Church on the Hill - Maine Steeples Project

Maine Steeples Project

The Maine Steeples Project provides crucial support to the communities that are preserving Maine’s most iconic structures.  A collaborative effort of Maine Preservation, the Maine Community Foundation, and a donor-advised fund, the foundation matches community-raised funds and provides professional guidance.  From their newly-updated website: The Maine Steeples Project supports local efforts to assess and restore…

True-Randall Farm, Tie Beam Scarf Repair

It really tied the barn together

Tie Beams are the defining component of a timber frame.  They tie a barn together better than The Dude’s rug ever could. A tie beam crosses the gable at or below the plate (eave) level, and prevents the eave walls from spreading under the outward pressure of the rafters.  Tie beams, more than any other…

Carpenter's shop, naked at dawn

A Carpenter’s Shop

I think most people on the crew have come across a frame that made them stop, and think, “Man, that’s the frame I’d build for myself.”  I think I’ve found mine.  It’s one of what will be three barns on a piece of property in Poland, ME – a horse barn, dairy barn and carpenter’s…

Lee shows Scott the mill works

Mill at Freedom Falls wins Maine Preservation Honor award

Maine Preservation held their annual honor awards ceremony last Thursday,  to “recognize owners, developers, professionals and leaders responsible for transformative historic preservation efforts throughout the state.”  We were proud to be part of the team honored for the restoration of The Mill at Freedom Falls.  Read the full list of honorees, here. This project was…

Lee, Chuck and Scott install a deadman under the barn's corner post

True-Randall Farm: Post of Posts

Nov. 15, 2013 – When I tell people what I do, I sometimes run into the misconception that preservationists are single-minded, inflexible, and uninterested in innovation and design.  It’s true that at Preservation Timber Framing we think that if a frame stands strong for 200 years, it probably has good design to thank, and that…

Roof framing, exploded

No Worms in this Birdsmouth

Last week, Arron and I saw a neat roof framing detail at a Greek Revival home in Brunswick.  The rafter was joined to the tie beam with a birdsmouth and pinned with a trunnel, the tie overlapped the plate and supported a flying purlin, and the plate ran past the gable end post to create…

Randall's Hill dairy barn, before

Heavy Lifting on Randall’s Hill

Reading Dave Ewing’s paper on the history of moving buildings, I started thinking about the part lifting buildings plays in our work (it’s a starring role), and the part that screws and other simple machines play in that lifting (co-starring the skid steer). This year, we repaired a barn on Randall’s Hill in Montville. It…