Recent Timber Frame Projects and Upcoming Raisings  Stay tuned for update on Trail Ridge Timber Frames workshop raising.  If interested in attending, please contact Kathy Miller (970) 203-9305.
BRECKENRIDGE PROJECT:  We  raised this beautifully crafted frame in Breckenridge, CO.  It features a full timber frame master bedroom, greatroom, library loft and dormers with a walkout basement.  The Trusses are a unique nordic design.  We used RFKD doug fir and accented the frame with cherry pegs.  The design incorporated a compound roof system.  To see more of this frame go to the Ellefson project under Full Timber Frames.		STEAMBOAT PROJECT: This large hammerbeam truss spans over 50 ft. in length.  The beams are massive and are designed to hold the snow loads found in Steamboat Springs, CO.  This awe inspiring timber frame lodge will be the central gathering place  for the Vista Verde Ranch .  To see a slide show of the raising,  Click here .

 Trail Ridge Timber Frame Workshops and Apprenticeship Opportunities

WORKSHOP 2009  In May of 2009 TRTF, Inc. held its second annual timber frame workshop in Masonville, CO.  We had 5 attendees from around the U.S. and 2 instructors.  The structure was a 10 x 12 timber frame tree house, with a deck and bump out for bunk beds. The course included class time on the history of timber framing, tools, safety, reading CAD drawings, layout concepts, cutting efficiency and quality, raising safety and strategies.  By the end of 5 days the main frame of the treehouse was cut, assembled and raised.  The participants included:  Pat Bell, Ft. Collins, CO.  Grahm Fulton, Steamboat, CO.     Brian Horne, Horsham, PA.   Andy Rawls, Waco, TX.   Andy Skoglund, St. Paul, MN.    Instructors:  Eric Cody, Mark Miller
WORKSHOP 2010 We are planning another workshop to build a timber frame covered bridge.  If interested in attending our workshop, please send a resume, cover letter and references to Kathy Miller.  For contact information, refer to the CONTACT US page.  The workshop is tentatively planned for Spring of 2010 for 5-6 days.  Estimated cost for workshop, $500.00, plus room and board. APPRENTICESHIPS 2010  We are now accepting applications and interviewing for the Spring/Summer 2010 building season.  Please submit your resume and references to Kathy Miller, ASAP.  For questions or for need of contact information, refer to the CONTACT US  page.

 Trail Ridge Timber Frames Featured in National and Local Publications

Franklin Timber Frame This is our home featured on the front cover of Timber Homes Illustrated.  The feature story can be found  in the December 2006 issue.			Sommer Timber Frame This is our home featured on the front cover of Timber Homes Illustrated.  The feature story and a tour of the home can be found in the September 2008 issue of Timber Homes Illustrated.
Albright Timber Frame Great views and great looking parallel chord trusses in this Aspen home we built. Several Greene and Greene details were incorporated in the timber frame as well as other parts of the home. This home was  featured in Luxury Log Homes and Timber Frame magazine Winter 2005 issue.			Benner Frame This Beautiful 58 x 36 ft. Barn is located in Loveland, CO.  The building rises 29 ft.  It took about 2.5 months to cut and 1.5 weeks to raise. WE used Doug fir beams out of New Mexico for the timber frame. This spectacular gather place was featured in  Timber  Home Living, "10 Best Timber Homes of the Year" October 2009 issue.
Keelty Timber Frame This home in Snowmass, CO incorporated these beautiful "hand-hewn looking" curved trusses throughout. This home was  featured in the June 2005 issue of Timber Homes Illustrated magazine.			Musselman Frame This home is located in a beautiful wooded area west of Colorado Springs. It was a challenging frame involving a compound roof system and 3 trusses with graceful, curved components. This home was  featured in the April/May 2005 issue of Timber Frame Homes, now called Timber Home Living magazine.
Valentine Frame The frame was raised at the base of Mt. Priceton in Buena Vista. It is a 24' x 42' great room and is made from oak timbers. It consisted of 3 king post trusses with raised lower chords and a ridge supported common rafter system between. This home was featured in the June 2004 issue of Timber Homes Illustrated magazine.

 

---

 

Articles below from the Business Section and Home Section of the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald Article by Stephen Titus and Barb Jenkins.  Photographs by Chad Wierema.  March 21, 1998.

 

Mark Miller planes one of the many oak pegs that he will use to build his new workshop.		Using a chisel, Miller cleans up a timber joint.  "I figured if Daniel Boone could do it at 69 years old I could do it at 34"  said Mark Miller.

