Rethink Your Life! Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy |
The Work of Art and The Art of Work Kiko Denzer on Art |
|
|
Cob: RE: Re: Insulation etcMichael Saunby mike at Chook.Demon.Co.UKTue Jul 20 03:39:56 CDT 1999
On 19 July 1999 19:46, Mike Holland [SMTP:mholland at cyberservices.com] wrote: > > Just for reference, one of the internal walls we removed was built with > vertical posts about 2 foot apart, with split oak laths nailed to them - the > kitchen ceiling/attic floor the same: the laths and posts had been there for > anything up to a century and showed no particular signs of rot or insect > attack. I strongly doubt that they were treated in any way. The lime in > the cob mix used round here tends to dissuade insects, anyway. > > Same thing here. Oak posts approx 3.5" x 3.5" at 2' intervals with a tidy pegged morice into 4.5" x 4.5" horizontal beams at floor and ceiling. The split oak laths are nailed to these and covered with two layers of plaster, the first with hay to bind it, the top coat with cow hair. The horizonals that would have been set in the ground floor have gone now (after 300 years) but the others are fine, some worm in places, which has been treated in recent times. In the old days the fires would have smoked a lot, as evidenced by the colour of much of the wood, this may well have surpressed wood worm. Worth bearing in mind that in England we don't have termites, well except in one house in Devon that accidently imported some and the authorities have been struggling to control. Michael Saunby
|