Man thanks for your videos, I'm learning something new from ur videos that I can use bamboo,mud,straw and build a strong house back home in Uganda, I'm yet to try the Japanese bamboo wattle and mud style of building.thanks I really appreciate it
Hello, I’m a Canadian and also bought an old traditional Japanese house in southern Shikoku, Japan. I love the traditional timber frame style and also decided to remove all my ceilings. I initially liked the look and openness of the open vaulted ceilings exposing the timber frame the same as in your house. What I experienced without ceilings, is the house was very difficult to heat in winter and it was extra hot in summer with all the heat radiating down from the tile roof. After having the open ceilings for several years, I decided just this year to rebuild my ceilings myself. However, I rebuilt them in the old, traditional style with beautiful wood. Actually, the new ceilings look beautiful and the house feels cozier. I notice this summer, the house is much cooler and the house will be much warmer in winter. My house is constructed exactly the same way as yours. I do like the look of the open ceilings though. Your location on the water is lovely. Enjoy the DIY. It has become my hobby along with growing fruit and vegetables here.
Thanks for watching William. Trust me, I lamented the idea for months and did a lot of researched. I even have a friend in Nara that did the same thing... to a much bigger house. I had many ideas including only keeping the ceiling in the bedroom sealed. In the end I decided to open it all up, add insulation, and close the ceiling with wood siding. It hasn't been easy and it hasn't been cheap. But maybe more on that later when I post about it lol Now if I could just get to your level of DIY, I.E: vegetable garden! I'd love to start one when time permits.
@@DIYJapan Technically, not so difficult, just time consuming and labour intensive. New, more modern ceilings were constructed over top of the original old ceilings. I didn’t particularly like them, so tore them out, same as you. I’ve had no ceilings for about 4 years. What took the most time was restoration of the original ceiling wood trim plus other wood. I cleaned, sanded and refinished all the visible timber frame and Saobuchi. I rebuilt 4 ceilings so far. Still have 2-3 more to do. I’ve started on my living room ceiling recently. I’ve considered leaving it open, but I don’t particularly want to go through all the work of insulating under the roof and adding extra wood to make it look nice. All doable, just costly and takes time. I lucked out and found some very beautiful, rare, old wood for the ceilings from a local lumber mill that was closing down after being in business for over 100 years. The wood grain is spectacular. It was very expensive, but beautiful. I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I considered many options and also did a lot of research. I even know 2 local Japanese architects that helped me a lot with advice and construction details. If your email address is available, I’d be happy to send you photos sometime if you’re interested. I also considered the same ‘burned’ exterior siding as you. It will last forever and looks great. The gardening is also my hobby. Takes ALL my free time. Super hot and humid here.
Other fellow Canadian here 😉 No house in Japan though. I was wondering about insulation. I know most Japanese houses, especially older ones, aren't very well insulated if at all. I was wondering what you were going to do in terms of insulation once the rooms' ceilings were removed. Had you kept the ceilings, it would have been fairly easy to add insulation above them and create some sort of thermal barrier between the vented attic and the rooms below.
@@samuelgilbert9734 Hello Samuel. Everything you say is absolutely true. In the end, after having removed all 7 ceilings throughout my house to open it up 4 years ago, I decided to rebuild all the ceilings. I rebuilt all of them in traditional Japanese style. They all look spectacular in my opinion. Now that I have my ceilings once again, I much prefer the house with traditional wood ceilings. I’ve become somewhat of an expert in ceiling construction now 😆! Yes, the gable ends of the roof are vented as you say and the ceilings can all be insulated to provide a ‘thermally sealed’ conditioned space below. I insulated the ceilings in the rooms I use most often. Hey, where are you in Canada 🇨🇦? Are you currently living in Canada 🇨🇦? I always appreciate hearing from fellow Canadians.
Cool video! Suggestion: put a tarp on the floor to make it easy to clean up afterwards. I would love to see videos of your surroundings and Japan landscape!
Love Ine! It's on my list of places to try and convince my wife to retire in lol Congrats on the home, the location, and drive to save such a beautiful home! Looking forward to seeing the progress!
Your project home looks like it's part of a fishing village, with an active population of monkees. Two potential problems jump out at me: the first is how much the moisture and humidity have affected the structure, and the second is how much damage that the local animal life inflict on your home. While I applaud your decision to open up the ceilings to an exposed beam look, you might consider how it will effect heating the upstairs in the winter. Also, have you inspected the roof yet? I'd be curious to know when was the last time that the tiles were checked. Good luck and I'll be checking your progress. You might want to check out what Tony Llama has done with his renovations at his country home in Japan. There are solutions that he was able to use in his effort to resurrect his abandoned home.
The house was inspected by a local professional prior to buying it. Everything including the structural integrity, mold and roof condition was checked. All items passed and are in "acceptable'' condition. No major damage anywhere. With that said, there are, of course, many areas of concern that will need attention soon. I've checked out Tony's page and it is a good resource. With all house projects here in Japan; each is unique and not always equal. I think he had a much harder time given the complexity of his house.
