[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Hello to all

[Lawrence Lile]

Welcome to the list, Tom!  

I find it interesting that people are all worried about oak getting
riddled by beetles in a couple of years, which happens, yet some oak
buildings stand for 140 years.  There is more to this than I think we
understand yet. One of my rental houses is at least 100 years old,
framed in roughsawn oak, and is still standing pretty well, despite zero
attention to termite resistant construction by the old-time builders.  

My area of practice is electrical engineering, but I chime on on almost
any other subject, since I've made mistakes.. ah .. gained experience in
almost anything related to constructing a building. Usually the goofs ..
uh .. experience was gained on the business end of a shovel or a
sawzall.   

 
 
Lawrence Lile, P.E., LEED AP


-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Tom Young
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:53 PM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [BULK] [Greenbuilding] Hello to all
Importance: Low

Hello to all -- I just wanted to drop a note to introduce us as new
members. 

There are several posts in the archives that I found quite interesting.
The one of greatest interest was on OAK timbers. 

About 20 years ago I lived in a 140 yr old farm house in North Carolina
to restore.  The house was built of wood harvested, sawn and air dried
on the property.  The beams and floor joists in the house were white
oak. When I purchased the home we had an inspection that to our surprise
found only two problems with the old timbers -- a 1/2 inch area of dry
rot on a step at the bottom of the stairs into the root cellar and a 2
sq inch section of a beam that sat on top of the stacked stone
foundation. 

Of course, the building inspector and the bank officers had fits.  We
replaced both sections of wood.  Replacing the plate on the foundation
was the most challenging exercise.  We had to cut out an 8 foot section
and then bolt three 2 x 10 timbers together to fabricate the
replacement.  Today the 8 ft section we removed is a mantel on a field
stone fireplace.  I'm sorry we were forced to take those measures but
the beam does add to the over all aesthetic and serves as a great
conversation piece.  So do the hand forged nails we recovered during the
process.

If this is not considered off topic -- I would love to hear from the
rest of the members on the list -- what are your areas of practice in
green building?  Our family owns a cabinet manufacturing company in New
Hampshire (USA).  We manufacture FSC certified solid wood (pine and
poplar) cabinetry and built-ins.

Sandi and Tom

   
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