I wonder if I could straighten this up...

[StuartR1953]

....with the liquify filter

[IMG][/IMG]

[StuartR1953]

BTW - taken in Lavenham, Suffolk UK. A town with 300+ buildings like this with some dating back to medieval times. Not sure how it stays up and I bet the owner's buildings insurance policy is pricey!

[shreds]

I would think the insurance will take note of it being a timber building, due to fire risks, and if it is an historic listed building will also be taken into account, as rebuilding an exact copy would be near impossible and expensive.

However, it will stay up on account of the fact that, despite warping and twisting, the timber is not failing. The infill bits are likely to be a lime/mud mixture, which will only deteriorate if you let serious dampness or physical damage intrude. Lime is a very 'green' building material and absorbs moisture, and actually becomes stronger through the ongoing, minute chemical reaction that takes place. Look at all old half timbered properties and they will be similar.

Wood rot is probably the other greatest threat to a building of this age and type.

Could be said that they knew rather more in those days than we try to get away with these days as 'construction'.

Needless to say, it doesn't need PS as much as some more modern properties.

[FrankMi]

....with the liquify filter

...but why would you want to?

If you did, Layers, Skew, and Puppet Warp would likely do a better job....

[Manfred M]

The original purpose of the building might have something to do with the angle of the wall. Take a walk along the canals of Amsterdam, and you will notice the buildings all slope this way as well, although not necessarily at quite as acute an angle as we see in this shot.

These buildings often had a storage area above the main floor and were equipped with a beam and pulley system to move goods to the upper floor. To ensure that the goods being lifted up did not bang against the building (and damage it and the goods), the walls were sloped away to ensure that there was good clearance between the building and the goods being hoisted onto the upper floors.

[TonyW]

I like the image here - it's quite pretty even though the house is twisted.

It looks to me as though it is the renovation/reconstruction that has caused the problem and destroyed the integrity of the initial build. The diagonal bracing timber in the end wall is missing, taken out to put in a modern window, and I would guess that that has caused the problem.

We were in Amsterdam 18 months ago and stayed in one of the houses there whose side wall had sunk considerably. It was quite an uphill walk from one side of the house to the other.

Straightening up the picture now would take some skilful work in PS. I am glad I don't have that task.

[zen]

Wow! Haven't ever seen a shot taken with a reverse fish-eye!

Good-o.

Zen

[flashback]

I like the image here - it's quite pretty even though the house is twisted.

It looks to me as though it is the renovation/reconstruction that has caused the problem and destroyed the integrity of the initial build. The diagonal bracing timber in the end wall is missing, taken out to put in a modern window, and I would guess that that has caused the problem.

We were in Amsterdam 18 months ago and stayed in one of the houses there whose side wall had sunk considerably. It was quite an uphill walk from one side of the house to the other.

Straightening up the picture now would take some skilful work in PS. I am glad I don't have that task.

I'm guessing that the gable end wall foundation, over the centuries has slowly settled, causing the gable end wall(s) to gradually tilt outward. I very much doubt that any recent renovation would have cause this tilting. This structure would have been timber framed with pegged mortise and tenons and likely lifted in bents. Any diagonal bracing on the gable end would have been to keep the structure from racking (towards, or away from, the camera).

If you look at the infilled doorway you can see the framing is tilted to the right. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some cabling in the cock loft (attic) to keep the end wall from further tilting. Looking at the foundation of the gable end it appears there has been some re-supporting.

[mknittle]

Look at the window on the right end of the building. Maybe it was built on a slant?