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.

IDK what they used back then, but 2x4s today are not pine, they are Douglas Fir.