Old Lumber

[oosik]

This summer I began cleaning up the area where the old homestead buildings use to be. Quite a bit of the lumber was still in good shape. So - I stacked the good stuff on a pallet. I want to add some sort of lean too off one end of the carport.

Wazhoo. My surprise. All this old lumber is FULL dimensional. 2x4's are full 2" x 4". Same with the 1" x 12" side boards. I guess I'll be using the old lumber for one entire part of the lean too. Probably the one far wall on the unit.

This lumber dates back to the 1890's when the old homesteader occupied the property.

Has anybody else run into something like this.

This is an oil painting of one of the old homestead buildings. I was just a mere child when the last of the old buildings were torn down. This was the first building on the property. It was a combination - temporary residence and chicken shed. Must have been a heady experience.

 

[IndyIan]

Its interesting that you haven't seen this before. I guess the east side of the continent was settled for quite a while before the west coast, so there's lots of houses still standing here built with full dimension lumber, and in my area every timberframe barn built in the 1800's and early 1900's has lots of thick boards. My in-laws place was rebuilt in 1918 using boards and beams from the old house built in 1860's which was far too big. They did realize the strength (and sometimes overestimate)of a true 2x4, or 2x8 so its got a variety of centre distances for the floor joists and studs, and none are down near 16". Also almost every board has some cuts or notches from were the stud or joist was used in the old house. Some of the roof boards in the attic have white wash on them for previous life in a barn.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I moved to a property here in Washington State about 14 years ago that had lumber milled in the 1940's on a circular saw. It had the edge of the kerf marks in it from the saw, and made it look unique.
I thought that was old lumber, guess I stand corrected after the @IndyIan post.

 

[Oaktree]

Cool that all that old lumber was still good after having been out in the weather for 100+ years. Up here it would have rotted away decades ago.

 

[old and tired]

Our old house, build around the 1930's, was American Chestnut, sawn with a water powered saw mill. I have an architect friend that was into history... you can see where the saw slowed down until enough pressure built up to speed up the saw to cut faster...

We had full 2x4 but we also had a lot of rounded corners with bark still on the studs... We did not fix up the old house, we just use it for storage.

 

[CliffordK]

Frequently rough cut lumber is the full inch sizes, and planed/kiln dried lumber is much smaller.

The theory was that one started with larger lumber, then planed it down to finish size.

Then over time as milling improved, they simply made lumber smaller.

Sometimes one can find inch dimensions on posts or beams. 4x4, 6x6, etc.

If you need boards that are 1 1/2" x 4", you could either rip down 2x6 boards or 2x10 boards. Or perhaps hunt for rough cut lumber.

 

[California]

There was also a tiny reduction in the dimensions of common milled lumber, January 1971. I think each piece went through a bend test to assure strength, replacing the traditional eyeball grading.

It was claimed that the new spec, with tested lumber, assured improved strength so the milled lesser dimensions were irrelevant. (And this had to have improved the yield of finished lumber from each log, profitable to the mills).

But it made some layout more difficult. For example a common wall with a 2x4 bottom plate and double 2x4 top plates would need longer studs to fit the same standard dimension sheetrock on the interior walls. I was working as a framer at the time and this added some new figuring as new and traditional milled lumber were mixed together on a project.

Out here at the ranch there are a lot of random scraps from redwood boards, all full dimension from 100 years ago. All has been repurposed, likely multiple times, so its hard on saw blades as there can be fragments of rusted nails that aren't obvious. HF used to sell the same metal detector wand used by TSA etc. With that I catch most of the hidden nails before sawing, but not every time.

 

[BnRidge]

The homstead here was built in 1846 using full dimensional lumber. The construction techniques seem odd by todays standards. The sequence was to lay an 8x8 sill beam, set first floor joists into notches in the beam, tip 16' wall studs clear to the second floor. Add a stringer for the second floor joists, set the second floor joists on the stringer, sheeth the walls with up to 1x16 planks, lay tongue and groove flooring on the two floors. Interior walls have wall studs flat leaving only 2" inside the wall- no need to leave room for utilities. Plaster was a mixture of lime and horse hair for added strength. The plaster is different than more recent from the 1920s, much softer and grainy.

 

[workinonit]

I sawed the lumber I built my house with full dimensional and used it like that. You can use it that way or have it planed to size if you like.

 

[sandman2234]

My house was built in 1964 and from what I have seen, is built with full dimensional wood. The previous owner built the home while living in an Airstream trailer out back. The beams under the house are 2x12 and are rather impressive. I think he purchased the wood previously used, but never got to ask him about it.
When we purchased it, we had an alarm installed and the installer broke more drill bits on this house than he normally did in six installs. The walls studs all have a board bracing between them so they couldn't just drill the top plate and drop the wire in and expect it to reach the bottom. There is a small (and I do mean SMALL) opening in one of the upstairs closets where they accessed the trusses between the two floors. Apparently they had a small guy who crawled in and around between the two floors to do some of the work. I sent a borescope camera in thru that hole just to see what they had done.
Davd