The National Trust essentially deconstructed the house and recorded the position of every brick and piece of timber. Many timbers were replaced to repair both the ravages of time and the death watch beetle.Some of these can be seen externally as no effort has been made to hide the new wood.

Carefully all the 1512 amendments made to a wing built in 1450 were deconstructed, the original structure photographed and recorded, repairs made and then the later amendments carefully replaced over the top.

Where new timbers have been spliced in to replace those too poor to be reused techniques used have carefully replicated those of the original time. Plaster was researched and then carefully reconstructed - everything from burning limestone to make slaked lime to using horsehair in the plaster has been carefully replicated. As one staff member said "It lasted more than 400 years and we are not sure modern equivalents would do the same".