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.

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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.

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.

Half-Timbered Property in Gascony.