to reduce the travel cost to the client) but this Saturday happens to be the day of our company picnic so they've all taken the day off. As you can see, they have almost completed the SIP insulation on the first floor and are almost ready for the crane to lift the upper frame elements in to place. The crane is scheduled for Monday, the 27th (they will work Sunday to finish getting ready). The crew worked approximately 40 hours to get to this point. To get a preview of what the finished product will look like check out our Timber Frame Homes gallery.