vvzz wrote:Yeah that's the rationale that current wood is much softer and more rot prone than old growth wood. I don't disagree with that, but I think with proper rain water management and proper vapor management, the issue is not all that big. If there's a water problem than even old growth wood will rot. I've seen that many times.
If modern wood kept dry than it will last. There are tract houses from 1950s that used plantation wood and are still standing.
Just my thoughts, take it with a grain of salt...
I agree. I know of one house that was framed out of almost entirely degrade lumber. By increasing the number of studs a picking the lumber well, that house is still standing an certainly just as structurally sound as any new house.
most of the older homes near me are all fir. anythign new is crappy lumber by comparison to that used in older homes. the ones that are failing are doing so mostly because of the way water was controlled. i think lack of roof overhang has caused a lot of issues with water in the walls. most of the 1950's homes still had a foot or more of overhang. the newer ones, not so much overhang. Condos are the worst. The problems stem to the building code and what is allowed. we had many leaky condo issues in the 1980's and 90's they went crazy with plastic and didn't pay attention to the roof overhang. then the walls got soaked and in many cases they had to pull those buildings apart from the outside to repair the framing. It was an expensive issue here and many new condo buyers lost their shirts.
