old rough hewn timber frame posts

[steveb]

Sadly we got caught up between planning and building control and ended up rebuilding rather than repairing our old end 1700s terraced cottage.

To be honest the repair would have been a bit of a trigger's broom job, the cottage being cement rendered straight onto the timber frame in the 1950s or 60s so almost all wood of structural note had deteriorated to either dust, or simply fell off when the internal decorative coatings (hardboard, asbestos sheet, wood panelling) were removed - leaving the building literally held up by a skim of cement render. Of the original sole plate, a princely 10 inches was all that remained and the main beam in the centre of the property had rotted away from the ground up so that the bottom of it was suspended about two feet from the floor.

The suspended floor over bare earth had been filled up with the filth of the ages, so that the filth had comlpetely filled the void and was touching the underside of the floorboards, rotting it all away - the solution employed here at some time in the past was to simply lay a second layer of joists and flooring over the top of the first one, with rather predictable results.

So the point of the story is - I have a number of old wooden posts that are no use to me - I couldn't re-use them as the BCO wouldn't allow it for structural purposes, they are no use decoratively to me so what can I do with them? They all show signs of woodworm at some point in the past, although seem to be fairly strong. Most have a tenon joint at one end and various nails of the ages in, out or through them.

Are they only good for fire wood, any better suggestions, or if anyone can collect from Essex and make use of them they are welcome to them..

There are also a couple of longer posts with the sockets for the tenons in but they have been out in the garden all year, where as the posts above have at least been kept in the man-shed.

As an unrelated aside, I have several hundred sq m of reclaimed oak strip and planks that are surplus to requirements now - bought "rather too much" at auction so if anyone needs some reclaimed oak flooring (it needs some love - it's probably not ready to lay) I'll happily sell it at cost

-Steve

 

[steveb]

rather donate them to someone who will love them than sell them, but I guess if no takers then ebay might work. good idea

 

[Zebra]

I demolished and rebuilt the side extension of my house because it was in a similar state. However, I numbered and carefully stored the timber frame, (warning: some of you might not like this......) and shall attach it all back on again in its original positions, onto the blockwork, and lime plaster round it.
I suppose that might not be a helpful suggestion as you already said they're of no use to you decoratively, just thought I'd mention it....
Do you have a picture of the oak flooring?

 

[steveb]

The original plan was to do the same, hence the storing of the posts that were intact (universally from upstairs it seemed) however we couldn't fit them on the outside, the other 2 cottages in the terrace being now rendered - originally they were weatherboarded - so would look out of place, and we have nowhere that would look good internally hence now going spare.

Getting pictures of the wood is harder than it seems - I bought blind at auction (note to self, don't just send the builder to look next time) and got upwards of 25 tonnes of it, so it currently lives on pallets in a warehouse. I have pictures of my own floor but there is not much of this size left, it's mostly strip which is T&G on all 4 sides, varying lengths from 1 to 6 feet long and 2.5 inches wide and 1 inch thick. It certainly needs a layer planed off the top but looks beautiful when it does. There is also a load of 3 and 4 inch wide planks and some as yet undiscovered

If anyone had space to store it and wants to take the lot off my hands let me know - I could do without the storage costs !

will try and upload some sample pics later