Hacker News Reader

As a layman I hadn’t heard either term so I looked it up while reading the essay and the overwhelming opinion I found is that platform framing is a variant of balloon framing that has completely replaced the original method due to fires in 1860 (Chicago) and 1903 (San Fran). most of what I read said the terms used the terms interchangeably

View on HN

Another likely reason is that balloon framing makes use of single studs that extend the height of the structure, with the 2nd floor suspended. The nature of available framing lumber has shifted and it would be likely much more expensive and difficult to obtain satisfactory 16'-20' studs vs. the more common 8' length.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com