Funny Pictures Thread. It begins again

PatrThom

PatrThom

Like an old-style home entertainment power button. Push in one time and it pops out and locks into place, push again and it sinks all the way in and locks.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Tinwhistler said:
Shrinkflation..it's not just at the grocery store

View attachment 51091
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From what cursory light reading tells me, this is because the actual size of the 2x4 was not even standardized until the 60s. Previous to that, the size of a "2x4" was all over the place, often left to the carpenter to deal with himself at the construction site. When the housing boom really started to hit, builders decided on a sweet spot of cost vs structure, and they dictated to the mills what size they wanted... and it's been 1.5x3.5 ever since.

www.harvarddesignmagazine.org

Nominal Versus Actual: A History of the 2x4

The ubiquitous lumber product known as the 2×4 does not, in fact, measure two inches thick by four inches wide. […]
www.harvarddesignmagazine.org www.harvarddesignmagazine.org
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

GasBandit said:
From what cursory light reading tells me, this is because the actual size of the 2x4 was not even standardized until the 60s. Previous to that, the size of a "2x4" was all over the place, often left to the carpenter to deal with himself at the construction site. When the housing boom really started to hit, builders decided on a sweet spot of cost vs structure, and they dictated to the mills what size they wanted... and it's been 1.5x3.5 ever since.

www.harvarddesignmagazine.org

Nominal Versus Actual: A History of the 2x4

The ubiquitous lumber product known as the 2×4 does not, in fact, measure two inches thick by four inches wide. […]
www.harvarddesignmagazine.org www.harvarddesignmagazine.org
Click to expand...
I didn't look up the history, but I did know that 2x4's were a half-inch smaller than "2 inches by 4 inches". I was just sharing a facebook meme lol
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Reading the article Gas posted, there's still definitely some price pressure happening to the size... Can't compete at actual 2x4? Make it smaller and keep calling it a 2x4 :)

The limited availability of lumber and the rapid pace of housing construction made other methods like concrete-block housing viable. This pressured further compromise because thinner 2x4s were a way to compete in price with wood alternatives. Size standards, maximum moisture content, and nomenclature were agreed upon only as recently as 1964. The nominal 2×4 thus became the actual 1½ x 3½, imperceptibly, a fraction of an inch at a time.
Click to expand...
 
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