Dry Post and Beam Cracking

I doubt it. I've worked in many barns that were built 100 years ago or even longer. Lots of cracking; no damage.

If you are concerned then perhaps a humidifier would be in order?

Hi -

No problem. The cracks are longitudinal. Ignore them.

That said I also keep my humidity up as best I can to keep floors, furniture tight.

I live in the same type of house. I haven't noticed any additional cracking in the places where posts are exposed... but I have seen cracks opening in the joints between plaster and baseboard etc this year. I have a humidifier going but it struggles to keep the place over 30%.

I was concerned at first but my father the carpenter pointed out that over the last 200 years this house has been through a LOT of dry winters. So I stopped worrying...

-Jeremy

We have exposed cedar beams in our living area of our house that have lengthwise cracks(splits). They are the original beams from when the house was built in the 1860s. There has been wood heat in the house off an on throughout it's history as well as a forced hot air system. We struggle to keep the humidity above 25%. last year I started looking at the beams to see if I could notice new or larger cracks (I can't) and my wife yells at me everytime she sees me scanning the ceiling. Same comment as another poster; they've been there for 150 years with LOTS of dry heat, they're not going anywhere.

I have the same thing. My house was built in 1850 haower remodeled (not very well I might add) in 1999. The entire house is T&G knotty pine and T&G southern yellow pine floors. no sheetrock at all. I ahve a large hemlock post in my living room. there are some serious cracks in it compared to what it was when we bought the place in 2005. prior to us it was only used as a summer home and didnt have a heat source. We have forced air and an Olympic woodstove.
Even our floor has seperated in most places as has the ceiling..Dont know if I can ever fix that..the floor in particular I would like to fill in the gaps with soemthing prior to the next time I poly it which might be this summer.Any thoughts?

We live in a log cabin w exposed beams. Some checking and cracking is normal and I dont think burning wood plays too big a part there. We too use a humidifier.

Adirondack-

One idea I read about for gaps in wide pine floors is to put natural sisal rope or felt into the gap. You can dip the rope in stain to make it blend in and the rope will give as the boards expand and contact through the seasons. I think this idea comes from wooden shipbuilding.

I got the idea from the forums at oldhouseweb.com. Its another site I frequent and I highly recommenced it as a source for advice on restoring your place...

-Jeremy

Whenever I refinish a floor I mix sawdust and Elmer's wood glue and add a little stain to match to fill gaps and cracks. Just be neat when you apply it.

I think I am going to hav a local floor contractor come take a look at it. He is a one man band and its all he does is finish and repair hardwood floors

I won't repeat what's been said well here. Is it a newish house? Checking and drying are normal for these sorts of structures for the first few years, though the sudden dry warmth will increase it. I have mad a lot of wooden bows that have had several inches of checking in the limb- some that you could see through. (one was named "Auntie Laurie" after my aunt with the scar on her face). This did not compromise strength. In fact, dry wood is stronger.