I am a commercial general contractor and log home builder, and the log engineering and detail in these old structures is amazing. Cannot believe how tight the seams are between the logs after so many years. These all had to be built before the revolution which makes them late 1800’s, very early 1900’s.......while some of the higher structures are collapsing, most of the lower structures are amazingly solid and tight.
Wonder if the Russian log builders weren’t better at it than American ones....I’ve seen quite a few 100+ year old log structures here, and none were as tight as these........
Kinda sad tho....seeing their decay.
Thanks for this great post.
Some them go back to the 17th Century. Of course, maintenance and upkeep would have stopped in the 1920’s or 30’s. They’re all in the Arctic, which accounts for some of their excellent state of preservation.
“am a commercial general contractor and log home builder, and the log engineering and detail in these old structures is amazing. Cannot believe how tight the seams are between the logs after so many years.”
My husband is a custom framer but works now and then building log homes. He tells me the trees they used to use were older and cured longer. Today the trees are younger and not cured as long...so the wood can “bend” as it’s not fully cured and the pitch or tar used in the old days for sealing was MUCH better than the cheap crap used today.
If you look at the captions it tells how old the structures are. Some as old as early 1600’s and I believe one was late 1500’s.