Jan and John Maggs Antiques

August 15, 2017 - September 23, 2017: Erecting the frame

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The new foundation - ready to support the new timber frame

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Some of the commercial lumber that will be used to frame the deck and the roof

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Nick Potter, grading the front of the barn to make it accessible to the framing crew

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Jesse speaking with the operator who delivered the Douglas fir 2X12s that will support the roof

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The dimensional lumber piled in our front yard - no mowing for a while!

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Jesse overseeing the delivery of the first load of the massive timbers for the frame

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Jim McRae of Warwick Carpenters, laying out a new stairway to connect old and new buildings

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Jesse Brown shaping one of the timbers of the frame

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Four posts and six beams in the background, ready to be installed, and a section of sill being cut in the foreground

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One of the tenoned lap joints that will make the sills perfectly rigid sits on the foundation.

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The next timber joins the first.

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The north sill: three timbers joined to function as one

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Installing one of the beams that will support the first floor

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Nick Potter controlling the heavy lifting

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Tyler Slocum, Tim Slocum, and Liam McRae aligning and fitting two mortise-and-tenon joints

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The sills and floor beams are complete; many of the floor joists are installed.

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View from the basement

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A layer of plywood will serve as subfloor for the pine boards of the first floor -

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and as the ceiling of our basement workshop and storerooms.

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The crew: Tim, Jesse, Steve Slocum, Tyler, and Jim - enjoying the chocolate chip cookies that Jan baked as a reward for finishing the deck!

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The basement - under cover

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Dave Bernard and company, back to pour the floor under the lean-to

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We'll park our van here and use the remainder to store materials and yard machines

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Dave, creating the smooth finish of the new floor

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Nice!

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While Jesse continued to cut timbers, the Slocum team began making rafter trusses -

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assembling the seven-piece trusses one by one -

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and piling them next to the foundation, ready for the crane to lift them to the top of the frame.

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More timbers arriving from Jesse's New Salem shop

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Jesse's joinery is beautiful to behold; it's a shame that so much of it will be lost from sight once the frame is assembled.

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Most of the timbers are stored upside down, to keep water out of the mortises.

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Still more parts of this enormous woodworking enterprise

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The upper part of the frame will be held together by these king-sized 32-foot timbers.

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The crew used Jesse's tractor to gently carry the timbers to the deck -

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where they were then moved by hand -

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and then matched up, using the complex coding that Jesse applied to keep everything in order.

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Next, the individual timbers are assembled into "bents".

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The barn will be supported by four bents, each containing three twenty-foot posts and two fourteen-foot beams.

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The white oak floor joists for the second floor arrived on Saturday.

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This little pile of lumber weighed more than eight tons!

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On a misty Monday morning, September 18, our crane operator arrived at 9:00 a.m. 

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The components had been assembled in advance,

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and final preparations were being made.

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The four posts at the rear of the lean-to were put in place and braced.

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Then, one by one, the three beams that frame the west wall of the lean-to were put in place.

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Jim shepherds the southwest tenon into its mortise,

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while Tyler does the same to the other end.

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The same procedure sets the rest of the west plate.

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Time to lift the first bent: Jesse orchestrates the delicate operation,

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while the remainder of the crew control the rise of the huge bent.

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When the first one was finally in place and upright, we all felt greatly relieved.

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The north bent rising

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The team made sure that the bent was controlled at every moment.

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This was our crane operator Doug's first raising, and he responded to instructions and the demands of the crew like a veteran.

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Finally the frame was ready to accept the 32-foor ties that would hold everything together under the weight of the roof. 

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The first tie rises from the forks of the tractor

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and is moved to the waiting posts.

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Each of the four ties is installed.

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As the final tie rises to its place, we caught Jesse recording the moment in video.

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The final timber takes its place.

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Then, one by one, the thirty-five roof trusses are lifted into place,

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and braced temporarily. The roofers will connect them all with the horizontal nailers that will secure the wood shingles.

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Halfway through.

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All trusses are in place, awaiting final adjustment.

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Finally, the roof rafters over the lean-to are in place.

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The profile of our new barn

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