On Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:03:02 -0400
  [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Board and batten construction (vertical plank 
>construction) was common at that time, and was often used 
>to construct low-cost housing in company towns.  A number 
>of sources indicate this type of construction was used in 
>Helvetia, Pennsylvania (coal town--houses built between 
>1891-1896).  Later tenants made alterations within the 
>structures to improve interior wall surfaces.     
>
>Is there something about these boards that shows re-use 
>of flooring or clearly identifies the planks as floor 
>boards?
>They are boards that have the alternating laps like sub floor or barn flooring and laid horizontally with no battens. The interior walls would have been similar to the outside walls prior to placing clapboards on the exterior. To call them flooring is probably a stretch, but very similar to sub flooring, and usually six to eight inches wide and 3/4 of an inch thick. 
> 
>
>Dr. Karen Metheny
>Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology
>Boston University
> 
>
> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Steve Hanken <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Tue, Aug 10, 2010 1:48 pm
>Subject: rough sub-floor used on interior walls
>
>
>Working on flood damaged buildings that appear to be ones 
>possibly constructed 
>by Bohemian carpenters, we discovered interior walls 
>covered floor to ceiling 
>with lapped siding or rough flooring boards. Later they 
>are covered in plaster 
>and lath. We are wondering if this was something of a 
>immigrant technique to 
>create a quick interior wall for less money, or if this 
>was something brought 
>from Europe? Often they are covered in wall paper, so it 
>appears it was sometime 
>before they were lathed. Whatever the case, these homes 
>and businesses withstood 
>a considerable amount of distructive force without 
>collapse. We had one building 
>that floated away folded over a twelve inch diameter tree 
>and ran head long into 
>the side of one two story comercial building and it 
>didn't even budge! All these 
>buldings were built in the 1890's any thoughts?
>
>