THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT INFORMATION. I AM CURRENTLY REHABBING A LOG CABIN AND ABOUT TO PUT NEW FLOORS IN ONE OF THE BEDROOMS. THIS INFO IS SUCH GREAT HELP TO ME!
Dont know if anyone gives a damn but if you're stoned like me during the covid times then you can watch all the new series on InstaFlixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend during the lockdown :)
Here in Oregon, our winters are SO wet and our summers are so dry that shrinkage in the flooring is a major thing. So it seems like it might also be a good idea to install it during that really dry time of the year as well as using kiln dried wood. Hey Noah, after a five year search for the right property WE CLOSE ON OUR LAND TOMORROW!!! It's such a beautiful property, with two year round artesian springs and a small year round creek as well. There's some mature doug fir, and 8 to 20 year old port orford & western red cedar, white pine, and more doug fir. There's also a smattering of vining maple, big leaf maple, etc. We're incredibly excited to get to know the property more over the winter and spring (we've been watching it all spring and fall already) and to start coming up with the design for both the house and the land as well! There's a definite possibility of getting at least some of the wood for the house off of our own land which is amazing. A friend up the road has a Wood Mizer Mill and a ten years experience milling with it, and he's excited to help us with that. I've had so much going on in my life that I've yet to truly begin the Handmade House Academy curriculum, but starting Monday morning I'm officially a full time student!!! I feel like a kid at Christmas. I'M SO DAMNED EXCITED...LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!
We are so excited to have you as a member of the HH Guild! Thank you for your comment and update! That is great news about your piece of land. I am incredibly excited to see how you move forward. Please feel free to share your pictures in the FB group and message board...
Hello Noah!...Should I apply linseed oil, vinegar, or wax on a new unfinished wooden floor made of eucalyptus boards?. what would you recommend? thanks for your help!.
They are cool and have their place, but they are not my preference. I think the traditional American style of building log cabins is more aesthetically appealing.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley I'm about to start my own cabin using freshly cut logs and I was wondering if the Scandinavian style would be preferable over any American Style because of shrinkage?
@@WildernessCall I can't speak tothe Scandanvian style's particularities. You will deal with shrinkage regardless. In the little log cabin I recently built with fresh cut lumber most of the shrinkage occurred in the first year after it was built. That said, the rule of thumb for every 1 inch of thickness, it takes 1 year for the wood to dry. Best, --Noah
John crazy and Noah, thank you for your suggestions! Attaching plywood beneath the flooring will likely be my Plan B, because the crawl space is only about 18 inches from the ground to the bottom of joists. After watching a few boating build videos on traditional boat caulking techniques, my Plan A is to caulk the gaps from above with brown oakum, then lightly sanding the floor before sealing it. The cabin is button up for the winter, so I have plenty of the to think about it. Thank again for your help.
I purchased a small (365 square feet) cabin that was build in 1921. After removing three layers of lanoleum and associated subflooring, I uncovered the original 1x6 cedar flooring that was in excellent condition. I intend to use the cedar flooring as the finished floor. The flooring was butted together so in a few places you can see light coming through the floor. My question is: What would you recommend to seal the gaps that would look natural and prevent light from penetrating?
jbh crazy skills beat me to the punch with what I would suggest.... There is no way to fill that gap aesthetically from above...not to mention from below. You can patch a piece in from underneath if you have access (the quick fix)...or if you have the time/space you can tear up the entire floor, sheathe it properly and then lay the flooring back down. The second pathway would be the most thorough approach, but would be a big job that might not merit such an approach...
Nice video as usual. I really wish you would have touched on why you wouldn't recommend hardwoods for flooring in a log cabin a bit other than aesthetics--very curious... perhaps a followup video on flooring? We always get to see your beautiful cabins, stonework, chinking etc... would love some examples of flooring. On that note, I've heard Larch wood is wonderful to have in a log cabin.. thoughts?
Thanks for your comment Andariel. I do not typically recommend hardwoods as a personal preference. It is harder to work at times when laying down, but that should not be the deterrent to using it. Nearly all cabins and timberframe homes in this area featured 1-inch antique yellow pine as the flooring of choice, even if the logs were say, oak or tulip poplar. However, you will occasionally come across a vintage cabin that featured a mix of flooring species.
Noah, Have you ever considered using a torx/star head deck screw, (blind install)? The thread pattern is so aggressive that they pull up heavy flooring very tightly.
October and November are your optimal months for installing wood flooring.Dehumidifiers and humidifiers along with air movement greatly aid in stabilizing the environment.Your grade and water routing away from the foundation are vital also.Your projects are amazing and becoming rare and more artisan then the common production today!
I have seen homes indeed with huge gaps between the floor parts. But what is the chance that the floor will bulge. I put planks in my little house in the spring after acclimatization in the house. Now I have passed these from one room to another and they are convex around the doorway. I placed the planks in the same direction as the door so a plank runs from the left to the right frame. This of course also makes it more sensitive because two large feeding surfaces meet in the door opening. but that cannot be avoided if there are several doors that are at right angles to each other. I left room on the sides to give the floor space to expand, but although that space is still there, the floor is slightly convex in the doorway. How can that be prevented? especially if you lay a thick, heavy floor with more that I think can deliver more power. If, as Noah says, you lay it as tightly as possible, there is no great chance of bulging or that your walls will be "pushed over".
Lots of absolutes here being stated that clearly have nothing to do with the actual original historical handmade houses... So I find myself confused once again with the advice you provide the public here Noah!!! I normally do not post on channels like this unless a client or student brings their question to me because they are confused. "Bone Dry wood" was not the material that went into floors of traditional homes, and certainly not any kiln dried...Only "air dried" since kilns did not exists when vintage homes (especially log cabins!!!) got built. This is most certainly a truth for folk vernacular architecture like log cabins of which I have either been part of their restoration or design and facilitation in the traditional context for 40 years. Many of these with the most common floor...GREEN WOOD!!!...virtually fresh off the stump and certainly air dried at their driest which I often do mill myself or know the sawyer well. Now about to start another one with only air dried oak flooring. As for nails, again you speak of an absolutes once more that is plainly false!? Antique nails are what was used and to suggest this "wasn't ever done," speaks to a fallacy of what making I do not know!!!??? They either had wood trunnel holding them down, or where some form of jointed flooring that floated within their joinery, and a lion's share did get cut nailed to the joist exactly as you said it wasn't done. So how are you giving good advice here if folks want an authentic historic home or to restore one ethically!!!??? Antique nail companies and traditional Blacksmiths exist for a reason, and it not because the only used them in Barns which is also completely and utterly false! I started my career as an apprentice Barnwright to Older Order Amish and those floors got laid green, often floated or trunneled...not nailed until later with cut nail. Problems associated with it like "looking busy" is your opinion at best and certainly not part of the historic record or what people typically ask for which is authenticity...not something you seem to be going after at all in your faux modern cabin work??? Sorry for being so blunt, but I grow weary of "youtube experts" like yourself putting out inaccurate information that actual professionals in the field have to then address with students and client alike...!!!
