• TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
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    14 days ago

    I do not like calling people trying to afford to buy a pile of lumber and tape on a small parcel a “market”.

    It removes the fact that homes used to stay flat value or go down in value before houses became a “market”.

    Fuck markets. The markets should be crushed. And American home builders should be ashamed of the quality of American homes.

    A pile of lumber and tape.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      What’s wrong with making houses out of wood? It’s renewable. It has an absurdly low carbon footprint. It’s a fantastic building material.

      • FluorideMind@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Over the last 50 years material quality and workmanship have gone down. Now it’s a race to build a neighborhood as cheaply and quickly as possible, doing the job right be damned.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          I’ll be honest with you: my house was built in the 1940s and it’s really not that great. Definitely not noticeably better build quality than my parents’ house built in the 1990s.

      • Banana@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        They’re not talking specifically about the lumber being bad, they’re talking about companies building new developments cutting corners to save on cost. While they still use lumber, they are choosing cheaper lumber and their workmanship suffers as a result of the corners being cut.

        Thus, a pile of lumber and tape.

        • Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml
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          14 days ago

          Also, older homes were built with natural old growth lumber, which is denser and more rot resistant. They also used larger dimensions for extra support.

        • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          My house was built in 1942 as temporary worker housing. I tore down and rebuilt one of the walls and the original studs were just astonishing: perfectly straight and not a single knot in them anywhere. Compare and contrast with modern studs from Home Despot: split, shaped more or less like a pretzel, and 50% knots.

          Interestingly, these old studs were 1.75" x 3.75". I never knew there was an intermediate stage between the old-time true 2x4s and the modern 1.5" x 3.5" 2x4s.