Covered bridges

[crazyal]

I live within a half hours drive of almost 20 covered bridges. Tuesday I took a break from firewood and the GF and I went for an afternoon drive. Here's some of the pictures we took. Share any you have.

 

[Jim Shooz]

Brilliant ! !

 

[tkappeler]

Beautiful! We have family up that way and want to retire there. Unfortunately, as a teacher, my wife can never get off from school to go up during fall.

 

[MarkV]

Those are great! You live in some very pretty country. Why were covered bridges popular when they were built? Was it to keep snow off for winter travel?

MarkV

 

[smstonypoint]

Beautiful photos -- thanks for posting.

What type of lumber of lumber is used for the siding in order to hold up to the weather?

Steve

 

[rekees4300]

Thanks for sharing. What's up with the green metal roofs? Some sort of state regulation?

 

[crazyal]

The idea behind covering the bridge was to protect the timber framing from the weather. I'm not sure what type of wood they use but I would guess white oak and hemlock. I'm guessing that green steel is just a Vermont thing. Kind of goes with the state motto "Green Mountain state".

 

[vtsnowedin]

The timber frame is usually white spruce and the side boards are pine or cedar. The roofs were originally cedar shingles but they need to be replaced every twenty years or so. The standing seam metal (any color you want but green is the favorite) roofing is the state of the art in VT and will last fifty years or better, and is lighter then the shingles were.

 

[crazyal]

So I did a little research and found a report on the bridge in the 6th picture from the top. The bridge was a combination of Hemlock (deck and cord), Spruce (lattice), and Rock Maple (pegs).

 

[GolfAddict]

Great set of pictures! I really enjoyed them - thanks for posting.