Why did I rip off the roof of an old stone property?

[dreambuild]

Having just removed the roof of my major transformation of an old stone property in Croatia, I wanted to share some of the reasoning behind such a dramatic alteration

 

[88v8]

Interesting.
Low labour costs and no considerations of preserving patina and originality do open up more possibilities.
Not very 'period' though.

 

[Feltwell]

You may as well have flattened it and started again with a new build. Old buildings are all about their patina and character, both of which are very easy to destroy.

 

[dreambuild]

I do my utmost to keep the charm and character of the buildings I renovate, attached is my last project in france. But with this project in croatia, earthquakes are a larger concern in croatia than uk, as you may of heard parts of zagreb was severely damaged last year, for this and a number of reasons, I had to tread a finer path between authenticity and practicality. Still better than the building sitting abandonded, squatted for another 25 years?

 

[Toby Newell]

I do my utmost to keep the charm and character of the buildings I renovate, attached is my last project in france. But with this project in croatia, earthquakes are a larger concern in croatia than uk, as you may of heard parts of zagreb was severely damaged last year, for this and a number of reasons, I had to tread a finer path between authenticity and practicality. Still better than the building sitting abandonded, squatted for another 25 years?

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lol is youtube not enough for your marketing campaign?

 

[Kearn]

even from the thumbnails, the sad sight of flat plasterboard walls, square corners, external flat renders and presumably a whole host of modern materials has done away with any character or honesty from the old buildings. Not to mention the issues that will come in time…

 

[Toby Newell]

even from the thumbnails, the sad sight of flat plasterboard walls, square corners, external flat renders and presumably a whole host of modern materials has done away with any character or honesty from the old buildings. Not to mention the issues that will come in time…

I haven't bothered to click the clickbait.

The excuses were facile, especially the earthquake one.

As far as I am aware, Japan is quite a lot more tectonically active than Croatia and again, as far as I am aware, I haven't heard or seen many Shinto shrines being ripped apart and replaced with plasterboard.

Also not sure about his understanding of the word 'utmost' as in doing his supreme maximum effort to retain charm and character, by covering the original pine board floors with cheap new oak, plastering the original stone walls, painting the original timbers... seems like the diametric opposite.

He may be a perfectly reasonable builder, albeit one with a forked tongue with little appreciation of period buildings.

I guess those in charge will have to see whether he is a fly by night one off or if he continues to spam post his free advertising for his building / youtube businesses.

He obviously has zero interest in period buildings or their conservation.

 

[fernicarry]

Japan is quite a lot more tectonically active than Croatia and again, as far as I am aware, I haven't heard or seen many Shinto shrines being ripped apart and replaced with plasterboard

Well, not quite, a lot of ancient monuments are upgraded, or even reconstructed, with modern materials. Osaka-jo is a concrete replica of the original castle.

The Japanese take a whole different view of property value due to the prevalence of natural disasters. Not just earthquakes but volcanoes, typhoons etc. Its a very unfortunate corner of the world for that sort of stuff. The physical structure has no value, its the land that holds the value. The first thing you do when you buy a house is tear it down and build a new one, and its not uncommon for plots to be leveled before sale. Continuous renewal is seen as normal.

There are very few rubble stone constructions around except maybe the foundations of the palaces and moats and not unheard of for there to be the odd collapse after a bit of shaking. What tends to get traditional buildings during earthquakes is the weight of the tiled roof. But if it collapses and its culturally important then it will be rebuilt to look exactly the same. I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't involve a bit of plasterboard here and there...

Good times, but 3/11 put paid to that. On the other hand, the roof will never come off of Fernicarry so long as I have anything to do with it.

 

[Toby Newell]

Well, not quite, a lot of ancient monuments are upgraded, or even reconstructed, with modern materials. Osaka-jo is a concrete replica of the original castle.

The Japanese take a whole different view of property value due to the prevalence of natural disasters. Not just earthquakes but volcanoes, typhoons etc. Its a very unfortunate corner of the world for that sort of stuff. The physical structure has no value, its the land that holds the value. The first thing you do when you buy a house is tear it down and build a new one, and its not uncommon for plots to be leveled before sale. Continuous renewal is seen as normal.

There are very few rubble stone constructions around except maybe the foundations of the palaces and moats and not unheard of for there to be the odd collapse after a bit of shaking. What tends to get traditional buildings during earthquakes is the weight of the tiled roof. But if it collapses and its culturally important then it will be rebuilt to look exactly the same. I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't involve a bit of plasterboard here and there...

Good times, but 3/11 put paid to that. On the other hand, the roof will never come off of Fernicarry so long as I have anything to do with it.

Probably a bad example, the Japanese, wonderfully contrary as they are, seem to have an awful lot of poorly maintained and dilapidated buildings.