Ceiling beam old house

[fluteplayer089]

Hi all

We’ve just uncovered this ceiling beam that was boxed in previously in our 250 year old cottage. It looks quite sparse! Should I be worried?! Views from side and beneath (revealing right through the beam to floor above!)
Is there anything we coudl do to bring it back to life from an aesthetic point of view?!

 

[JohnD]

It looks charred, like the house was previously on fire. It's strength is unknown

There is nothing in your pic to show scale.

Is there a room above.

 

[fluteplayer089]

there's a room above. I think it's the way it's been treated historically - it's not been burnt.

 

[JohnD]

there's a room above. I think it's the way it's been treated historically - it's not been burnt.

I think it has. It looks like charcoal. It is cracked into cubes snd rectangles. Rub some paper on it. Take some photos that include a measure to show scale.

Also photograph the entire wall and ceiling and indicate where the fireplace used to be.

 

[Odds]

Charcoal beams.
An interesting aesthetic.
Perhaps it'll catch on in Australia.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I'm with John on this one - that isn't treatment unless the treatment was done setting fire to it. The rectangular "hole" appears to be a through mortise, which might indicate that there was originally a tenoned element, such as a door frame post or the like, going there. Alternatively, it might just be that the timbers were originally in something else l, such as a monastery or a ship, and were subsequently re-used. Not surprising in buildings up to the mid- to late- Victorian era (1870s), especially in country districts. The big grade 1 refurb I'm on at the moment has some scorched beams and joists beneath a couple of the floors caused by a major fire in the 1870s

By way of illustration: we used to have a house built c.1605 which featured recycled 1st floor timbers - the building was half of a "great hall" which was originally single storey and was converted into two farm cottages in the 18th century. Until the widespread use of power saws (1850s or so, later in rural areas) timber was often converted from tree boles into planks and beams entirely by hand using pit saws, a laborious process; o recycling made sense. The exposed roof timbers upstairs had sockets cut into some of them which at one time held the frames of a weaving loom. Later buildings in this area often have multiple "weavers windows" on the top floor where the room would contain a hand or treadle loom - the top floor had the best light, hence the position of the room at the top

 

[Mike13]

It will be black charcoal a long way in, best just to leave it painted black.