Safranbolu

Limestone obtained from the surrounding area is utilized in construction, although the use of stone does not amount to much. Masonry being among the crafts mastered by the Greeks living in Safranbolu, it is mostly in the Greek houses that stone is used.

“Kufunk” Â is a lightweight, porous stone found in the caverns in the area, which is easily cut with a saw is used in the adobe walls.

Timber necessary for house-building is supplied by foresters, to which order has been placed before hand. Generally trees are felled in October- November, before the trunk begins to drain water. It is believed that trees felled at this stage are more resistant and do not necessitate drying. Trees growing on south-facing slopes are preferred, due to their richer inner layers, believed to be more resistant because of less moisture content. The forest villagers split the lumber they have already felled with an axe and carry it down on horse or mule, or drawn by oxen. The carrying capacity of the animals helps determine the quantitative aspect of the timber:

‘Tekin Ceker”: Â These are long trees with a diametre of 10 to 15 cm, one is fastened to each side of the animal.

“Ciftin Ceker”: Â These have a smaller section (6×12 cm or 5×10 cm) and are carried four at a time, tied in couples on either side of the animal.

“Ken”: Â These are thick trees with a diametre of 25-30 cm, and are pulled down by oxen. They can sometimes be partly trimmed.

“Giliste”: Â Young trees of a diametre of 10 cm cut on either side so as to obtain boards with a section of 4×10 cm or 5×10 cm.

Boards: Â Boards used for flooring are wider than 30 cm, but can even be 62 cm wide. The thickness is 3 cm and the length is less than 4 metres. Boards used for the ceiling are narrower. They are 17.50 cm wide and 1.50 cm thick. These are cut either with a hand saw or at a sawmill. They are stacked and left to dry .They are planed in spring and nailed into place in summer. Linseed oil or any other protective liquid is not applied on the surfaces.

Shingles:  To cut out shingles, the texture of the tree has to be almost without defect. Naturally, trees of such a smooth texture are rare. For this reason, a sample is taken from the tree before cutting it down and tested to see if it splits smootly or not. Two pieces are split in succession and are placed face to face. If the surfaces almost coincide, then it is decided that the tree is the right choice for the production of shingles. It is mostly the villagers from Danakoy who are engaged in the production of shingles. Commonly, fir is used for this purpose but villagers of Baskoy prefer black pine, from which a more hardy product is obtained which can also tolerate nailing. The shingles are 4-6 mm thick, 10-20 cm wide and 60-100 cm long.

The trees mostly utilized are fir, yellow pine, black pine, and occasionally poplar, walnut and horn beech. Oak is not used.

Straw is added to the mud and thoroughly kneaded by foot. It is allowed to set for two days and is then poured into triple or quadruple moulds. This mostly takes place when the swallows arrive. In May, after being let f to dry under the sun for 10 days, adobe can be used as an infill in wood-frame construction. Adobe of various dimensions: 27x27x10 cm; 27x22x10 cm; 27x13x10 cm was found in the Haci Salih Pasa house dated 1820.

Mud is allowed to set so that it can be kneaded like dough. Fine sand is sprinkled over flat wooden moulds. The mud-dough is spread over it and smoothed with a float. It is then transferred onto a wooden mould which gives it the semi-cylindrical shape. The mould is removed and the tile is left to dry in the sun before being burnt. Tiles were mostly made in Cercen and Bostanbuku villages and Camlica district.

Mud Mortar: Â It is prepared like the adobe dough, except that the soil used for this purpose is sieved. It is used in laying stone or adobe walls and as a base-coat plaster. Straw is not added to this mortar when used in wallbinding.

Lime Mortar:  Lump lime is slaked in a wooden box with a little water. It is left aside for a day, then sieved to obtain powdered lime. Still in the wooden box, it is mixed with water until a smooth paste is obtained, and with the addition of tow and hairs shaved off the left-over pieces of leather from the tannery , it is used for the finishing coat.

“Horasan” Mortar: Â It is used in places are in contact with to water, e.g. pools and water cisterns. It is made with lime, fragments of clay tiles and linseed oil.

Stone is utilized in the construction of the foundation walls and the ground floor, irrigation and sewerage channels, door arches, corbels and garden walls, as an infill in woodframe consruction; for paving streets and randomly as stepping stones in front of the houses or arm-rest stones beside the hearths.

“Kufunk”, the lightweight stone is used mostly as an infill in wood-frame construction and when cut to the size of adobe, for building chimneys.

Adobe is used in the construction of hearths and garden walls and as an infill in wood-frame construction.

The main structural framework of the houses is wood. It is also used as flooring, cladding for the ceiling, for cupboards, doors, windows and shutters and in the roof. Different types of timber are utilized in different places:

Fir: Â It is used for the load-bearing structure of the roof. The studs, plates and joists are more resistant when made of fir. It is also used for producing shingles.

