A log cabin or a concrete cube? We know what we prefer!
Old chalets and cottages built with logs are able to create that genuine atmosphere of luxury. They just need to be brushed up a little. Thanks to sensitive architectural intervention, you can gain a true gem in the form of a charming fairy-tale cottage.
The oldest construction technique
A log cabin is a type of house built using the butt and pass technique: horizontally laid beams are connected in the corners with various carpentry joins. Butt and pass is one of the oldest construction techniques of all, one which is still popular, especially in mountain villages. Wood was always the most abundantly available material here and this is why it was used to build houses.
Construction of log cabins in particular experienced a boom during the 14th century. The oldest preserved log cabin can be found in the town of Rtyně v Podkrkonoší bearing the number 53 and is a listed building. Until the end of the 18th century, fir was most often used as the building material, followed by pine and finally spruce.
Give your log cabin a “fur coat”!
A mixture of clay and chopped straw is usually used to plaster log cabins, this being both from the outside and inside – this material is traditionally known as a daub or “fur coat” in Czech, in particular due to the fact that it had luxurious insulation properties. The “fur coat” was later painted white, so the hourse often looked as if it were brick-built.
Not much of a view and clay underfoot
Whereas renovated log cabins nowadays lend a feeling of rural luxury, that was certainly not the case in the past! You can often see very small windows in original log cabins. This was due to the fact that plate glass was used as an aperture filler in the past, gained by blowing cylinders which was very expensive. Most people simply could not afford large luxurious windows.
Floors were earthen, this being common until the end of the 18th century. Instead of washing them, water was sprinkled on them by way of maintenance. Wooden floors only later found their way into the interior. Coloured tiles with mosaic designs which you can often see on the floors of old log cabins did not come into use until the end of the 19th century.
Enjoying a romantic wintertime of ease in a luxury log cabin need not be just an unfulfilled dream. The Czech mountains are peppered with log cabins to rent. All you need to do is choose your destination!
