A Barn and its Daisy Wheel

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Not a very neat daisy wheel is it?



About 8" across, it was found during the dismantling of an upstate NY barn, c. 1790, scribed onto a board used to sheath the roof. The lines were drawn with a divider, not a marker. They can be seen in a raking light.The board is still in its proper place. This is a tracing made of the pattern carved by the pin of the divider.




The barn is probably the first of 4 connecting barns, c.1790. Green Mountain Timber Frames recently dismantled, repaired, and sold this barn for reuse.

It has modified gunstock posts, a 5 sided ridge pole, rafters spaced 38" on center.












The daisy wheel determined the framing layout.

The petals are the arcs of the radii. The points of the petals divide the circumference and locate the diameter. The sheathing board with the daisy wheel was a template, the reference for lengths and relationships. When it was no longer needed it became sheathing.

The master carpenter could rotate the daisy wheel first with one diameter  vertical and then with one diameter horizontal. He could use all 12 points and spokes. The radius and the distance between each point are the same length.

So how did the carpenter begin? He and the farmer knew the approximate size and location of the proposed barn. He decided on a width (the radius of his circle) and drew his daisy wheel.

Using the points on the circumference and a line, he marked the width and the rectangle of the circle  ( the 'x') - The green dashed lines show how he determined the length of the barn. The dashed red lines show the floor plan . 





The farmer wanted an English barn with a center door. The door needed to be a certain width for easy movement. 
Was 32' long enough? Would a 12' wide door give him enough working space on either side of the door? Would a 12' high wall work?  If that 12' were also the height of the barn wall there would be enough space for a lintel at the top of the door frame for strength. And what size are his timbers? 




He decided 11'-2" was wide enough, 12'-4" tall enough. The
carpenter laid out the door within the circle.
The width of the door is the radius of the circle, and the height of the barn wall.
The square laid out by the arcs of the radius.






The placement of the door lintel is set at the crossing of the arcs of the radius.

Since the door is in the center of the wall, the right side mirrors the left.  The arcs  - dashed red line -  locate the center of the circle to the right. 
The right side could also have been stepped off with a large compass.


 


The interior bents of the barn fit neatly into the daisy wheel geometry. The rectangle is laid out by the division of the circumference into 6 equal parts. The dashed red line shows the rectangle of the daisy wheel. While the layout of the barn is a traditional English pattern, dropped beams are the regional Anglo-Dutch vernacular tradition. They are placed using the same geometry as the lintel.

The end elevations fit into the daisy wheel too. Of course! interior and end bents need to be the same size. The plates are not dropped.

This is the first pattern I saw when I began to study how this daisy wheel was used in this barn. I thought the layout began here.
I now think he began, not with this simple end bent, but with the door.



The gable's ridge is 22' high.  22' is also the width of the bent, the side of the square which enclosed the gable end.

The roof pitch was determined by a square using the width of the barn as the dimension.
A carpenter used a framing floor to lay out his bents, mark his mortises and tenons.  This bent could have been laid out on the dirt floor of this barn using twine the width of the barn.   



The daisy wheel was the design for the barn. The carpenter knew how to use it.
The specific 8" daisy wheel probably was the dimension - measured across the diameter - used to locate the holes for the peg: they are all at 32" 4 lengths of the daisy wheel diameter.  The distance between holes for pegs on the braces appears to be 48", 6 lengths. 
Today I have no way to check this. I hope I do in the future.


3/21/2020: This post is a complete revision of a post I first wrote in 2014. 










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Framing a Barn with Practical Geometry in 1791

 I wrote this post for Green Mountain Timber Framers' website blog in Dec. 2014.
As I often refer to it and use the diagrams when I lecture and teach, I copied it here for easy accessibility - with a few edits for clarity.


I invited myself to a Green Mountain Timber Frames barn dismantling in the fall of 2014. I wanted to watch it come down. I also wanted to investigate its geometry.

Here's what I saw.

The three barns sat beside the road  on the uphill slope of a valley, connected in an L shape.
None of them faced the road on their west and windy side. Instead they faced south and east, creating a protected barnyard, a sun pocket.

In the middle, protected from storms and wind, was the corn crib. Other farm buildings repeated the pattern, facing south, no doors on the west.





The main barn also had a door to the north, directly across from the one facing south. It fronted the farm road and looked at the house across the way. Two doors across from each other allowed for easy moving of machinery, ventilation and threshing. A north facing door was for bringing in hay and grain on the shady side of the barn in the summer.




After we had climbed up to and down from the rafters, Dan McKeen (who then owned Green Mountain Timber Frames) handed me prints o f the measured frame.
To have a sense of the building I checked some of the dimensions. The framers really did make his barn 30'-1" wide. He also made it 42'-6" long.

