Tennessee Equestrian Real Estate : The Farm at Tralee : Knoxville Farm Land in Strawberry Plain, Knox County, TN

The model home on Lot 35 has seen some delays but only because of developer Paul Smiddy’s commitment to the finest product. When the Australian Cypress they had ordered for hard wood floors was installed, Paul noticed a number of knots and voids. Deciding this was not the quality of wood acceptable in this home, it is all being ripped out and replaced with select 7-inch quarter-sawn white oak floor.  This special process for cutting lumber wears more evenly, reduces shrinking and swelling, and creates incomparable grain patterns.

Another time-consuming but essential step to creating an old world look to the home is a custom process of texturing the walls with plaster and vermiculite. Artisan Jay L Self has been applying this technique to homes for Paul for 17 years. It will take him approximately 70 hours to complete.

Building two masonry fireplaces, one inside and one out, has also taken some time, but it is a requirement of all homes built at Tralee. No pre-fabricated fireplaces are allowed. The style of fireplace chosen for the model home is a technique designed by Count Rumford in the late 1700’s and was used in Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Rumford fireplaces are tall and shallow to reflect more heat, causing them to be much more efficient heat sources than typical fireplaces.

When asked why he labors over every detail, Paul responds, “So much of this doesn’t feel like quality to me; it just feels the way it’s supposed to be done.” The model home is expected to be completed in October or November.

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Among some of the interesting details in the model home, Paul has chosen to superinsulate the house.  First, they sprayed a foam insulation in all exterior walls and in the attic, and then they covered the foam with an R-19 batting, which effectively gave the home an R-30 value.  Paul expects that the investment in insulation will return in rich rewards in lower utility bills. With this much insulation in the house, there are not any vents in the attic or crawl space.

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Lot 23 contains one of the most spectacular views of Mt. LeConte, which is part of the reason that Talbott chose this site for his future home.  To match these spectacular views, he has selected Greenwich, Connecticut based Shope, Reno, Wharton to design his home.  Below is a picture of one of their designs, which fits nicely with other designs used in The Farm at Tralee.

Listed in Architectural Digest's Top Architects and Designers, Shope, Reno, Wharton carefully crafts their home designs to match the landscape where the home is built.  One of their principle design goals is to integrate the residential experience with the home's natural surroundings.

Talbott intends to begin construction after the Equestrian Center is completed and relocated.

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After a couple weeks of timber preparation, we started relocating the timbers from our yard to the bridge location. On 3-08-07, we placed the false work that would support the bridge until that day that it would support itself. The first timbers to be placed were the South side bottom chord members.

I had prepared shop drawings for eight tie brackets that would hold fast the bridge to the abutments which I employed Towe Iron Works to manufacture.  This was one of the few variances from what I saw in the historic spans of which many had no means of securing to the foundation.

After we had placed the inside beam of both bottom chord runs, we were ready to install the panel posts.  In order to install these safely, we drilled a ¾ inch hole in the top section , ran a bolt through, and screwed eyelets on each end to receive the lifting straps.  This worked superbly, keeping the crew safe and also allowed us to lift the post perfectly plumb.  This section of the work went swiftly and within a week’s time we had all panel posts lifted into place and braced. 

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