Magical Dwellings: Tiny Texas Houses in Focus

Brad's expertise is evident when you hear him explain the special characteristics of old-growth wood. Essentially it comes down to the spacing of the growth rings. In elementary school, we all learned that counting the rings on a tree stump will tell you its age. But for the strength of the lumber, what's important is how close together those rings are. The dark part of the ring is what gives it strength, so the more tightly spaced they are, the stronger the wood will be. New pine you might buy from a home improvement store will have very widely spaced rings by comparison, and will be relatively weak.