This self-built timber frame home in Blue Hill, Maine was constructed by Mike DiMauro and Amanda Hayley of Foxwalk Adventures using a mix of pine, spruce, and hemlock. Designed with the 28×20 Salt Box plans from Timber Frame HQ, the project began in May 2021 shortly after the couple purchased their land. As first-time timber framers, they embraced the challenge fully—living in a tent on site for eight months while building their home from the ground up.
Roughly two-thirds of the home’s total board footage came directly from their own land in the form of pine and spruce, with the remaining timbers sourced locally. All of the on-site material was felled and chainsaw milled by hand. Moving the largest timbers from the woods to the building site became a community effort, requiring a work party of sixteen friends and neighbors to carry them out together.
Amanda completed all of the layout and planing for the frame, while Mike focused on cutting the joinery. The first story of the house was raised using a gin pole and tractor, with a crane brought in later to set the top plates and rafters. Once the frame was complete, the house was insulated from the exterior using recycled rigid foam, sheathed with 2×6 tongue-and-groove boards, and finished with cedar clapboard siding.
Although they began the project with limited conventional construction experience, Mike’s background as an outdoor educator and wilderness skills instructor proved invaluable. His experience with primitive skills and traditional woodworking—particularly bow and arrow making—made timber framing feel intuitive and approachable, often more so than modern stick framing. Together, the project became both a home-building effort and an extension of the skills and values that define their work and lifestyle.