Jay C. Thank you for your thoughtful comment and sharing your experience. First, please know that I am not trying to speak in total absolutes here... I have found that there is always an exception to every design rule I have ever found. With respect to flooring, I am just giving you my experience with respect to many Virginia cabins I have personally inspected and salvaged. My impression is that up in the Northeast, or at least above the Mason-Dixon line, for example, floors facenailed with cut or forged nails were used more often. That said, I have installed cut nails in cabin floors on occasion and the clients have been tickled with the result (no pun intended) but it is not something I ever personally recommend. I have said in the past, but I suppose it bears saying again, these are my observations based on my experience here principally in the Virginias.... I have inspected over 1000 vintage cabins in this area in my career.... Perhaps I should amend my comments to say, some cabins have face-nailed floors in this region, but the vast majority in this region did not. Facenailed floors are something you will see most often in barns and mills.... You are correct...I am giving my opinion here in terms of aesthetics. However it is an informed opinion based on my experience with clients over the years... Those who want the rusticness of a traditional cabin, but who also don't want gaps in their floors. Often those are the same folks who don't want to step on a nail and prefer just the look of a nice floor with no nails. Again, I have done both styles, but when giving general advice, I always lean towards where I feel most people have been happy with the result. Also I am not suggesting that green wood was not used--certainly the frontiersman often did not have the luxury of readily dried wood. But with reference to new flooring, unless the flooring is cut, stacked, stickered, dried and milled to specification, the result for an inexperienced DIYer on a first go around can often be disappointing. I am not saying one should not learn the proper steps, try, or go that route... But in trying to answer the question I was trying to give a bottom line recommendation on how to achieve the most pleasing floor possible As intimated above, when it comes to authenticity, I have worked with folks who want seriously unplugged primitive traditional cabins and others who prefer a blend of traditional rustic with specific modern refinements. Most of the people I have worked with over the years have been on the latter end of the spectrum when it comes to their main living space, and so that is the tact I take in my courses and general recommendations.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley I’m pleased that what seems like “total absolutes,” was not the intent and only your opinion on a key topics. Thank you for sharing that. I will not take away from what you state your experience is with Virginia cabins, as it would be false for me to speak to that with any understanding since I don’t know you. What I can share is from my experience across the spectrum of historic log cabins up and down Appalachia, Canada, and across North America with European expansion. Even in Virginia, earthen, plank, and puncheon flooring systems are not the way you seem to describe floors in Virginia’s historic hewn cabins and they certainly never got “chicked” (which is stone, wood, rabbet, etc) with cement nor daubed with anything like cement ever...only clay cob and/or lime blends when into this and why the cabins lasted and now are not! “Floors facenailed with cut or forged nails,” can be found in historic homes from Florida to northern Canada and from East to West. Is it more common in some regions in various degrees, yes but by time period they either were floated, trunneled or facenailed... I can, again, more than respect your experience and the way you may wish to teach people “your methods” for building new cabins. New work can be whatever anyone wishes it to be, and if your clients like that great. However, if the topic is proper (and ethical) restoration, and/or good practice in vintage restoration/replication, that is another matter initially and what I have thus read and heard as your means, methods and materials...that is!!!...completely out of context or professional bearing for the craft. Studying an area is all well and good, I can make a very similar claim over my 40 years in the field, but it has a much broader expanse, including other countries and folk traditions...including Virginia’s vernacular modalities of log and timber framed architecture. So no, the “vast majority in this region,” that is Virginia may not have had “face-nailed,” yet the point of contention is what you're recommending for historic structures in its place!!! You're not recommending floated or trunneled floors like puncheon, earthen, or stone/brick floors but rather again modern flooring that has no purpose of bearing ethically being in a vintage reconstruction or restoration. If a client wishes for a “modern cabin” that is one thing with faux log work, concrete floors covered in veneer wood and other elements of modernity. I can’t speak to that, as I do not design nor facilitate such work. Those methods...do not!...belong in restoration or even good replication work that seem to be endorsing belong... “Facenailed floors are something you will see most often in barns and mills," is not true at all if speaking of the original and not some 1950’s adulteration that is all to commonly found. This is contemporary, not period work, and I was under the impression from your verbiage was the goal of the “hand made house” ...but it seems that is not the case at all, and your work is to be “faux historic” and basically modern cabins made to “look old” but have little to do with traditional methods, or sustainable architecture in that context… My clients don’t step on nails and why that seems to be some point you make about traditional nails more than once is beyond me? If a client is stepping on nails, even large ones, the craftsperson teaching them or doing the work doesn't know what they are doing in the craft or installation for this period fastener. There is a difference between what you are “feeling” clients want and what you (it seems?) desperately are selling them on? Which is your modern approach to this work, not actual historic cabin restoration or even replication. I have no problems, again, with clients stepping on nails, drafty houses because of the use of traditional daub and chink nor challenges of not bringing these structures into current standards...all without neglecting the ethical mandates of period work in restoration and good craftsmanship including using green wood (they way it was done) and even earthen floors now all the rage with many clients… As to flooring in more detail...if the person instructing the DIYer actually knows and understands all aspects of traditional woodworking, then there is no disappointment at all. Quite the contrary, and why I guess I’m having this discussion with you. You have put yourself out there as a “Teacher” showing students methods to do traditional cabins and the methods are not applicable and certainly not restoration...but modern general contracting work...period! If that is what they want, no issue, but that does not seem (on the face of it? what you are advertising with your “Hand Made House Guild? I am not certain how your recommendation constitutes “the most pleasing floor” for a client wanting an authentic cabin floor that is also proven durable over centuries as well as comfortable if maintained properly. The continuation seems to be that the alternative (i.e. traditional) isn on pleasing… Your videos, books and directions offered have confused people enough that I have been contacted on more than one occasion for clarification. This is the first time (I think) I have bothered to respond, but now with more interest in this topic by more people, the demand for “good and accurate” full spectrum info is very high. I don’t see it here at all, but more “this old house” general contracting methods...not historic replication/restoration modalities in means, methods and materials of stone, earth and timber...I can't speak to the future, but I'm sure to get more and since this is a public forum you have placed yourself in, then being reviewed by both clients and peers alike will take place...
