My father was born in a dogtrot home made of squared logs and built by his grandfather in the late 19th century. When I was a kid I was in and out of that house literally everyday to visit my great aunts who lived there for 93 years. The place stood for about 120 years before finally, after about 20 years of abandonment, it was falling in on itself. Then my brother, a big fish/small pond horse’s ass, gave away the logs to a friend of his who wanted them to build a fence for his lake cabin (these are 120+ year old hand squared hand planed logs… I was pissed).
So anyway, I visited the place a couple of weeks ago and it’s basically a big pile of rubble, BUT there are about two or three of the logs that were left behind when the others were toted off and they’re in good condition. Obviously there’s some sentimental value of these things to me; I’d like to bring them to my house and at some point do something with them- make them into a bench, or a mantel, or— something- as a sort of keepsake. However, I’m terrified of bringing in termites or roaches or some sort of flesh eating fungus that only grows in old logs or something similar to that into my house.
Any suggestions for how to bring the logs but without danger? Is there anything I can treat them with there on the field to kill any termites or other pests, and if so how long does it need to stay there? (I took the logs I wanted and covered them with some of the tin from the roof and other debris to protect it as much as possible from the elements.)
Remind me to tell the story sometime of the bomb shelter built partly with used railroad ties, by some freaky friends of my parents back in the early 70’s.
As to the OP I would suggest getting the timbers off of the ground and out of the weather so they can dry out throughly then treating them with any good insecticide or giving them a good dusting with boric acid powder. It might be a good idea to drill into the wood in a couple of places to make sure there are no critters living deep inside and knock around a bit with a hammer to hear if there are any soft spots from current or prior infestations. As long as there are no hollow sounds then everything should be ok after a week or two of drying out and treating.
As to the pictures in the OP, I gotta say those are pretty cool. Is that weed growing in the first one? I’m sure the ladies in the second one were super sweet but they did look like they could cut the blood out of your legs with a good switch at any moment.
Great pictures, awesome memories and good luck with the timbers.
I had an ex who’s mother was, for reasons unknown to me, obsessed with old barn timbers. She had a bunch of them leaning against the wall in an otherwise normal modern suburban home. All of them had been held in a room for a while to shake out the spiders and such and inspected for critters afterwards, so nab yourself a nice conversation piece (or the base for a super awesome glass topped coffee table) and just poke around on it first.
Does anyone have any experience with steam treating old timbers? Possibly with one of those new steamers that seem so popular but utterly useless as advertised (e.g. The Steam Shark)? Personally I’ve always nuked the hell out of any old wood but I can see where steam would be more economical and, dare I say it, a more green solution. That is if it is effective.
If you know you’re going to rip (cut length-wise), doing so will simplify the de-crittering.
In FL (where bugs will eat everything except concrete (pretty much), I saw entire houses covered in rubberized canvas, and sealed nearly airtight. A very nasty poison (mercury based?) was injected, and the place was left with a very nasty gas cloud for several DAYS. The time was to ensure the gas could penetrate to the center of every frigging piece of wood everywhere. Ancient wood could be penetrated to the core.
Call a take-no-prisoners exterminator and ask for suggestions.
As for where to use such lumber - how about exposed beams in a room - you don’t need to used them solid - rip them into planks and fabricate box beams.
