The strength is in the joints

Not disputing that at all…. it’s the visual thing that surprised me.
Interestingly my sister has moved into the house that we used to live in 45 years ago. It used to be 3 small half timbered cottages originally built in the 17th century that my dad (an architect) converted into one house back in the late ’50s – now Grade 2 listed.

There is a lot of the original oak framing on show with very little splitting compared to the new extension – I presume this may be because the cottages where originally built with ‘old’ oak rather than the green oak used in the extension.

Taking your point on board shark bait, and apologies for thread hijack!

In a sense, you are correct, the original frame was built and raised in days when central heating did not exist. the build process took longer and the frame dried out at a much slower rate than those of today. This is essentially the key factor. A frame nowadays is built and raised and in very short order, it is closed up and the underfloor heating or radiators are installed and fired up to help the plaster dry quicker so the place can be occupied as soon as possible. This rapid heating causes the oak to dry at a rate that never used to happen.

As I said, it loses no structural integrity as a result of this, just a different aesthetic. If you would prefer an oak framed house not to have splits and 1/4″ shoulder joint gaps, then either leave it open to the elements for a few years or if you insist on central heating, don’t wind it up to the max for the first 5 years or so and wear extra clothing!!

Interesting stuff. Their extension has underfloor heating, an Aga and is basically just oak and glass with little wall so the solar gain is pretty high. I guess splits are to be expected!
Back on track – the oak around your client’s stove is going to split then?

OI SAMURI you not talking to us anymore?

Ooh so tempting to set up a burner in our house but i know bugger all about this stuff.

I rather liked this, very warming it was too. Crap pic but best google can find.

sharkbait – probably. Although in this instance, all the interior oak has been treated with Danish oil. Whilst Danish oil is not the best for slowing down the rate of drying out, it will help, especially if the owner makes a point of re-applying each year. But there is a lot of exposed oak in their place and quite frankly, the temperature they run the heating at it’s going to make little difference.

One of the better oils to use to slow drying out is a mix of boiled linseed oil and white spirit on a 75:25 mix ratio. Works well with weatherboarding.

And back on this subject.
We’ve decided on a wooden floor which means we have to get the hearth sorted before we can get that put down (I think).

The hearth we’ve decided on will be something like this.

fireplace by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

Now the floor is wooden floor boards with about 2 foot of space underneath. my question is, will we need to build up from the real floor of the house or can this sort of arrangement be built onto the floorboards? I’m assuming the former.

That brickwork behind the stove looks a bit saggy, which might happen to yours if it’s standing on the floorboards.