Hi Jaycee, The angle and tone of your comments suggest you really are unfamiliar with my work, have watched only a few videos, have heard this or that, and are unaware of the total context in which I suggest or advocate things. First and foremost, all of my guidance that I share in videos is about my love of building handmade houses... I define a handmade house, in part, as the best of the old and the best of the new being brought together, not strict historic restoration or period replication. I state this publically and in the academies….it appears you have missed this. Perhaps it bears repeating. I have done my share of historic restoration and replication, but my love is in the combination. What I state is the “best” might be up for debate, but it is an informed perspective well-grounded by a lifetime in the field and deep-rooted appreciation for traditional methods. We can disagree on which approach or specific method is most preferable, but your statement that this approach is “faux historic” or “modern cabins made to ‘look old’” etc. shows a lack of an accurate familiarity with my work, which has a much more to do with honoring historic structures, methods, and aesthetics than innovation. It also strikes me as an insulting or denigrating use of terminology to diminish the judicious modern use of vintage materials and methods. It also suggests that only historic or period methods are proper and “perfect” (which is sometimes the case, e.g., traditional cabin notching) and denies any “modern” innovation or advancements in technology or methods, which is itself, ironically, an a-historical approach. Again, I admire and appreciate period work. However, one man’s history is another’s innovation, or so I have heard it said by a historian friend. I have also personally experienced “professional” historians advocate for precious historic structures in disrepair to be burned in situ rather than be saved and repurposed or rebuilt elsewhere (as would have been done historically) because doing so was seen as an “unethical” violation of a structure’s historicity. This level of purism is not one that I condone, it’s horrifying…it’s insanity…but I digress…. All of this is to say is that I know historic purists have come up with issues at times with what I share…but again I am not trying to build purely to historic specification, but use antique materials and traditional methods combined with the best of what modern standards can offer. I try to define what and when that is in my courses and videos. Others are certainly entitled to their perspective and pathway on what is “best” or appropriate…and they can also start their own channels and courses to share what they know if they so desire. That said, the focus of this video was in answering a question about two-inch thick flooring between the first and second floor. I have never seen such thick floor in a historic home... ever. But 2-inch flooring is perfect for this application...for strength and soundproofing. I've also never seen flooring in any historic home that was put down with wood pegs, not saying it wasn't done... it's just so extremely rare here in the Mid Atlantic that this old boy has never seen it. I've seen it only a few times in barns. I'd like to see someone get away with getting a building inspector to pass flooring that was floating... flooring with no sub floor. I've never seen any clues that flooring was put down by "floating it" around here anyway, so I've got some serious doubt about this, notwithstanding your own personal experiences and observations… Also, to further clarify my previous comments, flooring was never put down green. Flooring was often put down thoroughly air dried. It had very tight grain and was not prone to shrinking like the wood commonly bought today. That and it was installed in houses "heated" by a fireplace... it did not experience the dryness that comes from a woodstove or central heat. This flooring was an inch thick and would dry quicker than a two inch floor. It was flooring where if a gap of a quarter of an inch appeared between each course everyone was good with that. Folks today are much pickier than those of old, generally speaking, in my experience. I have indeed seen some old cabin flooring nailed in the face... one inch flooring... typically that would be REALLY old flooring…with hand forged nails, approximately 150-200 years old. But most old flooring that I've seen has not been face nailed. Face nailed boards also tend to squeak more. Most folks I have consulted with don't want squeaky floors. I've never seen two inch thick flooring face nailed in a home. Most folks who put down new flooring these days will sand the floors before finishing... those nail heads would eat up sand belts (and wouldn't be too healthy on the sanding drums)... and the tops of those nail heads would be all shiny and detracting. Of course, one could plan to get around this, but it would take extra effort, if desired. Also, I should clarify that when I was referring to replica old nails I was thinking of the path that 99% of folks do which is to get those that are manufactured replicas today, which look awful in my opinion (Tremont nails might be an exception)…but going to a blacksmith is another thing altogether. Many folks wouldn't fork out dollars for each nail... and very few blacksmiths want to make hundreds of nails these days, although they might have their apprentices do so if they were fortunate enough to have them. Again, the focus of this video was the flooring above the first floor. A slight gap between boards here can allow a lot of sunlit glitter to filter down on occupants below. Why not get flooring kiln dried? The last time I had it done it set me back less than a hundred bucks...so really, I don’t see an issue here. Perhaps you have found a stream of folks who want their homes built 100% historic and are willing to live with the issues and unique peculiarities of an historic home. My grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, all of whom lived in primitive cabins, could never figure out my interest in them, nor understand why anyone would pay me to build them. In my opinion, it's all about the blending of the two, old and modern, that makes the difference. If people are confused about what I articulate in my videos and on my website, they are free to contact me for clarification if so desired, do further research, and make their own decisions. I am asked frequently for my personal opinion, experience, and input on specific building topics, which is where this video is coming from…perhaps you missed this. Ultimately, a person who loves their handmade home and is happy with their design choices after making an informed decision is all I can ask, with modern building being what it is…even if that means face-nailing floors with cut masonry nails from Tremont. One of my students has written to me in the past after doing just that, stating that he loves his face-nailed multi-width white oak floors. More power to him. Wishing you the best... Noah
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley Hello Noah, I do appreciate your discourse and I will do my best to address each point as succinctly as possible so I apologize for falling into a pedantic rhythm...but it is the only way to be thorough and accurate in my comment...
My, “angle and tone,” toward your comments are actually because I am very familiar with your work unfortunately. Too familiar over too many years now, and the breaking point was this last query from a colleague on this very subject. Online “experts” (like yourself) too often try to sell the public on something that is frankly false. You're not a restoration expert at all, and your work reflects that clearly. That is not to say you do bad work, or ugly work. You do not! Nevertheless...the work I see is clearly that of only a very skilled general contractor that works on “old structures,” very much like “This Old House.” You project no deep understanding of the historic crafts in countless videos that I will now (per your request) list and comment on. The “this old house” mindset is considered on a spectrum between laughable and flatly legally finable in many parts of Europe where actual “historic restoration/replication,” is taken very seriously, and not so much here until one gets into national monuments or museum level grade proper and actual restoration/replication...
I have reviewed so many of your videos I could not begin to count them but since that inaccurate observation has been made about me, I will go back through and comment on each of them to address their errors and misdirections to viewers that do not know any better. Here will be some of those points and observations: th-cam.com/video/E-bztKjHNgI/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley 1. Modern OPC concrete blends of any kind are never to be used as “daubing,” and what you still incorrectly continue to call “Chinking” (aka wattle) which would be the wire in your case which is also completely out of context for proper historic work as well, and both are illegal now in many areas on vintage structures! 30 years is not an indicator of success when there are many of us that have ripped this out and had to repair the damage it causes in many applications.
