John C. Cowing House — materials
Every stick packed into the standard lengths — 8 to 24 ft in 2 ft steps — by nominal size; board feet at the nominal size, as lumber is sold (a balloon frame of full-sawn lumber: each size ordered at the next whole inch). A piece 5 ft or longer is bought at the next standard length; the short ones — blocks, cripples, bridging — are cut from 8 to 16 ft sticks. The house is nailed: no pegs.
| Size | 8 ft | 10 ft | 12 ft | 14 ft | 16 ft | 18 ft | 20 ft | 22 ft | 24 ft | Sticks | Board feet | For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7x8 | 2 | 2 | 149 | sill | ||||||||
| 2x10 | 2 | 2 | 47 | stair carriage | ||||||||
| 2x8 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 23 | 36 | 811 | first-floor joist · second-floor joist | |||||
| 2x6 | 11 | 11 | 132 | collar | ||||||||
| 1x12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 42 | finished tread | |||||||
| 2x4 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 47 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 105 | 945 | corner post · stud beside an opening · stud · cripple stud · header · rough sill nailed between the studs … | ||
| 1x8 | 3 | 3 | 32 | riser | ||||||||
| 1x3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | ribbon |
2,170 board feet of framing lumber in 164 sticks.
Longer than 24 ft, a special order (or spliced): 2 × 7x8 26 ft (sill, long wall, timber); 2 × 2x4 26 ft (plate, flat on the stud heads, spiked).
Boards (1 in nominal): rough floors 755 sq ft ≈ 755 board feet; roof boards 499 sq ft ≈ 499 board feet (plus waste).
Not in this list: masonry, the iron stirrups and anchor bolts, sheathing and siding, trim, windows and doors, roofing, nails.
Sizes follow the model, which is proportioned from the 1929 framing plans with estimated heights, not engineered. Nothing here is priced.