Why those dimensions? Laurie Smith, the English Geometer, suggested that a layout using the diagonal of the square was the reason.
The diagram shows how a framer would have used that set of proportions (which is the square root of 2) to layout the floor. This is easily drawn.
The rest of the barn frame comes directly from this diagram .









Both the extra inch and the square root are indications that the master carpenter for this barn used geometry to determine its size and framing. The ruler the carpenter used was not accurate by today's standards. Because he used Practical Geometry for his layout -  proportions and relationships between parts, not fixed dimensions - it didn't matter.

The second diagram shows the floor plan of the barn.








The height of the  new rectangle on the end of the square was a good height for the barn wall. So the framer drew a square in each corner. Using the diagonals for those squares he swung an arc on both sides. Where they met marked the ridge for the roof.

I have drawn the diagram as if the framer used the barn floor for his layout. Carpenters today use the floor of a house to layout the walls  and the rafters for the roof above, so this is a reasonable assumption.










The measured drawings of the barn show how the diagrams were applied to frame the west end wall.
The red X on the right is the diagonals of the original square. The DASHED LINE is the arc of the diagonal locating the ridge.

The green DIAGONAL of the SQUARE on the left is cut by the green ARC of the length of the square. That intersection is the location of the left interior post.

The east end uses the same geometry as the west end.






Here is the diagram for he diagonal cut by the arc. It is easy to draw and based on dimensions already being used by the framer. Locating the posts is straight forward and simple, easy to do with a straight edge, some twine and a way to hold the twine taut.

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The north and south walls also use matching diagrams.


 Shown here is the north wall. The RIGHT SIDE matches the layout of left end of the west wall shown above: the divided by its DIAGONAL AND ARC INTERSECTION,.
Then comes the SQUARE door opening; its lintel determined by the INTERSECTION OF THE TWO ARCS of the square.


The left side was divided in half as shown by the DIAGONALS. 

 

Note that the braces and the poles are also located using the same geometry: just turn the diagram above upside down.  The diagram here shows all 4 arcs within the square. 

Green Mountain Timber Frames website is https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com/

The  measured drawings used here were produced by James Plastteter in May 2014. Platteter is a master furniture maker. His website is down, but his fine work can be seen by searching by his name. 

Jackson, NY, House, The Frame, Part 5 of 6

In 1981, the Washington County, NY, Information, Tourism and Historic Preservation people documented every 'old house' in the county they could. This is the picture which accompanied the form, and the only picture known showing anything of the rest of the  house.

The land was part of lot #12 of the Grand Division of Cambridge Patent. The town of Jackson, where this house is, split off from Cambridge in 1814. The Parrish family owned the farm from 1846 until  1929 when Charles T. Hayes bought the farm. His son, Charles J. Hayes was the source for those gathering information.

Who added the left wing to this house around 1820?  Who wanted stylish design - the Federal front door and moldings - and technological improvements - the cast iron wood stove in the north room?

Usually a new owner, a new wife, better finances, will mean new construction. Here there is no easy answer.  Before the Parrishes, several families owned this land. However, from 1796 to 1839, Garrit Wendell, a well-respected lawyer and leading citizen of Cambridge, the town next door, was the owner. Wendell was born in Watervliet, NY, in 1769. He married Rebekah of Dutch descent; they had 2 children. He died in 1840; his wife in 1843. I found no record that he ever lived in Jackson. Wendell may have leased this house to William Mushet who is mentioned in a deed.  Mushet was not wealthy; he contributed $6 to help build the Washington Academy in 1814, while Wendell's subscription was $500.

Why would Wendell renovate and update this farm? I have not found an answer.


The frame is 'Dutch'; it is made up of a series of  bents, here 12, approximately 3 ft apart, for the 36 ft. length.
This implies that the framer had been trained in the local Dutch vernacular tradition as practiced in upper Hudson River valley.

The last bent on the left side has been removed by the timber framers in this picture.

 An 'English' frame would have had 4 bents: one at each end, one on either side of the center door and its hall.
Mixing framing traditions is not uncommon in this part of eastern New York and western New England. Here the frame is Dutch and the exterior appearance, Federal., based on English architecture.




The south end of the frame shows the braces set just below the gable end rafters. These were on both ends of the wing. The original house had also braced this new wing. Green Mountain Timber Framers who were deconstructing the house felt the frame move and secured it with cross bracing, visible here.

Above is the west (road) facade of the frame. 12 bents. Each 6"x 6" post is mortised into the sill. The
3"x 8" joists are mortised through the posts and pegged at the second floor height. A 3" x 6" rim joist is then attached below the joist and pegged.

















