Page 38 - Allisons Magazine Issue #91
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Once disassembled, labeled, and shipped THE PROJECTS
from its original location, Tittley says Heritage Restorations has brought new
the barn will stay in storage after a life to over four hundreds barns over
rigorous restoration process: “We’ll take the past two decades. Regardless of
those barns as they come in, and we’ll where the projects are, however, they are
recondition, re!t, and restore every subject to the highest standards. “We’ve
single piece. We’ll clean each piece never found a timber frame that we
thoroughly, taking away two-hundred- couldn’t engineer to meet or exceed local
plus years of dirt and grime, and really codes and requirements,” states Tittley.
bring back the patina to the wood that “And we’ve built in some of the most
only centuries of aging can give it. "en di$cult areas in the world. Our barns
we re!t every piece in our yard to ensure have exceeded seismic codes in Japan
that it’s structurally sound and ready and Auckland, New Zealand; snow loads
for its new home.” "e structure is then up and down the Rockies and in the
taken by semi to the site, where Heritage northeast United States; and wild uplift
workers meet it, unload every piece by and hurricane loads in Florida and along
hand, !t it all back together, and restand the Texas coasts. "ey’re incredible,
the frame on a preprepared foundation. durable structures.”
When Heritage erects these antique And the cream of their crop is the
frames, it uses a construction technique Dutch barn, which is the rarest barn
that would have made the original in America. “We’ll look at hundreds of
owners proud: mortise-and-tenon joints. barns a year, and only two or three are
Simply put, a mortise is a cavity created Dutch barns,” estimates Tittley. “"ey’re
in a piece of wood, and the tenon is the among the grandest barns ever built in
part that gets inserted into the cavity. America. So when our customers are
In itself, it’s a basic, age-old method of looking for something really unique,
building that creates strong structures; that’s the most common request.”
however, Heritage takes it a step further.
“To make sure it doesn’t slide back out, One example of such a structure is
we’ll drill a hole into both pieces and the Telluride Dutch barn, which was
insert a wooden peg called a trunnel, built in New York State around 1770
short for tree nail, that’s made out of and was transformed into a multistory
red oak. As you drive in the trunnel, twenty-!rst-century family home in the
you want the o#set to tighten the joint Rockies. “It’s a pretty neat project,” says “
together,” Tittley clari!es. Tittley. “You’ll notice that there are two WHEN HERITAGE ERECTS
rafters that run at a dissimilar angle to THESE ANTIQUE FRAMES,
Because mortise-and-tenon joints are so the current roof. "at was the original IT USES A CONSTRUCTION
tight and so durable, the construction roo%ine, which the clients decided to TECHNIQUE THAT WOULD
has to be dead-on; you usually can’t keep; they really respected the original
pound trunnels back out, as you might design and history while still getting the HAVE MADE THE ORIGINAL
a nail. And speaking of nails: none are space they wanted on the upper %oors. OWNERS PROUD: MORTISE-
used in these projects because mortise- Other than that, the barn is largely AND-TENON JOINTS.
and-tenon joints themselves are so unmodi!ed and very true to its original
strong and sturdy—which helps to form. All of the heavy timbers, bracing,
explain why these structures continue and rafters are original.”
to stand centuries after their
original construction.
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