Building for New England
I was raised out west — just outside of Seattle — and houses were built differently there.
Snow wasn’t something you thought about structurally. It might dust the ground for a day or two, but it wasn’t a defining force in how homes were designed. Roof pitch wasn’t about shedding heavy accumulation. Snow load calculations weren’t part of everyday conversation. Ice dams weren’t a seasonal concern.
Then I married a builder who was born and raised in the North East.
And I learned that building in New England is an entirely different discipline.
Winter here isn’t decorative. It’s structural.
When you see a house like this sitting quietly under a blanket of snow, what you’re really looking at is engineering at work. Roof systems are designed to carry significant snow loads. Framing isn’t just about layout — it’s about strength and distribution. Roof pitch matters. Ventilation matters. Insulation depth matters.
In New England, we build with the understanding that snow will sit. That temperatures will swing. That freeze and thaw cycles will test every flashing detail and every seam.
Ice dams aren’t just an inconvenience — they’re a signal that insulation and air sealing have to be done correctly. Proper attic ventilation prevents heat from escaping unevenly. Structural lumber sizing accounts for weight most regions never experience.
Winter is when you find out if a home was built right.
A well-built New England home doesn’t just look beautiful in July. It stands steady in January.
There’s something reassuring about that — seeing a home sit solid and quiet after a storm. Not dramatic. Not strained. Just doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Building for New England means respecting the climate. It means planning for what you can’t control. It means understanding that materials move, expand, contract, freeze, and thaw — and building accordingly.
It’s not overbuilding.
It’s building appropriately for where you live.
And that’s something I didn’t fully appreciate until I saw it up close.
– XO, The Builder’s Wife