Published in the February 2005 Issue of Timber Homes Illustrated. Story by Cheryl Kenny, Photos by Roger Wade and Styled by Debra Grahl.

Transcription

1 Published in the February 2005 Issue of Timber Homes Illustrated. Story by Cheryl Kenny, Photos by Roger Wade and Styled by Debra Grahl. First Glass A North Carolina couple builds a home for a treasured window. The Coates home perches on a steep, mountain site. Stonework on the facade accents the home's siding. A timber frame heart of their North Carolina mountain home around a window. Not just any window, but a multi-paneled, multi-colored stained glass treasure, arched across the top, more than 6 feet wide, and rising 13 feet 4 inches high. Alan, a long-time collector of architectural artifacts, purchased the window panels long before he found his Franklin, North Carolina, property. He bought the panels, which came from a South Carolina Baptist church, at an antique shop, knowing he would find a good use for them when he built a house in the future. lan and Barbara Coates designed the Room for a View After the Coateses found their 3-acre, steeply sloped property with a knock-your-socks-off view of the Standing Indian and Wayah Bald mountain ranges, they turned to designing their home. Alan, who owns a plaque-manufacturing company in Franklin, and had once worked as an architectural draftsman, decided to design his home him-self after finding no standard plan that "appreciated the view of the mountains," he says. Alan's primary goal was two-fold: to design a house that offered a mountain view from all major rooms, and to make

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4 the stained glass window the focal point of the home. The idea of using timber framing came later. Bonnie Pickartz, who, with her hus-band, David, is owner of Goshen Timber Frames, in Franklin, recalls the first time she met Alan. It was at an antique mall The house would be mostly stick-built, but include a 32-by-18 -foot timber- framed great room that would be the home's center. where she and her husband had a booth that had a section of Goshen timber framing (a "bent") as its backdrop. "This man-it was Alan-came down the aisle and just stood in front of the booth. Then he says, 'That's it!' He saw the timber frame and a light went off that this could be the frame for his window," Bonnie says. A Dash of Framing "We knew timber frame would be perfect for this," Alan notes. But his budget precluded construction of a full timber frame home. After speaking with several timber frame companies, Alan hired Goshen to help him create a hybrid, a house that would be mostly stick-built, but include a 32- by-18-foot timber-framed great room that would be the home's center. Choosing a hybrid home would allow Alan and Barbara to concentrate the timber framing in the home's public space. Using conventional construction in other, more private, areas of the home would save money. The stained glass window would dominate the great room, and one of Goshen's primary challenges would be to design curved beams to enhance it. Although Goshen had created curved beams before, "the challenge was to specifically match the curve of the window," Bonnie says. When it seemed the plans were complete, Alan did a preliminary exca-vation on the property, which has a

5 Above: For their North Carolina site, Barbara and Allen Coates designed a home that would include a timber-framed great room. Right: Concentrating the timber framing in the great room means it can be thor-oughly enjoyed by Alan, Barbara and their guests. A hand-carved post helps support the hammerbeam truss and adds interest to a corner of the dining area. slope of more than 40 degrees. It turned out the area that could be excavated without extensive earth-moving was not big enough to accommodate the house he had designed. "I had to go back to the drawing board to redesign the house to fit the foundation," Alan says. "He's hanging off the side of the mountain slope," Bonnie adds. "Excavation problems are common, in the mountains particularly. People need to be very aware of their site." Alan and Barbara's property. "This way, any adjustments can be done at the shop," Bonnie explains. "This also min-imizes the cost of the crane to the customer, because we know the frame will work. We feel this is important to the whole process." "It was quite a raising," Barbara recalls. "They laid the frame out in the yard, then lifted it with the crane and dropped it right in. We had two parts of the home up, and the timber frame just had to fit absolutely perfectly as they put it down in there." Once revised plans for the 3,200-square-foot house were final, construction began in November As con-ventional construction proceeded, Goshen's staff trial-assembled the timber framing at its shop. It numbered the timbers, then took the frame apart for transporting to RESOURCES: Goshen Timber Frames (828)

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