Bunny Vista. Sunday, October 4, 2009
Coming this week:
Lewis’ crew will begin installing the board and batten siding on the shed addition at the back of the house.
The last casement window for the kitchen will arrive and may be installed.
Lewis may finish the last bit of chinking on the exterior bedroom wall.
Kelley is going to saw the battens for the siding.
Nick may come and continue working on the retaining walls.
Work will continue on the electricity and the heating and cooling system.
Kelley worked hard to select the windows for Bunny Vista, and he was excited to see the sunset reflected in them.
The crew has installed most of the Bunny Vista windows. They will wait until the drywall is in the timber frame room before they install the front windows and French doors in that room. I think the windows are beautiful, and when Kelley showed me how easy they are to remove for washing, I thought about my mother sitting on the window sill struggling to wash the double hung windows in the house I grew up in. I am so glad Kelley picked windows that are beautiful and energy efficient and ones that will be simple for him to keep clean.
The kitchen has casement windows. The one at the left was damaged on arrival, but the replacement is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. The cypress siding is here for the shed addition, and the crew will start installing it this week.
Lewis has almost finished chinking the log section.
Lewis is putting a layer of Permachink on the office wall. He put the first exterior layer of chinking on this wall early in the summer.
Kelley has finished building the staircase for the loft. It is beautiful. The treads are cypress and the stringers are white pine. He and Lewis worked hard to design a beautiful staircase that would not be so steep that it would be difficult to get to the loft.
If you stand between the kitchen and the mudroom and look through the timber frame, you see the loft staircase against the interior log wall of the office.
The treads are protected with paper and tape, but you can see the beautiful cypress wood on the underneath edges. I love the staircase.
The view from the loft
Another view from the loft, including a look at the hearthstone.
The fireplaces are almost finished, and the crew has removed the inside scaffolding. The fireplaces are looking more beautiful all the time.
Here's the fireplace, sans hearthstone.
The top of the chimney goes behind the timber frame's cherry braces and a principal rafter.
Lewis and crew will put the hearthstone in place after the flooring is in.
The large stone will be the hearthstone.
Lewis has readied these stones and laid them out for the chimney top.
This fireplace will be on the screened porch
For the past few weeks, Lewis Wright and the crew have been building the stone fireplaces. The fireplaces, which share a chimney, are back-t0-back on the south side of the house. One fireplace will be in the timber frame room, and the other will be on the screened porch. Lewis is using sandstone from an old barn in Middlebrook, which he also used for the foundation of the screened porch. There is also some limestone in the outdoor fireplace.
The large stones framing the sides of the fireplace center section came from Goshen. You can also see a large stone running horizontally near the top of the section Lewis has completed. This stone also came from Goshen.
This stone is a fantastic color, which is extraordinary with the cherry and cypress of the timber frame. I love the curved lintel. And, of course, the stonework is intricate and fascinating.
Lewis and Braxton sawed an opening in the roof for the chimney, which will extend several feet above the peak. Here, Lewis is cutting and shaping the stone. Braxton is posing, and Kenny, who is filling in for Aaron, is sending up mortar and supplies. The large, lighter stones are limestone.
Kelley and Lewis are planning to build a wooden mantel, which will be at the base of the section outlined on the sides and top by the large stones.
The fireplace is very beautiful. The stonework is amazing, and the colors, design, and proportions of the work are perfect with the timber frame. The chimney and fireplace will also be wonderful to look at from outside the house, so harmonious with the foundation of the screened porch. I am trying hard to avoid the over-use of superlatives.
Although we had thought we would have a metal roof for Bunny Vista, Kelley always believed that a cedar shingle roof would look best on the house and would complement the stone, log, bark, and cedar siding. After lots of research, he found an incredible price on yellow cedar shingles; a couple of weeks ago, a truck arrived from British Columbia filled with our shingles. Since then, Robert Wilfong and his crew of roofers have been working steadily, hand-nailing the shingles with stainless steel nails. The roof over the log section is finished, complete with roof caps. The roof over the timber frame is about two thirds done, so we expect the most of the roof to be finished mid-week. The roofers will return once the chimney is done and the porches are on to finish the job.
