Does Yankee Barn use Light or Heavy Timber Framing?
We use both. We use Light Timber Framing or “balloon framing” for the building envelope, and Heavy Timber Framing for weight carrying and aesthetics. Historical note: Heavy Timber Framing was prevalent in the Middle Ages of Europe, and up until about the time of our American Civil War. The timbers might be as small as 5″by 5″ and as large as a foot square. In 1820, a Chicagoan invented light timber framing. Initially, the technique was called “balloon framing” because the 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 framing members (dimensional lumber) were so much lighter than in heavy timber. This latter technology was easier and led to the industrialization of housing. It was over one hundred years later that academic architecture noted this invention as worthy: Siegfried Gideon, in the Norton Lectures at Harvard in 1939, emphasized its importance as marking the point at which industrialization began to penetrate housing.