Update on New Jersey Timber Frame Home

Last year, Davis Timber Frame Mid-Atlantic Independent Representative, Timber Frames Unlimited worked with a client in New Jersey who built a Davis Timber Frame Home using our Classic Barn 1B floor plan. Our Classic Barn series features over 25 pre-designed floor plans and has become extremely popular over the years. The Classic Barn models are still the most popular pre-designed floor plans here at Davis Frame Company.

Below are some of the New Jersey timber frame home construction photos along with some updated finished photos. To see the rest of the jobsite photos, click here!

If you are looking to build a new timber frame home in New Jersey, Maryland or Pennsylvania, contact Jack and his team at Timber Frames Unlimited, Independent Representatives of Davis Timber Frame. If you are looking to have someone do a site evaluation at your land in the Mid-Atlantic, call Jack today at 201.230.6429.

If you have a new timber frame project outside the Mid-Atlantic region of the US, please call Davis Frame headquarters at 800.636.0993 to talk to one of our project coordinators.

Timber Frame Floor Plan Feature: Classic Barn 3

Our line of pre-designed floor plans called Classic Barn Homes has become extremely popular throughout the years. Many people love the simple roof lines and functional floor plan layout of our Classic Barn Home models.

Here at Davis Timber Frame, we give you the option to work with one of our existing Classic Barn Home floor plans or we have an in-house design team that can help you design a home to meet your specifications. Or if you are already working with an architect or designer, you can send your plans along to us!

Today's floor plan feature is our Classic Barn 3 timber frame. The main entry of this timber frame home is a covered porch built with our signature King Post Truss frame. The entry leads into a foyer and central cathedral-ceiling great room encompassed by a timber-framed gable extension centered at the back of the house, creating an expanded private living space that looks out on rear gardens or patios.

The first floor includes an open concept dining room and great room area. The kitchen can be found to the right of the great room area, along with a mudroom and study. There is also a master suite on the first floor that leads out to a private deck. The great room also has access to the outdoors and allows this floor plan to extend to the outdoors if desired.

The second floor is home to four spacious bedrooms, a full bath and a loft that overlooks the great room below. This floor plan offers plenty of space for a growing family or to entertain overnight guests.

To see some of our other pre-designed floor plans visit the Davis Frame website!

Call 800.636.0993 to speak with one of our project coordinators about your upcoming timber frame home project or addition!

Building a Hybrid Timber Frame Home

Timber Frame Great Room

Here at Davis Timber Frame Company, we have designed and built many hybrid timber frame homes over the years. Hybrid timber frame homes typically feature timber framing in the main section of the home (great room, dining room and kitchen), while the wings of the home, generally the bedrooms, are built with conventional construction. Adding a timber frame addition is another way to add timber framing to a conventional style home.

Conventional Bedroom in Timber Frame Home

Building a hybrid home can be a cost effective way to build a timber frame without losing the ambiance of timber framing. Most homeowners choose timber framing for the main section of the home because it is the most common and used space in the home. Others will choose to do a specialty room with timber framing or even just a master bedroom.Whatever you choose, either a full timber frame or partial timber frame, our in house design team can help you with a design that meets your needs.

Here at Davis Frame we can provide you with the exterior shell of the home that includes:

• Timber Framing
• Conventional framing (for conventional wings or garage)
• Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS)
• Energy Smart Insulated Panel System, eSIPS soy-based panels
• Energy efficient windows and doors
• Siding, trim and roofing

Contact us today at 800.636.0993 to discuss your upcoming project with one of our project coordinators!

The ABC's of Site Evaluation for Your New Timber Frame Home

By Jack Costantino, Mid-Atlantic Independent Representative for
Davis Timber Frame Company

As a Freshman High School architecture/engineering student going back almost 55 years, I remember my instructor and early mentor Professor Harry Fleischer’s knowing smile as we unfolded our leather bound pencil and pen holders on our first day in his class. The pencils were blue plastic with a shiny knurled metal spot at the bottom for better grip and had a button on top for dispensing graduated lengths of lead from a 3” stick inserted in the shaft.

