wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 22:50:07 -0400, "JonquilJan"
wrote:

There was one home about half a mile from me - where it was tried to
insulate. Once they took off the outer shell, there was a frame of very
large hand hewn (could see the ax marks) beans - filled in with bricks
and
mortar between.

Everything in my house was hand hewn. The home inspector who did the report
before I bought the place thought the joists weren't real wood because they
were "misshapen and just way too big" (his words). When I pointed out that
the house was nearly 200 years old, he then assumed that the wood would be
rotten. He was extremely surprised that everything in the house was just
fine. He commented that the house was "better built than anything they're
making now". Well, yeah, since my house was built to last, not to current
"code". 24" on center. Are they crazy? Everything in my house is 12-15" on
center, and 4x4, not 2x4. Hardwood floors over diagonally laid tongue and
groove subfloor over wide plank pine. An elephant could jump up and down on
my floors and you'd never feel it. I would never live in a "new" house.