…Thank God! I just got done tearing out a bathroom that was about 50 years old for re-modeling. It’s a 60 s.f. room and had 6300 lbs. of wall and floor tile and concrete wetbed! All on 2×10 floor joists spanning 14′ over the livingroom. I’m sure that plan was on the back of a matchbook.
Edited 3/29/2003 9:58:09 PM ET by NCCR
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Whenever I hear someone say " they don't build them like they used to" I say thank God =)
I feel this way about cars and trucks.
Some months ago I came across some old magazines. Inside there were gushing articles from people bragging about getting 250,000 miles out of a vehicle. Like it was a real trick. The other point was the need to constantly tweaked, adjust and tuned to keep them reliable. This was, according to memory and the articles a nearly a monthly duty and ignored at your peril.
Vehicles are, IMHO, much better. Now any fool can get 250,000 miles out of a vehicle. Sometimes without so much a changing the oil. Had a neighbor like this. A tune up for him was adding gas and changing the pine tree on the rear view mirror. He ran the car for five years after getting it used.
With some notable exceptions, crap spec homes built quickly, homes are, generally, better. The codes are, IMHO, one of the driving forces. Steel reinforcements, tighter nailing schedules and tighter enforcement have helped.
I sincerely believe my house was being held up by the four layers of siding! When I take a room apart, I'm amazes that the place has stood for 140 years. Cases in point- The rafters in the 'old' section were 2x4x10'-39"oc. Thats' on a 20' building. Floor joisting was the same, only they used 3x5. What's with the 39"centers? Maybe the builder was European? Then theres the 'new' wing,1895- when I strpped out the rooms upstairs, I found the collar ties were 5/4x2-1/2. Yikes, no wonder the ridge sagged as it did. Needless to say, it aint like that no mo! Let's hear it for building codes!