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Old house framing surprise last Tuesday really humbled me
I was tearing out a wall in a 1920s farmhouse near Lancaster, assuming it was just standard studs and plaster, and I found a massive hand-hewn oak beam hidden behind the lathe that was holding up half the second floor. Turns out the original builder notched every joist into it without any metal fasteners, and I had to stop everything to figure out how to work around it without compromising the structure. Anyone else ever stumble onto old timer tricks like that mid-demo and have to change your whole plan for the day?
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kevin_wells4613d ago
Old school builders had a whole different mindset about strength and permanence, they built things to outlast themselves instead of just hitting code minimums. It's like every time I think we've figured out the modern way, something like that beam shows up and reminds us those guys knew what they were doing with simple materials and pure experience. Kind of makes you wonder how many other smart solutions are hiding behind walls that we'd never think to try today.
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andrew69312d ago
Hit code minimums" - that's crazy to think how far above code they were back then, blows my mind every time!
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