High End Horse Barns With Timber Frame Tradition
by Nikki Alvin-Smith
If you’re a horse owner that loves tradition and barns that evoke a nostalgic nod to the past, then you’re going to love the collection of timber frame horse barn styles that these high-end horse barns evoke. Mounting your horse beside one, returning from a pleasurable ride across an open field to return home to its welcoming vista and security, or tacking up in its glorious aisleway, are all times you’ll savor if you are lucky enough to own one.
Crafted with oak pegged mortise and tenon joinery, still the strongest form of wood joinery known to carpenters, a group of talented artisans are on hand to put together the new hybrid style jigsaw of timber frame construction at your beck and call. The timber frame build is the epitome structure of arched perfection in cathedral and lofty spaced horse barns. Amazingly it is now available for its complete construction to be executed in very short order. Barns can be built on site in approximately two weeks. A stark contrast to other, lesser on site builds that not only take longer but lack the luxury branding a timber frame provides.
When you are spending the big bucks to build a statement barn, a showcase in which prized horses may be housed, it’s understandable that the standard of construction and the materials used in the building’s structure need to be of the highest standard. While regular timber frame construction in the house industry is super expensive, the advent of technological advances in timber cutting techniques and some clever ideas that have innovated a blend of modular construction hybrid style with timber frame tradition are less spendy making these high-end horse barns surprisingly affordable, though by no means cheap.
The timber frame collection of horse barns that are currently available, offered by the leading manufacturer of modular horse barns Horizon Structures, LLC, based in Atglen, PA, are a myriad of designs from the New Hampshire historic Monitor barn now common across the country to the more rustic Homestead style, iconic Carriage builds and a Deluxe version that marries all your favorite parts of each together.
In keeping with the Amish carpentry talents for which this Lancaster County based enterprise are renowned, the thoughtful timber frame designs bring home the very best of everything horse lifestyle. These well-constructed gems have been utilized for more than horse keeping, and see increasing popularity for use as event spaces, vacation rental buildings and a variety of purposes limited only by the property owner’s imagination.
Let’s take a walk through the options and see some of the features you can expect to enjoy for the financial investment.
The Magnificent Monitor Timber Frame
There is a certain vibrance that the Monitor Barn adds to a property. It seems to say, this is a real working place. It offers an appealing tribute to the real-life issues that farmers faced back in the day, trying to dry their harvested grain crops and hay via breezes and light from clerestory windows while keeping livestock happy beneath the loft.
Protecting life inside this Monitor barn you will find the functional metal roof double act, a 7/12 and 4/12 pitch, that shelters the warm inviting wood-railed loft space. The useful loft comes decked out in tongue and groove and the full staircase allows easy access for utilizing this ridiculously beautiful timber arched interior for a plethora of benefits.
The artisan nature of Horizon Structures’ horse barns is readily apparent in their timber frame offerings and the complex roof line of the Monitor blends well in the landscape without fuss or ostentation, neatly hiding its interior delights to be discovered by the lucky visitor.
Horses of course don’t care much about the aesthetic beauty that is defined by the large timbers hewn without box cut centers (a facet that makes the wood less likely to warp/crack or develop superficial imperfections), but the solid feel of each stall with the floor to ceiling kickboards and sincere durability and strength of the sturdy timber frame build is something both horse and human must feel when happily and safely ensconced within its walls.
The Character Laden Carriage House Timber Frame
The historical use of Carriage House design is ubiquitous in its presence on large estates, manor homes and royal palace grounds. The original important functionality of the carriage house that housed the farm cart to the grandest of carriages and protected the essential equine transportation horsepower from adverse weather certainly kept everything handy in one place, but the loft space in this particular timber frame barn adds a nice touch of five-star elegance with its smart metal railing and impressive bank of 24’ long glass dormer.
