Why are those long planks of wood called “2 by 4s”?
What units are we measuring here? 2 what by 4 what? Regardless of what units were using the proportions seem all off. 2 by 4 seems to imply that its a rectangle where the longer side is twice the side of the shorter side, but that doesn’t describe this wood size at all. The long side is quite a big longer than twice the side of the shorter size. So I’m confused. Then there are other sizes of wood, like 2 by 6s, and I see similar issues there too.
Someone please explain what’s going on here.
Inspector came to look at the house for some reason and was impressed to see a house built in the 50’s with a giant length of walnut(?) something like 8”x 12” by 20’
I have an old house on my property that has a similar piece of wood holding everything up.
They don’t/can’t build like that anymore.