Old wooden house

[Stompy]

Hey guys

 

Wasn't quite sure where to post this but as the timber is going to be milled down this seems a good a place as any...... thought it might be of interest to some.

 

We have just started taking down an old solid Oak house out here in Croatia. These are quite amazing buildings showing some incredible craftsmanship and use of timber with stunning compound dovetailed corner joints and intricate carvings.... all done by hand.

 

Along with the fantastic timber that it has so far yielded we also found a lot of interesting bits and pieces from old farm tools, oil lamps and newspapers to munitions from the Balkans war some 20 years ago.

 

It also turns out the house is a lot older than we thought. We estimated around 60 - 80 years but from the way the timbers were formed, all hand hewn, it is more likely 100 - 120 years old.

 

There was some beautiful hand carved detailing on the face beams and some of the timbers were so large it needed 4 of us to shift them..... They certainly don't build houses like this anymore.

 

All of the timber is destined to be given a new life and although a shame to take down such a beautiful building it is far better than seeing it left to rot away......

 

 

you can see more on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/oaktreemill

Edited May 2, 2015 by Stompy

[codlasher]

Some years ago my dad was involved with the Chiltern open air museum.

He was part of a historic buildings group which tried to preserve simple traditional buildings before the demolition crew got their hands on them. This is how the museum started and these buildings along with others are still in existance. The Weald & Downland is another brilliant place too.

Does the area you operate in have a number of these wonderful structures? If so would it be possible to get a site for one to be preserved before they disappear.......

codlasher

[Stompy]

Hey Codlasher

 

The area we are working in has thousands of these buildings and further south nearly every other building is in this form. There are plenty preserved and restored and we would certainly never take one down that wasn't restorable.

 

This particular house had rotten rafters, ceiling beams and wall plates. The base beams are shot also and it has some fairly drastic spread occuring at the base. We are just salvaging what we can before it falls down on it's own or gets burnt.

 

The locals don't see the value in the timber and so thousands of these houses are taken down every year to supply fire wood for the coming winter. It's criminal but the young inherit these old houses out in the villages (where life is still very simple) and don't want to live there, they would rather be in the cities so the houses just sit and rot. As soon as the roof goes it is only a matter of time before the house crumbles.

 

A real shame but if we can get in there before then or before it gets turned into firewood then we can either restore or recycle the timbers.

[codlasher]

Well, with your skills Stompy, at least the timber will be used and make something interesting. Thanks.

codlasher

[Timber terrier]

A wonderful looking old building! Shame it's got like that. Croatia is somewhere I've always wanted to go, it looks a very interesting place from what I've seen