2. “Lime” has nothing at all to do with modern OPC concretes, parging materials or related cement products of the contemporary cement industry nor applicable to proper historic restoration and certainly not daubing (again, what you keep calling “chinking!) Type S lime should never be used with vintage homes nor cements as stated! These are both created from lower grade dolomitic limestone and industrial byproducts!!! Proper lime (or lime putty, hot limes, etc) are made from calitic limestones and a blend of these pure or mixed with clay are what should be and are required in proper historic work, or even good modern construction within the vintage style of replication…
th-cam.com/video/X43wkmPJjwg/w-d-xo.html
3. You call stone pier foundations rare...???...and "poorly built home!!!" I have never heard such an obtuse comment from an alleged historic expert in all my life!!!
I have driven down thousands of miles of Appalachian, Pennsylvania and Virginia roads , where this type of authentic foundation is anything but "rare?" So I'm not sure if you're trying to sell viewers on a level of disdain you personally have for authentic foundations of this more than proven system or your inadequate skill sets to build this way in proper restoration for such historic architecture because of failures like this in your own work? Insulating them (in the modern or historic context!) is not difficult at all, and pest proofing them is certainly not an issue either.
Either way, there is nothing at all wrong with stone pier foundations...AT ALL!!!... and the fact they have successfully held up log cabins, timber frame houses and barns for over 350 years without issue...WHEN!!!...properly taken care of is testimony to there strength, durability and character in simplistic design!!! I could not disagree more with you and certainly could never recommend to anyone to follow your guidance on historic cabin work!!!
4. Straw bale architecture is more than proven and has been around since humans baled it, and before it was used in a different but just as durable format...with these being thousands of years old in practice and durability. "Stack wood" (aka what some now call "cord wood" ) have been around since the advent of the saw, so well over 500 years to be sure, and found from Korean to Eastern Europe and then North America in proven durable and sustainable modality. Your "confusion" over this method then clearly reflects your ignorance of it and why it is often superior to a log cabin in many ways. Individuals like yourself should learn how to design and build in a given modality before they pontificate about why "they think!" the method is flawed in some way…
5. I wish to be very clear with this comment about advice given in this video: THERE...IS NOT!!!!...ANY FORM OF PROPER HISTORIC RESTORATION!!!!...BEING DISCUSSED OR PRESENTED HERE AT ALL BY ANY REAL STANDARD AS UNDERSTOOD AT THE MUSEUM OR INTERNATIONAL LEVEL OF SUCH WORK AND CRAFT!!!
THIS IS...a very skilled modern general contractor bastardizing and possibly destroying a piece of history with these practices of modern adulterations. Those of us that actually do study and learn these traditional system of architecture thoroughly seldom find a need to "improve" on what our forebears tried to teach us and only hubris brings some to a different conclusions or...???...their inability to actually understand what these vintage means, methods and materials are actually teaching us...
NO...!!!...You do not remove, "everything you don't want!!!" That is actually illegal on national monument structures and most in Europe with historic designation. All work has to be ethically "like for like in means, method and material," other than modern updates which can not distort...AT ALL...the underlying historic fabrics and/or must be 100% reversible...Clearly Noah you are an experienced and talented general contractor...YOU ARE NOT...by any stretch doing or teach any form of Historic Restoration!!!
I can go into more detail in this video of very poor understanding and observation, but the point would be moot at this juncture...
6. Again Noah, your depth of knowledge of this subject is often parochial at best and I can't figure out why you present yourself in these videos as such an "expert?"
Not all Oak species are rot resistant at all!!! Some actully, like Red or Black Oaks are notorious for rapid decay depending on age, location in structure, and the amount of sap wood they have...
Length of log is moot and any actual traditional builder of log and timber frame vintage structures know this. Long logs are fine if you have them, but scarf jointed logs are more than historically correct and germane to this craft...
"Cedar" ( a misnomer as we have no actual cedars in North America) grew huge in Virgina and got used extensively so your entire description was highly inaccurate and only one species was "red" that is found (or was found historically) in Virgina. Case in point inland there was Thuja occidentalis (White Cedar) that grew very large to massive, Juniperus virginiana (Red Cedar) that in the historic period where found over 500 years old commonly, over 3 feet in diameter and well used and then, on the coast, absolutely massive Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic Coast Cedar) made it into all manner of vintage architecture including log cabins!!!
Needless to say, I could keep going on many videos from your advice on stone to site prep. I find you a very talented general contractor and you do beautiful work, but most of it is faux historic and out of context for the architecture! I would never, never take away your craft skill abilities in presentation, and some of your stone work is nice, but the joint gaps are wanting and I have not seen a single example of good dry laid structural work yet...
How you choose to “define” vintage architecture is moot. Historic architecture is what it is and has a huge professional base behind it. You are certainly...not at all!!!...in that base or spectrum. So how you wish to “define” it is pointless. The profession defines it, not you…and it did not “bear repeating” at all. YOU DO NOT...do any form of historic restoration at all in any of your publications or videos that I have seen yet. You do excellent general contracting on old houses that would be illegal in Europe, on a monument grade structure. Your ignorance of the Burra conventions standards (et al) for proper historic work only further reflects this...you are a general contract, albeit a very talented one The fact you have not “seen something” only again reflects your limited exposure and/or lack of actual valid experience in real restoration of vintage fabrics, and certainly not an experience in effectively utilising those modalities...Like a trunneled floor or a proper puncheon.
As for getting a “building inspector” to pass on a floating floor, you may actually wish to take some time to vet my credentials and CV. So yes, I have had many “jointed and floated” floors pass, Doing another one in Iowa very soon...and made with “green oak boards” something else you claim can’t be done...LOL Which is very true...IF...you don’t know what you're doing! I have now designed the largest open timber framed structure resting on a stone plinth in north america and consult on projects around the world. I’m not a “troll” on TH-cam and would not have bothered to post if it wasn’t for the rampant growth of misinformation being spread by those like yourself trying to “redefine” what a craft is or isn’t to fit you clearly wanton business model you charge people for with this very poor information.
In closing Noeh, once more I want to stress that I find 98% of your work excellent in affect and standard for a general contractor. I would not take that away from you and even defend it. You are absolutely not a Historic restorationist and many of the things you claim expertise over is inaccurate, plainly incorrect and/or damaging to the historic fabrics...the main reason someone contacted me with questions...
Respectfully Submitted, Jay C. White Cloud Tosa Tomo Designs
THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT INFORMATION. I AM CURRENTLY REHABBING A LOG CABIN AND ABOUT TO PUT NEW FLOORS IN ONE OF THE BEDROOMS. THIS INFO IS SUCH GREAT HELP TO ME!
Glad to hear it! You're welcome. Thank you for being here!
So much helpful information, thank you!
You are welcome... Thank you for being here!
Dont know if anyone gives a damn but if you're stoned like me during the covid times then you can watch all the new series on InstaFlixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend during the lockdown :)
@Isaiah Dante Yup, I have been using InstaFlixxer for since november myself :)
@Isaiah Dante Definitely, I've been watching on instaflixxer for months myself =)
@Isaiah Dante definitely, been watching on InstaFlixxer for years myself :)
Here in Oregon, our winters are SO wet and our summers are so dry that shrinkage in the flooring is a major thing. So it seems like it might also be a good idea to install it during that really dry time of the year as well as using kiln dried wood.