    

Mark Miller, a carpenter and cross country coach at Loveland High School, is using the ancient art of hand carved joinery and timber framing to build everything from custom homes to a 1,000-square-foot workshop.  Timber framing uses massive beams fused with hand carved joints to form a building's frame.         Many modern buildings are framed with a forest of matching two-by-four or two-by-six boards, held together with thousands of nails.  The structures are made ridged with plywood or oriented strand board.         In contrast, the massive timbers and joinery used in timber framing construction can survive hundreds of years, turning a ho-hum home into a lasting heirloom.    ... As might be expected with custom work, the style is more cost-effective in a larger home.  That's because the time devoted to joinery and craftsmanship doesn't increase much with square footage.  But for more budget-conscious buyers, Miller said a partially timber-framed house can lend a custom, elegant feel without the extra time and engineering required for a full blown project. Miller's infatuation with more labor-intensive construction came during a trip to Daniel Boone's home in Missouri.  The nearly 200 year old house was built when the pioneer was 69 years old, Miller said.  "I figured if he could do it, I could do it at 34," he said     Miller is on the verge of raising a 1,000-square-foot timber frame workshop on his Masonville property.  Hand-hewn timbers are stacked like life-sized tinker toys waiting to be assembled,  He uses tools crafted by a former Samurai sword maker with edges sharp enough to get a clean shave.  The airs is thick with pine scent, and the ground around the beams is carpeted in shavings and sawdust.        Miller devoted three months to sculpting raw logs into pieces of a puzzle that will be his workshop.  Like a traditional barn-raising, the walls are assembled on the ground and hefted into the air by a team of helpers.  He said the entire assembly process should take about one or two days."When they go up they are really neat to look at," he said.		A broad axe and two commanders lean against one of the truss and queen posts that will be used for Miller's new workshop near Masonville.  He uses antique tools like those shown here in addition to power tools and specially fabricate German chisels in his timber framing.

---

		T-I-M-B-E-R
Mark Miller drives a wooden peg into a hole to secure a beam onto a post for a timber-frame workshop he's building on his property in Masonville.	Miller and friend Mike Madrid lift the 700-pound wall into place using ropes and pulleys.  Kathy waits on the timber frame in the background to help position the beam	Building homes is a craftsman's delight using timber framing.

       
    ... Miller and his wife, Kathy, are planning to build a timber frame home entirely out of oak on the same property in Masonville.  The wood is being treated and hauled from his parents' 70 acre property in Missouri, where a pipeline was laid, leaving a path of dead oak trees.

He is making trips with a trailer, hauling out the wood for is custom home.  "We've been working on the floor plan for years," he said.  It will be a traditional Cape Cod exterior, with dormers and a front porch.  But designs and styles aren't limited with timber-frame building, "You can do anything you want, even adobe."  The interest in timber-frame homes, which have been popular on the East Coast for years, has finally reached the Rocky Mountains.
  

Colorado is the best market now for timber framing," Miller said.  Because of the mountain living, a lot of people look toward building log or timber-frames homes.  The difference between the two however, is significant.  Log homes have log walls, whereas timber framing uses large, squared up timber for sound structure.  "It's almost like steel buildings, using wood," Miller said. 
      

The timbers are held together with 1-inch-diameter oak pegs, and the walls are finished with stress-skin panels, which combine the insulation, interior finish and outer vapor barrier in one, providing twice the R-values as traditionally built homes.  :"There is not outside air infiltration," Miller explained. 

"Traditionally built homes' strength relies on 2-by-4s throughout.  Timber frame uses fewer and bigger members, allowing for bigger exterior windows -- and you don't need all the barrier walls.

Timber-frame homes are very conductive to large floor plans, but the big rooms doesn't necessarily mean a big price tag. "People look at them as being way more expensive than normal houses, but they can still be competitive," he said. The few thousand additional dollars spent leaves homeowners with a sound, well-insulated structure -- worth the initial higher expense.

 If timber-framing is a desire, but impossible financially, homeowners can insert timber-frame trusses or a timber-frame great room onto a traditional house. "You can have the look of a timber frame without the expense of a full timber-frame house," Miller said. 

 Timber-frame homes are sturdier, better insulate and in the long run, worth more than traditionally built homes. "Their biggest selling point is they are inspiring to look at," he said. "They can be very rustic to very elegant," Miller said.

 For people interested in timber-frame houses, Miller said the library and bookstores are filled with great books and literature on the craft. He recommends a new magazine, "Timber Homes Illustrated," to further inspire interested folks.