Where it all began...

We started the process of building our house several years ago after deciding to move back to Loudoun County. Originally we planned on building a guest house on Erin's parents property but then later decided to go through with a family subdivision. Once part of Green Hill Farm, the property is full of history and Erin will be the 8th generation to live on her families land. We soon learned that building a house in Loudoun County requires much patience and a lot of time off from work! Besides the lengthy subdivision process, we fall under the Goose Creek Historic District and were required to meet with a committee to review and approve our plans. We also fall under the Mountainside District and needed a grading permit in order to begin building. As we worked towards getting our building permit, we built a woodshed and spent time in the woods clearing and preparing for our house. A tornado came through in 2004, twisting and uprooting 300 year old white oak trees. We had the trees sawmilled up by a portable Woodmizer (see pics below) to use as our flooring, cabinets, vanities, etc.
Erin & Willow at our woodshed

Woodshed & our Willowcroft wine barrels. We used "scrap" oak boards to build the woodshed.
Todd in front of one of the many piles of brush we cleared (this is the future drainfield)Erin beside one of our favorite "bonsai" dogwoods
Piles of logs, cleared from our drainfield
Future house siteOur first day of sawmilling with Matthew Peters from Orange, VA. Shawn and Logan watch in awe as the Woodmizer handles the massive logs.Matthew working the controls to his machine. So far we've had him come out 3 times to saw up boards.
The woodmizer cutting the boards 5/4" thick.Willy & Todd after a long day of loading poplar, oak & walnut boards.
MaggieOur lumber yard over at the farm. Thanks Uncle Sam!

A timber frame house
We found a house in a book a few years back that we fell in love with. It was post & beam with an open floor plan, built on the coast of Washington state. We both agreed that we loved the natural wood feel of a timber frame house and so the search began. We started with Timberpeg, a national timber frame builder, but soon learned that even by doing most of the work ourselves, the cost would be too high. We searched locally and found Timberoof in Waynesboro, VA, just outside of Charlottesville. We met with the owner and found a floor plan that fit exactly what we were searching for...the Brookhaven.

Breaking ground: July 2006
We rented a front end loader to dig our foundation hole. Tom Pappas was set to pour our foundation and he was a huge help giving advice and letting us borrow his transit to shoot the elevations.Todd shooting elevationsWillow keeping a close eye on the progress
We are now ready for the foundation to be poured. Forms were laid in place for the frost footers to be poured the next day.The concrete pump truck all leveled and ready to go
The walls forms were then put upThe concrete was poured and left to dry in the forms for a couple of daysErin waterproofing the foundation.The drain tile and gravel were then put around the perimeterTodd attaching the sill platePutting up the LVL's, they were super heavy and a bit tricky to get up off the ground so we used the bobcat to help.After the rough-in plumbing was put in place, the the slab was poured. The pump operator (guy in red) controls the arm. 60 tons of gravel are underneath the slab, rebar, wire mesh and vapor barrier.Voila, we can roller skate!The floor joists were put in, then the next step was to attach the subfloor. Erin and Holmes, start the stonework after collecting local field stone from old walls that meander through the property.After a day of hard work...The subfloor is complete...next came the back deck (west elevation). Putting up the deck helped the crew to erect the frame.Todd and Holmes working into the wee hours on the back deck. Holes were dug for the footers and we rented a mixer. 80 bags of concrete were needed to fill the footers...a whopping 6400 lbs in the ground.Lag bolting on a Friday afternoonTodd screwing down the deck boards while Willy gets the next one ready.Our timber frame package arrives (walls, timbers & sip panels). A very exciting day!Todd very carefully unloading the frameThe truck driver helping direct Todd.
Pieces of our frame, marked and ready to be put together.
Shawn and FionaFiona and her happy feetTodd happy to be finished unloading the frame.Positioning everything for the crewAD Miller crew arrives from southern VA and immediately gets to work putting up the first floor walls. We put the crew up in a hotel while they put up the Timberoof package.The frame goes up in the master bedroom and the tongue & groove boards are put down, then the felt paper on top. End of day 1.A crane is rented to help the crew.The crew hard at work.The "GC's"Todd, Linda & Willow next to the break station.Pretty WillowTodd taking advantage of the crane to do a little tree maintenance with his arborist chainsaw.
The house coming to life on a beautiful dayTime to put the front porch on and to pour more footers. At least there were only 4 this time. Holmes measures the holes while Todd mixes the concrete.Precision chainsawingThese are our "sips" (structurally insulated panels). There is no attic space in our house so the roof needs to be very well insulated. They go on top of the felt paper and tongue & groove boards. Once in place, Todd filled the seams with spray foam then another layer of boards and felt paper are put on top. Finally, the raised seam red metal tops it off.Sip city...One windy afternoon we finished the front porch.Todd and Willy (our right hand man) put down the second floor/first floor ceiling. This went pretty quick, about one weekend.Fall has arrived. Camouflage ToddWe had to fill in this wall. It turned into a big pain figuring out the measurements to cut the OSB boards with all the angles. We needed to do the same thing on the other side so we spent the next day brushing up on our math. (notice the big gaps)Now the gaps are gone...much better!Our annual bonfire in early NovemberOur raised seam, red metal roof is put on by Ronnie SutphinInstalling our windows on Thanksgiving weekend. The Welsh & Suter familes stopped by to help. We rented a "boom" arm for the high windows.Installing our Wood stoveTodd and Willy installing the wood stove pipe. Todd is on the roof attaching the bracing. This is our temporary solution until we build the stone chimney.Happy WillowBuilding our first fire in our new Morso stoveOur first fire!