They literally pound the stuffing out of it on a regular basis. Instead, they painstakingly resurrect the house in a process that can take a month or so, but can prolong the life of the house another 100 years. Then the next generation has to worry about the next renovation.
Most people live with relatives or in an apartment while their house is being rebuilt.
Once all the fixtures and wiring has been carefully removed, the walls come tumblin' down. The only parts of the house that are left once they're done with this phase of the rebuilding process are the original heavy timbers and the roof. The house is left a skeleton, a bare ghost of what it was before. Where straw, mud or even sticks might have held this house together for the last 120 years, now workers come with bricks, concrete, brick and plaster, refilling all the spaces in-between the timbers until the house is whole again. The floors are reinstalled, doors re-hung, windows placed back into the gaping holes in the walls.