Timber frame home raising by MoreSun on Dewees Island, SC

Dewees Island is a private barrier island, north of Charleston, South Carolina.

The island is accessible only by ferry, which makes building a timber frame interesting!

Transporting Materials

All of the timbers, SIPs, workers, equipment and tools rode the ferry from the marina at the Isle of Palms.

Foundation Work

We installed a Cypress and Douglas Fir timber frame and SIPs package to create the client's main home and detached guest house. When we arrived at the job site there were 38 telephone poles driven into the sand to form the foundation that would carry the timber frame structure.

A crane was on site for the entire project and was used throughout the timber frame raisings. A lot of our work was done while hanging from the crane.

Once the subfloor structure was in place we were ready to layout the frame for the first level of the house.

The foundation post and beam system was assembled with massive bolts and hardware. The bolts had to be long enough to go through a steel plate, then a 6x8 Cypress post, steel plate, telephone pole, steel plate, another 6x8 post and the final steel plate. The drill we used was so heavy it had to be suspended by the crane so we could operate it.

Timber Frame Home Raising

Next the timber frames were assembled and pegged.

The views in every direction from the frame were beautiful. The island's covenant limits the number of home sites to 150 with strict building codes that require a small footprint and very little clearing of natural vegetation, in order to protect the natural beauty of the surroundings and the wildlife preserve. Gas powered vehicles are only allowed to be used for construction and maintenance. Residents primarily use electric golf carts for transportation.