Anything That's Not Falling In Now Probably Never Will

After seeing the last post regarding our beloved house, it would be reasonable to assume we have lost our minds.  Why on earth would we be sinking all our money in this dump?  In Portugal?  A country suffering a serious economic crisis, not to mention the European Union (who's crisis can be described as existential).  We can discuss the economic situation in time, the next few posts will be dedicated to showing that our house is, in fact, special (and not just especially odorous).

First off is the condition.  Rot in the wood and shit on the floor are not usually selling points.  In most houses, rot in the wood would mean a complete, ground up, rebuild.  In such a case, a buyer would actually have a better economic proposition buying an empty plot of land because at least that does not involve demolition and disposal costs.  Antique architecture in Porto is special in this regard.  Most of the historical district in Porto is constructed of walls which look something like this:

This is a sample, our walls are even better.

Anything older then about 100 years is likely to be constructed from walls made entirely of granite stone.  Usually the individual blocks of stone are quite large, sometimes more then a meter across, and doors and windows (as on our house) are framed in solid granite blocks.  A single block of stone this size can weigh 2 tons or more.  This city is old, and although our house is probably not much more then 100 years old, the walls almost defiantly predate it.  Porto was a large city during Roman times, and some of the walls laid down then (or even before) are still supporting buildings today.  Effectively, anything on our house that is not falling in now will probably be standing in 1000 years.  In today's disposable society, that kind of permanence is hard to comprehend.

When our house was built, it was well understood that some parts would be reused, and other parts (such as the wood structure) would be more temporary.  Temporary is a relative term of course, the structural wood was probably put in with projected life of a 100-200 years (an eternity when compared to more contemporary building techniques).

When the builders laid our stone walls, they understood well that these walls would last far beyond the house they were creating.  In fact, they built in features that would be useful if someday in the future the house was no longer even a house.  In a way, it could be said that the builders anticipated TerraPlana or something like it might someday come to be.

In the picture below, you can see the stone work framing the doors and windows.  You can also see two large blocks under the windows.  Compared to the other stone blocks used in the house, these are actually quite thin, and are designed to be removed if for some reason a door is more desirable then a window.

Thanks for thinking ahead

The current condition of the house is bad, but we didn't really buy a house (the price we paid accounted for the condition).  What we really bought was 4 walls, and they are among the best walls constructed in the past 1000 years!