I'm not the only one...

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The Workshop

     My shop is actually just a corner of my living room partitioned off by the pile of timbers. It is a very comfortable place to work, especially with the big doors open. There is enough room on the main floor of the firehouse to test fit all of the bents- in fact I will probably end up assembling most of the house, excluding the roof, right here. I could even do the siding and some of the interior work here, and then skid the whole thing out on a trailer when I find a spot to put it.

     While the timbers were drying this winter, I built myself a set of oak saw-horses. I use similar ones at the shop where I work and didn't think that it would be a big deal to make a set- two days work at most. The owner of the company gave me a good straight 5"x7" stick for the tops and a few of the most gnarly, twisted, sorry looking timbers I have ever seen for the legs and braces. This really didn't matter since none of these pieces needed to be any longer than about two feet. 

After a few hours with the planer they looked a whole lot better. The design is basically the same as the ones I use at work. I will post the drawings- feel free to copy them.

     About half way though cutting the saw-horses, I realized that this set needed nearly half the number of pieces contained in the entire cabin. To make it worse, the oak was incredibly hard to cut after curing for so many years. It is actually much more work to cut the joinery on small pieces like this than it is on a 16 footer because they don't have enough weight to hold themselves down. Everything needs to be clamped. So much for a quick job. I finally finished them after a couple of months of sporadic work. The result was worth it though. It is really nice to have a sturdy surface to work on.

Ice Storms and Brandy

    I finished the design this past winter and ordered the timbers from a sawyer named Larry out in Rutland. I showed up one cold blustery Saturday morning with a list of what I wanted and only a vague idea of how to go about ordering it. Larry happily walked me through the process and agreed to cut the 1132 board feet of white pine that I needed for an incredibly low price. I ordered all of the timbers 1/8" oversize so that I could plane them square after they dried, but I didn't even think to consider this when I calculated the total footage from which he based his price. Larry pointed out this mistake, but didn't charge me for the extra volume of wood(not that it was a substantial amount, but it was a nice gesture). 

     I returned on an even colder and more blustery Saturday morning one month and two hard New England ice storms later to pick up the wood. Larry seemed extra jolly and immediately thrust out his hands in greeting. In one he held a slightly slushy Miller High Life(the best high life I have ever had, by the way), and in the other a bottle of cherry brandy. "To take the edge off the cold." he said. If I didn't know it from our first meeting, there was no doubt now that Larry was my guy. The timbers were beautiful- square, clean and exactly to dimension. 

     

It took two overloaded runs in the pickup to get the timbers back to my house. With two 15' 8"x8"s hanging off the back 

of the 6'6" bed, I wasn't concerned about the rear wheels getting traction in the snow, but I was wondering if the front wheels would stay on the ground on the way up to my house. Just in case the extreme pitch of the truck wasn't enough to warn drivers to keep their distance, Larry Gave me a red flag to tack on the end of the longest timber.

     Surprisingly, both loads made the journey home and into my living room/workshop without incident. I stacked and stickered the timbers, which were still green, so that they would get proper air circulation and dry evenly over the coming months.

Sketchup

Here is a rough SketchUp model of the frame. SketchUp is an amazing program available for free from Google. It is great for rendering an idea, but after using so many full-function CAD programs, I get frustrated with what it can almost but not quite do. You cant beat the price though. I am still doing all of the detailed joinery drawings and calculations by hand. As much as I love doing this with CAD software, sometimes it is faster by hand.

Welcome!

For the past two years I have been living in an old firehouse with 14 foot ceilings and expansive open spaces. It has been amazing living in a space where many people can live together and still have room to work on large projects and host events. At the same time, I have been intrigued by small efficient living spaces. A small space, if it is well laid out, can be very comfortable. Fitting the necessities (a bed, basic kitchen, space to relax) into a small space can be a challenge, but it has been done well throughout history. Minimalist dwellings as diverse as living quarters on boats, to small huts in the woods have been laid out comfortably.

There are many reasons why I have become enthralled with the idea of small spaces. With all of the talk of sustainability, we have come up with all sorts of new technologies that will help to reduce our outrageous energy consumption and carbon emissions. Unfortunately, it is so easy to get caught up in the hype of green technology that it is easy to overlook the most effective method of reducing our consumption- and that is simply reducing our consumption. New houses are being built at an alarming rate using unsustainable methods. Some people don't seem to think twice about moving into a $750,000, 6000 square foot home with 5 full bathrooms (one for every bedroom), a three car garage and a sprawling one acre, single-tree yard no farther than fifty feet from their neighbor's house of the same design(this information comes from a listing of an actual house in a sub-development next to my parents house). The houses are constructed quickly and cheaply using materials with a high carbon footprint. They lack any form of uniqueness and craftsmanship and are not designed to last. Small spaces are obviously much more efficient. The energy consumed in processing the building materials and actually building the house is significantly less on a small house. Because it is small, local and sustainable materials can be more easily obtained. Instead of spending money on sheer size, it can be spent on hiring local craftsmen who will add their own personal touches to the house. The house will become something that will be more appreciated by everyone involved. There will be more of a desire to maintain the house in the future rather than the current trend of demolish and rebuild. A small house also requires significantly less energy to heat, light and cool making practical to implement sustainable energy systems including everything from tried and true wood heat to some of the newest photovoltaic technology.

I am going to take the idea to an extreme by building a house with a footprint around 100 square feet. I knew right away that I wanted it to be timber framed. This allows me to use local timber rather than lumber that has been shipped all over the continent. I also love the history, beauty and structural integrity of a timber frame. After thinking about my needs and looking at some small house designs, most notably those of Tumbleweed Tiny House Co (www.tumbleweedhouses.com), I settled on a footprint of 8'x13', just over 100 square feet. One-third of the space will be a simple kitchen, and the other two-thirds will be sitting/living space. A loft for sleeping will cover half of the footprint over the kitchen. The design is a combination of elements from many styles, but he prevailing themes will revolve around the Craftsman style. Following the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, I would like to know as much about the materials and construction of the house and everything in it as possible. What I cannot build myself should be made by someone I know or can meet in person. I hope to stay true to William Morris's philosophy - "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

Anyway... after getting all of that out of my system, I will try to catch up on the thoughts and progress of the past couple of years. Check back often and leave questions and comments for me!