I posted a few months back about a new barn that we've been building in Weston, MA. Well, apart from the landscaping and a final coat of paint on the exterior, this project was wrapped up this week.
As you can see below, there was a LOT of stone work involved. Our masons did a fantastic job of installing the fieldstone veneer over the concrete walls. They also built the stone chimney and fireplace. The timber frame and the wall and roof panels were installed by Bensonwood, the superb timber framers and housewrights from New Hampshire. They also designed the barn. This is our second collaboration with Bensonwood (we built a new house with them in Harvard, MA) and it was just as enjoyable as the first.
Let us know what you think!
The roofing is standing seam prepainted aluminum. It will be a no maintenance, trouble free roof for many, many years. The glass doors in the porch fold, accordian style, so that the porch can be completely open to the outdoors. The siding was prefinished pine tongue and groove boards, installed vertically.
The wood floors are reclaimed heart pine.
The landscape construction will begin in a few weeks. When that work is done, the temporary stairs will be replaced with a permanent set.
If you have a barn - or house - project on your mind, we're always happy to talk. At Landmark Services, we like to say that we bring new life to old buildings and, on projects like this, old life to new ones.
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A historic barn that we renovated in Milton, MA
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.
We're known primarily as Old House Renovation guys. Maybe that's why we have so much fun when we get an opportunity to do some new construction from the ground up. A year or so ago we teamed up with the timber frame company Bensonwood to build a new house out in Harvard, MA. Right now we're teaming up with them again to build a new barn in Weston, MA.
Bensonwood has an incredible high-tech factory in Walpole, NH. Their architects send CAD files to huge shaping machines. The CAD files are translated into instructions to cutting heads that precisely cut the timbers to the sizes and shapes needed to produce the posts, beams, and other components that comprise the timber frame. They also build floor, wall, and roof sections in the factory. While they're making the frame in their shop, our people are on site doing the excavation and concrete work required to get the foundation ready. In this particular case we had to blast through some tough ledge before the foundation walls could be formed.
As you can see from the photo below, the concrete foundation on this project will be concealed by a beautiful stone veneer.
With the foundation ready, the timber frame and prefab panels were shipped to the site. Late last week the floor panels were installed onto the foundation. This week a team of timber framers - comprised partly of BensonWood guys and partly our own carpenters - pegged the timbers together and a crane lifted the sections into place. Wall and roof panels also get installed with the assistance of the crane. When the shell is in place, the crane will leave and we will carry out the rest of the work: exterior trim and siding, mechanical systems, plaster, interior trim, etc.
Here's a shot of the timber frame lying flat on the floor prior to being lifted in place.
The main sections of framing (called "bents") were lifted into place by the end of the first day of framing, as seen below.
By the second day, the barn is really beginning to take shape. I'll do a couple of follow up posts in coming weeks and months so you can see how this barn turns out.
So, hey, maybe we should be known as the new and old house or the new-old house guys or old new house guys or- well you get my drift. Be sure to come back in a few weeks to check out the progress on this project!
Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.
Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.