Preservation Timber Framing

Traditional repair of timber-framed barns, homes, churches and steeples

Tag: Steeple Repair

  • Unveiling York First Parish Church, (we took the staging down).

    Unveiling York First Parish Church, (we took the staging down).

    Ed, doin’ the Pick Shuffle

    Last week, we dropped the staging from the front of the York First Parish Church.  After the 24 ft picks were lowered smoothly, we took apart the rest of the ledgers and standards like a rogue band of dismantling Doozers.  Staging takedowns like that don’t just happen, they are engineered, by people like Keith Trefethen.  Thanks, Keith!  When the staging was finally on the ground,  and we were sweeping up the last of the debris, we heard a rustle in the trees — the collective sigh of York’s most elegant wedding planners.

    For more photos of the takedown, explore our Flickr album.

  • Trim Time

    Geometrim
    Geometrim

    These past few weeks, with the inclement weather, the York Congregational trim has kept us busy in the shop. Using a steam box, we carefully scraped the lead paint from the trim pieces, made dutchman repairs, and filled nail holes with West System epoxy. We were able to repair 90% of the scroll-shaped trim that surrounds the clock-faces, and about half of the curved pieces that create the outline of the clock-faces. The pieces at the bottom of the curve collect the most rainwater, and all needed to be replaced.  In order to cut the bevel on the concave edge of the new circular trim, Keith tilted the table of the bandsaw, and made a circular track for the trim to ride in.

    Please click on the photos below for more information:

    Clock Face Surround
    Stripped and Stacked
    Profiled profiles
    Keith a-cutting
    Geometrim

  • TTRAG Symposium this weekend

    The annual meeting of the Traditional Timber Framers Advisory Group is this Saturday, and our crew is really looking forward to it.   Our own Dan Boyle has worked hard to organize a great event in Topsfield, MA, which will include a walking tour of the Parson Capon House c. 1683, the Gould Barn c. 1710,  and the Topsfield Congregational Church c. 1842.  Peter Dellea and Tim Wholhueter will give a demonstration of milling, and Al Hodson, “an engineer who is not afraid of timber frames”, will be amongst the speakers.  Click here to lean more.

  • Friezing to Avoid Freezing

    Over the last month, our Damariscotta crew has been busy.  We completed the frieze, fascia, crown and bed moldings.  We helped to install the clock, assembling the clock faces and carefully attuning the clapper and its mechanisms to the bell.  Lastly, we cleaned up and hauled out, leaving the site a real sight.  Click on the photos below to read a description.

    Full Frontal
    Steeple Stack
    We’re Friezing Up Here!
    Our Hours are Numbered
    Steeple People

  • Coverage

    We’re building the roof that will link the belfry and clock tower, while the local media is covering the crane day, and the steeple’s connection to the community.

    Here She Comes

    Christine Parrish of The Free Press wrote one of the best articles I’ve read, she really focuses on the joinery and construction history:

    Shawn Perry, of Preservation Timber Framing, Inc., the firm that was contracted to rebuild the steeple using the original plans and traditional joinery, stuck his fist into the heart of one of the rotten steeple timbers and pulled out a fistful of sawdust.

    “How this stayed standing, I don’t know,” said Perry.

    The clock tower bears 11,000 pounds of weight, according to Perry, so each corner beam would have had to take almost 3,000 pounds of weight.

    “A storm could have toppled it,” he said… read more

    From WCSH6 of Portland

    From NECN

    “Steeple Finally Home Atop Damariscotta Baptist Church” by Alex Brodsky, Lincoln County News

  • Spire Higher

    A selection of photos from yesterday’s crane event.  Click on the photo to read a description and visit our Flickr page to see more.

    Before
    Crane Day 6:00 am
    New Clock Faces and Trim
    Scott A-cuttin’
    Straptopus
    Time Flies
    Boom Boom Boom Boom
    A-Rigging and A-Readying
    Crowd
    Hovercraftmanship
    Here She Comes
    Steady Betty
    Dan on Air
    Braces
    Ed Removing Rigging
    Goodbye
    Tidy Tug Truck
    After

  • Damariscotta Crane Day Shots

    Click on an image to read its description.

    Damariscotta Baptist Clock Tower and Spire, from old clock tower
    New Damariscotta Clock Tower, seen from the new spire
    Clock Face Step Flashing and Claps
    Old Clock Tower, Face and Trim
    Bed Timber Rot!
    Bust a Girt
    Rigging the Clock Tower
    Picking Up the Old Tower
    Out with the Old
    Arron, Threading the Bed Timber
    Keith, Guiding the Bed Timber
    Dead Post Flying
    Rotten to the Core, or, Why We Did All This
    Through the Roof
    Dirty Tom, Dirty.

Think we can help? Get in touch.

Cell

(603) 781 5725

Office

(207) 698 1695

Email

Office Manager: Emilee Bolduc

President: Arron Sturgis

Mail

P.O. Box 28, Berwick, ME 03901

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