The next bent can now be slid into place because its mortise is ready to receive the rim joist. Its floor joist can be slid into place because the easing on the 6"x 6" post runs across the face of the post, not just at the mortise. Then the intermediate stud is set below and above the rim joist and a 2"x 8" joist nailed to it. Some of the joists are notched to make the 2nd floor level.

Here is another set of post and joists. The setting of the secondary joists - about half on the left side, the rest on the right - might be because the framers worked from each end of the wing toward the front door.
The parts for these bents might have been cut ahead of time and assembled on site. They are quite uniform.






Here is a look along the 2nd floor joists on the east side, Reused posts are visible. The south sill was also a reused timber, a plate with notches for rafters and the necessary holes for pegs.







The door frame is not neat. There is some fudging - an extra post to set the door in the center, Framing for the stair opening seems to have been  figured out on the job.


Similarly the extra 2 joists, one 6"x 8",  the other 2"x 8", which carry the chimney above the stove pipe seems to intrude into the rhythm of the frame a decision made on the spot.




The framing of  the gable ends includes both mortised and nailed joints.

Mortise and tendon framing does not need nails. We used it extensively as a framing system before 1800  partly because nails were hand made from scarce iron ore not easily processed.
The invention in the early 1800's of nail making machines changed how we framed. Here, c. 1820, both wood pegs and iron nails  are used to hold the wood together. This is a transitional frame.

Here are details at the gable and at the 2nd floor. The left photograph shows the nailed north gable on the ground after it was taken down.  The right photograph is the braces mortised into the 2nd floor beam.







Here is the plate, with its unusual bird's mouth - the mortise which holds the rafters.  I and the framers, and others who know historic framing in the Hudson River Valley, had never seen this joint before. The plate is mortised to the posts.

Notice on the framing layout that the rafters do not line up with the posts. This means the walls and the roof were thought of as separate entities.


The last part of this 6 part series will review some of the exterior details and the geometry based on the frame. http://www.jgrarchitect.com/2017/03/jackson-ny-house-geometry-dating-some.html

The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .

Jackson, NY, House - a Dutch vernacular frame, 4 of 6 posts

 

written January, 2016

The house has been stripped to its frame. The sheathing removed, each board numbered as it came down. The stair and moldings (inside and out) carefully moved into storage.

Now the frame is visible -
no ridge beam,
12 bents: each is a post on either end mortised to a 2nd floor joist.
The plate across the top holds them all together; The 14 rafters sit on the plate and are not spaced to match the bents.

The joists on each end are mortised into posts.
Plates, mortised into the sides of the  posts, space the bents and carry the intermediate 2nd floor joists.

Here is a post with its joist and the pegs that hold the tenons of the plates seen from the outside.

Here seen from the inside, are: 2 posts, an intermediate stud; 2nd floor joists, plates and intermediate joists.
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We think it was assembled bent by bent, the intermediate plates added one at a time as each bent was set into the sill.







I have measured the first floor - twice The first time it was just too cold. I hurried. I wasn't careful.

The framer used Hudson Valley Dutch framing. The house was clothed in the latest Federal style with possible Shaker influences. Inside it retains the traditional system.  

I need to add more, especially about the Dutch way of framing.
An orthographic perspective would make the frame easier to read.
The frame details deserve a post of their own.
So does the careful cleaning and repair of the frame by Green Mountain Timber Frames.
I want to redraw the front elevation to reflect the frame we saw and measured compared to the plaster and clapboard surfaces I saw and measured in the beginning.

However, it is July, months later.  Time to share!


The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .

Jackson, NY, house: the windows and the frame , 3 of 6 posts

Dismantling a house is always exciting.

Renovation reveals parts of the frame, the foundation, the joinery of an old house. But taking it down carefully shows us all of it.

So even though  it was 10*F with a stiff wind, I have been there - for the past week. My fingers froze, my camera refused to work. The timber framers said their battery operated power tools were likewise not inclined to cooperate.  





The newer windows were shorter than the originals.The hole above was filled in with 2 short lengths of clapboard.   








Last week with the clapboard removed, The original window frames were obvious.









Inside the frame was exposed; the rough window opening visible.
Still the 'window' we saw was not the original.












At the top of the opening we could see a new stud scabbed against the old, wider stud. The wider stud stopped at the top of the original window.
 Note the white smudge marks on the sheathing - they are made by the un-fired brick that was used for insulation - nogging - and fire stopping. 







 Bottom of the same window - more white marks on the side of the frame where the brick was under the original window. One of the timber framers, who saw this first, is measuring as I take notes.