Hey Noah, after a five year search for the right property WE CLOSE ON OUR LAND TOMORROW!!! It's such a beautiful property, with two year round artesian springs and a small year round creek as well. There's some mature doug fir, and 8 to 20 year old port orford & western red cedar, white pine, and more doug fir. There's also a smattering of vining maple, big leaf maple, etc. We're incredibly excited to get to know the property more over the winter and spring (we've been watching it all spring and fall already) and to start coming up with the design for both the house and the land as well! There's a definite possibility of getting at least some of the wood for the house off of our own land which is amazing. A friend up the road has a Wood Mizer Mill and a ten years experience milling with it, and he's excited to help us with that.
I've had so much going on in my life that I've yet to truly begin the Handmade House Academy curriculum, but starting Monday morning I'm officially a full time student!!! I feel like a kid at Christmas. I'M SO DAMNED EXCITED...LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!
We are so excited to have you as a member of the HH Guild! Thank you for your comment and update! That is great news about your piece of land. I am incredibly excited to see how you move forward. Please feel free to share your pictures in the FB group and message board...
Great insight! Thanks
Thank you Brian! You are welcome!
Hello Noah!...Should I apply linseed oil, vinegar, or wax on a new unfinished wooden floor made of eucalyptus boards?. what would you recommend? thanks for your help!.
Log cabin Academy? How does one enroll or attend?
What is your opinion of Scandinavian, saddle notched, fully scribed log cabins?
They are cool and have their place, but they are not my preference. I think the traditional American style of building log cabins is more aesthetically appealing.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley I'm about to start my own cabin using freshly cut logs and I was wondering if the Scandinavian style would be preferable over any American Style because of shrinkage?
@@WildernessCall I can't speak tothe Scandanvian style's particularities. You will deal with shrinkage regardless. In the little log cabin I recently built with fresh cut lumber most of the shrinkage occurred in the first year after it was built. That said, the rule of thumb for every 1 inch of thickness, it takes 1 year for the wood to dry. Best, --Noah
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley Thanks and God bless
John crazy and Noah, thank you for your suggestions! Attaching plywood beneath the flooring will likely be my Plan B, because the crawl space is only about 18 inches from the ground to the bottom of joists. After watching a few boating build videos on traditional boat caulking techniques, my Plan A is to caulk the gaps from above with brown oakum, then lightly sanding the floor before sealing it. The cabin is button up for the winter, so I have plenty of the to think about it. Thank again for your help.
I purchased a small (365 square feet) cabin that was build in 1921. After removing three layers of lanoleum and associated subflooring, I uncovered the original 1x6 cedar flooring that was in excellent condition. I intend to use the cedar flooring as the finished floor. The flooring was butted together so in a few places you can see light coming through the floor. My question is: What would you recommend to seal the gaps that would look natural and prevent light from penetrating?
Why not go in the crawlspace area and install something like osb or plywood to the bottomside of the floor joists?
jbh crazy skills beat me to the punch with what I would suggest.... There is no way to fill that gap aesthetically from above...not to mention from below. You can patch a piece in from underneath if you have access (the quick fix)...or if you have the time/space you can tear up the entire floor, sheathe it properly and then lay the flooring back down. The second pathway would be the most thorough approach, but would be a big job that might not merit such an approach...
Nice video as usual. I really wish you would have touched on why you wouldn't recommend hardwoods for flooring in a log cabin a bit other than aesthetics--very curious... perhaps a followup video on flooring? We always get to see your beautiful cabins, stonework, chinking etc... would love some examples of flooring. On that note, I've heard Larch wood is wonderful to have in a log cabin.. thoughts?
Thanks for your comment Andariel. I do not typically recommend hardwoods as a personal preference. It is harder to work at times when laying down, but that should not be the deterrent to using it. Nearly all cabins and timberframe homes in this area featured 1-inch antique yellow pine as the flooring of choice, even if the logs were say, oak or tulip poplar. However, you will occasionally come across a vintage cabin that featured a mix of flooring species.
Noah,
Have you ever considered using a torx/star head deck screw, (blind install)? The thread pattern is so aggressive that they pull up heavy flooring very tightly.
Yes, but typically I just stick with the blind toe-nail! Thank you for the tip and for following along CB!
October and November are your optimal months for installing wood flooring.Dehumidifiers and humidifiers along with air movement greatly aid in stabilizing the environment.Your grade and water routing away from the foundation are vital also.Your projects are amazing and becoming rare and more artisan then the common production today!
Thank you for a great comment Ken B!
I have seen homes indeed with huge gaps between the floor parts. But what is the chance that the floor will bulge. I put planks in my little house in the spring after acclimatization in the house. Now I have passed these from one room to another and they are convex around the doorway. I placed the planks in the same direction as the door so a plank runs from the left to the right frame. This of course also makes it more sensitive because two large feeding surfaces meet in the door opening. but that cannot be avoided if there are several doors that are at right angles to each other. I left room on the sides to give the floor space to expand, but although that space is still there, the floor is slightly convex in the doorway. How can that be prevented? especially if you lay a thick, heavy floor with more that I think can deliver more power. If, as Noah says, you lay it as tightly as possible, there is no great chance of bulging or that your walls will be "pushed over".
I am looking for a way to build a log cabin found property with a nice set-up for 25k. I just need a new purpose and a way out of the city.
Congrats on the first big step! Come join the Log Cabin Academy if you feel so inclined! It will bring you closer to your achieving your dream!
Lots of absolutes here being stated that clearly have nothing to do with the actual original historical handmade houses...
So I find myself confused once again with the advice you provide the public here Noah!!!
I normally do not post on channels like this unless a client or student brings their question to me because they are confused. "Bone Dry wood" was not the material that went into floors of traditional homes, and certainly not any kiln dried...Only "air dried" since kilns did not exists when vintage homes (especially log cabins!!!) got built. This is most certainly a truth for folk vernacular architecture like log cabins of which I have either been part of their restoration or design and facilitation in the traditional context for 40 years. Many of these with the most common floor...GREEN WOOD!!!...virtually fresh off the stump and certainly air dried at their driest which I often do mill myself or know the sawyer well. Now about to start another one with only air dried oak flooring. As for nails, again you speak of an absolutes once more that is plainly false!? Antique nails are what was used and to suggest this "wasn't ever done," speaks to a fallacy of what making I do not know!!!??? They either had wood trunnel holding them down, or where some form of jointed flooring that floated within their joinery, and a lion's share did get cut nailed to the joist exactly as you said it wasn't done. So how are you giving good advice here if folks want an authentic historic home or to restore one ethically!!!??? Antique nail companies and traditional Blacksmiths exist for a reason, and it not because the only used them in Barns which is also completely and utterly false! I started my career as an apprentice Barnwright to Older Order Amish and those floors got laid green, often floated or trunneled...not nailed until later with cut nail. Problems associated with it like "looking busy" is your opinion at best and certainly not part of the historic record or what people typically ask for which is authenticity...not something you seem to be going after at all in your faux modern cabin work??? Sorry for being so blunt, but I grow weary of "youtube experts" like yourself putting out inaccurate information that actual professionals in the field have to then address with students and client alike...!!!
