On 03/19/2017 06:54 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
On Sunday, March 19, 2017 at 7:40:52 AM UTC-4, philo wrote:
Most of the houses in my neighborhood were built in the late 19th or
early 20th century.


Recently someone totally rebuilt a house near here, they stripped it
down to the 2 x 4's and rebuilt...they even put in a new foundation.

At first I wondered why they did not raze it entirely until I realized
the old style 2 x 4's are superior to the ones used today.

They actually measure 2" x 4" and use better wood that today's soft pine.

My question is: what kind of wood was actually used.

It's denser than soft pine but not actual hardwood, though it is
sometimes referred to as such.

The framing in my house (built in 1948) is white cedar. Smells like
sharpening pencils when you cut it.

Cindy Hamilton



My grandparents had their house built in 1948 also.
I believe the end of the war housing boom was when the builders started
using the lower grade soft pine.

I recall my grandmother telling me the builder used the better grade
lumber because all the soft pine in the area was already snapped up by
other builders.


My house was built in 1898 and will probably be around for a while...

I am living at a time where I actually see buildings less than 50 years
old being demolished.