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the leaching of the ironwork in places where it came in contact
with the wood's tannic acid.
"The
recycled wood just sort of appealed to us," Dave says.
"Generally, wherever there is an iron stain, there are
also some holes going through the timbers." The holes,
which are about an inch and a half in diameter, dot the frame.
"they are very attractive," Dave continues. "I
think the major appeal of using recycled timbers was that
we didn't want to build a new-looking house. We told North
Woods to place the beams in conspicuous places--we picked
this wood because we wanted to see it. So we told them, put
it in places where it will be seen."
After
Dave and Elena decided to have North Woods craft their frame,
the company recommended several experienced builders in New
Hampshire with whom the couple could work. They chose Butch
Keniston of Old Mill Construction in nearby Meredith to build
and finish their home. Butch, who also offers design services,
finalized the plan Dave had designed and then gave it to North
Woods,
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which
engineered a frame to fit the design.
Butch's
experience building timber-frame homes for North Woods paid
off more than once. One piece of advice turned out to be particularly
valuable. He recommended that they wait to put up the interior
walls on the main floor until the home was completely built.
His rationale was that because the walls weren't needed structurally,
it would be easier to see where walls were needed once the
frame and all the other elements of the home were in place.
"This
was one of the really good ideas that Butch had," Dave
says, noting, that, as a result, the couple did deviate from
the original floor plan and moved a number of walls to better
fit the space. It's one of those things that you can't learn
from any class but good advice from a builder who knows from
experience how different constructing a timber frame can be.
Now that Dave and Elena live in the home, they're glad they
took it.
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