Little House on the Flatbed

7/28/2019 Little House on the Flatbed

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She'erah's little house on the flatbedEW: Lookhere for Polyhymnia's half-timber kitchen structure!

his house was built in the spring/summer of 2000 to satisfy a dream of many years of having a "little house on a

atbed" at Pennsic (like some of the merchants do). It was assembled at Coopers' Lake Campground, where it lives yound.

he house is based on architecture from the mid-10th century in Cordova, which was then part of al-Andalus (a Mos

mpire). While She'erah is Jewish, there do not appear to have been distinctly-Jewish styles of architecture. (Well, I ut up a mezuzah case...)
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Exterior

uildings during this period seem to have been primarily stone and brick, but due to my need to move it around (and

eed to do this affordably), this one is made of wood. Walls were white-washed stucco, and sometimes the stucco wa

aborately carved, at least in significant buildings like mosques and palaces. We don't know much about the housesrdinary people lived in.

ou can't really see it in most the pictures, but the walls have been painted with texturing stuff to give the loose

ppearance of stucco that has been painted over. We mixed some crunchy stuff (accoustic ceiling tile mix, actually) ihe paint and put it on in one thick coat. One of the helpers described it as "like painting with cottage cheese". It'll ge

econd coat at some point. Here's a picture that shows the texturing:
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n 2001 I added a carved panel above the door. It's based on a tree-of-life motif in a carved marble doorpiece. I made

mine with a sheet of quarter-inch plywood and a jig saw:

t the same time we also added the "stonework" to the corners:
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Window screens [2] were used to provide diffuse light inside with some degree of privacy. At least two of these scre

ave survived, carved out of marble; the carving in one (not shown here, see [2]) loosely resembles knotwork. (Thiseing a Moslem land there are no creatures, just geometrics.) Secondary and tertiary sources indicate that screens we

so carved out of stucco (and probably wood); a stucco screen survives from Syria at about this time. Because I am

much of a carver, and because this is a house and not something fancy like a mosque, I opted for off-the-shelf lattice

ive approximately the right look. So the screens are wood, but are painted with the texture stuff to look like stucco.
http://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/sources/mosque-screen.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw31/corner-1.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/sources/mosque-screen.jpg


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ere are some pre-painting pictures. Note the "stone" trim around the windows, which is actually individual, bevelleieces of wood:

nd finished. Notice that the windowsills are angled outward to channel rain water away from the interior.
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he doorway is taken from a minor portal on the Cordova mosque [1], built around this time. There is no (surviving)

ecoration in the arch, but a good deal of the stucco that was there has deteriorated. In the summer of 2001 I added a

ree of life" in this spot, based on a carved marble wall-piece from c.950; I did mine with a jig saw, a piece of plywond paint. (Pictures will appear after Pennsic.) The arch itself is constructed in a way similar to the window trim; her

he pre-paint view:
http://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/windowsill-2.jpg


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nd finished:

oofs were tile, which was sub-optimal for my purposes. (I suspect tile roofs weren't meant to be driven around onatbed trailers. :-) ) This roof is made with ABS pipe cut lengthwise; the top pieces are cut every foot or so (to mimi

le), overlapped slightly, and screwed to boards; these boards are then screwed to the plywood roof. The bottom piec

re whole, for the sake of getting this done this summer and preserving the sanity of those involved. The pitch of thisoof is a little steeper than that of the ones in Cordova; we get bigger snowfalls in Pennsylvania.

ere are some pictures from the roofing party:

nterior

nterior walls, too, were often stucco. Some interior walls were carved stucco, such as in the Cordova synagogue [3]

pecific building is later (but provides a good color picture). The shape of the curved windows is also taken from thaynagogue. In some of the buildings that have survived, the walls appear roughly ivory in color. Whether this is the

ffect of age, a photographic distortion, or an indication of the original coloring, I can't say. I decided that I didn't wa

laring white inside the house, so I opted for a light-cream color (actually "eggshell", for those who care). The inside
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so painted with the texturing stuff. I haven't done anything about carving yet, but am thinking about a panel on the de walls in 2004.
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he "oak" beams under the loft were added in 2003 to cover the trios of 2x6s in the construction. I couldn't find real

aneer locally, so I bought quarter-inch plywood, cut strips of the correct widths, bevilled the edges, and nailed themver the 2x6s and stained. (I say "I", but actually, Leifr Hjamson did all the parts involving the table saw, of which I'

omewhat afraid.)

have no clue whether a loft would have been built in a house of this time, but I wanted the extra space and I had toith Pennsic land-allocation rules. (This house is 10x20 on the exterior, so with the trailer hitch and the front steps it

retty close to one person's land allocation.)
http://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpghttp://home.jtan.com/~cellio/house/pw32/closet-window.jpg


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he Cordova mosque (the only building of this time for which I've seen interior ceiling pictures [1]) has exposed beather in a dark wood or painted or stained dark. (I can't tell which from the pictures.) I will, eventually , apply a suita

ardwood veneer to the exposed 2x6s under the loft to give the right appearance. Someday I may paint the rafters an

eiling. I have no plans to put in a "finished" ceiling. Here's the ceiling (not the loft underside) as it currently exists:

he shutters on the windows (sometimes shown here unfinished, but that has since been fixed) are a concession to

ennsic weather. Shutters were not in evidence in any of the sources I looked at. I don't know how they kept rain out

maybe they had some sort of curtains, or maybe the windows were deeply-enough set that the rains they got didn't ca

roblems. The shutters are on the inside for a few reasons: (1) this preserves the attempt at correctness for the exterio2) they would have covered the "stone work" around the windows on the outside, and (3) making easily-removable

inged) window screens turned out to be challenging, so something that closes from the inside was much easier to deith.

he steps to the loft are hidden behind the back wall. (It's actually more like a ship's ladder than actual steps. This, to

ue to space constraints.) I don't know what real steps for this period looked like.
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he steps have to emerge near the center of the building because of the overall height (I was working with a 16' limit

round to top of roof), so there was some extra space on the first floor. Hence, the closet. (There is no finished wall o

he left, so the space under the steps is accessible for storage.)

he loft occupies about half of the length of the house, which is enough room for a sleeping area. The loft also serveructural purpose; it helps keep the walls square when the house is in motion. For smaller houses this might not be a

sue (you should ask an engineer), but my walls are almost 14 feet high at the tallest points, with only a 10x20 base,

his was a source of concern.

