Restoring a Toyama kominka: what to keep, what to fix.

Toyama kominka are framed with thick posts and beams to carry the weight of snow. Whether that frame is sound is what decides whether the house can be restored.

Azumadachi farmhouses standing in the scattered settlements of the Tonami Plain, a large gabled roof ringed by a windbreak grove (kainyo), the gassho-style houses of Gokayama. Many houses in Toyama have a structure called wakunouchi, a great room framed from thick posts and beams set like a well-curb. A house in snow country has to bear the weight of snow on its roof, so the frame is normally thicker and more solidly built than in other regions.

Kominka get lumped together as earthquake-weak and cold, but they vary. Hokuriku farmhouses usually have a sound structure; what they lack is bracing walls, connectors, foundations and insulation. Keep the frame and bring those up to today's standard — that is what we mean by restoration. Even if some posts or beams are rotten or termite-eaten, they can be replaced individually without taking the building down.

The 2023 Housing and Land Survey put Toyama Prefecture's vacant houses at a record 69,700, a vacancy rate of 14.7%. Home ownership is 74.9%, third in Japan. Average floor area per dwelling is 138.77 ㎡, the largest in Japan. In other words, Toyama has a growing stock of large, heavily framed houses sitting unused. Look, and you'll find one worth restoring.

Insulation, seismic work, foundations and the roof eat more budget than a kitchen or solid-wood floors. A renovation that skimps here is "still cold" and "still shaky" within a few years. We look at structure and envelope before fittings. The order is this.

Each area in detail: Roof and snow, Seismic reinforcement, Fixing a leaning house, Insulation.

Connectors alone have limits. They are an aid to keep post and beam joints from pulling apart. If the post itself is rotten or termite-eaten, connectors do nothing; the more load you concentrate on a damaged member, the sooner it fails. How far a termite-eaten post can be saved by splicing: Can a termite-eaten house be sold or repaired?. The six points we check on site and rough costs are in Seismic reinforcement for kominka (Toyama).

We can replace damaged structural timber with new while the building stands. Not rebuilding, but swapping posts and beams and re-forming the skeleton: this is where a builder's skill shows. Exposing beams, reusing old timber, keeping the fittings. It is because the frame is alive that a restoration can keep the character of a kominka.

The same thinking applies to restoring a house as a guesthouse or shop. Change of use, fire safety and health office requirements are checked before design. See Minpaku, Shop or café and Turn a kominka into a guesthouse.

From first contact to handover there are six stages: contact, site survey, estimate, design and quote, construction, handover. Contact us by LINE, phone or the form — a location and photos are enough. No drawings or registry documents; with old houses, no drawings is the norm, so we measure the house when things move forward.

The site survey takes one to two hours: posts and beams, foundation, underfloor, roof, plumbing — and we tell you on the spot whether it can be repaired and roughly what it costs. The survey is free and there is no charge if you decline; fees start with design and the quote. Work starts three months at the fastest, usually about six. If you have a start date in mind, we work back from it. Details in How a renovation runs.

A house is not finished when it is completed. Some things you notice after moving in; some appear years later. We have been based in Yatsuo for over fifty years, so the same people answer for the house afterwards.

Just the leak, just the cold, just one bathroom. Spot repairs on the part that bothers you start from a few hundred thousand yen. Even without a large budget, simply stopping the damage changes how long the house lasts.

• Repairing a leak
• Inner windows. Windows alone make a visible difference to the winter chill
• Sloping or worn floors. One room is fine
• Termite treatment and sill repair, before the damage spreads
• Partial roof repair and snow guards — useful as a first step before re-roofing

If you plan a bigger renovation later, we plan the order with you — some work can go first, some should wait. And for a family home that is too big, shrinking to the part you live in is the best value of all.

Repair, sell or rent out? You can talk to us while you are still undecided about the family kominka. Besides restoration we offer direct purchase of vacant houses and kominka in Toyama and renting it out without selling, through the same person. We restore the houses we buy rather than demolishing them, so whichever route you choose, the house survives. Upkeep costs and the three options are set out in what to do with the family home.