This is me asking a question of myself:
Why in hell do we frame houses with wood in the Sonoran Desert?
Because it’s cheap.
Look at this:
That’s a finger-jointed 2×4. An ordinary 2×4 wasn’t cheap enough, so the builder is using glued-together mill waste to keep his costs down. Nice.
This is one of the driest deserts in the United States. Wood dries out in our air, warping as it dries. If it gets wet, it is susceptible to mold and dry rot — a fungal infection that causes it to crumble. It is an irresistible treat for subterranean and dry-wood termites.
That finger-jointed member is going to shrink away from its glue as it dries, and the glue itself is going to dry up. Some day, that 2×4 is going to be about as sturdy as a stack of empty milk cartons. Nice.
Wood framing is cheap. Steel framing is forever.
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jf.sellsius says:
Can’t they spray some material on it to keep it from warping? Maybe a composite of wood and plastic. Get a computer on this problem right away & bring a few statisticians for good measure.
September 26, 2006 — 7:27 am
Geri Sonkin says:
And the winner is . . . certainly not the buyer of this unstable creation. Talk about caveat emptor.
September 26, 2006 — 10:27 am
Greg Swann says:
> And the winner is . . . certainly not the buyer of this unstable creation.
To be fair, that member is not load-bearing. It’s interior framing that will be shielded in sheetrock. The home is built to last 50 years — and it’s very inexpensive to buy. But: People will ive in it for longer than its useful life, and that’s not good.
> Talk about caveat emptor.
I agree. What’s worse is that luxury homes are built with the same dumb practices — albeit with better wood.
September 30, 2006 — 1:07 pm