Upwards-broadening walls of Ostrobothnian Peasant Houses

Authors

• Matti Mäkelä tohtorikoulutettava

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.107951

Keywords:

upwards-broadening walls, Ostrobothnian Peasant House, traditional log building technique, building history

Abstract

Upwards-broadening walls of Ostrobothnian Peasant Houses

The most distinctive feature of an old Ostrobothnian peasant house is its upwards-broadening walls. This research considers the key features of this unique timber construction. The data consist of five peasant houses, literature and archive material. The structure became common in Ostrobothnia during the 17th century, but disappeared 1850–1870 because the same qualities of timber were not utilized any longer.

The most important and forgotten reasons for the building method are constructive. When the weight of the timber frame was partly divided horizontally on the first log level, an inwards-directional force diffused into the gables and facades. This helped the frame remain on its foundation when frost heave moved the corner stones. The timber frames of houses with diverged walls were built up already in the woods and left to dry there without wooden pegs or holes in the walls. This allowed for longitudinal motion when the timber was drying. The middle part of the wall would shrink when the corner joints leaned back, thereby tightening the wall. This shrinkage transmitted the inward-directional force to the corner joints that kept the frame solidly together.

The structure of the traditional timber houses offered a number of other advantages. Among them is their association with rain protection, aesthetics, acoustics, the sense of space as well as advantages for the measured space.