Here is what I learned about the cedar shingles:
Yellow cedar is actually not cedar–it is cypress. It grows only in the mountains of Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. Because of the short growing season it has very tight growth rings, making ie exceptionally strong, heavy, and dense. Its concentration of natural oils make it resistant to decay, and it weathers naturally to a silver gray. Right now it is, well, yellow, but when it has weathered, the color should be wonderful with the logs, stone, and bark.
The botanical name for yellow cedar is callitropsis nootkatensis. It is also often called Nootka cypress. Its name is derived from Nuu-chah-nulth, one of the indigenous peoples of Vancouver Island, Canada, on whose land the tree was first discovered. The Nootka people often used the wood for totem poles, canoes, and utensils. It is often used for boat building and for siding, shingles, and decking.
Roofers start nailing cedar shingles to the front of the log section.
The roofers placed the shingles on the shed addition closer together because of the lower roof pitch.
Nailing the roof caps at the peak of the log section.
Bunny Vista with its crowning glory. The roofers will finish the back of the timber frame this week. At the right of the timber frame section, they have left a section unshingled--this is where the chimney will be. They will complete this part after the chimney is done.
I am really excited to see the color of the shingles when they have been on the roof for a while. Kelley expects them to change in six months or so.
Kelley has been on his toes for the past few weeks, keeping up with all the activity at Bunny Vista. We’ve had crews of electricians, plumbers, and roofers, in addition to Lewis, Braxton, and Aaron, and sometimes the area between the house and the trailer looks like a big traffic jam. The plumbers have finished the roughing in, and the plumbing passed inspection with flying colors. The electricians have wired the log rooms, the hallways, and the kitchen; with the log rooms wired, Braxton has been able to finish chinking the office, hallways, and guest bathroom. We continue to consult about wiring for the timber frame section, while we wait for the electrician to return.
The roofers have arrived and have begun laying the cedar shingles. The roof is gorgeous. I have another post partially written about the cedar Kelley found for the roof, and I’ll post it as soon as Kelley takes a few more photographs.
In other construction advances, Eric Thompson arrived with drawings for the heating and cooling system and lots of ideas for placement for the cooling ductwork and vents. The insulation guy has given us an estimate on the non-log portions of the house. Kelley has painted the walls of the mechanical room, and we are expecting the crew from the electric company to be here soon to run the line to the new house. The meter is in place, and the electrical panels passed inspection. Kelley says that John Boody has the kiln just about ready to dry the poplar bark and the flooring wood. Kelley has ordered the windows and doors from a company in Harrisonburg, which required much price comparing, compromising, and hair-pulling. I can hardly wait for the windows to arrive. The rest of the skylights are on order and should be here tomorrow or the next day.
Yesterday, Kelley and I went to look at tin lighting fixtures at Early American Tin Lighting, which is a small shop in the basement of an amazing log house several miles west of Ottobine. It was my first visit to Ottobine, which is about six miles west of Dayton. There is a large Mennonite community in that area. We spent several hours talking with Mike Walsh, the owner of the shop. We picked out three tin sconces for the log rooms, a chandelier for the hallway between the log rooms, two triangular exterior lanterns, a chandelier for the dining area, and three pendants for the kitchen. My heart is still beating pretty fast, and I am contemplating the purchase of a lantern for the lamp post, another sconce for the entry, and two more triangular lanterns for the big front porch. Kelley is trying, without much success, to calm me down. I had not intended to choose so many fixtures, but they were very beautiful and just seemed to fit the character of Bunny Vista so well.
Lewis has been hard at work on the two Bunny Vista fireplaces, which are back-to-back with one fireplace in the the timber frame room and one on the screened porch. He is building them of the same sandstone he used for the foundation of the screened porch, and I have been slipping up to the house every evening to check on the progress. The fireplaces are unbelievably beautiful, even in their unfinished state.
When Erin saw them a couple of weeks ago, she noticed immediately that they are very shallow. And Kelley was very happy to explain that the fireplaces are called Rumford fireplaces and are of a special design developed in the 18th century by Count Rumford. They were common from the late 18th century until the mid 19th century, when fireplaces were the main source of heat in many houses. They are tall and shallow and have narrow throats with curved and streamlined throats. Thomas Jefferson had Rumford fireplaces at Monticello, and I understand that Henry David Thoreau called them modern conveniences that everyone “takes for granted.”