While today the humble groom or stable help, or poshly dressed chauffeur that would snag hot bakes from the hallmark character on the quintessential estate ‘Downton Abbey’ downstairs kitchen cooking staff, is not likely to reside above the horses stabled below, the use of the carriage house for all types if horsepower, including the mechanical variety is not uncommon. Airbnb enthusiasts, hunting box vacation owners, wedding planners, vintage car collectors, studio/office/workshop afficionados love these pretty structures with their loft areas welcomed as a bonus creative space that serves a myriad of official and unofficial living functions.
The overhang along one side of the structure is generously proportioned with a 10’ reach, and all the fabulous features you would expect to find in a high-end horse barn design are included in the build.
But of course despite all these wonderful standard attributes and flourishes that touch our luxury hearts, we all love to pick and choose, so there is no shortage of upgrades or extras that can be selected to reflect the owner’s individual preferences and tastes.
The Daring Deluxe Timber Frame
The word ‘deluxe’ aptly connotates the sumptuous features of both the deluxe quality and extra features in this timber frame design. While a ‘horse is a horse, of course of course,’ requiring its own stall space replete with the niceties that provide additional safety as well as durability for use and low maintenance needs, the deluxe model features extras that will have even the equine contingent nodding with delight over the V-shaped grilled doors and grilled partition walls. All grills in the stalls are powder coated of course to keep everything looking pristine.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder in any case of timber frame construction, and when you behold the 9’ A-frame dormer that casts light across the realm below and view the cathedral style arched timbers you will find yourself transported back in time. Most likely to a place where everything was built well, constructed with care, and offered the best that Mother Nature could provide. Not just in terms of sturdy oak pegs for tenon and mortise joinery of the massive lumber but also that the beams being made of solid core wood offer not just stability to the stabling structure but also are notably stronger, (better to guard against seismic activity or gale force winds), and innately more fire resistant than other commonly used building member materials such as various types of common glued laminate wood products.
The High-Grade Homestead Horse Barn Timber Frame
Legendary in its style the Homestead is a corker when it comes to building something astonishingly rustic in appearance that offers understated elegance in any rural setting. Not loud but proud, the property owners that love this design often revel in creating something old school that truly has the patriotic American feel to it.
Practical for daily use in every way, the 30-year architectural shingle roof and white pine board and batten exterior (which can be painted or stained with a good range of choices from which to select color wise, if you like) with 8’ timber frame overhangs on each side of the structure offers shelter from wind and rain and a useful place to put everything out of the weather, whether that be hot sun or drizzling rain. From the horse’s perspective their rooms with a view over Dutch doors, keep boredom at bay. Traditional wood sash windows, top quality hardware and floor to ceiling kickboards in Southern yellow pine, and the 2 x 8 tongue and groove aisleway countenance smiles on the visitor’s faces as they gaze upwards at majestic beams devoid of ordinary metal joinery.
The Timber Frame Advantage
Buy the best you can afford is a mantra we’ve all heard before, and being able to afford the inherent natural beauty of such an artisan horse barn is something not afforded to everyone. While financing and leveraging use of the structure for multi-purpose use can certainly make a timber frame horse barn a great buy, and without doubt such an addition to any property will produce significant added value to the property, the heartwarming heartfelt advantage to the ownership of such a heritage build lies in its legacy. The realization that the timber frame construction offered in a hybrid fashion from Horizon Structures is so fast to build and hence own and use, is an additional blessing.
When you age up and plant a tree or trees, you may realize that you are doing something as a steward of the land, something that you may enjoy in part, but won’t necessarily realize the full benefit from during your lifetime. You may never get to sit under the shade of the mighty oak you are planting, or watch the leaves turn on the maple tree glade you have planted, but you will love knowing that you have undertaken a project that will enhance the beauty of the landscape and provide relevant and pleasure to use for future generations.
The artful artisan styling of the chic timber frame can be acquired now, enjoyed now and employed now, but it is its timeless tested building techniques and celebration of wood and nature that will stand the test of time, as a testament to the person with the forethought and appreciation that built it in the first place.
Yes, what’s old is new again. And there’s nothing wrong with that and good reason for it.
