Carpenter Toby Swanson gives the collar tie a quick final sandin…
Carpenter Toby Swanson gives the collar tie a quick final sanding before assembly.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Working on the bed of the company's flatbed truck, Toby Swanson …
Working on the bed of the company's flatbed truck, Toby Swanson and Chris Krouse assemble the gable end rafter pair and collar tie. The truck makes a handy flat surface for assembling bents on a rough jobsite, notes company owner Richard Krouse.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Richard Krouse pounds home a peg at the rafter peak joint.
Ted Cushman/JLC
The team lifts the completed gable end rafter and collar tie ass…
The team lifts the completed gable end rafter and collar tie assembly off the truck using the crane.
Ted Cushman/JLC
With the rafter assembly suspended from the crane, Toby applies …
With the rafter assembly suspended from the crane, Toby applies a quick coat of linseed oil to the timbers. Applying the oil at the last minute keeps the timbers from being soiled or marked by fingerprints during transport and assembly, says Richard Krouse.
Ted Cushman/JLC
The crew gently lowers the rafter assembly into place on the wal…
The crew gently lowers the rafter assembly into place on the wall frame.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris and Toby screw temporary bracing onto the gable ends befor…
Chris and Toby screw temporary bracing onto the gable ends before starting to set purlins.
Ted Cushman/JLC
The crew starts lifting purlins for completing the roof frame. F…
The crew starts lifting purlins for completing the roof frame. For efficiency, they lift two purlins at a time. The company has placed as many as five purlins with one hoist, says Richard Krause.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Toby and Chris lower the pair of purlins onto the rafter frame.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Toby pries a purlin end into position using a crowbar.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Toby guides the ridge beam tenon into its pocket at the peak of …
Toby guides the ridge beam tenon into its pocket at the peak of the gable end bent.
Ted Cushman/JLC
With the frame complete, the crew starts to screw rough-sawn bar…
With the frame complete, the crew starts to screw rough-sawn barn-board siding onto the walls.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris Krouse and mom Toni Krouse decorate the booth as fair-goer…
Chris Krouse and mom Toni Krouse decorate the booth as fair-goers start to arrive on the first morning of the fair.
Ted Cushman/JLC
R. A. Krouse's scale model on display at the fair, sitting on a …
R. A. Krouse's scale model on display at the fair, sitting on a table made of sawhorses and a scrap of structural insulated panel.
Ted Cushman/JLC
A view of the timber frame in the open main hall at the Common G…
A view of the timber frame in the open main hall at the Common Ground fairgrounds, which measures 60 by 80 feet. R. A. Krouse built this frame in 1999.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Another view of the roof details in the main hall at the MOFGA C…
Another view of the roof details in the main hall at the MOFGA Common Ground fairgrounds. Tie beams and knee braces connect the king posts in the main roof trusses, providing added stiffness and stability to the 60-foot roof span.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Toby pounds a purlin out of its mortise as the crew lifts the pu…
Toby pounds a purlin out of its mortise as the crew lifts the purlins off the roof frame.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris and Toby guide the rafter assembly into position as the cr…
Chris and Toby guide the rafter assembly into position as the crane gently lowers the timbers onto the truck bed.
Ted Cushman/JLC
After driving out the pegs, Chris and Toby pull the rafters and …
After driving out the pegs, Chris and Toby pull the rafters and collar tie apart.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris drives a peg out of a timber using a steel drift pin.
Ted Cushman/JLC
After lowering a wall bent to the ground, Chris and Toby pull th…
After lowering a wall bent to the ground, Chris and Toby pull the bent apart as the crane supports the weight of the plate.
Ted Cushman/JLC
With the crane doing the heavy lifting, Chris and Toby re-stack …
With the crane doing the heavy lifting, Chris and Toby re-stack the timbers onto the truck for transport back to the shop.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris ties the company's scale model display back onto the truck…
Chris ties the company's scale model display back onto the truck for the trip home.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Readying for the drive home, Richard cinches down the load strap…
Readying for the drive home, Richard cinches down the load straps and secures the excess.
Ted Cushman/JLC
Chris waves goodbye as he pulls out of the fairgrounds with his …
Chris waves goodbye as he pulls out of the fairgrounds with his load of timbers.
Ted Cushman/JLC
The crew hauls its disassembled timber frame out of the fairgrou…
The crew hauls its disassembled timber frame out of the fairgrounds after a successful show.
Most vendors who come to an outdoor trade show set up a tent, or maybe a booth inside a tent. Timber framer and custom builder Richard Krouse brings along a barn. And why not? The barn’s not just his booth — it’s also his product.
JLC caught up with Krouse at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine, an annual event put on by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). As the name implies, MOFGA, and its annual get-together, are mostly focused on locally produced food and handicrafts. But the fair also plays host to a goodly collection of construction companies and related trades. This year, for example, JLC had a chance to talk with reps from Portland-based Revision Energy, Vassalboro-based Duratherm Windows (and sister company York Spiral Stair), Pittston-based house moving contractor Jewett Builders, and Belfast zero-energy builder and developer GO-Logic, among others.
Richard Krouse and his company, R. A. Krouse, go back a long way with MOFGA and the Common Ground fair. Krouse built the 60-foot by 80-foot custom frame for the organization’s main gathering hall at the fairgrounds back in 1999. This year, Krouse set up a simple 18-foot by 20-foot frame with the help of son Christopher Krouse, carpenter Toby Swanson, and an occasional MOFGA volunteer. Wife Toni Krouse came along to help decorate the booth and schmooze with fair-goers. Many years, Krouse is able to sell his display frame to a fair-goer who wants a barn or cottage; Krouse didn’t strike any deals this time around, but he says he did get some good leads.
JLC was at the show early enough to see Krouse and his crew stand the frame, and stayed long enough to see them take the frame down and head home (see slideshow). The wall frame was up when we arrived, and the crew was putting together gable-end rafter packages.
After a busy three-day weekend greeting fair-goers, the Krouse family was more than ready to pack up and go home. But the weekend’s fine weather had brought more than ten thousand people out to the fair, and Krouse had made plenty of good connections.
