hey, that there board isn't really a 2X4

About the age of US buildings: keep in mind that in those days (1500's to 1700's for the most part) people wanted quick shelter from weather, big critters and pissed off Native Americans so they built stuff quick out of what was nearby. That meant green logs, laid directly on dirt, with mud chinking. Talk about a recipe for rot... I'm surprised that any remnants can be found at all.

When you look at the port cities such as New York, Charleston etc there's a shift to longer lasting construction which started roughly 1600-ish. Those buildings seem to be lasting quite well. So far, the oldest stone house in the US is the Henry Whitfield House, built in 1639. There's also the Fairbanks House, a timber frame house built in 1637. I'm willing to bet the Fairbanks House was originally built to last, i.e. stone foundation etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_oldest_buildings_in_the_United_States

A friend's mother is British, her family home is a stone house with thatch roof in one of those little farm towns. It seems the house and land have been in her family for 500 years and was purchased from a different owner at that time. They think (records are spotty, no one applied for building permits back then ) the house is nearly 800 years old. It's still thatch roof to this day.

Trans_Maro wrote: Very disappointed in Johnsons Baby Oil..

Sorry, there have never been any Johnson's in it.

Wally wrote:

Trans_Maro wrote: Very disappointed in Johnsons Baby Oil..

Sorry, there have never been any Johnson's in it.

I don't know about that - my johnson spent a few years in baby oil before I finally got lucky.

SVreX wrote:

dculberson wrote:

Duke wrote: I lived in a stick-built frame house that had parts constructed in 1770, 1830, and 1926. *Who* doesn't build for the long term?

Amsterdam has over 3,000 buildings that are over 500 years old. Very few of ours make it past the 50 year mark, much less the 100 year mark.

I think it would be more accurate to say very few houses built in the last 50 years have made it to the 50 year mark. However, most houses built 100 years ago were perfectly capable of lasting 100 (200) years.

True, true. Though while they were capable of lasting over a hundred years, most were neglected and/or torn down to make way for newer (and thus "better" in many people's minds) buildings.

Interesting conversation. All I know is home depot sells wood that is very wet and they have the audacity to say it is "kiln dried." When the wood dries it goes literally as crooked as the deacon's dick. Someone up the road took out an old redwood deck, I grabbed as much as I could because I know the old wood was acclimated to this environment so won't bend and warp as much. I don't build much but I'm pretty sure your best bet for wood is an actual lumber yard, I think stores like home depot try to do and sell everything end up doing everything poorly. Always nice to go to a specialty store and find someone who actually know what they are talking about.

PHeller wrote: So if you in Europe and you're remodeling your house, what kind of lumber do you ask for?

Brick.

dculberson wrote:

Duke wrote: I lived in a stick-built frame house that had parts constructed in 1770, 1830, and 1926. *Who* doesn't build for the long term?

Amsterdam has over 3,000 buildings that are over 500 years old. Very few of ours make it past the 50 year mark, much less the 100 year mark.

I remember taking a tour in Germany, pointing to a church and saying, "Wow, that must be really old." The girl I was with said, "No not really. It's only 300 years old. That church over there is 500 years old."

In reply to Woody:

Woody talking about wood....

SVreX wrote:

dculberson wrote:

Duke wrote: I lived in a stick-built frame house that had parts constructed in 1770, 1830, and 1926. *Who* doesn't build for the long term?

Amsterdam has over 3,000 buildings that are over 500 years old. Very few of ours make it past the 50 year mark, much less the 100 year mark.

I think it would be more accurate to say very few houses built in the last 50 years have made it to the 50 year mark. However, most houses built 100 years ago were perfectly capable of lasting 100 (200) years.

Of course houses built in the last 50 years haven't made it to the 50 year mark.

Perhaps you meant to say houses built in the last 50 years weren't made well enough to make it to the 50 year mark?

Woody wrote:

dculberson wrote:

Duke wrote: I lived in a stick-built frame house that had parts constructed in 1770, 1830, and 1926. *Who* doesn't build for the long term?

Amsterdam has over 3,000 buildings that are over 500 years old. Very few of ours make it past the 50 year mark, much less the 100 year mark.

I remember taking a tour in Germany, pointing to a church and saying, "Wow, that must be really old." The girl I was with said, "No not really. It's only 300 years old. *That* church over there is 500 years old."

Pshaw.

Try the Middle East.

Israel is like 50 centuries deep. When I asked the guide "How old is this site?", he said, "How deep do you want to dig? There are 20 cities on top of each other here."

I saw lots of 3000 year old structures.

no cats in catsup...... no horses in horseradish.... no witches in witch hazel...

Trans_Maro wrote: Very disappointed in Johnsons Baby Oil..

..don't ask about the Bob Costaswillows then....

^ I got auto corrected, you know where that was going. Didn't know the system could do that!

Curmudgeon wrote: When you look at the port cities such as New York, Charleston etc there's a shift to longer lasting construction which started roughly 1600-ish. Those buildings seem to be lasting quite well. So far, the oldest stone house in the US is the Henry Whitfield House, built in 1639.

I used to drive past the that house every day. As far as I know, it's still there.

Curmudgeon wrote: So far, the oldest stone house in the US is the Henry Whitfield House...

Assuming, of course, that we don't count the Pueblo Indians:

Cliff dwellers

Their stone houses were 600 years old when the Henry Whitfield was built.

But that's ok... They are pretty used to being forgotten and over looked.

Well, yeah. Got that. I was referring to the changes in home building which happened at roughly the same time as the vast majority of log cabins etc which vanished due to expedient quickie building methods.