Digging

The property lines are marked. The building permit is official. Digging is ready to begin.

Kate and I went back and forth about what kind of foundation to anchor the timber frame to. One of my classmates at the North House Folk School designed a super slick trailer and metal frame for his structure. While trailers are common in tiny builds, I kept coming back to a permanent foundation. Techniques found in modern timber framing have been excavated in structures dating back to the neolithic times. There are numerous timber frame structures dating back to the 1300s still standing strong in Europe. In Lhasa China, the Jokhang Budist Temple has stood since 639AD.

Timber frames need roots. They need to be built to stand the test of times. In the end, we decided a more modern concrete foundation was the right choice. The structure will be anchored to a insulated concrete foundation utilizing in floor heat to keep frost and Minnesota winters at bay.

We absolutely adore the site we chose to build; however, it has some unique challenges. The largest is there are no roads leading to the site. One cannot simply drive a concrete truck right to the foundation edge. While 400 square feet doesn't sound that big, it is still a significant amount of concrete. Where there is a will, there is a way. More on that later.

A small excavator made relatively quick work preparing the build site for footers.

Happy digging!