Whats a Square?

[benjamin]

words of wisdom from a professional

"the tape's two inches wide"

"this aint a bar"

"good enough for who it's for"

"can't see it from where I live"

I've worked with people who had to have everything perfect, they're no longer in the construction business. You just have to understand the tolerances that are inherent in the system. Yeah, it can be a PITA to remodel a bathroom or kitchen, but that's your problem, not the guy who made it work decades ago.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending substandard work, but nothing made of wood and drywall is perfect.

 

[Rustaholic]

words of wisdom from a professional

"the tape's two inches wide"

"this aint a bar"

"good enough for who it's for"

"can't see it from where I live"

While building a two story "house" in one end of a tall 40X80 pole barn every time the owner was there if my boss mentioned anything that was not up to code or good building standards we heard this from the owner,,,,,
"Can't see it from the bay."
The man and his wife only planned to live there in the Winters because all Summer they lived on their boat on West Grand Traverse Bay.

 

[yknotcarpentry]

Just got done framing an addition on a house, MY crew and myself are fairly tedious on making sure things are square level plum, snapping lines, stringing dry lines, pulling 3,4,5's on everything we build etc etc... dry wall gets hung, mudded etc, things can change just ever so slightly. sometimes you gotta roll with it, please the eye rather then make things right. Of course it can all be fixed but did you want me to build you a new house or remodel the one you have?

 

[fbelec]

you got to go with the flow. working beside a plumber a few days ago, he looked at me and said what's the matter don't you use a level. or a tape? as i put up a pipe run next to one that was existing. had to show him how off it would look if i did. you got to match things up or both look funny.

 

[jharkin]

on top of it all, they must of had good beer back then. i've worked in houses that as you worked your way down the wall or ceiling the first joist is 14 inch center from the first the next 16 inches the next 20 the next 18. it was whatever back then. but you look at a house 200 years old, they used 4 inch trees with a flat cut to lay the 12 inch wide by 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch floor. it may sag a bit or tilt big time, but you could still park a car inside that house.

Sounds like my place My stone foundation is capped with 6 ft long granite slabs that must way a couple tons each. On top of that is the post and beam frame mostly made of hand cut 6x6s (true 6" x6"). The first floor is two layers of inch thick (more like 3/4 after years of refinishing) boards ranging 12-18" wide, supported by 3x5" rafters mortised into 2 8x8 crossbeams that have tree-trunk posts for center support. nothing but wod pegs and mortised joints holding it all together.


Most of my floors are sagging of course, but surprisingly things are very uniform. The rafters are all pretty much the same 3x5 and they are all on roughly 22" centers. Whoever built it didn't just eyeball things.

And the creakiest floor? Its in the 1970s addition. Go figure.

 

[fbelec]

on top of it all, they must of had good beer back then. i've worked in houses that as you worked your way down the wall or ceiling the first joist is 14 inch center from the first the next 16 inches the next 20 the next 18. it was whatever back then. but you look at a house 200 years old, they used 4 inch trees with a flat cut to lay the 12 inch wide by 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch floor. it may sag a bit or tilt big time, but you could still park a car inside that house.

Sounds like my place My stone foundation is capped with 6 ft long granite slabs that must way a couple tons each. On top of that is the post and beam frame mostly made of hand cut 6 (true 6" x6"). The first floor is two layers of inch thick (more like 3/4 after years of refinishing) boards ranging 12-18" wide, supported by 3x5" rafters mortised into 2 8x8 crossbeams that have tree-trunk posts for center support. nothing but wod pegs and mortised joints holding it all together.


Most of my floors are sagging of course, but surprisingly things are very uniform. The rafters are all pretty much the same 3x5 and they are all on roughly 22" centers. Whoever built it didn't just eyeball things.

And the creakiest floor? Its in the 1970s addition. Go figure.

the house i refer to was built in 1805. for a captain cooke. some of the floor support in the basement had at one time termites but are gone now and the supports are half eaten away but the house stands. this house still has the original fireplaces one still has the support for a pot over the fire that swings out. i can't remember what that is called. shallow fireplace. the chimneys in this house are enormous. in the basement under one of the chimneys. is a archway with a hole that goes into the chimney at the far back corner. and next to it is a big brick hole that stores wood. this archway looks like at one time it use to be a meat smoker. first time i ever seen a smoker inside a house.

 

[jharkin]

the house i refer to was built in 1805. for a captain cooke. some of the floor support in the basement had at one time termites but are gone now and the supports are half eaten away but the house stands. this house still has the original fireplaces one still has the support for a pot over the fire that swings out. i can't remember what that is called. shallow fireplace. the chimneys in this house are enormous. in the basement under one of the chimneys. is a archway with a hole that goes into the chimney at the far back corner. and next to it is a big brick hole that stores wood. this archway looks like at one time it use to be a meat smoker. first time i ever seen a smoker inside a house.

Same vintage as me (1795). the pot support is called a fireplace crane. Two of our fireplaces still have them.

We have 2 chimneys - the main one is in the center of the house, sits on a roughly 6x8 ft stone base in the basement and is brick from the first floor up. That one has 2 fireplaces. It would have had a third but was rebuilt at some point and the original kitchen fireplace removed to use the flue for the boiler.

The second chimney is in the ell at the back of the house we think was added sometime mid-1800s. That chimney has an old cooking fireplace complete with beehive ovens and all. It was never rebuilt so its unusable as a fireplace but rather thats where the stove is installed with a ss liner up through the old flue.

The fshallow fireplaces, if the sides are sloped, are called rumfords. Thas how most all fireplaces were built after they were invented in ~ 1790. The shallowness and sloped sides reflect a lot more heat into the room, big innovation for its time. Before that time you see the big deep colonial era fireplaces - the ones so big you can walk into.