Living in it

he house is very comfortable to live in at Pennsic under a variety of weather conditions. Because of the number and

lacement of windows, there are nice cross-breezes during the day and the house does not get hot (even in the loft). W

hink we also, accidentally, got some "air conditioning" in the roof; there is air space under the outer tiles, and the tilre black, so they heat up that air and it has nowhere to go but up and out the vent at the ridge. Pretty neat. During th

ottest part of the day, it's actually cooler inside the house than it is under regular canvas flies, even though the house

alls and the flies don't.

ain is not especially loud on the plastic roof.

etup is easy: drive it in, and then use jack stands on the 4 corners to make it level. (The hitch also has a jack built in

.) My group contains perfectionists, so it was truly level (measured and everything). I like having perfectionists

round. :-)

Future plans

n incomplete, unordered list of things I still plan to do:

Put in wood soffets (currently there is air space between the tops of the walls and the roof) (in progress)

Add some "carved stucco" to the inside of the house

Replace the modern doorknob (a quick and dirty fix) with something more plausible (there's no handle/knob

the exterior of the doors I copied from, which open inward, and I haven't seen the inside to know what kind o

handle they had there)

Maybe paint the floor to look like stone (or, alternatively, research tile for this period -- pointers welcome!)
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Paint fake stone on cloth (or some such) and attach it to the frame on the outside to hide the trailer frame and

wheels

Figure out what a real 10th-century mezuzah case would have looked like and replace the modern one (I've h

no luck finding mezuzot from this period, thus far, though we know halacha required their use)

Maintenance

ome lessons learned thus far (2003):

You can't keep the critters away. I've never had mice get in, but birds and hornets have built nests in my eave

between Pennsics. And I've found feathers (though no actual animal parts) inside the house. Come prepared fthis.

Buildings stored on site will get dinged. Touch-up painting will be needed more frequently than for stationary

buildings. One of my corner pieces was taken out, presumably by another vehicle, and had to be replaced. Th

things happen; storing some basic tools in the house to deal with these problems during Pennsic isn't a bad ide

Do not let a house like this sit on the tires while in storage. Or if you do, bring spare tires and/or a can of air w

you to Pennsic. And a shovel, because it will have sunk into the ground and you might not be able to get a jac

in.

The house has survived three Pennsylvania winters so far without problems. Well, I noticed this year that one

my roof tiles is loose, but that's it. We'll fix it before next year.

Credits

Johan von Traubenberg did the detailed design and drew up the bluep

from She'erah's vague drawings and descriptions. He's a civil engineeprofessionally, so I know I can trust it.

The construction was primarily done by Jim Mast, who did a fantastic

and managed to adapt when the DMV wouldn't let him drive the traile

after all. (So he put my trailer, and all the pre-made pieces, onto a biggtrailer and drove thatin.)

Johan came up with the idea for the roof, and he and Leifr Hjalmson m

it and put it on (with help from Hreffna, Alaric, and Esmeralda).

Many people helped paint, including: Dani of the Seven Wells, Ts'vee

as Tseepora Levi, Genevieve du Vent Argent, Tofi Kerthjalfadson, Alistar Scott MacCrummin, Hreffna, AlaricMacConnal, Branduf, Hilda, Esmeralda la Sabia, Bjornwolf, Johan, and Leifr.

eifr, Johan, Arianna, and Brion helped build the steps and shutters (at Pennsic 29).

pdate for Pennsic 30: Johan, Hreffna, Ts'vee'a, Dani, Alistar, and Kenneth Johanson helped install soffits, "stonewo

nd the "tree of life" above the door.

pdate for Pennsic 32: Leifr helped make the oak vaneer for the loft beams, and Alaric helped me install it. These twso helped me hang the three oil lamps, one from the ceiling and two under the first beam of the loft. The oil lamps

made by the "young Muslim lad" (now a Master of the Laurel) who sells in Potters' Hall at Pennsic.
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Pictures

everal of the pictures on this page were graciously provided by Niccolo diFrancesco from Meridies; visit his gallery

iccolo's Pennsic pictures. Most of the rest of the pictures taken at Pennsic were my doing. (As you can see, Niccolomuch better photographer than I am. If anybody else out there has pictures, I'd love to see them.)

he pictures from before the house was painted were taken by Bob Hansen. The pictures from the painting/roofing pa

ere taken by miscellaneous people.

Sources

]Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain, edited by Jerrilynn D. Dodds, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York992.

2] The Art of Medieval Spain, AD 500-1200, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993.

3] Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain, edited by Vivian B. Mann, Thomas F. Glick, and

errilynn D. Dodds, George Braziller in association with The Jewish Museum, New York, 1992.

Contact

he'erah bat Shlomo (mka Monica Cellio) can be reached at the following address (spelled out this way to deter spam

cellio" at"pobox" dot"com".


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Little House on the Flatbed