Timber Frame Barn Raising in Pennsylvania

Our entire shop crew has left for a barn raising in PA. The hand cut oak timber frame left just before they did yesterday, and today they will begin assembling the bents on the ground to be set in place with a crane. Our sales and marketing director Sandy, has arranged for a photographer to capture different stages of this raising on film, and we are looking forward to posting those pictures.

When our timber artisans return, they will continue fabrication on another barn frame in our shop. This one will be rough sawn native hemlock and we will raise it on site in Rockingham, VT. We are working on a post and beam house for the same client now, and I'm sure that a frame so close to home will be a nice change for our timber frame shop crew.

In the mean time at the office, things are very quiet without Dan's crooning and the usual amount of betting and gloating. Our sales team is quoting a pile of projects all around the country including; post and beam barns, post and beam houses, post and beam churches, timber frame shelters, decorative timber beams, timber entries and porte cocheres, heavy timber great room trusses, and many more.

We would like the opportunity to help you with a timber frame. Ours are the highest quality that you will find because our company deals only with the timber itself. We focus on the details of natural timber, and hand cut all of our work to provide our clients with the tightest fitting and most appealing product possible. Our design team and in house engineering department can handle any size project, making your possibilities endless. Call us at 802.886.1917.

This timber framing blog goes on!

Travis, Sandy and others will continue to add to this fabulous timber frame blog that Sue created. Her witt and sense of humor will be missed, & especially the blogs set to music.

Miss you Sue!

Post and Beam Buildings SWEEP UP!

Trailer for sale or rent
Rooms to let...fifty cents.
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah, but..two hours of pushin' broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room....

Okay...
Maybe not NOW-A-Days....
BUT....
I'm thinking that 3 weeks of pushing broom could put a pretty good dent in a deposit on a Timber Frame!

The Cadillac of Timber Frames.....

Everyone has a wish list....
Face it...

If someone asks if you'd like a Cadillac or a Pacer, which would you choose?
I'm thinking it probably wouldn't be the Pacer, unless of course you are a die hard Wayne's World Fan.

The same goes for the Timber Frame Industry. There are the Cadillacs of Timber Framing, or the Pacers. We, of course, are the Cadillac Dealer.

As we have stated in previous blogs and articles, we pride ourselves in being the top of the line, custom hand crafted quality tradesmen of Fine Heavy Timber Products.
All Trusses, Barns, Homes, Churches, Porte Cocheres, etc. are created through blood sweat and tears, not through milling machines and prefabricated kits.

We may not always come in with the lowest bid, but we are confident that we create the superior product. All Heavy Timber Frames are NOT the same. Just as all automobiles are not the same. Why would you buy the basic floor model with limited features and roll down windows, when you could buy the fully loaded model with all the bells and whistles, and be much more satisfied with your decision?

Bottom line? You get what you pay for!

Drop that Timber Frame and take a BREAK!

It's the Fourth of July Weekend, and although we would LOVE to stay here at Vermont Timber Works and work through the holiday, some of us are forced to part from this establishment to have a little ....ummmmm...FUN!

Don't get me wrong, it's ALWAYS fun here at VTW, but there are those times when we have to leave behind the piles of Heavy Timber that fill the shop....put away the Tools of the Timber Framing Trade....Stop thinking about Trusses and Joinery, and simply walk away.

This is one of those times.

Of course we will be thinking NONSTOP about myriad of projects that await our return while we are away for the long weekend. The Timber Barns and Great Room Trusses, the Residential projects and Commercial projects that need to be completed.....How will we be able to relax, knowing that all of these timber frames need our attention?

Okay- maybe that's going a little too far...
But remember...
We are a dedicated bunch...
When it's NOT the Fourth of July!

Have a safe and Happy Holiday weekend!
From your friends at Vermont Timber Works

The VTW Timber Framer's Pledge....

I pledge allegiance to the adze and to the chisel too...

I pledge my loyalty to the Lull and to the Log Hog Screw.

I dedicate myself completely to building timber frames,

and to the trusses and to the blueprints, and to the architects from which they came.

I'll build timber barns and timber homes, timber churches too....

Timber framing is a way of life, and to it I'll stand true.

I will not be distracted, ever focused I'll remain...Oh...Hey...Is that Jason's new scooter? Wow...Travis got a new dirtbike? Is it time for lunch? Oh...Wait...where was I?

I will not be distracted.... Hey you guys....The truck's here....

These are a few of my favorite "Heavy Timber" Things.....

(To be sung to the infamous tune from The Sound of Music, of course)

Ready?

Sawdust on T-shirts and Splinters in waiting,

Break room discussions on who we are dating,

Boxers with drool bubbles and Poodles that bark,

Applying the stain color...oh NO...it's too dark.....

Truckloads of Timbers and projects with deadlines,

Demanding contractors and approximate lead times,

Trusses with Arches and Full Timber Frames,

Watching the shop boys at the lunchtime baseball games.....

When the Saw breaks,

When the truck's late,

When I'm feeling SAD...

I simply remember my FAVORITE things,

and then I don't feel so bad.

Writing Proposals that are due in 5 minutes,

Keeping commercial projects inside budgetary limits,

Floor plans and blueprints that have no clear details,

Sending out samples and returning e-mails......

Picking up telephones that never stop ringing,

The smell of the Minwax and Dan's Cherubic singing,

Residential projects and barns of Red Oak,

Pellet stoves that back up and fill the office with smoke.....

When the check's late,

When the plotter's down,

when the Bosses are Mad......

I simply remember my FAVORITE things.....

and then I don't Feeeeeelllllll Sooooooooo Baaaaadddddd!