Renovation

“Hirsityö Heikkilä’s expertise in the field of repairing old log buildings is on a great level. Depending on the building, they examine solutions that were typically used in the era the building was constructed and acquire replacement materials independently. In addition, they are genuinely interested in old buildings. Cooperation with Hirsityö Heikkilä is smooth and straightforward.”
From shoeing buildings to restoring cultural heritage
We are wood construction experts also in renovations. We carry out projects from renovating valuable cultural historical buildings to shoeing log houses and changing individual logs. When shoeing buildings, we use old logs taken from demolished buildings. If necessary, we can also saw new logs from fresh timber or snag to be used in the repair work.
The rescue operation of the old wooden city block of Toivola Old Courtyard in Jyväskylä, that in our part began in 2010, has been one of the most challenging renovation projects for us. The courtyard has seven cultural historically valuable log buildings, and we participated in renovating all of them. With the oldest residential building in the city still in place, The Sparvin House, we dismantled the log frame and took it with us to Karstula to be restored. After that we re-erected the frame to its original site and built a roof over it. We were able to save 30 percent of the over 150-year-old logs the building was constructed of. Replacement logs were found from two drying barns in Karstula, built in the 1880’s, which we used in carving over 1100 meters of missing logs. In the Toivola Old Courtyard, the repair work done by us varied from straightening a porch to re-carving a whole log building. When we began shoeing the end of a storehouse located on the lot, we discovered a pest population from the building that was rotting the log. We were able to save the building by changing 16 of its 17 log layers which required 300 meters of log. We conducted the repair work in all seven buildings under the supervision of the Museum of Central Finland, and the repair work was granted the Central Finland Cultural Environment Award.

Restored storehouses in the Toivola Old Courtyard

A log building in the Toivola Old Courtyard completely rotted by pests recarved by Hirsityö Heikkilä

The Carpenter’s House in the Toivola Old Courtyard shoed by Hirsityö Heikkilä

The oldest residential building in Jyväskylä, The Sparvin House, in the Toivola Old Courtyard dismantled and re-carved by Hirsityö Heikkilä

On the right side is The Coppersmith’s House that’s log frame was repaired by Hirsityö Heikkilä

In the middle is a storehouse with a log frame straightened and repaired by Hirsityö Heikkilä

16 of the 17 log layers were replaced

The log frame of the Sparvin House before repair