Yellow-fir:  It is used as a substitute for fir, if fir is not available. Flooring (for which black pine can also be used), ceilings, cladding of interior or exterior doors, shutters, wooden partition walls doors of the cupboards: latticed screens, fireplace hoods and mantels, the toilet floor, counter-top, of the wash-room, coppings over garden walls, and garden seats are all made of yellow fir. The exterior surfaces acquire a chestnut brown hue with the passing of time.

Poplar: Â Used in producing the wood-turned balustrades of staircases and windows.

Walnut: Â Used for the panels on ceilings, and on the doors of cupboards and rooms.

The ground is dug until firm soil is reached. This usually is a depth of 100- 150 cm. Large foundation stones are laid at the base and covered with mud mortar. The mason draws his leading string and starts laying the wall. The width of the foundation is 80-100 cm. The foundation wall may end after a height of 100 cm has been reached or may continue all along the ground floor level.

The Ground Floor Wall  The stones are laid with mud mortar. The width is about 80 cm. Larger and more smoothly shaped stones are specially selected for the corners. In many houses the herring-bone pattern has been intergrated using flat stones. Regular lintels are not used in the stone walls. Instead, the cambium layer of red pine is laid in three strips, each being 15 cm wide, side by side, as a binding course. Occasionally wood shingles may be used for the same purpose. These horizontal courses are laid at intervals of 100 cm. The wall separating the hayat and the stable comes more or less in the middle of the ground floor. It is built as a load-bearing wall, and the roof-load is tranfered onto it. Stone and adobe can be used together in the construction of garden walls, in which the binding course mentioned above is utilized.

From the ground floor upwards, the houses are constructed with wood frames. Fir is preferred for setting up the frame. Timber used for this purpose usually has a size of 10-12 cm. There are diagonal braces at the corners. In the older houses, stud intervals are between 45 to 70 cm, and they have finely shaped timber capitals. There are no horizontal ties between the studs. Whereas in the more recent houses the intervals between studs are much smaller, between 20 to 40 cm. The main studs are thicker and have capitals. There are studs on two sides of each window and another stud in between the windows. Projections are supported by brackets from below. The ceiling joists of the hayat, which has quite a wide span, are also supported by brackets on either side. The edge of the diagonal brace which sits on the plate is notched. In the same way the brackets are jointed to either the plates supporting the projecting joists, the timber binding within the stone wall or to the corbel with a notch. The plates are joined with semi-mortise and tenons. Occasionally the studs are also jointed with mortise and tenons to the plates, but in most cases blacksmith’s nails are used for this purpose. When placing the studs, it is important to check that the roots of the tree point downwards. In the older houses the wooden frames have been filled with adobe laid edgewise. In relatively new constructions, the lightweight stone “kufunk”, or cobbles approximately 10 cm in diameter have been used as an infill. This is worked with lime mortar from the inside of the house to a wooden mould nailed from the outside. One other material utilized as infill is timber fragments, either leftovers from the construction or obtained from demolished old houses.

The interval between the floor joists is around 35-40 cm. Their dimensions are 10×15 cm, while those of the ceiling joists are 6×12 cm or 5×10 cm. The corners of the wood frame construction have been handled in a variety of ways at the floor level.

In the simplest approach there is a plate on one side and a plate and sole on the other. In one other method, a sole and plate is used on one side and a double sole and a plate on the other. However, the type with a plate and a sole on both sides seems to be the most advantageous. The space between the plate and sole is either covered with a header or is filled in with stones and mortar on the exterior.

The roofs are supported by the wood-frame construction. Four hip rafters with rather thick sections rest on a short ridge. Rafters, which again have thick sections are fixed to the hip rafters, spread out like a fan. This type of roof is called a !lfour hipped roof”. The ridge is supported by king posts resting on a load-bearing wall. Purlins are used where necessary, but usually the rafters extend from the hip rafters to the eaves without any reinforcement. Parallel to the eaves, laths are nailed onto the rafters at intervals corresponding to the length of the roof tiles or the wood shingles.

The Roofing: Â Until the first quarter of the 20th century, most of the summer houses had a wood shingle roof. The shingles are layed side by side on the laths which are parallel to the eaves. Each shingle is layed overlapping two others so that there is a thickness of three shingles at each course. A horizontal brace is placed on top, at intervals of 60 cm. Stones are lined on this lath so as to keep it in place. The shingles made of black pine can be nailed. Once the shingles are wet, they become waterproof and do not allow any seepage from the roofing. when tiles are used for roofing, generally there is no sub-tile cladding. The joining points of the tiles rest on the laths on either end. When tiles replace the former shingle roofing, the first layer of shingles is preserved as a sub-tile cladding. If a sub-tile cladding is to be done, this is also installed parallel to the roof slope, as in the case with installing the shingles.