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 […]
I have had good friends become dumbstruck because of something we are doing as we build our unmilled, timber frame house. Everyone forms an image when you say timber frame. They see massive posts and beams stained to a golden glow, criss-crossing and defining a space. And what you’ll see […]
The temperature for March 15 around Madison WI typically varies from 27°F to 41°F. Today it hit 80. It’s never done that before. All the more reason to build the most energy efficient, sustainable building practices house that we can. That meant working outside in tee shirts, although in the […]
Yesterday Doug and I started our new one-day-a-week routine of working with the crew building our new house, Underhill. Thursdays is all we have for February because Doug is teaching genetics at University of Wisconsin-Platteville Monday thru Wednesday and Fridays, and I am juggling three writing projects – all with […]
When we got out to our land last Friday it had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Thursday we had been clearing and burning the tops and side branches of the pine trees that had been harvested over the last two weeks for use as un-milled rafters and joists as […]
Last summer (see my post Peeling Trees for our House) we selected the trees on our land that will be used to build our house, and Tuesday December 5, 20011, our construction foreman, Bryan Dalstrom started felling those trees so they can be prepped for construction, working with Kellen Anderson […]
When you decide to build something, these days you have a choice of four primary building materials : Steel Concrete Processed Wood Wooden timbers Which one would you guess is the most sustainable? Unmilled timbers are what we using to build our house, which is currently a tiny subset of […]
Last weekend we got to visit the Whole Tree Construction, straw bale house that we helped build last year. Doug and I participated in a 6-day strawbale, clay wall workshop. (See posts Straw bale – Bending Walls , Stitching Straw Bales Makes Strong Walls, and Earthen Clay on Straw Bales […]
Acoustic tomography. Ever heard of it? This is a nondestructive imaging technique to determine what’s going on inside a tree. According to “Evaluation of Acoustic Tomography for Tree Decay Detection,” internal decay is an ever-present possibility which seriously compromises lumber production. For every 100 million board feet of timber […]
Digging in the Driftless 