I had been practicing for weeks before school started with various hardness leads from B’s to 6H which produced different line qualities, and used my soap eraser and brush incessantly to keep my velum drawing paper free of smudges. I was ready to draw. Or at least I thought so. Professor Harry (which is what we called him) smiled knowingly at the four bright and eager young faces staring up in anticipation of our first assignment. Yup…its’ true our class only had four students in the specialized Engineering, Architecture and Strength of Materials class we were enrolled in at our Vo-Tech…which was very heavy on the Vo and very light on the Tech.

Many of the enrollee’s in our school were climbing around on old cars in a permanent state of partial repair and disassembly or welding pipes, running machine lathes or learning electrical wiring. But not me…I wanted to be an architect and an engineer and build things I designed so they would be truly my own. Little did I know what I would be doing in real life for the 50+ years which followed graduation in 1959? I wonder if any of us ever do at that age.

Professor Harry suggested we put our drawing tools away and said we were going on a field trip. We visited a nearby empty lot which sloped gently to a distant view of the Staten Island to NY Ferry Terminal. There were several large boulders on the site.

“OK…grab a boulder and sit down”. We did. And we sat and waited…and then waited some more. Prof. Harry perched on his own rock as he had done so many times before, was silent and peaceful and enjoying the early colors of fall as his eyes swept the scene before him as if for the first time. When he finally spoke…his voice painted the scene with the broad strokes of an artists brush.

“I want you to imagine that this is the site of your new home. What’s important about it? How did we get here? If you were inside the house and looking out…what would you want to see? Where do you want to see it from? Where does the sun rise and set? Where does the wind come from?”

It was an inquisition of the environment we were a part of. A new way of understanding our place in it as much as an awareness that we were only occupants, transient, temporary…not as significant as the place itself which would remain beyond and in spite of us. We were visitors and would go on to visit other places, but it would remain.

“How do you plan to utilize and respect this site while intruding a structure on its slopes and plains…removing soil and trees and rocks to suit your purpose. Will you simply design a building of sticks and bricks or incorporate an element which speaks to the existing space in a harmonic collaboration which takes its place and becomes a piece of the artwork of nature we’re enjoying on this beautiful day?”

In 1955…on a beautiful fall day…sitting on a rock with my three class mates and Professor Harry we learned a truth…and like all truth…its meaning is immune to the passage of time...even when it represents most of a lifetime. Professor Harry defined the need to respect the land on which we build; to maximize its gifts as a way of balancing the act of disruption of its nature. It’s peculiar to me that even in these advanced and modern times, home designs may frequently begin even before a site is selected, and that after land is purchased an architect may not offer to visit right away, but sits in an office and assemble a floor plan from napkin sketches and a verbal description based on the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and size of a kitchen. They may open a drawer and present previously drawn homes, suggesting variations on a previous theme until something appeals.

“What is there to see…and where do you want to see it from? Where does the sun set and rise? How did we get here? Where does the wind come from?”

Why should we care? When we perform SEV’s (Site Evaluation Visit’s) on the land of our future owners, and ask these simple and logical questions which define issues of access, views and energy efficiency, we’re engaging the most important first step in the design process. What we are also doing is respecting the land and its natural gifts by utilizing them in the best way possible. By preparing and considering the site in a thoughtful way, our home owners provide for a permanent collaboration with nature which will endure even beyond their own occupancy, beyond their own generation and allow families they will never know to be enriched by their thoughtfulness.

The ABC’s of an SEV are as simple as the basics Prof. Harry described. The essential ingredients of good home design, and especially in these environmentally and economically challenged times must consider a new homes long term presence on the landscape as well as its impact as an operating component in the environment.

Site Access… “How do we get there?” “How far from the main road?” “How much tree removal?”

Energy Efficiency… “Where does the sun rise and set? Where does the wind come from?”

Views… “What is there to see…and where do we want to see it from?”

