Geo, many years ago I had an old house that had been sitting empty for at least fifty years. Floor boards were in poor shape but the joist and main beams were fine. We pulled out 20 plus 4x8 x 16-24' old growth red oak joist and beams. The growth rings were so close that you could not count them with the naked eye. Everything had been notched and pegged to join them. A few cut nails came out with the floor boards. It was such nice clean, clear lumber. Everything was quarter sawed. No knots in them anywhere. I suspect it had been timbered and sawn into lumber on the same farm the house was on. I later learned that house had been moved twice on that farm from the riverbank to a hill and later toward the new road. After all that it was just as solid as the day it was built. Built well with top materials.
