Walking though older cities and villages I keep seeing these metal bars on the outside of buildings. Do they serve a purpose or just accent decor on the exterior?

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1pzrbvi

Posted by joy-rhyde

14 Comments

  1. Cryingfortheshard on

    They do serve a purpose. They help hold the masonry together (or tied to the wooden flooring, which results in the same thing). Sometimes they might be purely decorative though. I guess it’s not the case in your pics.

  2. usernameinspiration on

    Dat zijn gevelankers die er voor zorgen dat de gevel niet kantelt. In de moderne bouw worden die nog steeds gebruikt, maar zijn ze volledig weggewerkt

  3. Afaik they join the inner wood beams to the outer walls, so the structure is secure. Old technology, but adds character. Nowadays they are often added as decoration in newer buildings.

  4. heatseaking_rock on

    Yes. They are anchors, preventing bulging of outer walls or anchoring floors or beams to the facade.

  5. This can be used to prevent a wall to bend and collapse. They put a long steel shaft across the house and put those anchors at each ends. They heat the steel shaft which dilates. They screw the anchors as there is more room now. Then the steel cool down which pulls the wall in a few multimeter. They do this operation again until the walls are straight and then it prevents the walls to bend ever again.