re: DR Horton new construction framing finds by home inspector

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I'd much rather have a thoughtfully-built modern home than an 1920's home. The "quality of the lumber" meme I've seen passed around on FB is ate up by the masses. The lumber quality is only one part of many many parts that make a home great. You haven't seen crooked studs until you rip the lath and plaster off an old home. They didn't GAF because the plaster guy could float it out.

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They did not GAF because they understood the nature of dimensional lumber and the fact that no matter how dry it was at some point during the manufacturing process it will reach equilibrium with its environment and will move....there is no way to stop it. There are ways to mitigate it but even OSB, universally recognized as the most stable wood product every designed, moves. A Douglas Fir 2x4 cut today is less stable than one cut in the 1920s IF the one cut in the 1920s was older than the one cut today....because old growth lumber is far more stable than new growth lumber. A 50 year old southern yellow pine, not at all rare in most of the south, is infinitely more stable than one that is 10 years old. That said either is going to twist, cup and split according to the tension inherent in the fiber and there is naught anyone can do about it. The same is true of ALL lumber, no matter the species. It is possible to mitigate this to some degree by milling techniques (quarter sawing, rift sawing) but ALL lumber is going to twist, cup, split and move from the time the tree germinates until the lumber rots to soil. Even engineered wood products like OSB and LVL beams and joists will cup, twist, warp and split to some extent...anything made from wood will. Stamping it with an inspection grade means nothing...it is still wood, it is going to move.