Jay C. Thank you for your thoughtful comment and sharing your experience.
First, please know that I am not trying to speak in total absolutes here... I have found that there is always an exception to every design rule I have ever found.
With respect to flooring, I am just giving you my experience with respect to many Virginia cabins I have personally inspected and salvaged. My impression is that up in the Northeast, or at least above the Mason-Dixon line, for example, floors facenailed with cut or forged nails were used more often. That said, I have installed cut nails in cabin floors on occasion and the clients have been tickled with the result (no pun intended) but it is not something I ever personally recommend.
I have said in the past, but I suppose it bears saying again, these are my observations based on my experience here principally in the Virginias.... I have inspected over 1000 vintage cabins in this area in my career.... Perhaps I should amend my comments to say, some cabins have face-nailed floors in this region, but the vast majority in this region did not. Facenailed floors are something you will see most often in barns and mills....
You are correct...I am giving my opinion here in terms of aesthetics. However it is an informed opinion based on my experience with clients over the years... Those who want the rusticness of a traditional cabin, but who also don't want gaps in their floors. Often those are the same folks who don't want to step on a nail and prefer just the look of a nice floor with no nails.
Again, I have done both styles, but when giving general advice, I always lean towards where I feel most people have been happy with the result.
Also I am not suggesting that green wood was not used--certainly the frontiersman often did not have the luxury of readily dried wood. But with reference to new flooring, unless the flooring is cut, stacked, stickered, dried and milled to specification, the result for an inexperienced DIYer on a first go around can often be disappointing. I am not saying one should not learn the proper steps, try, or go that route... But in trying to answer the question I was trying to give a bottom line recommendation on how to achieve the most pleasing floor possible
As intimated above, when it comes to authenticity, I have worked with folks who want seriously unplugged primitive traditional cabins and others who prefer a blend of traditional rustic with specific modern refinements. Most of the people I have worked with over the years have been on the latter end of the spectrum when it comes to their main living space, and so that is the tact I take in my courses and general recommendations.
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
I’m pleased that what seems like “total absolutes,” was not the intent and only your opinion on a key topics. Thank you for sharing that.
I will not take away from what you state your experience is with Virginia cabins, as it would be false for me to speak to that with any understanding since I don’t know you. What I can share is from my experience across the spectrum of historic log cabins up and down Appalachia, Canada, and across North America with European expansion. Even in Virginia, earthen, plank, and puncheon flooring systems are not the way you seem to describe floors in Virginia’s historic hewn cabins and they certainly never got “chicked” (which is stone, wood, rabbet, etc) with cement nor daubed with anything like cement ever...only clay cob and/or lime blends when into this and why the cabins lasted and now are not!
“Floors facenailed with cut or forged nails,” can be found in historic homes from Florida to northern Canada and from East to West. Is it more common in some regions in various degrees, yes but by time period they either were floated, trunneled or facenailed...
I can, again, more than respect your experience and the way you may wish to teach people “your methods” for building new cabins. New work can be whatever anyone wishes it to be, and if your clients like that great. However, if the topic is proper (and ethical) restoration, and/or good practice in vintage restoration/replication, that is another matter initially and what I have thus read and heard as your means, methods and materials...that is!!!...completely out of context or professional bearing for the craft. Studying an area is all well and good, I can make a very similar claim over my 40 years in the field, but it has a much broader expanse, including other countries and folk traditions...including Virginia’s vernacular modalities of log and timber framed architecture. So no, the “vast majority in this region,” that is Virginia may not have had “face-nailed,” yet the point of contention is what you're recommending for historic structures in its place!!! You're not recommending floated or trunneled floors like puncheon, earthen, or stone/brick floors but rather again modern flooring that has no purpose of bearing ethically being in a vintage reconstruction or restoration. If a client wishes for a “modern cabin” that is one thing with faux log work, concrete floors covered in veneer wood and other elements of modernity. I can’t speak to that, as I do not design nor facilitate such work. Those methods...do not!...belong in restoration or even good replication work that seem to be endorsing belong...
“Facenailed floors are something you will see most often in barns and mills," is not true at all if speaking of the original and not some 1950’s adulteration that is all to commonly found. This is contemporary, not period work, and I was under the impression from your verbiage was the goal of the “hand made house” ...but it seems that is not the case at all, and your work is to be “faux historic” and basically modern cabins made to “look old” but have little to do with traditional methods, or sustainable architecture in that context…
My clients don’t step on nails and why that seems to be some point you make about traditional nails more than once is beyond me? If a client is stepping on nails, even large ones, the craftsperson teaching them or doing the work doesn't know what they are doing in the craft or installation for this period fastener. There is a difference between what you are “feeling” clients want and what you (it seems?) desperately are selling them on? Which is your modern approach to this work, not actual historic cabin restoration or even replication. I have no problems, again, with clients stepping on nails, drafty houses because of the use of traditional daub and chink nor challenges of not bringing these structures into current standards...all without neglecting the ethical mandates of period work in restoration and good craftsmanship including using green wood (they way it was done) and even earthen floors now all the rage with many clients…
As to flooring in more detail...if the person instructing the DIYer actually knows and understands all aspects of traditional woodworking, then there is no disappointment at all. Quite the contrary, and why I guess I’m having this discussion with you. You have put yourself out there as a “Teacher” showing students methods to do traditional cabins and the methods are not applicable and certainly not restoration...but modern general contracting work...period! If that is what they want, no issue, but that does not seem (on the face of it? what you are advertising with your “Hand Made House Guild?
I am not certain how your recommendation constitutes “the most pleasing floor” for a client wanting an authentic cabin floor that is also proven durable over centuries as well as comfortable if maintained properly. The continuation seems to be that the alternative (i.e. traditional) isn on pleasing…
Your videos, books and directions offered have confused people enough that I have been contacted on more than one occasion for clarification. This is the first time (I think) I have bothered to respond, but now with more interest in this topic by more people, the demand for “good and accurate” full spectrum info is very high. I don’t see it here at all, but more “this old house” general contracting methods...not historic replication/restoration modalities in means, methods and materials of stone, earth and timber...I can't speak to the future, but I'm sure to get more and since this is a public forum you have placed yourself in, then being reviewed by both clients and peers alike will take place...
