We had a crane back for hoisting Underhill House’s rafters up into place. Unlike two weeks before when Dan had used his crane to fly the bents into position, we did not finish the work day earlier than anticipated. Fitting the rafters in place made for a long, physically taxing […]
Here is a story I had a great time researching and writing that just appeared in Isthmus, Madison’s edgy weekly. Summer is a classic time to get away from the asphalt jungle, but that doesn’t mean you have to make reservations and pack your bags. Anyone in Madison is just […]
Last spring as we were peeling, sanding and painting the timbers for Underhill House, the question of how we would get the roof rafters up on top of the bents was often on our minds. In previous houses built by Whole Trees Architecture and Structures, rafters have been hoisted up […]
Stone is such a durable and desirable building material. We wanted to incorporate some into Underhill House. Helen and Scott Nearing, pioneering back-to-the-landers, who built their house and farm buildings from stone on their Vermont land, were rich in a flinty sort of igneous rock formed from cooling lava. Unfortunately, […]
Fitting together the timbers for a whole tree, forked timber frame house is a very creative process that involves a good grasp of geometry and physics in the bargain. This week the three exterior porch pillars were set in place, and it was fascinating to watch. For each of the […]
guest post by Doug Hansmann We always planned to have a mass wall between the kitchen/dining room and the den. It was designed to soak up sun on sunny days and heat from the wood stove on cold nights and cloudy days. But over time we began to realize that […]
In my first post on our timber framing process (Whole Tree Timber Framing Begins at Underhill House ) I stressed the patience required to start a whole tree timber frame project. A week later, I’m still trying to catch my breath after a whirlwind ride (literally and figuratively) as the […]
When we think about living sustainably, we need to factor our medical demands into the equation. Going to a hospital, taking a lot of medicines – these things don’t tend to be particularly easy on the environment. When we take good care of our health in the obvious ways of […]
Building a whole tree timber frame house is an exercise in patience. We have been working with these timbers for almost a year now — selecting them from our 44 acres last summer, peeling and felling them, then working out a master plan for how their individual branching natures could […]
Friday the concrete was poured for the main floor of Underhill House. Doug and I set the alarm for 5, but when we got to the house site at 7:15, the pour was already underway. They needed a pumper truck to get the concrete high enough and far enough out […]
Digging in the Driftless 