Gers Half Timbered Properties
Gers’s typical half-timbered properties are distinctly beautiful. The use of wood forms the key element of these Midi-Pyrenees properties. Wood is used both inside and outside the house, for both decoration or protection.
The rural heartland of the Gers department offers plenty of these half timbered houses, with plenty of picturesque villages. These Gascony half-timbered properties can be found to the west of the department near Landes, in the
bas-Armagnac region.
This half-timbered style is a legacy of the middle-ages.
The dominant construction material used in the Gers region of France is stones from the nearby rivers. Sometimes, walls are also made up of a cob and stone mix.
Some Gers half timbered houses have a corbelling structure, giving more space to the upper floors’ rooms.
A
Corbel is in this case a piece of wood jutting out of a wall to carry the superincumbent weight of the floor above. This is a technique used since Neolithic times – late Stone Age (around 3,500 BC): this is actually a traditional construction method in the region.
In some villages of the
Gascony area like Fourcès (image below), half-timbered properties have a gallery, and columns bear the weight of the upper floor.