What We Found Between the Floors of This Old House Will Amaze You!
August 2, 2024
Source: FB / Meghan Garner
Much like reading cultural mythology, the prospect of finding out what’s hidden within an old house is magical. It reminds me of that time when as a child I liked to wander around the attic of my grandparents and each box or old photo was a big mystery to everyone. The stench of decaying wood mixed with the audible sound of squeaky floorboards, I felt my mind creating stories of the house and the people who once lived in it. One day, having bought a beautiful, old house which we began to restore together with my new team to move it into our yard, we came across something really unexpected.
While we were excavating the layers between the ceiling and the floor of the upper part of the house which was built in the twentieth century, we stumbled upon dense fibrous substance that really made us wonder. This discovery is one of the most accurate representations of history and mystery that is exactly like those little corners of the old, dusty attics. This material could be one thing, or it could be another thing, or something of another sort, and each one of them contains its own tale.
First, it could be horsehair plaster – a more traditional material which was frequently used in construction during the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. The utilization of horses hairs or fine materials was incorporated into the plaster to make the structure stronger and hardy. Just try to picture face workers who toiling to make perfect plastered horsehair partitions and ceilings to last for hundred of years.
It may also be old fibrous insulation like mineral wool or wood fibers, which could disconnect the current path and create an increased risk of shock. Until the present, individuals who needed insulating services used the available materials to insulate buildings in order to control their temperature during winter and summer. Imagine a world where the only source of heat was wood and the rooms were hardly insulated, wherein families gathered around the fireplace and stayed warmer due to stone walls and other materials USED in their buildings.
That might also be animal or plant based insulation. Historic homes can have natural insulators such as straw, wooden chips or even seaweed. This implies that our forefathers were wise in their choices of building and living structures for they made use of what was easily available to them.
Each of these potential materials also captures other social trends as well as the progressive shifts in the construction of the edifice over time. For instance, the application of horsehair plaster gives insight on how natural products were the order of the day at one point whereby the technological transfer of this method was passed from one generation to the other. The shift from less processed materials like animal wools to mineral wool reflects industrialization and the process of themodernization in the twentieth century.
Having such materials at our house makes us understand the practices of the past and the good work that elders used in making them. It may seem surreal but it has become a physical representation of a time when every ounce of a home was made with love.
Since with this property we went through a major renovation which is ongoing now, its that rich history that you find around each corner of this old house that we do cherish. Digging deeper reveals these layers are like a historical moment, and we get to understand or see those families that used to live here before us. It is indeed a ride enriching in morale, embracing the creativity, resourcefulness of the other talented inhabitants of our world in other seemingly so distant epochs.
Every time we get through this process of restoring this house, which is of course not easy, we find joy in the process of discovery and the great honor it is to contribute to the preservation of history. Every new item, such as the unidentified material beneath the floors, is a chance for Cline and the viewer to become acquainted with a piece of history. It’s work, passion, joy and I just want to preserve the history of this home and the people that lived in it before we did.
Therefore, the next time you are walking along the corridors of an old house, refrain from cursing the bad construction and noise and think of the good tales lurking behind the walls. Sometimes, you get lucky and find something worth more than a few bucks and that does the trick in linking you to history. Regardless if it is a piece of the horsehair plaster, a handful of fibrous insulation, or some other delightful artifact, each one of them put me in mind of the reality and history of the long-gone individuals whose lives were once filled with splendid fine and decorative arts.