It used to be you’d buy a 2x4 and then face it by taking 1/4" off all sides so it would be pretty. Now the lumber yards do that. Don’t get me wrong the lumber industry is fucked and new lumber is inferior to old lumber, but be mad about timber forest management instead of the yard facing your lumber for you.
schwim@piefed.zip 5 days ago
It’s dimensional lumber so it’s not actual size but before they started shorting them for profit, they were called 2x4s because they measured 2 inches x 4 inches. 4x4s, 6x6, 1x8, 2x12, etc. They all represented actual dimension of the lumber but you’ll notice that today, they are basically 1/2 inch short in every dimension so a 2x4s actual measurement is 1 1/2” x 3 1/2”.
bizzle@lemmy.world 4 days ago
meco03211@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Had a 100+ year old house built for a steel mining company. Full cinder block siding on 2 stories and a basement. Joists in the basement were full size 2x10s nestled snugly between steel reinforced concrete joists (I forget the length on center). Had to replace some sub floor on the second floor under the toilet. More steel reinforced concrete joists. The nukes ever start flying I’m hightailing it back there and busting in… provided they didn’t reinforce the door.
Brkdncr@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Inspector came to look at the house for some reason and was impressed to see a house built in the 50’s with a giant length of walnut(?) something like 8”x 12” by 20’
I have an old house on my property that has a similar piece of wood holding everything up.
They don’t/can’t build like that anymore.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org 3 days ago
That’s still flimsy by european standards lol, what is all that wood doing in my concrete floor and cinder block walls?
litchralee@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Obligatory XKCD: xkcd.com/3138/
Please let such a thing never exist!