TIMBERFRAME, POST and BEAM HOMES

Managing Moisture

Thinking of building a timber home? Remember to mind the moisture.

“The optimum moisture level for a home is 40 to 45 percent,” says Larry Kruse, co-owner of Vermont-based North Woods Joinery. “But 60-70 percent is typical in the first year, whether the home is timber or stick built.”

Why so much moisture? Because wood-like other natural products-contains a lot of water. Ditto the materials that go into building a home, including paint, concrete and drywall mudding. As moisture outgasses from these substances, it enters the air. Hence, the dampness.

Moisture levels will decrease over time, but meanwhile, use a dehumidifier.

This past winter, home owner Joshua Durst ran his dehumidifier for two weeks in his timber home.

“I probably pulled out 20 gallons of water,” he says. By spring, however, his home’s humidity level had stabilized at a comfortable 40 percent.

Wondering how your home’s moisture level measures up? Buy a digital hygrometer thermometer-it measures temperature and humidity levels. It’ll run you about $30, and the credit-card sized gadget can be mounted out of the way in a closet. – H.S.

has a concrete slab of a ceiling. Half of that slab is what the stone patio sits on, and the other half runs into the living room about 16 feet. So when they’re downstairs having fun, as long as the door is closed, I can have fun, too.”

And weather permitting; the fun can extend outdoors to the impressive patio that anchors one corner of the house. Built from the same stone used on the fireplace, along with natural bluestone, the patio resembles the home itself: earthy, serene and a good fit for the environment.

In other words, pure green.