Count Rumford was born Benjamin Thompson in Massachusetts in 1753. He was a British loyalist and left Massachusetts in 1776 to live in Europe. He was employed by the Bavarian government for many years, where he was given the title “Count of the Holy Roman Emperor” and was known for his work on the nature of heat. He also lived for some years in England where he published papers on his ideas for improving fireplaces. His fireplace design, tall and shallow with widely splayed sides, allowed more of the fire’s radiant heat to actually heat the room rather than escape up the chimney. To keep smoke from pouring into the room, a particular problem of this design, he redesigned and streamlined the throat of the fireplace so that the smoke shoots up the chimney.
Kelley ordered the Rumford components of the fireplace from Superior Clay Corporation, and Lewis set to work.
Kelley and Lewis bought these large stones near Goshen from the same place they found the poplar bark. The largest stone will be the hearth.
Lewis moves one of the fireplace stones.
Lewis saws the hearthstone.
Building the tall and shallow Rumford fireplaces
This curved piece forms one of the fireplace throats.
Rumford fireplaces are tall and narrow with widely splayed sides to help radiate heat into the room.
Back-to-back fireplaces.
Both fireplaces have gorgeous curved lintels. This is the inside fireplace.
Braxton shares his new knowledge with Lewis and Aaron. I can't wait to see what's next.
On Friday, July 3, the big machines again swung into action at Bunny Vista. This time, Lewis and crew were digging two 300- foot trenches, each one to contain three loops of tubing, for the geothermal heating and cooling system. Shelby, who several months ago helped gather the sandstone from the old barn, arrived with his trackhoe at 6:30 a.m., and the men were working hard by 7:00a.m.
Shelby dug two 300-foot ditches with the trackhoe.
Geothermal heating and cooling systems use ground-source heat pumps, similar to conventional heat pumps, to heat and cool efficiently. Geothermal heat pumps, taking advantage of the relatively stable temperature of the earth, pull warm air inside during winter and cool air inside during summer. Kelley and I decided to install geothermal heating and cooling, because, although the systems are initially more expensive than some other forms of heating and cooling, they are very energy efficient and have low operating and maintenance costs. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that geothermal heat pumps can save 30 to 70 percent on heating costs and 20 to 50 percent on cooling costs over conventional systems. The EPA also say that ground-source heat pumps are the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean, and cost-effective heating and cooling systems available.
Eric Thompson, owner of Earthstar Energy Systems in Waynesboro, designed the system that we will use. In addition to the geothermal heating and cooling, we will use solar panels to provide most of the hot water for the house.
Lewis and Braxton unroll the tubing in the first trench. There are three loops of tubing in each trench.
Tubing
Back filling the first trench.
A different view from Bunny Vista
Lewis Wright
Three loops from each trench, heading into the mechanical room of the house.
Kelley says the crew finally finished up at 7:00p.m.–a long, hot twelve hours of hard work. Today, they used Aaron’s Bobcat to smooth over some of the rough ground, and Kelley seeded and watered.
The sun sets on Bunny Vista.
With the SIPs finally unloaded, the crane in place, and Lewis away at a wedding, the serious business of installing the SIPs began early on Friday morning. Kelley took some amazing photos of this undertaking, which was difficult and dramatic.
Here’s the story in the photos from Kelley’s camera.
Braxton and Aaron are ready to install the SIPs, some of which are lying in front of the little Bunny Vista asparagus bed.
Mike and Jordan prepare for the first panel.
Kelley is on the inside, looking up.
Braxton and his friend, the good Dr. Pepper.
The crane lowers the first SIP into place.
Mike steadies the SIP.
Jordan directs the crane operator.
Here's a chart of hand signals, photographed from the side of the crane. And all this time I thought Jordan knew those signals by heart.
Aaron nails blocks on the second panel so that the crane can lift it.
The fourth panel slides into place. The panels are joined with splines. Unfortunately, Team Industries, which manufactured the panels, supplied splines which were too large. The builders had to recut all the splines. Here, they are working hard to match up the panels.
Jordan said the installation of the SIPs on the second side should have been simple, in spite of the height of the roof. The crew made a miscalculation when they placed the first two panels, which resulted in some extra hours of work in the heat and humidity. I understand that someone called someone else a "dumbass." It may have happened more than once.
It was daring and difficult work to adjust the placement of the lower two panels.
