There are many ways to discover the secrets of different wood species. However, of course we mostly rely on our eyes. One day, a blind man named Andy was led to our house by his wife. With his stick, he detected steps, walls and corners while his wife made sure there were no surprises obstructing his way.
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The next time you are in a show room that features wood products, try the following experiment. With your eyes closed, slide your hands across a maple table top and then use the tips of your fingers and feel the rougher pores of ash or oak wood. Try this experiment outdoors on the hard wood of an oak or beech tree and then the soft wood of a spruce.
The Center for Chinese Healing Arts made of Holz100 built on the river in Gars am Kamp, Austria, was flooded by a hundred-year flood for four months after it was opened. After the water had subsided, only a bit of cosmetic work and replacement of floorboards required to be completed - and the building was ready to be used again.
Elements prefabricated in such a way were delivered to the project site, and the assembly of a “turnkey” single family home only took 1 to 2 days for completion. When humidity changes, timber swells or shrinks, but its length never changes. The cross structure of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal layers provide incredible stability similar to that offered by a concrete wall, as well as an exceptional durability of the form, even if such a house is flooded.
Its walls were mainly 36 cm thick and consisted of five layers of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal wooden boards. All layers were joined by dry wooden pegs that swelled with moisture from the surrounding environment and formed an inseparable structure. A water, curd and lime mix acted as grease to reduce resistance when driving the pegs through the wooden boards with a hydraulic press.
He had to postpone his work in this area for later because, as it turned out, he still had many obstacles to first overcome. Dr. Thoma developed and patented his own technology of wooden building systems. He called the technology Holz100 (“Wood”100), because Holz100 buildings were made of 100% wood in with absolutely no chemicals, screws or nails.
Dr. Thoma wanted to build houses where people would be surrounded only and completely by wood, without the use of chemicals and toxins, to create an atmosphere similar to old wooden huts he knew from his childhood. They had a uniquely positive atmosphere. Gaining insight into the mystery of this well-being material has become a quiet passion of Dr. Thoma.
The company grew and Mr. Thoma started building houses from solid wood, which, in the 1980's, was completely against the development of modern building systems at the time. Wooden houses were usually made of frame structures, in which mixed materials such as wood, foil, styrofoam, and others were used together.
It dried faster and was more resistant to fire. And, most of all, it was harder and stronger, with no tendency to swell when exposed to moisture. Today, Dr. Thoma builds homes everywhere including the tropics next to termite mounds, where everything is usually eaten by insects except Holz100 homes. As he claims, there has never been any problems with woodworms or fungi.
This was the third time that Dr. Thoma reveled in the fact that there was more knowledge to be learned about wood than what he had learned at the university. As he continued to work with wood, he began conducting his own research and took notes. It turned out that this “moonwood”, as he called it, was more resistant to fungus, and especially to blue stain fungi.
Once the snow melted, Mr. Thoma went to fetch the wood. The first thing he did was to check for woodworms, and it turned out that there were no signs of pests on it. Out of curiosity, he checked the other pile of wood at the neighbor's and found that it was completely infested with woodworms!
His timber was set aside in one pile while lumberjacks continued to work on a new pile of timber, despite the fact that the moon had already entered a different phase. The timber they cut at this time was set aside in another pile at the neighbor's. Because of the snow, the wood could not be transported, so they had to wait until spring.
“Grandfather”, Dr. Thoma replied. “I studied forestry engineering in Vienna with the best professors. If such knowledge existed, I would have heard about it a long time ago.” Still, his grandfather remained stubborn. “I've been doing this all my life, you should try it, too” - he said. Dr. Thoma was still skeptical; however, he decided to harvest the next batch of timber in January, during the waning moon.
Again, it was his grandfather who came up with a solution. He mentioned how we should only and solely use wood that was harvested at its best. What does it mean, though? The idea is to only harvest wood when the sap levels are its lowest in winter, but most importantly, to do it solely during the waning moon.
He asked his grandfather to be his advisor. And this is how, in the 80’s, they started their business - one that would run completely contrary to the modern trends of civilization. Initially, most of their orders were for flooring. Unfortunately, these floors were often installed in new buildings, where there was still a lot of moisture in the concrete. As a result, the wood would swell with time, and the parquets would expand and contract.
This was another event in the life of Dr. Thoma that made him start questioning modern methods of problem solving. Since the properties of wood saved his children from suffering, he thought that there might be a demand for traditional woodworking. He decided to open a woodworking shop, with an idea that wood might also help other people.
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