I can really say for sure without seeing it but you could just moisten the wall and apply shikkui right over it. If the material that is on it right now is shikkui or Suna Kabe
Did you consider moving bedrooms downstairs and the LDK upstairs to take advantage of the light, views and open ceiling? If you are removing walls you are removing side pressure bracing and might need to to install extra bracing in an outside wall. Generally any wall over 2 metres in a timber structure is side pressure bracing.
I thought about keeping the upper area as a living room. But the idea of the bedroom downstairs was depressing. It’s much darker and colder in winter there. As for the pressure bracing, not sure about this. I did consult some carpenters here who said it was no big deal. I didn’t remove any load bearing beams, just the very heavy wall material that wasn’t supporting the ceiling at all. Not sure that if that counts? What do you think?
I don't think any saw blade would last very long cutting through those walls; the sand and dirt will just use them up very quickly. I wonder if the easiest way to destroy the walls would have been to use a sledge hammer and avoid the vertical plank until you removed enough material around it to cut it.
That would probably be the best way but I didn't want to tear down the whole wall so I thought this would be the best way to keep the wall intact on the bottom half that I kept. One wrong swing of the hammer and it would have probably all came crumbling down I imagined. The bamboo saw bit worked rather well though. This was the video that showed the wall finalized: th-cam.com/video/yvSLV-QA3E8/w-d-xo.html
@@DIYJapan I hadn't watch your next video when I wrote that comment. Sorry 😊 I'm glad that the bamboo blade worked well and that you manged to save the lower part of the wall. I'm still amazed by how heavy those walls are!
It’s insane right? I remember a large chunk falling down a centimeter from my toe and thinking “if that had hit my toe, broken for sure”. The crazy thought would be the amount of mud that had to be carried on site when they were building these houses. Not easy work for sure.
![ค้าง (STILL) - GEMINI [ OFFICIAL MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ftxx3hk5vkU/mqdefault.jpg)
Man thanks for your videos, I'm learning something new from ur videos that I can use bamboo,mud,straw and build a strong house back home in Uganda, I'm yet to try the Japanese bamboo wattle and mud style of building.thanks I really appreciate it
Glad you found it interesting and informative!
Hello, I’m a Canadian and also bought an old traditional Japanese house in southern Shikoku, Japan. I love the traditional timber frame style and also decided to remove all my ceilings. I initially liked the look and openness of the open vaulted ceilings exposing the timber frame the same as in your house. What I experienced without ceilings, is the house was very difficult to heat in winter and it was extra hot in summer with all the heat radiating down from the tile roof. After having the open ceilings for several years, I decided just this year to rebuild my ceilings myself. However, I rebuilt them in the old, traditional style with beautiful wood. Actually, the new ceilings look beautiful and the house feels cozier. I notice this summer, the house is much cooler and the house will be much warmer in winter. My house is constructed exactly the same way as yours. I do like the look of the open ceilings though. Your location on the water is lovely. Enjoy the DIY. It has become my hobby along with growing fruit and vegetables here.
Thanks for watching William. Trust me, I lamented the idea for months and did a lot of researched. I even have a friend in Nara that did the same thing... to a much bigger house. I had many ideas including only keeping the ceiling in the bedroom sealed. In the end I decided to open it all up, add insulation, and close the ceiling with wood siding. It hasn't been easy and it hasn't been cheap. But maybe more on that later when I post about it lol Now if I could just get to your level of DIY, I.E: vegetable garden! I'd love to start one when time permits.
I'm also curious to know, again, out of curiosity lol How hard was it to rebuild the ceilings?
@@DIYJapan Technically, not so difficult, just time consuming and labour intensive. New, more modern ceilings were constructed over top of the original old ceilings. I didn’t particularly like them, so tore them out, same as you. I’ve had no ceilings for about 4 years. What took the most time was restoration of the original ceiling wood trim plus other wood. I cleaned, sanded and refinished all the visible timber frame and Saobuchi. I rebuilt 4 ceilings so far. Still have 2-3 more to do. I’ve started on my living room ceiling recently. I’ve considered leaving it open, but I don’t particularly want to go through all the work of insulating under the roof and adding extra wood to make it look nice. All doable, just costly and takes time. I lucked out and found some very beautiful, rare, old wood for the ceilings from a local lumber mill that was closing down after being in business for over 100 years. The wood grain is spectacular. It was very expensive, but beautiful. I’m happy to answer any questions you have. I considered many options and also did a lot of research. I even know 2 local Japanese architects that helped me a lot with advice and construction details. If your email address is available, I’d be happy to send you photos sometime if you’re interested. I also considered the same ‘burned’ exterior siding as you. It will last forever and looks great. The gardening is also my hobby. Takes ALL my free time. Super hot and humid here.
Other fellow Canadian here 😉 No house in Japan though.
