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Writer's pictureOldbury Cottage

How an Australian timber slab hut like Oldbury Cottage was built

Updated: Aug 26, 2022


If you wonder how Oldbury Cottage was constructed, this fascinating video shows two Australian bushmen building a slab hut in the Snowy Mountains.


They choose the right trees to fell, check each tree's harmonics, and demonstrate the same time-honoured techniques that were used to build Oldbury Cottage - whose hardwoods by the way, have withstood weather exposure and termites for 160 plus years.

Once trees are felled, the process of splitting the eucalyptus trunks into one and a half inch thick slabs is surprisingly simple. In fact, watching these men split slabs, without any machinery or a mill, shows how much of early Australia was built.

It is said that 1.5 inches of hardwood is the equivalent of 4 inches of masonry.


That's why Oldbury Cottage stays cool in summer, and warm in winter.


Of course, the addition of modern attic and wall insulation plus underfloor heating in the bathroom, helps the cottage maintain an evenly warm temperature throughout the colder months.


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