The Home Reveals Itself: Second Floor Framing on The Modern Tudor

The Modern Tudor, Duxbury MA — Behind the Build

There is a version of this project that existed only in drawings for a long time. In elevation studies and floor plans and structural calculations. In conversations between architects and builders and clients about proportions and materials and the way a Modern Tudor should sit on a lot in Duxbury with the light coming in from the south.

That version is gone now. The second floor is framed. The sun is out. And standing back from this site for the first time with real distance between you and the structure, you can see The Modern Tudor for what it actually is. Not what it was planned to be. What it is. And it is exactly what everyone on this project believed it would be from the beginning.

This is what happened to get here and what it means for everything that follows.

From first floor to second floor

The transition from first floor framing to second floor framing is one of the most significant progressions on any multi-story custom build. It is not simply more of the same work at a higher elevation. The second floor deck and wall framing introduces new structural considerations, new coordination requirements, and new opportunities for the design to express itself in ways that only become possible above grade.

On The Modern Tudor the second floor deck was built over the first floor wall system using the same engineered I-joist framing that defines the first floor assembly. Spans were calculated to eliminate intermediate bearing walls wherever the design called for open space below, giving the first floor the flowing, unobstructed character that the layout demands. At longer spans, flush beams were incorporated into the deck framing to keep the ceiling assembly tight and clean rather than dropping beams below the finished ceiling plane.

Getting the second floor deck flat was a priority before wall framing began. Any variation in the deck surface compounds through the wall framing above it and creates problems at every finish stage. The crew checked the deck systematically before plates were laid and addressed any variation before moving forward.

Second floor wall framing and the character of the home above grade

Second floor wall framing on The Modern Tudor carries a different kind of design significance than the first floor. The exterior walls at this level define the upper portions of the facade, the gable ends, the window placements that punctuate the upper story, and the geometry that transitions into the roof structure above.

Tudor architecture lives in its upper stories in a way that many other architectural styles do not. The vertical emphasis, the strong gable forms, the relationship between solid wall surface and window opening at the upper level all contribute to the characteristic Tudor silhouette that makes these homes immediately recognizable and genuinely beautiful. Getting the framing geometry of the second floor walls right is what allows the finished facade to read the way it was designed to read.

The window rough openings at the second floor level were located and framed with particular care. Their placement relative to the rooms inside and the facade outside was confirmed against the architectural drawings before any sheathing went on. A window opening framed in the wrong location at the second floor is not a small correction at this stage.

What the massing is telling us

One of the most significant things that happens when the second floor framing is complete is that the full massing of the home becomes legible for the first time. Massing, the three-dimensional form and volume of a building as it reads from the exterior, is the primary way a home communicates its character before any cladding, color, or detail is applied.

The massing of The Modern Tudor is strong and confident. The proportions between the first and second floors are balanced. The footprint of the home relates well to the lot and the landscape around it. The places where the roof will eventually break and pitch and intersect are already implied in the top of the wall framing, and those forms are exactly what a Modern Tudor should promise.

Standing on the street in front of this site on a clear day with the sun hitting the frame from the south, the home that has been living in drawings for months is finally visible to anyone who walks by. That is a significant moment on any project. On this one it feels particularly earned.

The warmth of the season and the rhythm of the build

There is something worth acknowledging about what it means to be framing a home like this in the warmth of a New England late spring. The days are long. The light is generous. The crew works with an energy that the shorter darker days of winter make harder to sustain.

Construction is always affected by the seasons and in New England more than most places. The foundation work that happened in the colder months of this build was done under conditions that demanded more from the crew and the materials. Concrete curing in cold weather requires protection and monitoring. Excavation in saturated ground is harder and slower than excavation in drier conditions.

The framing phase arriving with warm weather and long days is not coincidental. It reflects the sequencing decisions made during pre-construction planning to put the right phases of work in the right seasons. The frame is going up fast and clean in conditions that allow it to.

What the roof structure will mean for this home

The second floor walls are up and the roof structure is next. On The Modern Tudor this is the phase that will define the home's identity above everything else. The steep pitches, the intersecting planes, the gable forms that give Tudor architecture its unmistakable vertical drama are all about to be built.

The roof framing on this home is complex by any measure. The geometry was worked out during design and engineered carefully to carry the loads and span the distances required. The carpenters who will build it bring the skill and experience that this kind of work demands. When the roof structure is complete, The Modern Tudor will be recognizable from a distance as exactly what it was always meant to be.

That moment is close now.

Follow along on Instagram as each phase unfolds.

Somma Builders is a licensed general contractor serving Greater Boston and the South Shore, specializing in custom homes, full renovations, and design-build projects. Follow The Modern Tudor series for a behind-the-scenes look at a ground-up custom home build in Duxbury, MA.