When Joe and Trish Emerson decided to take new jobs in a new town, the couple didn't plan on building a brand new house, too. But that's exactly what happened after they had made several trips from Georgia to southwestern Virginia where they were moving. "At the time, there were few quality houses on the market," Joe says. "that meant buying and extensively remodeling, or renting for an unknown period of time."

A bit disheartened at their futile search, the couple returned to their home in Georgia and contemplated what to do next. Since what was on the market wasn't exactly what they were looking for, the couple decided to take the opportunity to buy a lot and build a home from scratch. A home they designed themselves, they reasoned, could reflect their unique interests and be designed to fit their way of living.

At First Sight

Finding an open, undeveloped parcel within town, though, wasn't as easy as it sounded. "We have a young family and we need to be close to schools and our work," Trish says. "So it wasn't going to work for us to be located far out in the countryside."

The couple lucked out a couple of months later, though, when Joe came upon a new real estate listing for an undeveloped three quarters of an acre lot in a desirable subdivision near to where he and Trish were going to eventually work. "The couple who owned the lot decided not to build on it after having held onto it for nearly 20 years," Joe says.

Joe and Trish decided that they had to see the property as soon as possible. The only problem was Trish was in Spain on a business trip. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, however, Joe drove up to Virginia by himself. He was so taken with the property that he made an offer on the parcel without Trish even seeing it. "When I saw it," Joe says, "I knew it was right. because of the great location, views and that the property backs up to land that is unlikely to ever be developed."

With their careers in science and engineering, Trish and Joe aren't used to basing their decisions purely on emotions, but more on logical reasoning. This time was different, though. Joe listened to his heart. So when Trish checked in with Joe, she was a little more than shocked to learn that her husband had actually bought the land. "If you knew us," Trish says with a chuckle, "that was a pretty precarious thing to do."

On the Same Page

Excited by the prospect of building their own home, the couple didn't waste any time putting their design ideas down on paper. As Trish got onto the plane leaving Spain, Joe said to her: "Sketch a house and I'll sketch one, too, and we'll meet back in Atlanta tonight," he says. "When she returned home that evening, we were startled to see that our floor plans were pretty much the same".

Since Trish was curious to see the property herself, they drove to Virginia as soon as they could. She brought along a big pile of home magazines to scan for ideas. "It was then that we happened upon an advertisement by Blue Ridge Timberwrights, which is located in Christiansburg only about eight miles from where we were going to live," she says.

The couple--who before finding Blue Ridge's ad were only familiar with timber framing from lodges they had seen in national parks -- knew they had come upon something special. En route, they called Blue Ridge, talked to sales manager Rick McCurdy, then met him that Saturday morning. From then on, Trish says, "We were bitten by the timber framing bug."

A Natural Touch

After doing some research on different timber frame methods and reviewing their budget, the couple decided that a partial timber frame (also known as a hybrid, combining timber frame sections with either structural insulated panel construction or stud-frame construction) was the best choice for their particular situation. In their case, building a hybrid would save approximately 25 percent off the building costs, while placing the timber framing in the rooms where it could be seen and appreciated the most: the great room, kitchen, dining room, entry hall and loft.

Rick put the couple in contact with designer John Mumaw, the owner of Lost Bent Woodworking and Design in nearby Riner. The couple showed John their tentative floor plan and elevation of a home with a central section and two gabled wings and he reworked it -- fitting a timber frame inside its central portion.

While John was working to complete the drawings, the building site was also in the process of being prepared by builder Ed Erwin, the owner of Professional Builders in Floyd County. The home was to sit on top of a knoll within a stand of black cherry and oak trees. The trees reminded Joe of something: a photo in a magazine of a naturally shaped mesquite timber that spanned the great room of a home in Montana. The owner had incorporated some of the wood from his property into his home's design.

Joe called Rick at Blue Ridge to find out if it was possible to do something similar with their home by incorporating some of their cherry timbers into the frame. "Doing something like this tends to be more expensive (because of the additional milling and woodworking costs)," Rick says, "but if it means something, then it is worthwhile doing."

When the couple realized that they could afford this addition to their budget, they gave John the go-ahead to figure out how to place the wood from the cherry trees within the structure of the frame. He decided to use them as tie beams in the great room. (Naturally shaped timbers are often called "taiko beams", a Japanese term. "The timbers aren't supporting a load" John says, "but they are helping to keep the walls in that section of the house from spreading.

The Perfect Mix

After the frame was manufactured, it was transported to the couple's site and then raised over the course of a five-day period. With the frame in place, it was then time to construct the second gable of the bedrooms, which was going to be built using structural insulated panels. It took another week to put up the panels on both the walls and roofs over these sections of the home. It took several more months to get the home to the stage where the family could move in.

Joe and Trish's home is a beautiful combination of modern building systems and Old World craftsmanship, employing energy efficient foam panels with an unseasoned oak timber frame whose members are securely fastened together with nothing more than 12-inch-long walnut pegs. (Usually oak pegs are used to secure the frame. In this case, walnut was used to provide contrast to the frame). To further compliment the frame, white pine tongue-and-groove decking lines many of the ceilings in the timber framed portion of the home.

While one of the wings of the home is constructed more conventionally, the main support of the timber framed portion of the structure depends on the strength of the plate-and-rafter roof system. Even though the majority of the framing can be found in the great room, the kitchen is also outfitted with timbered floor joists and the dining room contains timber framed posts, girts and floor joists. Also visible is a gracefully designed timber ridge and valley system in the ceiling of the loft.

Joe and Trish love how their timber frame home turned out. If you know this pair, though, it's no great surprise. They did their research, gathered all the facts, worked out their plan of action and -- based on all the data they gathered -- knew the result would be the home of their dreams. THI