Colonial Homes Building Materials

Native Timbers

• The colonists brought tools with them to cut the abundant native timbers for their dwellings. The first colonial homes were made from ash, oak and maple. Colonists shaped the timber into framing posts, clapboard siding, window shutters and roof shingles. They used branches, sticks and twigs to fill in the gaps by weaving them between each other, called wattle. The first fireplace chimneys were also made from timber, but colonists soon realized their inherent fire hazard.

Native Grasses

• The first colonial roofs were thatched, made of bundles of native swamp reeds and grasses. However, the colonists soon learned that these thatched roofs were an enormous fire hazard. They replaced the thatched roofs with wood or slate shingles. The shingles were held in place by metal nails from England. The colonists also collected native grasses to use as an ingredient in their primitive plaster, called daub.

Earthen Materials

• The colonists made daub to plaster with by mixing water, clay, dirt and native grasses. They were able to push it in between the wattle and clapboards to seal out the cold. On the inside of the dwellings, they smoothed it all over the wattle and framing posts to create walls. Earlier timber chimneys were replaced with brick or stone. Earlier thatched roofs were replaced with slate shingles. Cellars were built under dwellings with stone foundations.

Windows

• The first colonial dwellings didn't have glass windows. Colonists created window coverings made of paper, parchment or cloth coated with linseed oil. The linseed oil repelled water and moisture, but it was also highly flammable. During the winter, colonists also hung blankets over the windows. Eventually, small leaded glass window panes were imported from England. They were mounted on their diagonals, creating diamond-shaped panes that were held together in grooved strips of lead that formed an entire window.