I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 38: New House Construction Begins

The exhaustion of fish by two people is to the vast forest what the disturbance of two ants to human habitation is to the vast mountain forest.

For half a month, Luc and Ryan had been cutting down trees and making bricks. Finally, on this day, the number of red bricks reached the expected number, and Luc decided to officially build a real house!
Luc had planned the difference between temporary housing and real houses as early as the beginning. Similarly, thanks to the construction of temporary housing, Luc learned a lot of lessons.

For example, chimney smoke exhaust, wall heating, and wood dampness and rotting, etc.

"Master, are these red bricks enough?"

Ryan was covered in mud and sand, the dried mud cracking his arms. He turned to look at the rows of red bricks behind him and said with some concern.

It's no wonder Ryan was confused. Although the number of red bricks seemed large, Ryan, who had experience in building houses, could tell at a glance that these building materials he had never seen before might not be enough after being piled up.

Luc was drawing on a stone with charcoal. He didn't even look up when he heard Ryan's words.

"Of course it's enough, Ryan. We don't have much time to make red bricks. Many wild fruits in the mountains have already sprouted. If we collect them well this year and plant them, we will have more food varieties next year."

It had just rained yesterday and the air was a little humid. Luc wiped the dew off the slate, and soon a construction diagram composed of black lines appeared in front of him.

"Ryan, come and take a look, this is the house we are going to build next!"

Luke beckoned Ryan to come closer, and what caught Ryan's eye was a two-story house made of wood and brick.

Luc tapped the slate. "Half-timbered! Ever heard of it?"

"Half-timbered?"

Half-timbered structures were not yet common at that time, so Ryan was a little confused.

The half-timber structure is actually a construction method of half wood and half stone bricks because there is not enough wood.

However, Luc was in a forest with plenty of wood, so he chose half-wood after careful consideration.

First, it is very difficult to burn red bricks, and there are too many procedures. Just felling wood and burning charcoal takes a lot of time. Lu Ke does not have enough wood but not enough red bricks.

Secondly, wood is actually more heat-insulating than bricks and stones. The temporary residence was leaking at first, causing Ryan to catch a cold, simply because it was built too hastily.

Now, Luc plans to build this new house slowly and without rushing.

Ryan observed the pattern for a while and was somewhat surprised by this architectural style he had never seen before, which was between the lord's all-stone castle and the ordinary people's mud and wooden houses.

However, after such a long time of contact, Ryan has gradually come to trust Luke very much. He nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, let's do as the master says."

“Shall we start construction now?”

"Of course, sooner rather than later!"

The new house is located to the east of the old wooden house, close to the fence. After it is built, it only needs to extend the fence to naturally accommodate the new house.

The new house is fifteen feet wide and twenty-one feet long, about three times the size of the old house.

The area inside the house is not very large, but it is enough to accommodate two people, not to mention there is a small second floor.

Being narrower also makes it easier to store heat.

The two men first cut out a batch of wood and then split it into a large number of thicker wooden boards for use. Then they dug the foundation and then tamped it flat. The overall material of the house was still mainly wood, and Luc planned to use red bricks to reinforce the chimney, fireplace, and walls.

This time it was no longer a semi-kiln construction, and Luc did not plan to use soil directly as the floor, so when the foundation was filled, the outermost layer was covered with red bricks to make the foundation higher than the ground. Then two people glued the wooden boards to the red bricks one by one.

"Master, it's a little difficult for us to get into the house like this. We should add some more wooden ladders."

"Yes, we need to build steps on the south side." Luc wanted the new house to be both beautiful and comfortable, so the steps could not be in direct contact with the foundation, otherwise it would look ugly.

Luc nailed several pointed wooden stakes upside down into the south side of the foundation, used the stakes as support, laid a layer of wooden boards on top, and then left gaps on both sides to make space for three steps.

The wooden steps were not difficult for Ryan, just a little tedious. While he was building the steps, Luc smoked the wooden boards that the two of them had cut one by one.

Wood is very easy to rot and get infested with insects. In order to better maintain it, it was left in a dry and ventilated place for several days when the foundation was compacted.

The smoking at this time, coupled with Luc coating the surface of the wood with grease, are both means of anti-corrosion.

The wooden boards were polished, and the wood chips and sawdust from the sawing were not thrown away, but collected and piled aside.

The two of them worked from the beginning of the month to the middle of the month before they completed the basic work. During this period, Luc suddenly discovered that there was not enough table salt.

Two people consumed salt much faster than one person, not to mention that some of the salt was used to pickle venison and pork, so he took Ryan to the salt mountain with a chisel and shovel and dug for several days to dig out a few pieces of salt stone.

On the way back, Ryan was very excited about the salt mountain here. He had wondered why Master Luke had so much edible salt.

Halfway through the walk, Ryan suddenly stopped.

"Master, come and see if these are goat's footprints!"

"goat?"

Luke's eyes were slightly stern. He walked forward quickly and looked down. Sure enough, he saw a series of two crescent-shaped footprints trampled together in a mess, extending along the muddy road into the depths of the forest.

It's really a goat's footprint!
Are there goats here?

Luc and Ryan exchanged a quick glance, both seeing excitement in each other's eyes.

Even in this era when goats are slightly demonized and regarded as the incarnation of Satan, farmers still love them.

Just like red deer, goats are important commodities, whether for wool, meat or milk.

This winter was quite difficult for Luc and Ryan.

The unevenness of food was one thing, and the lack of warmth other than staying in the cabin was insufficient.

For example, a deerskin and thatch quilt is far less comfortable than a quilt filled with wool.

"I didn't see any goats last year. Are they new migrants?"

Like red deer, goats have a wide range of activities. In autumn and winter, they migrate to low-altitude areas to spend the winter, and then return to mountains and other high-altitude areas to survive in spring and summer.

The forest is so fertile that the goats don't have to worry about competing with the red deer for food.

"master!"

Ryan looked at Luc and said nothing, but the desire in his eyes was almost tangible.

"Don't alert the enemy. Go back to the cabin first, then bring little Charlie out and find the goat's hiding place!"

Luc was not polite either. Since God had given the goat a gift, he must seize it as soon as possible.

Luc did not forget that there are wolves in the mountains!
If you don't do it yourself, are you going to leave it to them?

He hurried back to the cabin with little Charlie. There was no time to refine the salt, so he let little Charlie out of the fenced yard. Taking the tools, the two of them returned to the forest and followed the feces and footprints into the depths of the jungle.

(End of this chapter)