Long before post and beam homes go up on a build site, Yankee Barn Homes creates them digitally and manufactures them on our factory floor. The factory floor is where a timber frame home goes from concept to reality; off the drawing board and to its structural form. It’s also likely to be the one part of building most homeowners don’t experience firsthand. At this stage of the build process, you’ll have learned about our True Roof™ and True Wall™ Panels, polyisocyanurate insulation, and many other technical terms. The factory floor is where all come together and play an important role in making your house a custom built, energy efficient home. You rarely get to see this process, as it happens rather quickly. In this article, we offer you a peak at the daily machinations of the YBH factory. Chris Sevigny, Director of Production/ Architecture and Ryan Avery, YBH Shop Foreman, were kind enough to allow me to tag along on a typical day in the shop. It was informative, fun, and had a much higher “gee-whiz” factor than I’d expected.
YBH Post and Beam Homes
The Yard
On our way out to the Frame Shop, Chris explains the white-wrapped bundles are house components, now completed and awaiting shipping to their build site. Within these packages are the magic which allows our post and beam homes to go up so quickly on site. All the wall panels, many complete with windows installed, the post and beam frame, and roof panels have been factory built. This allows for speed of erection and very little on-site construction waste to occur. It also cuts down on site noise. While this might not be a concern for some, many of our clients are in communities which have strict regulations regarding construction noise.
Frame Shop
In the Frame Shop we meet Steve Riley. While Steve and Chris review the day’s plans, I look around and see the huge saw used to cut the post and beam frame. I watch it in action; it’s impressive. Then Steve turns my attention to one gigantic truss currently under construction. We need to go up on a lift in order to get the entire truss in the photo, and still can’t fit it all in one shot – that’s how big it is. The thing is gorgeous. I momentarily stop listening to the guys as I take pictures of the beautiful wood. In a few weeks’ time, this truss will hold up a ceiling and roof panels effortlessly, and look spectacular while doing so. All in a day’s work here at post and beam homes world.
True Wall™ and True Roof™ Panel Shop
Now it’s off to the Wall and Roof Shop. This is the larger shop where the True Wall™ and True Roof™ panels are constructed, and we’re in luck. Windows have just been delivered for the current project and will be going in today. We’ll see not only all the machinations for the panel construction, i.e. the various saws used to cut insulation and framing materials, we’ll also get a firsthand look at windows being installed into newly-built wall panels. It’s fascinating to see the “pieces” of a house being made and know in a few months’ time, these pieces will fit together seamlessly to form our custom-built post and beam homes. The work our shop staff does is impressive; they are the unsung heroes of each and every building Yankee Barn Homes produces. Congratulations, one and all. The job takes serious skill and literally builds dreams. How many of us can say that?
A huge Thank You goes out to Chris Sevigny, Ryan Avery, Steve Ripley, Matt Turner, Steve Anderson, Nate Masterson and Kyle Gerbert.
