Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2021/01/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]About 150 years ago my great-grandparents lived in a house in North-East Essex, much of which is essentially alluvium from the Thames and the sea with little stone available. It was quite common for people to build houses with clapperboard, or variations on a theme thereof, including timber and brick. As a result houses were fairly easily and often moved. Indeed as a kid, I remember that we went past the house one day (the family having sold it many years before) and my mother commenting that it had been moved from where it was in some very old photos that we had. One of the ways that people kept rats out was to perch grain stores on what are variously called "staddle" or "steddle" stones which look like giant mushrooms or tapered stones with a flat top. The fact that thety are raised not only defeats rodents but also allows for air circulation, particularly useful in the case of granaries. I know of few if any houses that are built on staddle stones here. I guess that they must have been though, Peter On 14/01/2021 04:20, Don Dory via LUG wrote: > The are several other reasons for pier and beam construction. The first > is cost, aside from a dirt floor using bricks or stumps lets you level the > floor easily. In the south it also keeps the moisture from the soil away > from your floor so the wood lists much longer. To Sonny's point, with a > ledge on top of your piers you can keep most rodents out of your house. > You see this especially in Switzerland. > > Last, if your soil conditions are expansive clays you absolutely need to > allow for movement. You can place footings several feet below grade to > where the soil moisture remains constant even in drought. You can give > yourself enough room underneath with piers to periodically level your house > with jacks and shims. > > If you look at older homes in the Mississippi delta you will see pyramidal > concrete piers under most homes: the better homes will have a skirt to hide > the piers. > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 9:47 PM Sonny Carter via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> > wrote: > >> One of the reasons for raised houses is to rise above the dust and heat of >> Southern Summers as well as keeping the varmints from walking or >> slithering >> through the door. >> >> Regards, >> >> Sonny >> http://sonc.com <http://sonc.com/look/> >> Natchitoches, Louisiana >> 1714 >> Oldest Permanent Settlement in the Louisiana Purchase >> >> USA >> >> >> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 4:29 PM Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote: >> >>> Cool Ric, but I see it isn't listed here >>> >>> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_oldest_buildings_in_North_Carolina >>> so there's another job for you to do during lockdown :-) >>> >>> I was wondering about the blocks underneath too and whether it was built >>> on a flood plain. Couldn't find Garret Island on Google Maps though. >>> >>> Douglas >>> >>> On 13/01/2021 01:57, CartersXRd via LUG wrote: >>>> Oldest house in Washington County, near Plymouth NC. >>>> >>>> https://2021.cartersxrd.net/2021.01.12x.html >>>> >>>> Ric Carter >>>> www.home.CartersXRd.net >>>> http://www.facebook.com/ric.carter >>>> >>>> -the world?s mosst careless typist- >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Leica Users Group. >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > -- Dr. Peter Dzwig