northern hewer
I only offered the copper napthalate as an alternative to some of the known to be bad treatments. After doing some research I came across it and if some of the manufactures and federal testing of it is to be accepted then it is a relatively safe product. Check out one of the sites at http://www.merichem.com/products_services/wood_preservative/index.php
an older treatment was to char (burn) the post, and white wash is known to keep fences good for years (probably the lime)

I looked through my Sobon books again last night and he does suggest dry laid foundations if you have the ambition. However he does point out that there may be a building code catch. I am taking a workshop with him next week at Hancock Shaker Village and will discuss the building code issue with him if I get the chance. I know he has built several buildings in my this area that were on dry laid foundations, so I think it may not be all that far fetched.

I am building my second outbuilding on a dry laid stone foundation. My building department (North Greenbush, Rensselaer County) had no problem with it whatsoever. Sills on the first one are white pine (white pine heartwood is moderately rot resistant). The one I am working on now has all-heart white oak. Jack's new barn, being written about in the last two issues of Timber Framing, also has white pine sills.

Similarly, my TF addition and garage have white oak sills (2" for the garage, 8" for the addition) on poured concrete. Again, the building department had no issues with the lack of PT.

I don't know what the building department would say if I wanted to build a larger structure or house on a dry stone foundation...

FWIW,
Dan

Another important way to extend the life of your sills is to get them up out of the splashing rain. Often it won't look right, but if you can get the sills about two feet off the ground they will stay a lot dryer. Also, allow plenty of space between plantings and the building to allow good air circulation.

Modern pine sure is weaker and a lot less rot resistant than pine from 200 years ago!

I talked to Jack today and he said that you can build a residence on a laid stone foundation as long as you use mortar, and your building inspecter allows it. I don't know what luck you will have in NY, however. It would seem that non residence buildings do not have to meet the same requirements. I hope that helps.

P.S., the workshop with Jack and Dave Carlon is AWESOME!

Hi folks,

I like the concepts of borate rods, although you'd need a lot of them. So long as you can keep access to inspect the holes periodically to see if the rods are being dissolved.

I'm a long way away, but our city building code (which follows UBC and IRC, pretty much standards) allows for pressure treated OR rot resistant species. Seems like a person could always put a 2X plate down below your sill of some exotic, such as Alaska yellow cedar, purpleheart, apatong, etc.
Many of these woods easily surpass PT in their longevity.
We have a great building department, and it seems like if you can make a very sound argument for deviating or improving upon code you can get the signature in red ink. Maybe you'd be as lucky...

All the best,

Zach

Naturally rot resistance species are accepted by the NYS code (and in Woodstock.) I reviewed some timber frame drawings for a fellow in Columbia County with a dry laid stone foundation. When finished with the stone work he called for his foundation inspection and the Building Inspector stood there scratching his head. He then signed off on it, and the rest was history. I think if you use a mortared wall you could even get away with it in Wdstk. Anchoring the sills to the foundation with embedded anchor rods would be required.

Thanks Christopher,do you suggest only white oak because white oak is quite expensive and it seems that we dont plant it much anymore due to its slow growing nature. Also my sills need to to be quite long which seems more difficult to obtain for white oak as opposed to pine. Where are you located in relation to me in Ulster county because I am looking to find an engineer that I could consult with about a Dutch barn on lime mortared foundation I plan to put up in Saugerties,NY(just East of Woodstock, with slightly less ridiculous building codes). I have some design questions regarding a few adjustments to the traditional New World Dutch barn(anchor beam) design. Based on reducing the proportional dimensions of the usual 45-50 feet width to 30-36 wide bents. I will eventually like to have an engineer approve my finished frame plans that I plan to draw myself. Does that sound absurd?? Perhaps there is a way we could get in contact and I could better explain my situation. Thanks again tb