This pile of glacial till was excavated from the home site of the Green Home built by North Woods Joinery. This unlikely pile of earth faces due south and is the future site of an 18 Kilowatt solar array -to be interconnected to the electric grid. One goal is to make this 4500 ft2 home as energy independent as possible, lower our 'carbon footprint' and provide all our potential clients examples of how green building is both cost efficient, and easy!

 

Concrete workers from S.D. Ireland Concrete prepare forms for the 8" poured foundation walls. S.D Ireland is a Chittenden County, Vermont firm that has worked with us on a number of commercial and residential projects. This North Woods joinery home was carefully oriented to take advantage of the passive solar gains at this site. The worker in front is adjusting the north facing wall of the two car garage. This wall is a retaining wall that will be backfilled to restore much of the original site topography.

Timbers Used: Douglas Fir Cape

Frame Raising: Londonderry, VT

Raised: June 30th - July 2nd, 2008

Designer:  Bryan Waters 

North Woods Joinery Site Technician:  Travis Tremblay 

Londonderry VT Raising Photos - July 2008.pdf

This pastoral winter wood is the future site of the North Woods Joinery post and beam model home. The view shows Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain, to the left, Nebraska notch and Bolton Mountain, of ski area fame, to the right.

From the outset, the NWJ model home was designed to have a low environmental impact, to be exceptionally energy efficient, and to be built as an example of 'Green Construction.'

This site was chosen because of beautiful future views, including a 40 mile vista of Vermont's Green Mountains to the south. In addition to the views, the house was carefully arranged to take advantage of passive solar gain.

1. The home was designed with the 'long axis' facing almost due south into the view to capture maximum light and heat
2. The north side of the home site is a steep hill that is fully wooded with evergreens to block wind and winter heat loss
3. The home site itself is wooded with maple, oak, beech, and a few other species. This deciduous forest (which looses all the leaves in October and grows them back in May) will allow maximum sunlight and heating in the winter, and shade the home in the summer to provide 'passive cooling.'
4. We were particularly interested in the presence of the red oak trees as an indicator of a unique warmer microclimate. The geography of the site is a south facing bowl. Normally, red oaks don't grow at the 1200 ft elevation of the home site here in Vermont. However, this site, and several others like it near the mountain ridge seemed to have a warmer microclimate (hence the red oaks), and offered a special opportunity to save energy over the lifetime of the home.

Sometimes 'Building Green' starts just as simply as spending time on the land, watching the precession of the sun, and considering all of the geographic, geologic, and ecological elements of the site.

Below is a select few of our upcoming North Woods Joinery timber frame raisings. Don't see one near you? We would be happy to check our full list, just give us a call at 802 644-2400!

"The frame, the crew, everyone in the office did a fantastic job. Again the frame is perfect."
Tim Cronk & Heather Webber
Homeowners, Laconia, New Hampshire

Spring 2008
Lima, NY
Barkhampstead, CT
Stowe, VT
Londonderry, VT

Other Upcoming Raisings
Craftsbury, VT
Elmore, VT
Hyde Park, VT
Kula, Maui, HI
Leona Valley, CA
Middlegrove, NY
St. Johnsbury, VT
Windham, ME

Find directions on MapQuest by clicking here

(We are not affiliated with MapQuest in anyway -

this link is strictly for your convenience.)

Pete Kochalka and his crew (Travis Tremblay & Scott Sommer) from North Woods Joinery and two gophers Palmer and Rick arrived at the site Wednesday morning to construct the Post & Beam segment of our project. Classen's Trucking and Crane Service donated their services and their operator Dennis Bean.
 
Friday afternoon Parker & Stearns delivered the roofing material and then we transferred the trusses from the storage trailer to the top of the Post & Beam using Parker & Stearns scissor lift truck. Special thanks to their driver Adam for all his help. Bob Kennedy showed up after a last minute phone call and was a big help all afternoon.

The trusses were placed today by Rick Cootware, Bart Lamb and yours truly. Doug Boardman stopped in a couple of times. He was so impressed the first time that he had to bring his wife by to see the project. He grabbed the camera and snapped a few more photos for us.

The building is now ready for the roofing material.  This portion will be completed this week by Greg Stokes and students from the Construction Technology class at the Tech Center.

Looks like we are on track to having the basic structure completed by Homecoming!!!!

Stay Tuned,
Palmer