Stupid thoughts about durability of modern building materials

[Ryler]

We have crap materials now and crap tradesmen.
You only have to look at what they built in the preceding centuries to know they were better.
They had stone, oak and slate. And knew how to shape it.
Just using their hands.
And plenty of slaves to lug the materials.

I worked beside an old quarry lately.
And was amazed when the owner told me that the stone from the hole built the nearby chapel.
With a spire standing some 300 feet tall.

 

[EddieM]

I think you'll find we still have oak stone and slate. Their use however maybe prohibitively expensive.

 

[JP_]

There aren't really that many old houses around though, are there?

 

[Ryler]

The best buildings were made when the rich could exploit the poor.
The pyramids are a fine example.

Its a wonder the blm brigade are not demanding the pyramids be pulled down since so much slave labour put them there?
And what happened to all the great oak forests in ireland?
Im pretty sure the english took it all to build ships.

 

[ajstoneservices]

Our eldest has just bought this to renovate. Dates back to the 1600s.

 

[Ryler]

Nice image of Churchill.
You should have that framed.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Underfloor ventilation to keep the lower walls dry. The ornamental ridge tiles weren't purely for decoration, the scrolls and holes in the ridges broke down wind flow.
Very clever them victorians, I doubt any modern windows in upvc will outlast a victorian sash.

Built without proper foundations or cavity walls.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Near where I live, a secondary school built in the late 1960s has, in the last five years been closed and demolished. A junior school built within the last five years has rainwater leaking through the skylights. Compare to the junior school I attended, which was built in the 1890s, and is still being used, although not as a school. Another old school, built in the early 1900s still functions as a junior school! I am sure you can all draw your own conclusions.

Similar story here - My primary was built 1890's closed as a school in 1990's then converted for use as hightech offices. My secondary school, built 1961 with all best /top facilities was closed and demolished in 1992.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

There aren't really that many old houses around though, are there?

No, they demolished them to make way for more modern much less permanent and much uglier buildings.

 

[gasbanni]

O rings in hose lock fitting end up leaking, so do o rings in boilers........just wait till all that push fit plastic hose fittings start leaking in houses !

Oh and by the way there are now specialist companies removing cavity wall insulation.
Some Houses have suffered extreme damp since having it installed, prior they were very and snug !

 

[Brigadier]

There aren't really that many old houses around though, are there?

Not coz they weren't good, just coz clever people thought they knew better .

 

[dontbelieveawordofit]

A non exposed piece of osb will last forever

how dyou know?

 

[IT Minion]

There's a lot of survivors bias in this thread

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

All the naff old buildings from the 1890s have already fallen down and a decent fraction of the survivors are like triggers broom.

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Our eldest has just bought this to renovate. Dates back to the 1600s.

Bon courage to your eldest.

 

[^woody^]

how dyou know?

I've got a lifetime guarantee on the receipt from B&Q.