can be a chore in itself and a real pain in the ass especially if someone is book smart and doesn't understand reality. Reality is something for someone that can't handle hard drugs and/or alcohol but I digress....
Anyway, when an edifice is constructed (in this case a house) they dig a basement, pour a foundation and no matter how perfect it is, it begins to settle. I have seen only one perfect foundation in my life and that was in Kodiak. We measured it and it was perfectly square. Re remeasured it and it was perfectly square. To make sure the catenary of the long tape was even we weighed it down with a concrete block and used the weight to insure an even pull was on the tape. The whole crew was stunned.
Curiosity got the best of us and we got a clear piece of tubing and used it as a water level and it was perfectly level!
All that being said, I would love to magically lift the building off of its foundation and measure it today because I just know it settled. Coupling it with the seismic activity on Kodiak Island I'm sure it at least a big skosh out of level. I digress again.
Anyway, no matter what, as a building grows it starts settling. Things work their way out of square, level and plumb. It's nature in action coupled with the Law of Gravity.
One time back in my framer days we decided to really insure things were truly square and we checked everything on the first floor we had finished using a sheet of plywood as a square. It was excellent.
We did this because we were tired of the sheetrockers griping that things were out of square.
Next we finished the top floor and the roof and that was pretty damned good, too.
The sheetrockers were a about a month or so behind and when they got there they said things were 'about average' meaning far from perfect.
After work one evening the boss were curious and we grabbed a half sheet of plywood and we wandered in and sure enough. Things were not as square as they had been when we framed it. Settling had taken its toll mere weeks after things were framed in.
That's what make remodels so much of a pain in the ass. New construction is pretty straightforward. It's a basic science. Remodels are more of an art. Repairs are a challenge.
My house is 75 years old and has had 3/4s of a century to settle.
Update: I after I wrote this I grabbed a level and ran around the house checking the walls and was astonished at how plumb they still are. The floors are out of level but the walls are pretty plumb. I attribute this to sagging joists that have fought gravity for the past 75 years.
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