Have you ever been on vacation, and stayed in a cozy cabin or cottage, “You know, this is really all you need to live in!”?

The prototype 24′ x 32′ Newcomb timber frame house can serve as a cottage or a year-round home for a couple or single person. It makes a great retirement home – all one one level, a heated floor, and quick to clean. It also makes a nice starter home, vacation cottage or timeshare unit.

With 928 sq. ft. of living space if built on a slab, it makes a very livable small house. Plans are included for regular and walk-out basements.

This timber frame design is a hybrid: the timber roof sits on a regular 2″x6″ exterior wall rather than on posts and top plates like a full timber frame. Hybrids give all the beauty of timber frame construction with less timber, and therefore less cost.

Features:

• It’s bigger on the inside than it looks like from the outside – we hear this comment a lot!
• With in-floor hot water heat, the house is small enough to heat easily with a 60-gallon hot water heater, which can be powered by gas, electricity, oil or solar power (or a combination). There’s no need for a boiler or furnace!
• The in-floor heating needs only one zone. Individual areas, like bedrooms, can have a different temperature by adjusting the valves on the three hot water loops.
• There are lots of windows – especially the wrap-around windows in the kitchen/dining area.
• You’ll see beautiful vaulted ceilings everywhere except the bathroom and office which are under the loft.
• The 14th-century-style timber roof is not merely decorative. That’s the roof. Timber posts, beams, and curved knee braces lend an timeless ambience, and also define “rooms” within the open concept.
• Pull-down stairs in front of the bathroom provide access to a 194 sq. ft. loft/storage area. There’s room there for an extra bed, and plenty of space for visiting kids to “camp out”.

If you’re interested in shop prints for our larger version (26′ x 35′; link goes to houseplans) please contact us.