{"id":26855,"date":"2024-07-05T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/simon-gnehm-traditional-timber-framing\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:46:08","slug":"simon-gnehm-traditional-timber-framing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/simon-gnehm-traditional-timber-framing\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Gnehm: Traditional timber framing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango craftsman Simon Gnehm builds a bench using sourced lumber from the site on Tuesday. The bench will go in a shed he is building by using traditional methods for a client in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As a young carpenter apprentice in Switzerland, Simon Gnehm fell in love with timber framing.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the outdoor work and smell of sap and sawdust that appealed to him. In those days, most timber framing work in Switzerland was roof construction, and Gnehm found that he liked the feeling of being over everyone else on a job site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost an ego thing, but you\u2019re up high, you\u2019re above everybody else almost literally and figuratively, and it\u2019s an adrenaline rush when you\u2019re up high on the roof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Today, 30 years after completing his apprenticeship and obtaining his engineering degree from Berufsschule Lenzburg (trade school of Lenzburg), he runs his own timber framing company, Dovetail Timbers<\/a>, in Durango.<\/p>\n

Upon immigrating to the United States in 1996, Gnehm settled in Boulder.<\/p>\n

He found a job on a framing crew, slapping two-by-fours together with a nail gun. He hated the work, so, in pursuit of starting his own company, he began seeking the specialized tools he\u2019d used to timber frame houses in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango craftsman Simon Gnehm has built a shed and outdoor building for a client in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He placed a call to a tool company in Port Townsend, Washington, which directed him to a distributor in Buffalo, New York.<\/p>\n

The distributor told Gnehm that not only could he get him the tools, but he knew a timber framer who was hiring in Boulder, just 2\u00bd miles from the room where Gnehm was making his call.<\/p>\n

For the most part, his work uses wood joinery, rather than nails or screws to construct homes and other structures.<\/p>\n

He works with his clients to make sure the structure turns out exactly the way they want it, but he takes every chance he gets to advocate for more traditional methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more passionate about just doing it all in wood, rather than, you know, using some metal fabricated stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gnehm carefully selects the wood he uses and its source in order to best serve the customer and the planet.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango craftsman Simon Gnehm talks about the detached porch on Tuesday that he built using traditional methods for a client in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe have to be careful today, because cutting down big old trees is not the most popular thing to do,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s an industry, it\u2019s a crop, it\u2019s a harvest. And as long as we do it (in a sustainable way), it\u2019s OK. But I\u2019m not a big fan of old growth stuff. That\u2019s just not cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, if trees have to be cut down in order to build the structure, Gnehm tries to incorporate them into the design.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango craftsman Simon Gnehm uses a mallet and chisel on Tuesday as he builds a bench using sourced lumber from the site that will go in a shed that he is constructing using traditional methods for a client in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThink about a mantle piece above a fireplace, and that thing doesn\u2019t really create much conversation, but if that was a tree that grew where the house is built now, that is that completely changes the dynamic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gnehm prefers to work with spruce, or Southern Yellow Pine, which have good structural properties. No matter what kind of wood he uses, he has to consider that it will shrink over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe classic example is actually a log home,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you stack logs on top of each other horizontally, they will shrink multiple inches over the life span of when it\u2019s built, until it\u2019s totally dried in and you\u2019ll hear that. You\u2019ll hear cracks, you\u2019ll hear pops, and so it\u2019s alive in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango craftsman Simon Gnehm builds a floating floor on Tuesday in a shed that he is building by using traditional methods for a client in the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gnehm says his favorite project is always his current project. However, almost nothing compares to the opportunity to restore a 19th century Pennsylvania barn in summer 2017.<\/p>\n

He said restoring those buildings, especially barns, to replace rotten timbers is \u201creally, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craftsman runs Dovetail Timbers in Durango<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,950,2487,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-durango","tag-forestry-and-timber","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79497,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26855\/revisions\/79497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26855"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}