Hi Jaycee,
The angle and tone of your comments suggest you really are unfamiliar with my work, have watched only a few videos, have heard this or that, and are unaware of the total context in which I suggest or advocate things.
First and foremost, all of my guidance that I share in videos is about my love of building handmade houses... I define a handmade house, in part, as the best of the old and the best of the new being brought together, not strict historic restoration or period replication. I state this publically and in the academies….it appears you have missed this. Perhaps it bears repeating. I have done my share of historic restoration and replication, but my love is in the combination.
What I state is the “best” might be up for debate, but it is an informed perspective well-grounded by a lifetime in the field and deep-rooted appreciation for traditional methods. We can disagree on which approach or specific method is most preferable, but your statement that this approach is “faux historic” or “modern cabins made to ‘look old’” etc. shows a lack of an accurate familiarity with my work, which has a much more to do with honoring historic structures, methods, and aesthetics than innovation. It also strikes me as an insulting or denigrating use of terminology to diminish the judicious modern use of vintage materials and methods. It also suggests that only historic or period methods are proper and “perfect” (which is sometimes the case, e.g., traditional cabin notching) and denies any “modern” innovation or advancements in technology or methods, which is itself, ironically, an a-historical approach.
Again, I admire and appreciate period work. However, one man’s history is another’s innovation, or so I have heard it said by a historian friend. I have also personally experienced “professional” historians advocate for precious historic structures in disrepair to be burned in situ rather than be saved and repurposed or rebuilt elsewhere (as would have been done historically) because doing so was seen as an “unethical” violation of a structure’s historicity. This level of purism is not one that I condone, it’s horrifying…it’s insanity…but I digress….
All of this is to say is that I know historic purists have come up with issues at times with what I share…but again I am not trying to build purely to historic specification, but use antique materials and traditional methods combined with the best of what modern standards can offer. I try to define what and when that is in my courses and videos. Others are certainly entitled to their perspective and pathway on what is “best” or appropriate…and they can also start their own channels and courses to share what they know if they so desire.
That said, the focus of this video was in answering a question about two-inch thick flooring between the first and second floor. I have never seen such thick floor in a historic home... ever. But 2-inch flooring is perfect for this application...for strength and soundproofing.
I've also never seen flooring in any historic home that was put down with wood pegs, not saying it wasn't done... it's just so extremely rare here in the Mid Atlantic that this old boy has never seen it. I've seen it only a few times in barns.
I'd like to see someone get away with getting a building inspector to pass flooring that was floating... flooring with no sub floor. I've never seen any clues that flooring was put down by "floating it" around here anyway, so I've got some serious doubt about this, notwithstanding your own personal experiences and observations…
Also, to further clarify my previous comments, flooring was never put down green. Flooring was often put down thoroughly air dried. It had very tight grain and was not prone to shrinking like the wood commonly bought today. That and it was installed in houses "heated" by a fireplace... it did not experience the dryness that comes from a woodstove or central heat. This flooring was an inch thick and would dry quicker than a two inch floor. It was flooring where if a gap of a quarter of an inch appeared between each course everyone was good with that.
Folks today are much pickier than those of old, generally speaking, in my experience. I have indeed seen some old cabin flooring nailed in the face... one inch flooring... typically that would be REALLY old flooring…with hand forged nails, approximately 150-200 years old. But most old flooring that I've seen has not been face nailed. Face nailed boards also tend to squeak more. Most folks I have consulted with don't want squeaky floors.
I've never seen two inch thick flooring face nailed in a home. Most folks who put down new flooring these days will sand the floors before finishing... those nail heads would eat up sand belts (and wouldn't be too healthy on the sanding drums)... and the tops of those nail heads would be all shiny and detracting. Of course, one could plan to get around this, but it would take extra effort, if desired.
Also, I should clarify that when I was referring to replica old nails I was thinking of the path that 99% of folks do which is to get those that are manufactured replicas today, which look awful in my opinion (Tremont nails might be an exception)…but going to a blacksmith is another thing altogether. Many folks wouldn't fork out dollars for each nail... and very few blacksmiths want to make hundreds of nails these days, although they might have their apprentices do so if they were fortunate enough to have them.
Again, the focus of this video was the flooring above the first floor. A slight gap between boards here can allow a lot of sunlit glitter to filter down on occupants below. Why not get flooring kiln dried? The last time I had it done it set me back less than a hundred bucks...so really, I don’t see an issue here.
Perhaps you have found a stream of folks who want their homes built 100% historic and are willing to live with the issues and unique peculiarities of an historic home. My grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, all of whom lived in primitive cabins, could never figure out my interest in them, nor understand why anyone would pay me to build them. In my opinion, it's all about the blending of the two, old and modern, that makes the difference.
If people are confused about what I articulate in my videos and on my website, they are free to contact me for clarification if so desired, do further research, and make their own decisions. I am asked frequently for my personal opinion, experience, and input on specific building topics, which is where this video is coming from…perhaps you missed this.
Ultimately, a person who loves their handmade home and is happy with their design choices after making an informed decision is all I can ask, with modern building being what it is…even if that means face-nailing floors with cut masonry nails from Tremont. One of my students has written to me in the past after doing just that, stating that he loves his face-nailed multi-width white oak floors. More power to him.
Wishing you the best... Noah
@@HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley Hello Noah,
I do appreciate your discourse and I will do my best to address each point as succinctly as possible so I apologize for falling into a pedantic rhythm...but it is the only way to be thorough and accurate in my comment...
My, “angle and tone,” toward your comments are actually because I am very familiar with your work unfortunately. Too familiar over too many years now, and the breaking point was this last query from a colleague on this very subject. Online “experts” (like yourself) too often try to sell the public on something that is frankly false. You're not a restoration expert at all, and your work reflects that clearly. That is not to say you do bad work, or ugly work. You do not! Nevertheless...the work I see is clearly that of only a very skilled general contractor that works on “old structures,” very much like “This Old House.” You project no deep understanding of the historic crafts in countless videos that I will now (per your request) list and comment on. The “this old house” mindset is considered on a spectrum between laughable and flatly legally finable in many parts of Europe where actual “historic restoration/replication,” is taken very seriously, and not so much here until one gets into national monuments or museum level grade proper and actual restoration/replication...
