Previously (part one)...

We've been on this project for months, even years, depending upon when the starting point was.  Here are some milestones we've passed:

* 1993 - We said we'd live on this land.  And some day we'll build a new house here.

* 2005 - Dennis is fascinated with timberframes, and I'm easily won over.  We'd like to build our house that way, but we have so many questions. Dennis collected and read a small library of books on the subject, covering history, methods, formulas, wood species...

If we do build a timberframe, we'll need more tools to go along with the bandsaw Dennis built 10+ years ago and has been "tweeking" every couple years since. So, the tool collection grew: a mix of new electric and antique hand tools and everything in between.

* Fall 2007 - Our patience continued to be tested.  We needed the space and heat efficiency of a new house.  It looked like the timing might be right.  I started sketching floorplans. Dennis started squaring logs on his mill and cutting the joinery for a test project, hereafter called "The Barn".  (Our Rural Municipality insisted it's a detached garage because of it's overhead door.   So, to humor them, the hip-roofed building with hayloft,  standing all alone in the middle of the pasture with deep hoof prints and "organic fertiliter" in the place of a driveway leading up to it is on official record as Garage.)

* Mar '08 - Dennis spent a week in Minneapolis attending a hands-on timberframe building workshop lead by professional timberframer, Clark Bremer.  http://www.northernlightstimberframing.com/

* Sept '08 - Cutting the frame took a little longer than we'd expected, but it's done!  We had a few family and friends over one Saturday to help with a successful raising of "The Barn" frame.  YES!!  We can build a timberframe!...okay so it WOULD be more accurate to say "Yes!! Dennis can build a timberframe."

* Fall '08 - Third and final draft of the floorplan is just right.  Another little step finished!

* Dec '08 - Clark Bremer of Northern Lights Timberframing designed the frame we were dreaming of for our floorplan.  The 3D images are going to be well worth his fee: knowing all the dimensions and angles are right is HUGE, as is being able to have detailed dimensioned drawings of every timber from all sides. 

We built a 12x18" 3D model to visualize the spaces.  THIS IS OUR HOUSE !!

* Jan '09 - Finally found someone able (and WILLING!!) to draw and engineer-stamp blueprints for a DIY timberframer.

* July '09 - Had final blueprints in hand.

* Sept 15 '09 - Got the building permit.

* Sept 23 '09 - Had a quick sod turning cerimony after supper.  (The girls with a shovel turned out to be nothing more than a photo op.) 

John Deere was the real sod turner and rock digger on this job, so I thought it deserved a photo credit. 

* Nov '09 - The timbers arrive!!  This is the first of two loads of rough cut Eastern White Pine (12,000 bf) from Nickel Lake Lumber, a small mill in Fort Frances Ontario.  We're excited to start on the frame, but the cementing has to be done before frost.

* Nov 16 '09 - The cement for the walk-out basement is finished.  This has been a great concern.  It's rare to not have frost in Manitoba by this time of year.  We're thankful that we didn't have to tarp in and heat the construction area for the cement to set properly.

* Dec '09 - With the cement done, our thoughts turned to getting a weather-resistant work area ready for working the timbers.  The work area's insulated and we've installed a small wood stove by the middle of the month.  This is about the only angle and cropping where this building has any resemblance to a garage.  As time passes, we've occasionally  referred to it as "The Shop", but knowing we had a couple calves housed here last spring and a hayloft upstairs, we will probably always think of it as The Barn.