Timber Frame Preservation
A Guide to Understanding, Documenting, and Repairing Historic Timber Framed Buildings
Beginning with a brief history of the craft of timber framing and an understanding of historic joinery and traditional layout systems, participants will learn methods for documenting and dating historic structures with both traditional methods and high-tech gadgetry. The course will address the evolution of preservation philosophy and the United States Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
The repair of timber framed buildings will be addressed for both in-situ and in-shop work, including shoring, dismantling, types of repairs, hardware, and appropriate structural considerations. Classroom presentations will be balanced with field trips to nearby old timber framed buildings for examination.
This course is geared to contractors, architects, engineers, timber framers, and owners of old timber framed buildings.
Instructors
Instructors for this course are Michael Cuba and Dan Boyle.
Michael Cuba owns and operates Transom Historic Preservation Consulting. Originally from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Michael moved to Vermont in the mid-90s where, as a student in college, he first began to hone his woodworking skills. Michael founded Knobb Hill Joinery with Seth Kelley to focus on preservation and restoration timber framing while occasionally designing and cutting new structures. He has spent a great deal of time documenting historic buildings, teaching classes, and demonstrating traditional timber framing methods. After moving back to the Mid-Atlantic in 2013, he founded Transom HPC and shifted his focus toward dendrochronology work and assessments of historic buildings.
Michael is active in the Timber Framers Guild, both as a participant of the Traditional Timber framing Research & Advisory Group and as the editor of Timber Framing, the Guild's quarterly journal. Michael serves on the boards of the National Barn Alliance and the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania.
Dan Boyle joined Preservation Timber Framing, Inc. after graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a bachelors degree in Forestry. For the last 27 years, he has worked continuing the focus of PTF by working to preserve and maintain early American houses, churches, and barns. Through the years the desire to learn about these structures has pushed him to go from the top of church steeples to crawling under barns on a daily basis. His enjoyment of the work is fueled by the variety of work undertaken by PTF, from the repair of meeting house roof trusses to the reproduction of interior doors, everything is done in-house. Dan currently serves as the Chair of the South Berwick Historic District Commission, on the board of SoBo Central, a local non-profit that is working towards a vibrant and healthy community, and he is the President of Maines smallest ski area. Dan lives in South Berwick, Maine with his wife Sarah and their three children Caleb, Simon and Elise.
Dan can be reached at supperbucket@comcast.net or at (603) 781-9907.
Recommended Reading:
- The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties
Attendees of the course may want to familiarize themselves with the current standards as they relate to preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. There are links on this page with documents relating to each of these approaches. - What is the National Register of Historic Places?
This link provides a brief overview of the program and offers links to information on how to list a property, federal preservation laws and regulations, and an FAQ page. - Publications of the National Register of Historic Places
This link offers specific information on documentation standards and requirements for nominations. - "Restoration Objectives" by Randy Nash, Timber Framing 24
- "Preservation vs. Restoration" by L. Andrew Nash, Timber Framing 31
- "Restoration Strategies" by Jan Lewandoski, Timber Framing 31
- "Frame Repair Techniques" by Jack Sobon, Timber Framing 68
- "TTRAG Proceedings 2007: Projects at Old Salem" by David Fischetti, P.E., Timber Framing 84
- "Why Preservation Matters" by Lisa Sasser, Timber Framing 97
- "Documentation and Assessment Methods for Timber Structures" by Michael Spencer, Timber Framing 111
- "Photogrammetry 2017" by Andrea Warchaizer, Timber Framing 125
- "A Tale of Two Houses" by David Lanoue, Timber Framing 125
- "Unlocking the Hidden History of Timber" by Daniel Miles, Timber Framing 130
- "Dominy House and Shops: History of Construction" by Robert Hefner, Timber Framing 141
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