One Pennsylvania-based home designer is rekindling two American architecture traditions at once with a business model that combines the old “kit home” delivery process with post-and-beam construction. Woodhouse offers a variety of pre-designed building kits in adirondack, craftsman, barn, cabin, cape, coastal and other architectural styles ranging from 832 to 6,163 square feet.
Choose one, and they’ll deliver the frame, wall panels, roof, windows, doors and five full sets of construction drawings for you or a local contractor to assemble. Woodhouse representatives are on-site for five days overseeing the layout of the grid for the floor system, guiding the contractors in putting up the frame and helping them get started on the panels. If you want a home that’s fully tailored to your own individual needs, they’ll help you design a custom floor plan, too.
While the old kit homes that you could order from catalogs like Sears were conventional balloon construction, wherein the studs extend from sill to plate, Woodhouse’s post-and-beam construction puts the beautiful wooden beams on full display, with highly energy-efficient foam walls. The frame is made to last for centuries, and requires very little maintenance.
Many of Woodhouse’s models are made from beautiful Eastern White Pine from the Southern Adirondacks, like the two models pictured here. To see all of them, visit the Woodhouse website.
