[jaykay]

Was chopping up one of the old woodwormy beams that came out when the roof was done last year. Not til I'd finished chopping did I turn a piece over and see this 



So I suppose that was the last time the roof was done. 1655, 1840, 2011.... about right 

[deepinthewoods]

thats great, i love finding things like that. i restored a window that had been signed and dated on the inside of the box section, 1780 was the date, so i signed and dated it after i finished it. hopefully my work will last as long.

[plumseverywhere]

That's lovely!

We found that someone had signed the plaster in our living room when we stripped the paper off it says "H.C. Taylor and Bert Brotherton, 16th August 1902"  so they signed it the year the house was built.
Really exciting when you turn something like that up 

[MAK]

great stuff.
I met an old carpenter  ( third generation) who said that he often found initials and dates in old houses. He would buy dated timber from Kent ( like hundreds of year old beams reclaimed from barns etc) to use. He used old tools and techniques and would hide a time capsule in his work for other craftsmen. 
It would be great to know how that roof beam of yours was transported then lifted into your house and how many chaps had to work on it.

[deepinthewoods]

thats what always gets me about my job, all the original work done by hand, no electric planers, radial armsaws, sanders etc. imagine finishing a ballroom floor with a hand plane, diagonaly one way, then again the other way and then finished with a finishing plane, all on your hands and knees for days. proper hard work. back then, a journeyman would have earnt his respect and it would be well deserved. nowadays a joiner isnt really classed as an aspirational career, cos people just hop down to ikea.

[MAK]

The time it must have taken to lay such make and lay such a floor. I hope such skills are not lost and that people will still be prepared to put time into their work.
That said all the carpenters here are "artisans". We have a young English lad making us oak bedroom furniture to match a piece we have. He buys wood by the tree and planes it up himself. The bathroom unit he made has 80 odd handmade joints and looks great. Next he has to turn his hand to repairing our massive barn doors. It was great to visit his workshop and see his workplace.

[jaykay]

That's excellent to hear a young lad is producing that sort of quality of work 

[Lesley Silvester]

That's beautiful.

I once went to a housewarming party where the livinjg room walls had been stripped very for papering and we were all asked to write something and sign the walls before they were papered.  Then in years to come, someone else would have fun reading it all.

[plumseverywhere]

That's beautiful.

I once went to a housewarming party where the livinjg room walls had been stripped very for papering and we were all asked to write something and sign the walls before they were papered.  Then in years to come, someone else would have fun reading it all.

When my husband had to go to Poland for the weekend, I decided to keep the kids entertained by stripping the bedroom walls in one of their bedrooms. once all the paper was off, I let them 'decorate' the chimney wall with marker pens safe in the knowledge that their 'artwork' would be covered up and it kept them happy for hours. They wrote gorgeous messages to future dwellers such as "if you are as lucky as we've been to live in this house, you will be REALLY HAPPY!!!"
Unfortunately (!) its got to the point where their little friends have signed it, including my 10 year olds best friend - a lad who due to his culture won't be staying at school much longer so she'll not see him as much, now I don't have the heart to paint over it   

[Lesley Silvester]

Plums, at least you'll be saving money on paint.