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Comment by someone454 | Hacker News Reader

I’ve never found a perfect 90 degree angle in any house, and I’ve built portions of quite a few. Wood expands and contracts with the seasons.

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Yeah, "a few centimeters" is a lot, but under 1/4 inch is close enough for most residential framing. Windows and doors are always shimmed to fit the rough framing for this reason.

That's why they make protractors for measuring and cutting external baseboard trim. I've seen a few 90 degree corners, but not many.

Which also makes it a really silly choice for actual construction.

Brick and concrete make a lot more sense.

Expanding and contracting is good. Steel also expands and contracts. Bricks and un-reinforced concrete crack and crumble.

Odd how this 1930s brick building I'm in right now hasn't crumbled apart, or even cracked from settling to any noticeable degree.

I'm guessing you've not been alive long enough to see the required maintenance that has been preformed on said building. People tend to miss and ignore things that aren't part of their profession

I have bricklayers and carpenters in my friends and family, and I've been on the association board for the building, for the last 10 years.

So I know quite well what kind of maintenance is needed. We replaced the entire 6000sqm tiled roof last year, it was the original roof, 80 years old.

The maintenance needed on a brick building is fraction of what's needed on a wood building.

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