Home buying thread
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Well is it actually a thing that you can't get this wood anymore? Is the wood gone? Is the soil unfertile and unwilling to grow these trees?
The reason I say that is just because it sounds like a total scam. Why is salvaged wood better? On the surface it makes no sense to me.
The reason I say that is just because it sounds like a total scam. Why is salvaged wood better? On the surface it makes no sense to me.
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Its getting rare bro. Some even endangered, like mahogany, black walnut. Shits been de-forested too much for $$ over the decades. Stuff like quarter sawn oak and certain cuts of maple, which are common woods, are just too expensive to cut that way because of waste.
I make furniture in my spare time, I know this shit. My grandfather taught me when I was a teen.
Todays furniture, cabinetry, is all made out of plywood and poplar filler on the inner shit. The only hardwood you see is on the outer face frames and drawer fronts, and you pay thousands for this shit.
Couches and lounge chairs? forget about it, its all pressboard shit supporting all that cushion and leather. Not strong enough that through the years when you sit your fat ass down or do the old lady, shit starts to get loose and break down. And this is supposedly all quality.
I make furniture in my spare time, I know this shit. My grandfather taught me when I was a teen.
Todays furniture, cabinetry, is all made out of plywood and poplar filler on the inner shit. The only hardwood you see is on the outer face frames and drawer fronts, and you pay thousands for this shit.
Couches and lounge chairs? forget about it, its all pressboard shit supporting all that cushion and leather. Not strong enough that through the years when you sit your fat ass down or do the old lady, shit starts to get loose and break down. And this is supposedly all quality.
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Sure, because salvaged is still cheaper if you were to buy fresh. And I'm not talking about barnyard pine, although that shit makes good flooring and some furniture, but rarer stuff like oak, maple and mahogany. Its not about building a house with it, its about the finishing touches.
Sorry I edited the shit out of the post before this. Sorry bro I'm drunk.
Sorry I edited the shit out of the post before this. Sorry bro I'm drunk.
Vinen
God is dead
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One house I almost bought had full on flooring of some super expensive wood. Was made for appearance. Realtor had explained it to me but I forgot
((It was a house built in the late 19th century.
I mean I'm sure you can build it, but do you see houses with that type of work new? There was a 17 million dollar house for sale here and it had some nice woodwork, but it didn't really have the same elegance. I'm sure once people find out its going to cost 22k for some Cambodians to carve an 8 ft hardwood post or something they decide to go with the builders choice for $300.
There are types of wood that are hard to find, and heavy timber takes decades to dry out so finding that that's not warped and cracked is a pretty big deal.
There are types of wood that are hard to find, and heavy timber takes decades to dry out so finding that that's not warped and cracked is a pretty big deal.
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Vinen
God is dead
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If that was in the Boston area at that price I would cash purchase it now. Fuck that looks awesome.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Well I have to admit, as a layman that house's woodwork doesn't look any different to me than the normal run of the mill colonials around here. It's in better shape but I wouldn't pay top dollar for it just because it looks more polished. It all just looks sanded and stained to me. I'd never be able to tell the difference.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Another part of reclaimed lumber - it's already done all the warping/moving it's going to do. You biscuit join that shit together to make a table top, it's going to be smooth and true for years. Many years. And, sometimes, if you're a lucky fuck, you can find broad hardwood that is 36 inches across, and that shit doesn't show up anymore.
Reclaimed wood is a thing. It's a good thing. A beautiful thing. I know reclaimed wood, I have the best reclaimed wood. Let's make reclaimed wood great again.
Reclaimed wood is a thing. It's a good thing. A beautiful thing. I know reclaimed wood, I have the best reclaimed wood. Let's make reclaimed wood great again.
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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There is a big difference in lumber milled 100 years ago, 50 years ago and even 20 years ago. It's not "old growth" related which is a term that gets thrown around a lot with no meaning. But the timber harvested today is grown at a MUCH faster rate. You want slow grown timber for the tighest rings and strength. It's really bad in the pine industry but it crosses over to hardwoods as well. Sawlogs used to be harvested at 50-60 years now are on a 25 year rotation with agressive thinning which leads to more knot inclusion and a lighter/weaker wood with wider spaced growth rings of early and late wood. Throw in the fact that we now mill lumber with the capacity to saw along the curve makes it worse as well.
But in the hardwood industry it's harder to get certain species just because a lot of locales have really clamped down on the export of them. Not really from an endangered point of view but a explotation point of view from one country to another.
But a lot of people are now "into" the salvaged look with visible wood and it's age/character etc...From what I read related from a few industries that use wood there is a certain appeal to recycling as well. Reclaimed wood is big business now. What used to constitue a big bonfire when you took down an old barn or house now can be a big money reward.
There's a big appeal of the "old" way or whatever. My biggest customer of my longleaf pine from East Texas is to the state of Maine where they use it wooden boat building and pay a pretty hefty premium to have it over other southern yellow pines like loblolly since longleaf was the traditional boat building wood and shipped across the country. Just like live oak. Pretty certain you could test samples of each species for a particular shipment and have no difference in strength but it doesn't have the appeal of the "traditional" way.
But in the hardwood industry it's harder to get certain species just because a lot of locales have really clamped down on the export of them. Not really from an endangered point of view but a explotation point of view from one country to another.
But a lot of people are now "into" the salvaged look with visible wood and it's age/character etc...From what I read related from a few industries that use wood there is a certain appeal to recycling as well. Reclaimed wood is big business now. What used to constitue a big bonfire when you took down an old barn or house now can be a big money reward.
There's a big appeal of the "old" way or whatever. My biggest customer of my longleaf pine from East Texas is to the state of Maine where they use it wooden boat building and pay a pretty hefty premium to have it over other southern yellow pines like loblolly since longleaf was the traditional boat building wood and shipped across the country. Just like live oak. Pretty certain you could test samples of each species for a particular shipment and have no difference in strength but it doesn't have the appeal of the "traditional" way.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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Are you mostly talking about the entryway with the columns? Don't really see anything fancy in there at all aside from the entryway/foyer.
Mainly, and the porch posts, corbels, wainscoting, staircase edging (curved), the baseboard being about a foot tall, and curved and angled beadboard on porch ceiling, and look at the hardwood patterns on the floors.
Also to get back to the main point that one is 115 a sq ft. Not a primo neighborhood but not bad, but no matter where you build new, for builder grade standardized stuff new construction you're going to be at 120 sq ft minimum for the house itself.
Also to get back to the main point that one is 115 a sq ft. Not a primo neighborhood but not bad, but no matter where you build new, for builder grade standardized stuff new construction you're going to be at 120 sq ft minimum for the house itself.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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You're getting a heavy discount on the construction cost of old houses though because you're going to get totally jewed on the upkeep. But we don't have to rehash the same argument I guess.
Understood. But when it comes to building new to save on upkeep, with that style/features like that I'm confident you'll come out ahead (purely financially) buying old instead of building new.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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I mean at the end of the day if you like the style of the older houses and you're willing to deal with the bullshit, then great. You'll get some bargains, people will be happy to offload it on you and everybody wins.
The thing that pisses me off is when other people decide that you have to like old houses and pass the historical preservation ordinances with a wide brush and you end up with entire neighborhoods full of preserved relics nobody really wants just so some hipsters can drive through on the way to get their artisinal microbrews or get their mustache waxed and comment on the architecture.