GENERAL PRESENTATION
The Valley of Almăj is one of the richest ethnographic areas in the country from the point of view of themolinological heritage. The spectacular water mills, some of which are still used, others abandoned are, without question, one of the area’s greatest fortunes.
At Ibulcina, probably on the site of an old hamlet, the Ambulanța pentru Monumente team found two grainmills, one that was used to grind for the people and the other one for the animals. One of these mills worked almost ceaselessly during our stay there; the other one was abandoned, its wheel having been stopped for many years.

THE STATE BEFORE THE INTERVENTION
The roof of the mill presented missing tiles, rotten rafters and degraded slats that could no longer be preserved.

SAFETY INTERVENTION PROPOSAL
It was proposed to uncover the roof on the degraded side, to carefully examine all present inscriptions, to repair the degraded rafters and to replace the degraded slats and tiles.

ACCOMPLISHED INTERVENTIONS
We decided to preserve all the good tiles, even keeping them covered with moss where it was possible, and to replace the degraded tiles with exactly the same type of old tile. We did not build a shingle covering, even if the beech shingle was specific to this area, because the Jimbolia-type tile has been the primary material for roofs from the Banat region for more than 100 years, thus, deserving its place in the history of this area.

GENERAL PRESENTATION
Rudăriei Gorges (Cheile Rudăriei) watermill reservation is one of the most important reservations of such kind in Romania. On the route of 3 km where there once were 40 watermills (only 22 preserved today) there is also the one named “Îndărătnica de la părete” – considered to be the oldest of them.
It is partially built on the rock, partially on two wooden posts on the shore of the river Rudărica. After a severe flood which seriously affected other watermills more recently built and thus normally stronger, the “Îndărătnica de la părete” watermill survived – perhaps thanks to its position near the cliff –, although it was damaged. At the time of its evaluation we also noticed the old and deteriorated beech shingle, thus requiring rapid intervention necessary to slow down the decay.

THE STATE BEFORE THE INTERVENTION
The waters and the vegetation rests falling from the cliff were accumulated at the base of the building, thus leading to the severe decay of the elements located at the base of the watermill building. Furthermore, the rainwater slowly degraded the beech roof covering, as well as some laths and rafters.

SAFETY INTERVENTION PROPOSAL
The intervention proposal targeted the stability of the watermill and its protection with a new handmade beech covering, having similar characteristics with the older, replaced one.

ACCOMPLISHED INTERVENTIONS
The volunteers were split in two working-groups: the first worked under the guidance of a shingle master in the village, thus manually producing the
necessary material to build a new covering (the shingle pieces were cut along the fibres, according to the traditional techniques); the second group
documented the elements of the planned interventions, replaced one of the base elements of the building (severely rotten) with a new one, and then
replaced the degraded elements of the roof – some rafters and laths, then the shingle. The first workgroup provided the shingle, which was assembled
following the model of the former one. Members of the local community, and especially Mihai Vlădia (the mayor of the locality) also participated at
the production and assemblage of the new shingle. The intervention was coordinated by Active Patrimony Association (PACT) from Timișoara and cofinanced by the Romanian Order of Architects and Eftimie Murgu Town Hall.