A Fachwerkhaus is a kind of timber-frame house as it is still built in Germany (there are nice images of some on
www.fachwerkhaus.de). Locals can see them in
Hahndorf as well. I really like that kind of carpentry, so we decided to build our own to replace the fugly shed in our backyard. The only suitable timber comes from Bunnings as usual, however they sell only 35 and 45 mm boards. So I had to glue them together which made this small project a huge one - almost a year to make all those timber beams. Preparing the parts and erecting the shed was done in no time thanks to my hard working apprentice Max. We finished the job in style celebrating a Bavarian Richtfest.
The old shed to be knocked down
Planing the glue-laminated timber
I finally got a decent plane
No computer involved
Max even has his own tools to do the work
Probing the joints
Storing everything on the shelf
We reused the old foundation but added a nice veneer
Putting it all together
The first wall is up
the three remaining ones are up in no time
Max loves climbing around the roof
Uuuups!
There it is with the Richtbaum on top!
A Richtfest wouldn't be complete without a Richtspruch
Richtspruch
es ruhet die geübte Hand.
Nach harten, arbeitsreichen Tagen
grüßt stolz der Richtbaum nun ins Land.
Und stolz und froh ist jeder heute,
der tüchtig mit am Werk gebaut.
Es waren wack're Handwerksleute,
die fest auf ihre Kunst vertraut.
Drum wünsche ich, so gut ich´s kann,
mit stolz empor gehobnem Blick
der neuen Huette recht viel Glück.
Mög Eintracht und Zufriedenheit
darinnen herrschen allezeit!
Ein Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!
Nun ist das Glas wohl ausgeleert
und weiter für mich nichts mehr wert,
drum werf' ich es zu Boden nieder -
zerschmettert braucht es keiner wieder!
Bavarian beer, pretzels and BBQ
Some love Turkish Simit
Heidi and Klaus
The only unhappy guy - our unloved tin-sheet shed ready to be dumped
Setting up the shed and having the Richtfest is only a small part of the job. The remaining work may even be more than the construction work. The following images show the making of the roof.
Man made braces, German style
I got some used clay tiles (Wunderlich Adelaide) from a 1964 building. It took ages to get them cleaned...
There should be heaps of images here showing how a laid the bricks, rendered the walls, etc.. Unfortunately I messed up and lost all those photos in transit between camera and computer somewhere, sometime. So all that's left is new photos of the finished building and a few details of how I made the window:
This window is a mixture of the box-windows that I know from Germany as they were made after the war and the Australian sliding windows. The idea is to have a window that provides some insulation without the cost of double-glazing.The slides and the fixed part consist of two frames each that can be opened for cleaning.
The fly-screen outside can be opened as well. I used magnetic catches to keep it closed.
The bolt allows to lock to window close and slightly opened. This allows to ventilate the room without giving up security.
I admit that this kind of window is a bit over the top for a simple shed, however I made it as a prototype for the windows that I want for the house. I need to get back to the drawing board, however. Improvements can be done to make production easier and the fly-screen doesn't perfectly seal.Here the drawings if you are curious about the details:
Less effort for the side window but still "double-glazing"
The door with European style lock and handles.
Finally - all done