This is the last photo of the day. The photographer needed a break from the drama and went to water his garden.
Although this is the end of the photographic record of the SIPs installation, it was far from the end of the work for the building crew. After a quick meal at Peck’s Barbecue, they returned to work. Kelley, Mike, and Jordan finally stopped working at about 10 p.m.
Mike, Jordan, Braxton, and Aaron are remarkable young men. It has been a great pleasure for Kelley and me to get to know them. They work as hard as any people I have ever met. All four of them take the kind of care with their work that we rarely see. I am so happy that they are working on this project and bringing to it their knowledge, skills, problem-solving abilities, and good humor. Also their muscles, which are substantial.
This is the story of our Bunny Vista experience with SIPs, which Kelley and Jordan decided to use for insulating the roof of the Bunny Vista timber frame. I will warn you in advance that this story is from the dark side of the Bunny Vista experience, unlike my previous posts, which I hope have conveyed the joy and exhilaration this project has brought.
Background
SIPs are Structural Insulated Panels, essentially a thick layer of insulating material sandwiched between two sheets of structural sheathing (OSB). Think of an ice cream sandwich: the wafers are the sheathing, and the nice thick layer of ice cream is the insulation. SIPs are great insulators and resist mold, mildew, and termites. They are recognized by various “green” building organizations as having a small environmental impact in the manufacturing process; they also save energy and reduce heating and cooling costs. Although their initial cost is high (our panels were to cost nearly $9,800), they are supposed to save in labor costs during installation because they are precisely manufactured to customer specifications. Reduced heating and cooling costs over a period of years also helps recoup part of the initial cost. SIPs range in size from 4′x8′ to 8′x24′. Ours are very large, with only eight panels covering the 1216 square feet of the timber frame ceiling. The panels come in a variety of thicknesses. The insulating material can also vary.
Aaron stands beside a SIP while a crane lifts it. This gives you an idea of the size of the SIPs.
Prologue
On June 1, Kelley contracted with Richard Lloyd of Cardinal Building Systems in Winchester to provide the panels, which were to be manufactured by a Team Industries facility also located in Winchester. The SIPs Kelley and Jordan considered were available in two thicknesses, 8 1/4″ and 10 1/4″. Panels of each thickness could also contain insulating material in one of three varieties–EPS 1 lb, the least expensive, EPS 2 lb, and XPS 48, the most expensive. Kelley and Jordan ordered 8 1/4″ thick panels with EPS 2 lb insulating material. Jordan emailed Richard Lloyd very detailed drawings of the panels needed, including all of the cuts. Kelley sent Cardinal Building Systems a check for a deposit of $4,500. The cost did not include delivery, so Kelley arranged with Aaron, one of our builders, to pick up the panels at the Team Industries manufacturing facility in Winchester when the panels were complete, early in the following week.
Jordan and his crew prepared to bring the timber frame to Bunny Vista, taking into consideration the weather forecast (which kept calling for rain) and the finish date of the SIPs. It was important to install the SIPs as soon as the ceiling was in place, most importantly to protect the ceiling and the rest of the timber frame, but also to allow Jordan and his crew, who do not live in the area, to finish the timber frame, ceiling, and SIP installation in one trip.
With the SIPs scheduled for completion before June 10 and the weather slated to clear a bit at that time, Jordan scheduled the delivery of the timber frame for Thursday, June 11, the raising of the frame for Friday, June 12, and the installation of the ceiling and SIPs for Monday-Wednesday, June 15 through 17.
June 8-10
As the scheduled SIPs completion date approached, the delays from Cardinal Building Systems began. When Kelley called Richard Lloyd to schedule pick-up of the SIPs, Mr. Lloyd told him that there had been a breakdown at the Team Industries facility and that the SIPs would not be ready until Friday, June 12, the date of the timber frame raising. In a later conversation, Richard Lloyd told Kelley that the SIPs would be ready Monday, June 15. On Monday, Mr. Lloyd told Kelley that the SIPs would be ready for pick-up on Wednesday, June 17, at 2 p.m. On Monday evening, our builders began covering the ceiling of the timber frame with black plastic to try to protect it from weather damage.
The builders covered the ceiling with black plastic to protect the cypress boards from the weather.
