In article . 24, Victoria Clare writes:
| (Nick Maclaren) wrote in
| :
|
| Boggle. Not a technology that is terribly well suited to the UK!
| But the ingredients are certainly cheap (at source).
|
| I'm not sure why log cabins are particularly unsuitable in the UK?

Damp, woodworm and wet rot. We have 4 months in almost every year
where the relative humidity is nearly 100% and the temperature is
above freezing. Without VERY effective timber treatment (CCA etc.)
and/or a VERY effective damp course, softwoods and most hardwoods
rot in short order near the ground.

All of the SURVIVING timber-framed houses have both a fairly high
stone/brick base AND are made out of expensive and durable woods
like oak heartwood.

Furthermore, until very recently, the UK had few of the straight,
narrow-trunked trees that are suitable for building log cabins.
The native trees are almost all the wrong shape, though coppiced
chestnut etc. would do.

| In Devon we have a tradition of houses that are politely described as
| 'thatched cob cottages' - if they were somewhere hotter, I reckon that
| would translate to 'grass roofed mud hut'.

Yup. I have lived in both.

| Tradition or no tradition, mud is a silly building material - a little
| neglect, and they just wash away in the rain. Compared with that, timber
| seems like quite a sensible building material.

Not really. Putting up a mud hut in central Africa or the fens
would have taken a day's work for a couple of men. So what if it
lasts only 2 years? Just build another. Cob is a lot more work,
but it is very damp-resistant.

Log cabins are a LOT more work, and so need to last correspondinly
longer.

| Up the lane from me, there is a bungalow built entirely of wood, which I
| understand is about 20 years old. I wouldn't call it a thing of beauty,
| but it seems reasonably robust.

Look at the foundations again.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.