I have reviewed so many of your videos I could not begin to count them but since that inaccurate observation has been made about me, I will go back through and comment on each of them to address their errors and misdirections to viewers that do not know any better. Here will be some of those points and observations:
th-cam.com/video/E-bztKjHNgI/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
1. Modern OPC concrete blends of any kind are never to be used as “daubing,” and what you still incorrectly continue to call “Chinking” (aka wattle) which would be the wire in your case which is also completely out of context for proper historic work as well, and both are illegal now in many areas on vintage structures! 30 years is not an indicator of success when there are many of us that have ripped this out and had to repair the damage it causes in many applications.
th-cam.com/video/9Dmvq9L0bGM/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
2. “Lime” has nothing at all to do with modern OPC concretes, parging materials or related cement products of the contemporary cement industry nor applicable to proper historic restoration and certainly not daubing (again, what you keep calling “chinking!) Type S lime should never be used with vintage homes nor cements as stated! These are both created from lower grade dolomitic limestone and industrial byproducts!!! Proper lime (or lime putty, hot limes, etc) are made from calitic limestones and a blend of these pure or mixed with clay are what should be and are required in proper historic work, or even good modern construction within the vintage style of replication…
th-cam.com/video/X43wkmPJjwg/w-d-xo.html
3. You call stone pier foundations rare...???...and "poorly built home!!!" I have never heard such an obtuse comment from an alleged historic expert in all my life!!!
I have driven down thousands of miles of Appalachian, Pennsylvania and Virginia roads , where this type of authentic foundation is anything but "rare?" So I'm not sure if you're trying to sell viewers on a level of disdain you personally have for authentic foundations of this more than proven system or your inadequate skill sets to build this way in proper restoration for such historic architecture because of failures like this in your own work? Insulating them (in the modern or historic context!) is not difficult at all, and pest proofing them is certainly not an issue either.
Either way, there is nothing at all wrong with stone pier foundations...AT ALL!!!... and the fact they have successfully held up log cabins, timber frame houses and barns for over 350 years without issue...WHEN!!!...properly taken care of is testimony to there strength, durability and character in simplistic design!!! I could not disagree more with you and certainly could never recommend to anyone to follow your guidance on historic cabin work!!!
th-cam.com/video/qrEnqJAcVqc/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
4. Straw bale architecture is more than proven and has been around since humans baled it, and before it was used in a different but just as durable format...with these being thousands of years old in practice and durability. "Stack wood" (aka what some now call "cord wood" ) have been around since the advent of the saw, so well over 500 years to be sure, and found from Korean to Eastern Europe and then North America in proven durable and sustainable modality. Your "confusion" over this method then clearly reflects your ignorance of it and why it is often superior to a log cabin in many ways. Individuals like yourself should learn how to design and build in a given modality before they pontificate about why "they think!" the method is flawed in some way…
Continued...
th-cam.com/video/CBmZHdAe7QU/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
5. I wish to be very clear with this comment about advice given in this video: THERE...IS NOT!!!!...ANY FORM OF PROPER HISTORIC RESTORATION!!!!...BEING DISCUSSED OR PRESENTED HERE AT ALL BY ANY REAL STANDARD AS UNDERSTOOD AT THE MUSEUM OR INTERNATIONAL LEVEL OF SUCH WORK AND CRAFT!!!
THIS IS...a very skilled modern general contractor bastardizing and possibly destroying a piece of history with these practices of modern adulterations. Those of us that actually do study and learn these traditional system of architecture thoroughly seldom find a need to "improve" on what our forebears tried to teach us and only hubris brings some to a different conclusions or...???...their inability to actually understand what these vintage means, methods and materials are actually teaching us...
NO...!!!...You do not remove, "everything you don't want!!!" That is actually illegal on national monument structures and most in Europe with historic designation. All work has to be ethically "like for like in means, method and material," other than modern updates which can not distort...AT ALL...the underlying historic fabrics and/or must be 100% reversible...Clearly Noah you are an experienced and talented general contractor...YOU ARE NOT...by any stretch doing or teach any form of Historic Restoration!!!
I can go into more detail in this video of very poor understanding and observation, but the point would be moot at this juncture...
th-cam.com/video/rEQXzkGVlEc/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=HandmadeHouseswithNoahBradley
6. Again Noah, your depth of knowledge of this subject is often parochial at best and I can't figure out why you present yourself in these videos as such an "expert?"
Not all Oak species are rot resistant at all!!! Some actully, like Red or Black Oaks are notorious for rapid decay depending on age, location in structure, and the amount of sap wood they have...
Length of log is moot and any actual traditional builder of log and timber frame vintage structures know this. Long logs are fine if you have them, but scarf jointed logs are more than historically correct and germane to this craft...
"Cedar" ( a misnomer as we have no actual cedars in North America) grew huge in Virgina and got used extensively so your entire description was highly inaccurate and only one species was "red" that is found (or was found historically) in Virgina. Case in point inland there was Thuja occidentalis (White Cedar) that grew very large to massive, Juniperus virginiana (Red Cedar) that in the historic period where found over 500 years old commonly, over 3 feet in diameter and well used and then, on the coast, absolutely massive Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic Coast Cedar) made it into all manner of vintage architecture including log cabins!!!
Needless to say, I could keep going on many videos from your advice on stone to site prep. I find you a very talented general contractor and you do beautiful work, but most of it is faux historic and out of context for the architecture! I would never, never take away your craft skill abilities in presentation, and some of your stone work is nice, but the joint gaps are wanting and I have not seen a single example of good dry laid structural work yet...
How you choose to “define” vintage architecture is moot. Historic architecture is what it is and has a huge professional base behind it. You are certainly...not at all!!!...in that base or spectrum. So how you wish to “define” it is pointless. The profession defines it, not you…and it did not “bear repeating” at all. YOU DO NOT...do any form of historic restoration at all in any of your publications or videos that I have seen yet. You do excellent general contracting on old houses that would be illegal in Europe, on a monument grade structure. Your ignorance of the Burra conventions standards (et al) for proper historic work only further reflects this...you are a general contract, albeit a very talented one
The fact you have not “seen something” only again reflects your limited exposure and/or lack of actual valid experience in real restoration of vintage fabrics, and certainly not an experience in effectively utilising those modalities...Like a trunneled floor or a proper puncheon.
As for getting a “building inspector” to pass on a floating floor, you may actually wish to take some time to vet my credentials and CV. So yes, I have had many “jointed and floated” floors pass, Doing another one in Iowa very soon...and made with “green oak boards” something else you claim can’t be done...LOL Which is very true...IF...you don’t know what you're doing! I have now designed the largest open timber framed structure resting on a stone plinth in north america and consult on projects around the world. I’m not a “troll” on TH-cam and would not have bothered to post if it wasn’t for the rampant growth of misinformation being spread by those like yourself trying to “redefine” what a craft is or isn’t to fit you clearly wanton business model you charge people for with this very poor information.
In closing Noeh, once more I want to stress that I find 98% of your work excellent in affect and standard for a general contractor. I would not take that away from you and even defend it. You are absolutely not a Historic restorationist and many of the things you claim expertise over is inaccurate, plainly incorrect and/or damaging to the historic fabrics...the main reason someone contacted me with questions...
Respectfully Submitted,
Jay C. White Cloud
Tosa Tomo Designs