Wednesday, June 17
Kelley and Aaron drove to the Team Industries manufacturing facility in Winchester to pick up the panels and bring them back on Aaron’s trailer. Kelley gave Pam, the facility manager, a check for $5,276 to cover both the initial contract cost and $600 in additional charges which Kelley and Richard Lloyd had agreed upon. After the panels were loaded onto Aaron’s trailer, Kelley inspected them and found that they had not been cut to the specifications on the drawing Jordan had emailed to Cardinal Building Systems. The plant workers produced copies of Jordan’s drawings and said that Mark Lloyd, brother of Richard and co-owner of Cardinal, had brought them the drawings and explained how the panels were to be manufactured; they said they followed Mr. Lloyd’s instructions. However, the panels were clearly incorrect: four of them could be re-cut and used, but the other four were not usable. Four more panels would have to be manufactured. Pam apologized, returned Kelley’s check, and gave Kelley the business card for Bob Hotaling, regional sales manager for Team Industries. During his meeting with Pam, Kelley asked about the facility breakdown on which Richard Lloyd had blamed the delay; Pam did not confirm a breakdown but referred Kelley to Mr. Lloyd.
Kelley spoke with Mr. Hotaling, who told him that it was important to Team Industries that the panels were manufactured correctly and that they would work to make sure that Kelley was satisfied with the product and service. Subsequently, Richard Lloyd called Kelley and said that he expected that Team Industries personnel would work on Saturday to get the panels done and that they would be ready early the week of June 22. He said that he would deduct the $600 in additional charges, which would return the price of the SIPs to the one originally agreed upon. And, he would have the panels delivered at no additional cost. Kelley agreed. Delivery was set for Wednesday afternoon, June 24. Jordan and his assistant, Mike, who had had to return home before completing the job because of the SIPs delay, arranged to return early on the following Thursday to install the SIP’s.
Wednesday, June 24
Richard Lloyd called Kelley to say that the trailer delivering the SIPs would not be able to leave the Team Industries facility until 4:00, so that it would not arrive until around 6:00, well after our builders had finished work for the day. Kelley asked how Cardinal planned to unload the SIPs, since there would be no one here to help the driver. Mr. Lloyd said that he would send a crew of several men. Later, Kelley got a second call: Mr. Lloyd said that the trailer had a “broken spindle” and Cardinal would not be able to deliver the SIPs until mid-morning Thursday. Kelley said that he had an out-of-town crew scheduled to arrive at 8:00 Thursday morning and a crane scheduled to arrive shortly after that. Mr. Lloyd said he would arrange another trailer which would arrive late Wednesday evening. At 6:00 p.m., Mr. Lloyd called to say that the second trailer, although twenty-four feet long, was only six feet wide–not wide enough to deliver the panels safely–and that the panels would not arrive until Thursday morning.
Thursday, June 25
At about 7:30 a.m., Kelley called Pam and asked her what insulation had been used in our SIPs–EPS 1 lb or the more expensive EPS 2 lb, which we had contracted for and been billed for. Pam said that she thought it was EPS 1 lb, because they hadn’t used EPS 2 lb “in a while” but that she would check and call Kelley back. She said that the trailer with our SIPs had left the facility.
At about 9:30 a.m., the trailer arrived. The SIPs had sustained damages during the trip.
The SIPs were propped on OSB strips.
Bottom left, OSB props have collapsed. Top right, uncushioned packing straps have cut into OSB and EPS insulation.
Straps without any cushioning or padding cut into and mashed the panels.
Shortly after the panels arrived, Steve Jesnek, Team Industries Director of Sales and Marketing, called Kelley to tell him that the panels contained the EPS 1 lb material, rather than the more expensive EPS 2 lb material.
The driver refused to unload the truck until Kelley gave him a check for $4,600. Kelley would not pay him for panels which did not not use the insulation he ordered and which were damaged in shipping. A standoff ensued. During the standoff, our builders were able to determine that, not only were the panels damaged and made of the wrong material, but that they also had miscuts that would require at least two days of work to correct. Here’s one of the errors:
One of Jordan's drawings, sent to Cardinal Building. Bottom left panel was to receive an approximate 9' long cut-out from its right edge toward the center of the panel. Remaining length of the panel is approximately 13'. The cut in the panel should be just above the second timber frame post from the left.
