redwood framing in 70-year-old house

[old dirtbeard]

I'm having some plumbing problems (in another
thread), but over the last couple days, I have
spent some time on my back in the crawl space of
my 70-year-old Los Angeles house with a good
lantern, when I made a realization.

This house apparently is totally framed in
redwood. I knew that the window sills were
redwood, but as I crawl under/through this post
and beam construction, it appears to be all
redwood (beams, joists, studs, etc.)

We have termites here in Southern California, and
I suppose this is why they used redwood.
Everything seems rather rough hewn, and oversized,
but I am curious as to whether this was common
practice, or whether this house is an anomaly?

best,

doug

[ameijers]

"old dirtbeard" <dirt...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:cyS%a.2492$Hh....@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...

Don't know how common it was, but there was a time when redwood was cheap
and we thought the supply would last forever. As a kid in Indiana, we used
to routinely use clear-grain redwood for outside trim, even under paint,
just because it handled weather so well. I could cry thinking about all the
leftovers I used to throw on the burnpile. Who knew? The stuff is like gold
now, even the finger-jointed stuff.

You should send pictures of the bottom of your house to This Old House
magazine/show, in case they ever do another California project. They love
little historical sidebars like that. They could probably also answer your
question about how common it was.

aem sends....

[Tom Young]

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 21:35:04 +0000, old dirtbeard wrote:

> Everything seems rather rough hewn, and oversized, but I am curious as
> to whether this was common practice, or whether this house is an
> anomaly?

My house in Berkeley was built in 1904 -- hard, dense redwood for all the
framing, measuring 2 actual inches thick. The floorboards are all
quartersawn pine or fir. The house isn't exactly a palace, but it seems
even the crackerboxes were built sturdy, back then.

-Tom

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Young
t e y o u n g "at" a t t b i "dot" c o m
*To reply, remove _THIS_ from address*

[MSH]

San Francisco was re-built with redwood after the 1907 earthquake. Easily
accessible from just down the road, redwood is one of the most sustainable
woods around, if not the ideal framing timber(by today's standards).

"Tom Young" <teyoun...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.08.25...@comcast.net...

[Mari]

replying to old dirtbeard, Mari wrote:
My San Diego home, built in 1956 in the mid-century modern style, while small
at 867 sq ft is solidly built completely out of redwood. In the crawl space,
the wood looks just a few years old. Amazing really. No way could you build a
house for under $400 per sq ft today if you used redwood, but I guess it was
done, at least in CA back then.

--
for full context, visit http://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/redwood-framing-in-70-year-old-house-472987-.htm

[Uncle Monster]

On Wednesday, August 17, 2016 at 7:14:05 PM UTC-5, Mari wrote:
> replying to old dirtbeard, Mari wrote:
> My San Diego home, built in 1956 in the mid-century modern style, while small
> at 867 sq ft is solidly built completely out of redwood. In the crawl space,
> the wood looks just a few years old. Amazing really. No way could you build a
> house for under $400 per sq ft today if you used redwood, but I guess it was
> done, at least in CA back then.
> --
>

Unfortunately, 12 years ago, our good friend, old dirtbeard, took a dirt nap. His remains were found under his home. Neighbors complained about a horrible smell and when police investigated, they found old dirt's body that had been partially eaten by wildlife from the area. He was survived 3 wives, 12 children and 456 gerbils. The gerbils really miss old dirt. 8-(

[8~{} Uncle Dirty Monster

[Thumper36t]

replying to ameijers, Thumper36t wrote:
Indeed it was used to build most of my area of Bakersfield CA in the 40s which
is anything but glamorous! Roughly 900 said ft close to the oil patch...very
common in those days. Redwood is thought to be off a termites menu I hear.
Well I can assure you one leak in the roof and kiss your redwood goodbye!
Looks like red swiss cheese...FML

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/redwood-framing-in-70-year-old-house-472987-.htm

[Thumper365]

replying to Mari, Thumper365 wrote:
Indeed it was used to build most of my area of Bakersfield CA in the 40s which
is anything but glamorous! Roughly 900 said ft close to the oil patch...very
common in those days. Redwood is thought to be off a termites menu I hear.
Well I can assure you one leak in the roof and kiss your redwood goodbye!
Looks like red swiss cheese...FML

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/redwood-framing-in-70-year-old-house-472987-.htm

[jay]

Cliff May used redwood for the board and batten siding on all his mid century ranchos in Long Beach, Vista, Pomona, and other developments. When we needed to paint our 1955 Cliff May, we found it was easier to remove and flip the boards rather than scraping away years of paint. They was like new underneath.

--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/redwood-framing-in-70-year-old-house-472987-.htm

[Lee]

wow that is so interesting. you literally removed the exterior board and batten and reinstalled it paint-side-in and exposed the raw redwood and painted that? I have a 1950 redo project coming up in L.A. and hadn't thought of that.