The experts explain what they are looking for to one of the householders

Methodology
The general methodology and working practises used at the Sheffield Dendrochronology Laboratory are described in English Heritage (1998).

This part of the 'Local Heritage Initiative' project was intended to attempt the tree-ring analysis of about 10 pre-1500 buildings in the village, the much larger number of surviving 16th and 17th century houses were as far as possible excluded from assessment and sampling. Not all timber framed buildings are equally suitable for tree-ring dating due to one or more of the following features: not all timbers contain sufficient rings - this limits their potential for reliable dendrochronological dating; not all contain surviving evidence for the original outer surfaces of the tree - this limits the precision of any results obtained; and not all buildings contain timbers that are accessible in the right directions and with appropriate working room around them to be successfully sampled.