You always hear that the only opportunities for blacks to get out the hood are rap and basketball. Why don't you ever hear about white kids escaping the trailer park through Bluegrass and NASCAR?

[–] • 0 pt

I want to revisit the phenomenon of wood framed houses in USA, particularly in California and other south west US states and how the trend swept across the USA.

Wood framed homes were already a thing back in early 1900s so it's not like it's something new. However, when I was in Philadelphia and other states on the east coast and south eastern USA, in old neighborhoods brick and mortar homes were quite common, in fact, were or seemed to be the norm. Not to say the gulf states didn't have wooden mansions, etc. They did.

During the Gold Rush and later expansions to California economy and quick rise in population at first it was just cheap shoddy wood framed homes with no particular codes either regionally or state wide.

In my home town there are some houses along one old street that are completely stone with mortar. Built back in the early 1900s. Small single family homes. So that was a thing also.

But, during the 60s of the last century began a massive growth of population and the boom of tract homes. Cookie cutter homes slapped together with wood frames on slabs and stucco plastered over tar paper and chicken wire.

These homes are a maintenance headache. The sewer lines are cast iron and some of the later homes are even worse in regards to sewer lines as the cast iron sewers are made of cheap imported trash steel. The composition is brittle so even trying to repair them is a problem. Cutting out a section frequently leaves a cracked sewer line that allows more roots to invade and crack the pipes. Then people want to plant trees in their yards which soon invade the lines through seams and cracks and cause blockages. Problems that occur under the slab must be cut and dug out.

Then you have the termites that are infesting almost every tract home of that era. I can basically tell you the time frame these cheap homes were built in by looking at them and then confirm it when doing work inside and around the house because I never find coins dated much earlier than the 60's. When stripping out old carpet or linoleum that's what we find under the baseboards. Loose pennies from around 1960 and once carpeting gets installed and coins can't go under the baseboards you don't find any coins later than the 70's. Of course there are records and sometimes stamps on city sidewalks that tell you when a tract home neighborhood went in.

They are all cheap and all have shoddy construction. Popcorn ceilings in every tract home. Why the popcorn textured ceilings? Because ceiling rafters are uneven. The texture is to hide the defects.

Almost all of these homes need the wiring upgraded, termite exterminated, plumbing replaced, etc.

None, zero, nada had the lumber used pretreated for termites.

Back in the 90s I believe California passed a law requiring a home built with straw bales to be granted a permit. Something about conserving our forests. But, developers setting up tract homes are not going to be doing this so the law meant nothing.

It's my theory that the trend to wood frame homes in the USA spread east from the west coast as developers realized how quick these homes could be set up and sold for a quick profit.

The home on a slab to me is another example of the lack of concern for the health and welfare of the new homeowners.

The house I am in now is one such home. The hot water pipes under the slab rotted out years ago and the home owner never realized and not being in plumbing at the time I didn't understand the significance of a comment she made to me at the time back in 2004 when I visited. She said she loved her slab home with it's hot water pipes under the slab because in the bathroom the floor was always warm.

For years she poured hundreds of dollars under that slab in hot water bills for gas and water until her slab cracked and hot water flooded her house one night. Emergency repairs ran to $8,000.00 as her water system was rerouted through the attic using PEX piping. They didn't insulate the new piping so cold water in summer is hot until you run all the hot water out of the pipes. You can go outside and water a plant without checking the water temp and the plant will just cook in the hot water. Believe me, I test the water before using it. In summer the faucets are hot/hot rather than cold/hot water.

I want to revisit the phenomenon of wood framed houses in USA, particularly in California and other south west US states and how the trend swept across the USA. Wood framed homes were already a thing back in early 1900s so it's not like it's something new. However, when I was in Philadelphia and other states on the east coast and south eastern USA, in old neighborhoods brick and mortar homes were quite common, in fact, were or seemed to be the norm. Not to say the gulf states didn't have wooden mansions, etc. They did. During the Gold Rush and later expansions to California economy and quick rise in population at first it was just cheap shoddy wood framed homes with no particular codes either regionally or state wide. In my home town there are some houses along one old street that are completely stone with mortar. Built back in the early 1900s. Small single family homes. So that was a thing also. But, during the 60s of the last century began a massive growth of population and the boom of tract homes. Cookie cutter homes slapped together with wood frames on slabs and stucco plastered over tar paper and chicken wire. These homes are a maintenance headache. The sewer lines are cast iron and some of the later homes are even worse in regards to sewer lines as the cast iron sewers are made of cheap imported trash steel. The composition is brittle so even trying to repair them is a problem. Cutting out a section frequently leaves a cracked sewer line that allows more roots to invade and crack the pipes. Then people want to plant trees in their yards which soon invade the lines through seams and cracks and cause blockages. Problems that occur under the slab must be cut and dug out. Then you have the termites that are infesting almost every tract home of that era. I can basically tell you the time frame these cheap homes were built in by looking at them and then confirm it when doing work inside and around the house because I never find coins dated much earlier than the 60's. When stripping out old carpet or linoleum that's what we find under the baseboards. Loose pennies from around 1960 and once carpeting gets installed and coins can't go under the baseboards you don't find any coins later than the 70's. Of course there are records and sometimes stamps on city sidewalks that tell you when a tract home neighborhood went in. They are all cheap and all have shoddy construction. Popcorn ceilings in every tract home. Why the popcorn textured ceilings? Because ceiling rafters are uneven. The texture is to hide the defects. Almost all of these homes need the wiring upgraded, termite exterminated, plumbing replaced, etc. None, zero, nada had the lumber used pretreated for termites. Back in the 90s I believe California passed a law requiring a home built with straw bales to be granted a permit. Something about conserving our forests. But, developers setting up tract homes are not going to be doing this so the law meant nothing. It's my theory that the trend to wood frame homes in the USA spread east from the west coast as developers realized how quick these homes could be set up and sold for a quick profit. The home on a slab to me is another example of the lack of concern for the health and welfare of the new homeowners. The house I am in now is one such home. The hot water pipes under the slab rotted out years ago and the home owner never realized and not being in plumbing at the time I didn't understand the significance of a comment she made to me at the time back in 2004 when I visited. She said she loved her slab home with it's hot water pipes under the slab because in the bathroom the floor was always warm. For years she poured hundreds of dollars under that slab in hot water bills for gas and water until her slab cracked and hot water flooded her house one night. Emergency repairs ran to $8,000.00 as her water system was rerouted through the attic using PEX piping. They didn't insulate the new piping so cold water in summer is hot until you run all the hot water out of the pipes. You can go outside and water a plant without checking the water temp and the plant will just cook in the hot water. Believe me, I test the water before using it. In summer the faucets are hot/hot rather than cold/hot water.

parent
link

(post is archived)