Raising Wood: Getting Luke and Sarah's Home Addition Up in Silver Spring

The Second Bent is Up!

When Luke Jessup asked me about making a timber frame for an addition to his and Sarah's house in Silver Spring, MD, I was happy to help.  After all, Luke had been an instructor at Hawk Circle for many years, leading camps, teaching school programs and rites of passage events as well as help our Adult Earth Skills Semester Programs get going too.   Sarah had a small brick house that had an addition that was 11ft x 11ft, two story, and it was in rough shape.   I know, because I stayed there for a couple of nights, on a winter trip to promote our summer camps in the greater Maryland area.  They needed more room, with a downstairs living room/woodstove/bay window and breakfast nook, and the upstairs as a yoga room.   It took a few months to get the design put together and after the building code  officers, a new architect and an engineer all got on the same page, we got to cutting some beams!

The odd looking girding tie end tenons   Don't ask!
But they do look cool, don't they?

Ben cuts the large girding 
ties in the snow.

We used eastern hemlock, as it is one of the strongest local woods that is also readily available.   We started cutting in the fall, storing many of the beams in the barn for the winter, and as it got colder, we cut outside, too.   The long beams were 20 feet long, and they are hard to move around inside our barn, so we just bundled up and the framing actually kept us warm, too.  I remember cutting beams in the snowstorm and having to sweep off the wood every fifteen minutes.   That's life in the mountains!

A pile of collar ties and the post beams.

The tiered joist pocket gives plenty
of strength for carrying the weight
 of the floor and house across the
 18 foot span, while also keeping
 the tie beam very strong as well.

Ben cleans out the second floor
 joist pockets on the big beam...

We put the beams on the trailer and shipped it off to Silver Spring, then loaded the remaining beams and tools in the truck and headed south.   When we got there, we found that we had to figure out how to get the massive big beams, of which there were four, into the backyard and to the addition site!   Luke and Sarah invited many friends for the raising, and our first task was to get the different cut beams and scaffolding and supplies in their tiny back yard, already full of organic landscaping business inventory, their compost pile, their organic garden and other assorted construction materials used for the foundation section.

Working on the stub tenon mortise for the
second floor posts.

We rolled beams with the beam mover.  We carried them individually, and in pairs.  For the really heavy beams, we lifted them, walked (I should really say, 'shuffled') and then set them on our beefy sawhorses.   Then we moved the extra sawhorses ahead of the beam, and lifted, shuffled and rested, again.  Over and over.  Until we made it to the backyard.   "On Three!   One, Two, Three!   Go, go, go, and lower, and Rest!"   We took turns leading the beam moving, and sliding the sawhorses around, and we finally got them all back there.   It was awesome!   No one got hurt, heavy stuff got moved, and finally, we were ready to raise the first bent.  We did it with human power, like the Aztecs, or the Egyptians, or the Amish!

That beam is 8 inches wide and 16 inches high.

Ben prepares to make a collar tie
mortise in the workshop.

There is a good feeling when a group of people move a huge, six hundred pound plus 20 foot 8x16 beam, that we all know we couldn't have done it alone, and we get it done, and you feel like a community, a tribe, or a village or whatever.   We all figure out how to communicate, and anticipate what is needed next, in just a few minutes with a bunch of strangers.   Maybe the way we lived in the old days wasn't so bad!

The complete frame, waiting
on the trailer for raising...

We weren't sure about the exact length of the first floor posts, because they had to match the height of the second floor, and we had left them long rather than cut them in our workshop back at Hawk Circle.   So we measured the height they needed to be, and got out the saw and cut them to the exact size.   It didn't take too long, but it is amazing how long it can feel when you have ten or fifteen people watching you, waiting to raise the frame!

Moving the big beams 
to the backyard...

Safety First!

Anyway, we got our first beams in place, on the floor of the addition, and we pegged them together with the diagonal braces, and lifted (again) them up and into their permanent places in the frame...   And when the second bent got up, we put in the flooring girts and the floor joists.   The floor joists went in smoothly and it started looking like a house!  

