Timber construction techniques used in the past

Wood, stone and clay are the oldest building materials. Long before cement and concrete, people built their shelters out of stone and wood. Clay was used to hold them together, but also to insulate the house. Skilled craftsmen used construction techniques that are still used today to build traditional eco-houses. About timber and traditional building techniques I'll tell you next.

I was talking with a friend the other day about the old houses made by craftsmen who worked only by instinct and experience, without having learned any skills at school. Mihai, a building engineer with a lot of experience both at home and abroad, was telling me how impressed he was by the way these craftsmen built. From him I learned a few ways to use wood according to traditional building techniques. And it's not about wooden houses but about the use of wood in house construction.

How a "warm" floor can be built using traditional techniques

The big problem with a house "on the ground" is the always cold floor. To keep your feet from getting cold you should have underfloor heating. There is, however, a way to build a parsley with an acceptable and constant temperature.

The house will not have a classical foundation but one made of natural materials. Ballast is used as a drainage layer and river stone. Washed or crushed stone is placed on top and finally slag. All these layers will provide drainage and together form the foundation.

Wooden beams are placed over the foundation in the form of a frame - the sole of the house. The frame is divided into 60 cm wide spaces using other wooden beams. Between them, treated sawdust is placed to insulate. Treatment is mandatory to remove insects that can endanger the wood (cari).

Perpendicular to the beams are the wooden cabinets that support the floorboards. The result is a floor with a pleasant appearance and very good thermal insulation.

Construction of ceiling on wooden structure, insulated with natural materials

The ceiling can also be built and insulated in the traditional way, using wood and clay as building materials. Generally the levels of a house are separated with concrete slabs. It encumbers the house, putting quite a lot of stress on the load-bearing structure.

But it can be built with wood. Using grinzi from oak is made a frame supported on the supporting legs exactly like the one above. On the outside of the joists, on the side facing the room, 2/2 cm wooden slats are knocked together, not side by side but with a slat break - i.e. one yes and one no. The joists are insulated between the beams with clay tiles. What are these? Building clay mixed with dry straw and made in the form of scrolls. Clay is a very good insulator, both thermally and acoustically.

On the boards facing the room, the rabbeted mesh is fixed and plastered with mortar or a thinner clay and after drying, it is varnished.

Traditional construction of house walls on wooden structure

Since we have done the traditional foundation and ceiling, let's see how to do the traditional wood-frame walls. Vertical posts rise at the corners of the oak beams that form the base of the house. Posts are also placed in front of doors and windows. The top end of the posts is attached to another wooden frame, that of the ceiling.

In order to have a solid structure, each square or rectangle formed by the vertical and horizontal beams is reinforced with oblique beams joining the opposite joints. On either side of the vertical beams, i.e. on the outside and inside of the house, horizontal wooden slats are battened with a break between them. This forms a kind of hollow wall which is then filled inside with clay mixed with straw.

Preparing clay for wall filling

The clay was mixed with straw right next to the house and in order to be very well mixed it was "played" on the feet by women and children. Among them was a skilled craftsman who knew what consistency the clay should be to get the best results. From time to time he poured a little water which was incorporated into the mixture with his feet.

When it reached the right consistency, the clay was put inside the wooden wall and beaten very well so that no gaps remained. Everything had to be done quickly because the mixture didn't stay at the right consistency for long.

Finishing the walls outside

After the walls were filled with clay, slats were beaten on the outside at a 45º angle. Short slats were beaten one row facing one side and the next row facing the other. Up to the top there were several such rows which stabilised and stiffened the house very well. Between the battens, thinner clay was filled in, like plaster, and then glazed or painted. Such houses are common in the Suceava - Rădăuți - Vatra Dornei area. In some houses the clay has fallen away over time, and so the tiles can be seen very clearly, with the edges turned in one direction or another.

With wood-to-wood joints the house was more flexible and resistant to earth movements and the natural treatment made the wood very durable

Now, even if they are made by traditional methods, metal nails or other such joining methods are still used. In the past, however, the joints were all wood to wood - dovetail, nut and feder - and the nails were also made of wood.

And wood treatment was done naturally. The wood at the foot of the house was thoroughly burned to make it more resistant to water, fire and insect attack. The exposed wood was oiled after burning, giving it even better protection against damp.

The wood used in the past for construction was hard and heavy, with a high tannin content that made it durable. It was mainly used oak tree, larchand in the south, where it was plentiful, acacia. It was the classic wood for load-bearing structures, and was even used green (untreated). Such constructions have stood the test of time, and if knocked down, healthy wood was recovered that could be reused in other constructions.

Slowly we are realising that not everything that was in the past was bad and not everything that is modern material is obligatory and good. I think it is best not to lose any of what was and what is, by combining old, sometimes forgotten techniques with modern building materials.