david shapiro
07-12-2022, 12:22 PM
Just finished a lovely book, Hand Hewn, by Jack Sobon. He talks about using hand tools, traditional wood joinery, and often, local harvesting and maintenance of organic shapes. I don't mean non-silicacious; using tree crotches and branchings in the lumber as part of the structure.
What he doesn't talk about to any extent is seasoning. Many of his photos show beams that may have twisted a bit, that developed cracks as they shrunk . . . This is more a memoir than a coffee-table book, and certainly not a how-to, so I can't fault him too much for not showing "and here's how it can go wrong." Still . . .
What I'm wondering is this: when you inspect non-trad houses, lets even say ones that have passed AHJ inspection, how do you evaluate these eccentricities? Okay, the IBC says that for this span, you need at least 2X10 lumber; this house has about a 4x 12 member there, with some longitudinal cracking, not near the edges. Hmmm.
What he doesn't talk about to any extent is seasoning. Many of his photos show beams that may have twisted a bit, that developed cracks as they shrunk . . . This is more a memoir than a coffee-table book, and certainly not a how-to, so I can't fault him too much for not showing "and here's how it can go wrong." Still . . .
What I'm wondering is this: when you inspect non-trad houses, lets even say ones that have passed AHJ inspection, how do you evaluate these eccentricities? Okay, the IBC says that for this span, you need at least 2X10 lumber; this house has about a 4x 12 member there, with some longitudinal cracking, not near the edges. Hmmm.