Speaking the Language of Timber Framing. How good planning and amazing software can help create great Timber Frames. When designed well, a room can truly benefit our human experience. One of the most challenging aspects of any construction project is visualizing what the completed building will look like. Many folks are not used to looking at floor plans and elevations on a sheet of paper because that is not how we typically experience a space. Floorplans can appear as a jumble of lines and notes (which way is up?), cross-sections give us an unnatural slice thro ..read more

What does Lancaster County Timber Frames Inc. actually do? Find out what scope and services we provide here at LCTF We get lots of inquiries from customers interested in building a Timber Frame home, wondering what it is that we do here.   Here at Lancaster County Timber Frames Inc, we specialize in the design, manufacture, and installation of Heavy Timber and Architectural Grade Glulam structures. This includes timber structures with traditional mortise & tenon joinery connections, as well as bolted steel plate connections. We function best as a s ..read more

Why hand-crafted, custom fit joinery from the craftsmen at Lancaster County Timber Frames makes such a difference. There is a wide range of means and methods to create timber joinery and while many of them are comparable, there are some significant differences that have consequences on the visual appearance and long-term stability of the timber frame.  In our shop we have made a decision to prioritize the traditional American trade of carpenters and craftsmen, working with their minds, bodies, and hands, to create strong, stable, and structural works of art through the practice of cutting ..read more

After first teaching for twenty years and then timber framing for thirty-six years, the last twenty-six of which have been as president of LCTF, I will be retiring at the end of December. This move isn’t sudden; it has been in the plans for more than a dozen years. To those clients, builders, and architects who gave us their projects, their trust, and their passion, thank you. I feel the deepest gratitude—I could not have had a more thrilling, challenging, and fulfilling career. To those on the LCTF team, there are no words. Having you as colleagues is beyond anything I deserved. Tony Zaya ..read more

Lancaster County Timber Frames’ head designer, Joshua Coleman, recently had the opportunity to lead a timber frame workshop in Mount Morris, NY.  The Lamplighter Summer Guild provides a one-week hands-on workshop, with a biblical Christian perspective in the visual and performing arts, story creation, and horticulture. This year, the Guild expanded their offerings to include a course in Timber Framing. The project was an ambitious 24’x36′ lakeside pavilion carved from locally harvested Ash and Beech timbers. The class of six students learned both the design, vocabulary, and anatomy ..read more

The approach to the design of my second house was inspired by the analytical process described by Rex Roberts in his book “Your Engineered House” (M. Evans and Company, Inc.,1964). Passive solar structures can be found in almost all cultures throughout history, but I give Roberts high credit for applying logical thinking to residential design. The passive solar concept essentially means you use the sun with all its predictability to your advantage. Do you want to have the morning eastern sun stream into your kitchen as you prepare and eat breakfast? Do you want the low winter sun to warm your ..read more

I’ve designed and built four homes for myself.  Each one of them holds a special place in my heart–for the journey each took me on and for the joy of living in something I created. The first one was completed over fifty years ago. I was in my early twenties. I had saved the princely sum of $3,500 (roughly half my annual salary) by living like a pauper and by subjecting myself to twice-a-week plasma draining at a blood bank ($8 per visit). The fruits of my savings were directed towards buying a lot and building a house. It took months to find the lot I wanted. It turned out that the ..read more

When Ken and Karen Painter, owners of the award-winning and highly-rated Stone Mill Inn approached us about building the “Abbey” on their wedding venue and event estate, we knew we had to do it. It was both simple and graceful, plus it was barely two miles from our shop and office. This proximity made it possible for each and every member of Lancaster County Timber Frames to participate in the hand-raising of the frame ..read more

It’s always a treat to do a project in our own back yard and this lovely cruck timber frame structure will be erected only four miles from our shop. It will be the focal point of wedding ceremonies at the Stone Mill Inn, an established, highly-rated, and award-winning wedding venue and event estate in Hallam, PA. The structure will be ready for weddings starting in early April ..read more

From the beginning, we have celebrated Christmas with a company dinner. This year’s dinner party marked twenty-five years that Lancaster County Timber Frames has been in business ..read more