I had not expected to see the bottom -  the sill - of the original window higher than the newer one but the evidence was right there. At some windows the cut stud was newer lumber as well.

The newer windows sat a little lower than the old. The height of the old matched the height of the front door.

The posts on each side of the window have the 2nd floor joists mortised into them. These bents - front to back down the length of the house, one each side of each window - frame the house. 

This is how Dutch houses in the Colonies were framed 2 generations before this house was built.  

The picture of the southwest corner shows the post on the left side of the front corner window running from floor to roof, the beam mortised into the post, brick nogging, and cross bracing.

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Note: in the picture of the window (above) an intermediate joist is visible  - centered above the window. It is not mortised into a post. It sits on the plate. There are regular intermediate joists in the floor frame of the 2nd floor.


The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .
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Jackson, NY, House, Introduction, 2 of 6 posts

A report from this summer - when I first explored the house - to accompany the geometry of the previous post.


Today the house is being dismantled, piece by piece - see the end of this post -

I have watched this small house for more than 10 years, hoping its Dutch framing and Federal style would endear it to a new owner. Its shape and proportions, its entrance, frieze and rake are beautiful. I am delighted it has been purchased.

 I explored it twice inside and out, basement to attic framing, and herein share what I saw.

The house was added to an earlier home, now gone, which then became the service wing.  The stone foundation for the first house exists as does a partial roof and ‘ghost marks’ and well as doors connecting the new and old wings.

 The original home, which faced south, included the kitchen and bath.

The frame on the east side is exposed. Brick nogging used as fire stopping and insulation is visible as is a solid post and beam system, approximately 3 ft. on center, with intermediate studs.  

The southwest corner of the 2^nd floor  appears to be an H-bent – a traditional Dutch method of framing.  The roof frame is pegged common rafters.  Dismantling will show more.

The wall and ceiling plaster was applied to split lath:  ½” wood planks forced apart with a hatchet so that the spaces in between would hold the plaster.

                                                                          

The foundation is local stone. There is no basement fireplace, just support for the one above. The photograph shows the mortise and peg on one end of the beam supporting the stone hearth in the living room.

The north side of the basement, beyond the stair, is a crawl space. Some floor joists have been somewhat compromised by the intrusion of plumbing and heating systems. These will be repaired.

In 1790, the house faced the main road between Lansingburg, NY, and Rutland, VT, 2 growing commercial centers. Many people would have passed by, traveling about 5 -7 mph on foot or  in a wagon, 12 mph if on a ‘Trotter’, a fast horse.


No one traveled so quickly that they would  not have noticed and admired the front door with its entablature and columns, its frieze and rake at the eaves, and even the ¾ rounding of the corner boards.

The bead on the corner boards is a typical detail in this area when the house was built - here shown on another house. Those on this house are too worn to be salvaged. The original door has been lost.

The windows were once the height of the front door. The short sections of siding above the modern windows indicate the original size. The exterior window casings would have been flat boards with banding. The header protruded to shed water and protect the window. The sills appear original. The sash was double hung, maybe 8/12 or 12/12 panes.





The interior door’s lights and the transom window’s proportions will help determine the right pattern.

    

                                                                      

The fireplace has a stylish Federal mantle like those seen the patterns books of Asher Benjamin and Owen Biddle. The marble surround is typical for the area. The bricked-in firebox is a Rumford – modern for the time - designed to radiate the heat of the fire into the room.  

By 1830, cast iron stoves were widely used. The chases for stove pipes are visible in the bedrooms.

                                                                                                                                            

The cupboards on each side of the fireplace were for dishes, herbs, spices and medicines as well as books and writing supplies. Notice how the modern, short window is an uncomplimentary shape.

The door and window casings are as elegant as the front door. The window casings are original, but were cut down when the windows were resized.  I have taken profiles for reference.

Dismantling the house may uncover traces of a wall separated the living room from a front hall with its stair case anchored by a graceful newel, well scaled to the small space.

The oval rail fits well in the hand.

 Square balusters march up the stairs and around the hall above. To turn 40 balusters by hand for the railing and have them all match would have been a tour de force in 1790. However a cabinet maker could readily turn one newel post.  It, like the front entrance, is Neo- Classical, the emerging style c. 1800.

                                                                       


For over 200 years people have lived here, loving the house, adapting it to their needs. Their footsteps have worn away the door sills.

The house itself is still strong.  I am happy to help send it to a new owner. Here it is coming down, board by board, brick by brick.

previous post:  http://www.jgrarchitect.com/2015/12/a-jackson-ny-carpenter-used.html

The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .