In Woodstock, Vermont, we assessed conditions of a 1780s wood framed 
house. We saw 7/8" x 7" wide boards laid as horizontal exterior siding, 
overlapping about 1 1/4". Out here this is called "weather boarding." 
This house was built by French-Canadians from north of there.

Here in coastal Maine we see a 1/2" layer of lime/sand/hair plaster in 
the floors between rough 4/4" rough floor boards and the finish floor 
boards, in timber framed houses built 1750s to 1850s. This is thought to 
be an "air stop" but would act as a fire stop too, since it is a 
non-combustible material.

Last fall I was on Monhegan Is. (10 miles off the coast out of Port 
Clyde, Maine), for a week. The assignment was conditions assessment of 
the lighthouse , keepers' houses, and Rockwell Kent's studio and 
cottage. It was an amazing project because I got to stay in the Kent 
cottage, and slept in the maple bed Kent, himself had made. Kent 
designed and built the studio and cottage himself in 1904-6. We saw 
photos of him planing boards by hand at a carpenter's bench and laying 
chimney bricks. Kent had just graduated from architectural studies and 
fine art at Harvard, and "used the latest scientific building methods." 
While I was down under in the crawl space studying foundation problems, 
I noticed he hand set short boards across between the floor joists and 
plastered on top of them, creating a dead air space. In walls this is 
call "back plastering" but I had never seen it in floors. The 
electricians were installing a new system and hand knock out these 
plaster boards in a few spots. I reached into the dead air space above 
and pulled out a handful of wood shavings. They had the unmistakable 
pine smell of fresh work. I holler up, "you gotta see this, it's wood 
shavings in the floor." Kent, hollers back, "leave 'em in there, keeps 
out the cold."

John

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