Compare this cut to the specs drawing Jordan provided Cardinal and Team Industries. Cut-out portion of lower left panel is approximately 13' long with 9' remaining, a reversal of the specifications. The cut in the SIP occurs about four feet to the left of the Timber frame post. Lewis and his crew will have to correct this error. Lewis estimates that it will take two days at $1,000 a day to make this correction.
Other miscuts included incorrect placement of the skylights, incorrect cut of the roof ridge requiring our builders to fill the gaps with foam, and failure to recess the insulation on the plumb cut for the kitchen roof. Kelley is not yet sure how he will remove the excess foam from this miscut. Richard Lloyd told him on Thursday that he would come here on Friday with a hot knife to remove the foam, but he did not come or call to other arrangements.
Thursday, after several conversations with Jordan while the driver refused to unload the trailer, Richard Lloyd finally agreed that he would accept the $4,500 down payment as final payment to Cardinal Building Systems and that there would be no further charges. The crew unloaded the trailer, and the driver left.
It was too late on Thursday to install the SIPs. Fortunately, Kelley was able to reschedule the crane operator for Friday. Jordan and Mike spent the night, and Jordan, Mike, Aaron, and Braxton installed the panels on Friday, June 26.
The final cost analysis:
The panels Kelley ordered cost a little less than $9,800. Richard Lloyd reduced this price to a little more than $9,100, which was the originally agreed upon price, in consideration of Kelley and Aaron’s wasted trip to Winchester to pick up the first set of SIPs. However, the panels which Cardinal Building Systems and Team Industries actually supplied were not the ones Kelley contracted for, and the value was $900 less than the original price–about $8,200.
We paid Cardinal $4,500 for the SIPs, which were full of miscuts and damages. Kelley has calculated our costs for delays, repairing damages, and correcting errors at about $5,100, making our total cost for the SIPs $9,600. We originally agreed to spend $9,800 for perfect panels that would require little on-site labor and would give us a superior product. We are paying only $200 less for a cobbled-together SIP system, which our builders will have to fix, after a thoroughly unsatisfactory and frustrating experience.
Kelley emailed Steve Jesnek, Team Industries’ director of sales and marketing with a detailed list of the expenses we have incurred with the manufacture and delivery of the SIPs. Here’s Mr. Jesnek’s response:
From: Steve Jesnek <sjesnek@teamindustries.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Subject: RE: Blanton panels
To: Kelley Blanton
Cc: bhotaling@teamindustries.com, plam@teamindustries.com, rich@cardinalbuildingsystems.com
Kelly
Thank you for the detail. I understand you have already negotiated a final price of $4,500 (what you have paid to date) with Richard Lloyd of CBS, which is in affect a $2,993 discount from the 1 lb. density price of $7,493 to cover your expenses and related inconvenience. As we discussed, Team and CBS will handle the division of this $2,993 discount behind ‘closed doors’.
We again apologize for your inconvenience. To incent your working directly with Team Industries in the future, we will avail you a significant discount on your next order to further recognize your inconvenience on this order.
Steve
Steve Jesnek
Director, Sales & Marketing
Team Industries
O 616.698.2001
C 616.307.6227
F 616.698.0605
————————————————————
Caveat emptor.
Today the first wall went onto the timber frame. Now I begin to see how the room will look and how it will feel. Kelley has been working hard to balance our desire to have big windows with our need for space for furniture and storage–not an easy problem to solve. But today when I came home from Pufferbellies, Bunny Vista had yet another new look.
A new view of Bunny Vista, featuring a wall on the timber frame. When the long covered porch goes on, it will look terrific. What a place to sit and watch the sun set!
Lewis, Aaron and Braxton framed the walls, nailed OSB to the frames, and lifted the walls up to the timber frame.
Lewis is on the ladder.
Braxton and Aaron
Braxton works on the second section of the frame. He is standing inside the space for the window.
Lewis, Aaron, and Braxton hoisted the wall into place with a heavy chain attached to scaffolding inside the timber frame. You can just see Lewis through the window.
The second section of the wall is in place. Brilliant! The wall section with the door goes in next.
And from the inside looking out–still wonderful. I think the windows are exactly the right size–they look terrific framed by the cherry braces. The proportions are exactly right.
The glorious timber frame is becoming a glorious room. I am imagining looking out that window every evening as the sun sets and stepping out onto that porch through the French doors.
