Housewrights,
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Masons, and such...

The Square Rule Timber Frame
An American original.
While the Timber Frame home long predates the North American British Colonies, the Square Rule method of construction is uniquely an American original becoming dominant around 1790. Regardless of the imperfection of the tree, early timber framers saw within a perfect post, a perfect beam.
The image to the left is a unique design I created for a client in Tennessee. Its style reflects the homes I passed by for years while traveling the backroads of Virginia throughout the Shenandoah Valley to the Tidewater Region, down to North Carolina and over into Tennessee. Using the square rule method and timeless building principles, this house was designed as an “off the grid” home for a very discriminating individual that had a passion for woodwork, a lot of energy, and a large tract of land teaming with tall straight Yellow Poplar, White Oak, and Cherry Bark Oak.
As a timber framer, I am intimately acquainted with the fundamentals of mortise and tenon construction. English braces where required, Dutch braces where acceptable, housed mortises to support the load, scarf joints to span the distance; over time I have gained much experience through working knowledge in the “imperfectly perfect” ancestral works of art that our forefathers called home.
Historical structures, by definition due to the passage of time and changing construction methods, are esoteric in nature and therefore understood by comparatively few. If you are the caretaker of a historical property in need of repair or want to enhance your historical theme by the addition of period outbuildings, please reach out to me and I’ll be happy to discuss your project. I am a working contractor duly licensed and insured in the State of Tennessee which shares a reciprocity agreement with several surrounding states opening the possibility to travel outside my home state for certain restoration projects should the opportunity arise.
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