The floor joists and tie beams.

I haven't even started on the wonderful food that everyone brought to share, either!   We feasted like Kings, timber framing Kings that is...   It was delicious and kept us going, and there was a steady stream of helpers bringing various containers of salads, sandwiches, bagels, lox, fruit (my God, the fruit salad!) and more...   I guess, it is one of the hidden benefits of being part of raising a frame, and Luke and Sarah are community people, so it was AMAZING!   Let's just say no one went home hungry...

Luke and Sarah's Addition Floor
Ready for Raising!

Both Luke and Sarah are natural leaders.   Luke led many camps and groups through wilderness skills, and he felt very comfortable guiding students and staff through unique experiences and ceremonies.   He has an infectious enthusiasm, with lots of joy, humor and positive support.   His presence at the raising was always helpful and detailed, as he checked various building issues, and kept everyone engaged.  

Hanging around on the collar ties!

The finished frame, rafters and all!

Sarah is a Yoga instructor and comfortable being in charge as well, with lots of confidence and strength to make things happen.   She has a "Viking Warrior" type energy, ready to take on a challenge.  She and Luke lifted many beams, and pounded lots of pegs in to hold their frame together over the three days of the raising.

Luke and Sarah, putting up the ceremonial evergreen
on the peak of their frame.

Luke and Sarah, pounding pegs!

Having a vision of a timber frame, a secure structure and strong place to call home is a good calling, and making that vision activates energy not just in a family but in the greater community at large.   It brings people together, and the trees that form the beams, that will last for hundreds of years, if a good roof keeps it dry.   The role of Hawk Circle is to help bring that frame into reality, using hand made, traditional and authentic steel tools, chisels, corner chisels, cross cut saws and rawhide mallets;  framing squares and the giant Commander hammer.   We carve the wood, hauling it into our barn workshop, and making them fit in tenons and mortises, joinery that has withstood the test of time.   And the hardwood pegs that our apprentices split and carve also hold strong for decades.   It is our gift to the community, to shelter and inspire.

Bringing up the Plate Beam to
the Second Story

View from inside, later in the Spring

So, we got the second floor up on the second day, and the top plates made it up two stories high, too.   We had to lift each beam onto saw horses, then onto blocks, then up onto the scaffold, then onto more blocks, then up onto the second floor, then onto blocks, sawhorses, blocks and then onto the posts.   It was pretty exciting!   We managed to get a few rafter sets up, too, but the full rafter array had to wait until the following day.   The rafters look amazing up against the sky!

Installing the framing for the windows and insulation.

The Hawk Circle timber framers 
and completed frame.

Since it is over a year and a half ago that I am writing this, am looking back on it and remembering Luke and Sarah's neighbor Bill, who helped us during the process.   I sometimes forget some of the different details, but he definitely stood out in my mind.   And to tell you the truth, all of Luke and Sarah's friends are amazing, rich in personality, energy and passion!  Bill was retired, and at first I thought he might be someone who was on the 'too old' side of the raising, but he was a shop teacher who had worked with wood all his life, and each day seemed to make him come alive.  He helped us tremendously, and had good ideas and was a fantastic person whom we enjoyed very much.   Sometimes, raising a frame can be rejuvenating!    We hope to see him when we visit their home one of these days.

The kids got involved with
hammering pegs...

I haven't been back to the Silver Spring area lately, so I only have a photo from the time they finished the windows and sheathing, and the second part of their addition, over the main house...   I bet it looks great inside, and when I get more pics I will post them here as well, just so you can see them too!  

This is the addition December 2011, I think!

Hope you enjoyed getting an inside view of this frame project.   There is a lot to share, and this is just a taste, but I have been remiss in telling the story of these experiences, which taught us many things as we learned to get better and better in our framing.   Thanks for checking it out!