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Notched Ceiling Beams
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Posted by
antiquegeek (
My Page) on
Tue, Aug 17, 10 at 16:10
| Hello, all. I found this forum when my husband and I were looking to buy an antique house. We ended up buying our antique and moving in a couple of months ago. We love it!
One of the quirks in our house is that the ceiling beams are notched--does anybody know why ceiling beams would be notched? Thanks!
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Is your house post and beam construction? |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Yep--it was built circa 1775, though I'm not sure if the ceiling beams may have been notched out at a later date. |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| About a foot each--I found a photo to post to show what I'm talking about, but can't figure out how to post it--I'll try again when I get home from work. |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| okay, trying to upload a photo: 
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RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| More than likely your 1775 house was built with salvaged timber from an even earlier building, OR it was reconfigured at a later date using timbers from the 1775 structure. Dendro-chronology can date when the wood was cut. Casey |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Thank you so much, Casey--I've reached out ot a dendrochronologist in order to find out more about having it tested. |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Looks like some of those beams might have been repurposed as suggested by Casey. Interesting look, though. |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Yeah-we walked through several antiques before buying this one and I didn't notice this in any of them. I tried to do a little research online, but didn't find anything, which is how I ventured into this forum. I found a dendrochronologist who is intersted in taking a sample for her research--once I know more I will definitely update you guys since you were so helpful. Thanks again! |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Where is your house located? We recently bought a 1780 colonial in NH. |
RE: Notched Ceiling Beams
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| Sounds nice, Rafor! We're somewhat close by--we bought on the south shore of Boston. |
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