Posts and Beams

Several years back Flora and I discovered the big open spaces that are possible in both log and timberframe homes. We loved the look, went to some shows, toured some houses, and decided that is what we wanted. After I bought our lot I also bought a 110 year old barn frame and had it trucked down from the Pittsburgh area. It was only after we had a design created around that frame that we discovered how darned expensive it is to build a timberframe home because you are essentially framing it twice; once with the timberframe and once with the structural panels you attach outside the frame. Ultimately we did not build that house and the frame has been sitting around in pieces ever since, much of it rotting away.

Here Mario and Chad wrap the laminated ridge beam in barn wood to give it a more finished look. 

The house we are building now has much the same shape as that original design only this one is framed conventionally using laminated beams for the support structure. We had not though given up on using some of our barn beams in a decorative way. A few weeks back Mario, Chad, and I looked through the barn beams and chose a few that would supply the pieces we needed. I spent a week working them into shape and providing a proper finish to the wood. I didn't want to lose the original character but I didn't want them to be too nasty either.

Finally, last weekend we were ready to lift them into place to be used as posts on what we fondly call "the big wall". I assembled a team of able-bodied guys, rented a cable lift, and we went to work. The biggest piece was a 17 foot long 8" x 10" white oak beam that probably weighed 500 pounds or more. The lift was strong enough to get it the eight feet off the floor that were required to slide it into place, but how to control it once it was up in the air was the problem. I still had in place a tall scaffold that I had borrowed from the drywall subcontractor, so with Chad and Mario up on the scaffold, Rich, Chuy, and I wrestled it from the ground while Flora took pictures. The following pictures tell the story.

We pulled the end of the post up into the air, using an appliance dolly under the bottom of it, until it was rolled into an upright poistion

A safety rope secures the post while we devise a lifting strategy

With safety rope removed, Chad and Mario steady the post as it is cranked up eight feet to the top of the beam that will support it

Mario steadies the post while Chad makes some "minor adjustments" with a sledge hammer

Mario attaches the last of the securing screws

All posts in place

After this post was in place, Mario, Chad, and I lifted the rest of the shorter posts into place and secured them to complete the look. We used other pieces of wood from the barn to provide decorative elements in various places around the room, including replacing a required metal post in the middle of the room with another 8 x 10 wooden post. So, while it is true that this might not be the timberframe home we once dreamed of, we do have the big open spaces and much of the look and feel with none of the inherent problems of a timberframe home, and we saved over $100K in the deal; what's not to like about that?