I was wondering about insulation. I know most Japanese houses, especially older ones, aren't very well insulated if at all. I was wondering what you were going to do in terms of insulation once the rooms' ceilings were removed. Had you kept the ceilings, it would have been fairly easy to add insulation above them and create some sort of thermal barrier between the vented attic and the rooms below.
@@samuelgilbert9734 Hello Samuel. Everything you say is absolutely true. In the end, after having removed all 7 ceilings throughout my house to open it up 4 years ago, I decided to rebuild all the ceilings. I rebuilt all of them in traditional Japanese style. They all look spectacular in my opinion. Now that I have my ceilings once again, I much prefer the house with traditional wood ceilings. I’ve become somewhat of an expert in ceiling construction now 😆! Yes, the gable ends of the roof are vented as you say and the ceilings can all be insulated to provide a ‘thermally sealed’ conditioned space below. I insulated the ceilings in the rooms I use most often. Hey, where are you in Canada 🇨🇦? Are you currently living in Canada 🇨🇦? I always appreciate hearing from fellow Canadians.
Thanks for making these videos, they are great. I have watched several people struggle with those thatch mud walls. What a pain.
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed them. The walls have been tough! Too bad the whole house is made in that style lol
I LOVE your videos starting from this one and catching up! ❤
Thanks! Hope they help or inspire some! ✌️
Cool video! Suggestion: put a tarp on the floor to make it easy to clean up afterwards.
I would love to see videos of your surroundings and Japan landscape!
Actually a very good idea! I will make some videos soon on the countryside areas around the town!
Love Ine! It's on my list of places to try and convince my wife to retire in lol
Congrats on the home, the location, and drive to save such a beautiful home! Looking forward to seeing the progress!
Thanks! Good luck with convincing your wife to move to Ine. I think it’s a great place to live even before retirement lol
We grokked the Star Trek reference. Live long and prosper!
I felt nerdy making the reference but I had to lol
Your project home looks like it's part of a fishing village, with an active population of monkees. Two potential problems jump out at me: the first is how much the moisture and humidity have affected the structure, and the second is how much damage that the local animal life inflict on your home. While I applaud your decision to open up the ceilings to an exposed beam look, you might consider how it will effect heating the upstairs in the winter. Also, have you inspected the roof yet? I'd be curious to know when was the last time that the tiles were checked. Good luck and I'll be checking your progress. You might want to check out what Tony Llama has done with his renovations at his country home in Japan. There are solutions that he was able to use in his effort to resurrect his abandoned home.
The house was inspected by a local professional prior to buying it. Everything including the structural integrity, mold and roof condition was checked. All items passed and are in "acceptable'' condition. No major damage anywhere. With that said, there are, of course, many areas of concern that will need attention soon. I've checked out Tony's page and it is a good resource. With all house projects here in Japan; each is unique and not always equal. I think he had a much harder time given the complexity of his house.
I cannot describe how much I hate those green walls in my house. I need to replace them asap
That old green they used was hideous 😣 it was such an odd choice of green
@@DIYJapan mine appears to be applied to a wall covered in concrete for some reason. So replacing it just became more complicated.
I can really say for sure without seeing it but you could just moisten the wall and apply shikkui right over it. If the material that is on it right now is shikkui or Suna Kabe
Did you consider moving bedrooms downstairs and the LDK upstairs to take advantage of the light, views and open ceiling?
If you are removing walls you are removing side pressure bracing and might need to to install extra bracing in an outside wall.
Generally any wall over 2 metres in a timber structure is side pressure bracing.
I thought about keeping the upper area as a living room. But the idea of the bedroom downstairs was depressing. It’s much darker and colder in winter there.
As for the pressure bracing, not sure about this. I did consult some carpenters here who said it was no big deal. I didn’t remove any load bearing beams, just the very heavy wall material that wasn’t supporting the ceiling at all. Not sure that if that counts? What do you think?
Hey man I am hooked. looking forward to the next episode. Where are your gloves?😮
I always forget to wear gloves. But it's always a good idea lol
I don't think any saw blade would last very long cutting through those walls; the sand and dirt will just use them up very quickly. I wonder if the easiest way to destroy the walls would have been to use a sledge hammer and avoid the vertical plank until you removed enough material around it to cut it.
That would probably be the best way but I didn't want to tear down the whole wall so I thought this would be the best way to keep the wall intact on the bottom half that I kept. One wrong swing of the hammer and it would have probably all came crumbling down I imagined.
The bamboo saw bit worked rather well though.
This was the video that showed the wall finalized:
th-cam.com/video/yvSLV-QA3E8/w-d-xo.html
@@DIYJapan I hadn't watch your next video when I wrote that comment. Sorry 😊 I'm glad that the bamboo blade worked well and that you manged to save the lower part of the wall. I'm still amazed by how heavy those walls are!
It’s insane right? I remember a large chunk falling down a centimeter from my toe and thinking “if that had hit my toe, broken for sure”. The crazy thought would be the amount of mud that had to be carried on site when they were building these houses. Not easy work for sure.