In the Tradition of Colonial Home Building Yankee Housewrights Constructs Timber Frame House

Timber framing is the method of creating structures utilizing heavy timbers jointed via pegged mortise and tenon joints.  The use of timber framing in buildings offers various aesthetic and structural benefits, as the timber frame lends itself to open plan designs and allows for complete enclosure in effective insulation for energy efficiency.

  The publisher of a well-known magazine had period house plans and a stand of native hemlock in the ski country of Western Massachusetts.  He contacted Yankee Housewrights to construct a timber frame house for him.

 The hemlock was cleared, dressed to specific dimensions at a local sawmill and used as framing for the house.  Historically, the timbers would have been hewn square using a felling axe and then surface finished with a broad axe.