If we begin a design process before asking and answering these questions, we can be sure the outcome will be less successful than if we do. An SEV is necessary, relatively simple and when geographically feasible, at Davis Frame Company and Timber Frames Unlimited…complimentary.

Contact Davis Timber Frame today by calling 800.636.0993 to see if there is a representative in your area to schedule a site evaluation with!

Wood Species Options to Build Your New Timber Frame Home

Douglas fir timbers are used in this timber frame great room.

There are many different species of wood you can choose from for your new timber frame home. The most popular wood species we work with here at Davis Frame are Douglas fir and Eastern White Pine. From time to time, we also get special requests for Reclaimed Timbers (salvaged from barns and old buildings), Hemlock and Oak.

If you are having a tough decision on choosing a wood species for your new timber frame, please read the characteristics for the different species below:

Douglas fir Timbers:

Douglas fir is a solid and durable wood and is grown in managed forests in Oregon, making this a greener option. The wood species checks and twists the least out of all the timber frame wood species. Douglas fir is a suitable wood species to build any home in all parts of the country.

Eastern White Pine Timbers:

Eastern White Pine is grown in the northeast of the United States. Pine is a softer wood and a less expensive option. Pine is typically knotty and a blonder wood that checks a lot. This is a great option, but not an option for everyone and depending what part of the country you live in and the snow loads, it may not be an option for you.

Hemlock Timbers:

Hemlock wood is similar to pine with its blond color and it also tends to be knotty. It is also a less expensive option to some of the other wood species. It does check more easily like Eastern White Pine. This is a great choice for those who are looking for a rustic look.

Red Oak Timbers:

Oak is a heavy and sturdy option for timbers. It is a native wood to the northeastern part of the United States. It is also a less expensive option to Douglas fir. This wood species tends to check the most and is a great option for those looking for a rustic look in their new home.

Example of Eastern White Pine in this timber frame kitchen.

To speak with one of our project coordinators about your upcoming project, please call 800.636.0993 today!

New Photos of Solar Timber Frame Home in Oregon!

We just received the pictures of our photo shoot we had at Davis Frame's Pacific Northwest Independent Representatives  Doug and Leanne's Smiths home! This Sisters, Oregon home is truly beautiful and offers many energy efficient features. It is hard to not be wowed by this timber frame home. The home features 2,850 SF with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The open layout between the great room, dining room and kitchen allows for the Smith's to entertain their family and friends when they visit Sisters.

The timber frame home is also completely off-grid and qualified Platinum Earth Advantage! To see some of the homes energy efficient features, see below:

• Oregon-grown Douglas Fir timber frame structure with old-world mortise/tenon joinery
• Passive solar heating & cooling achieved by careful home & window placement & high R value walls & ceilings
• Structural Insulated Panel Walls (R30) & ceiling (R-49) & floors (R-38 ) by using under-floor insulation eliminate need for air conditioning & minimize heating requirements;
• Totally off-grid via solar panels for electricity, domestic hot water and in-floor heating
• Use of recycled/reclaimed materials, i.e., reclaimed barn wood cabinets, barn wood ceilings and flooring; cork flooring, recycled metal counter tops & sconces
• Energy smart appliances and lighting to minimize electrical power demand
• Durable materials, i.e., travertine floors, recycled metal & granite counter tops & exterior stone skirt & concrete decks
• Built-in wet/dry cleaning system for a cleaner, healthier home;
• Gerard recycled metal roof with natural clay tile look
• Insulated concrete/styrofoam walls
• Water well & Cistern support low-water-use systems for plumbing & natural//xeriscape landscaping.

Rear view of home featuring the solar panels

View of timber frame stairs and dining room

The timber frame great room

The timber frame great room

Kitchen

The timber frame master bedroom

Front and side view of the home

**Photos taken by Jay Mather, Sisters, Oregon

If you are building a new home in the Pacific Northwest, contact the Smith's by calling (541) 977-8285. Check out Central Oregon Timber Frame Home's website!

Contact Davis Timber Frame headquarters today to learn more about our timber frames by calling 800-636-0993!