I tend to agree that we're past a point of optimal amount of bureaucracy in housing. I don't know that I'd go as far as saying these were more than good enough, though they are close.

Things like fire rated doors/drywall might not lower the likelihood you'll have a house fire, but they will give the occupants time to exit safely. Ditto for electrical breakers/gfci.

For the framing/support that's probably true, but things like electrical are largely written in response to fires/shocks.

The house kits seemed to started falling out of fashion as society started deeming electricity an essential, though the timeframe also had other things like the depression/ww2 going on to cause issues with it too.

Generally speaking, old structures that are not up to code aren't just torn down because the code changed.

In fact very few code changes for residential buildings cause retroactive enforcement. Called “grandfathering” you’re allowed to continue to use a house that was legal when you built it.

There are often laws that say repairs beyond a certain point must bring it up to code, but minor repairs to keep it working are fine.

Now you may want to get it to code, but that’s another question.

From the Tweet (article): "Between 1908 and 1940, Sears managed to sell over 70,000 DIY homes' and "Remarkably, almost 70% of these Sears DIY houses are still standing today." That would mean around 49,000 are still standing.

And I guarantee you 48,999 of those homes have been gutted to replace the lath+plaster, lead pipes, and knob+tube wiring. Timber isn't all there is to a good home.

a significant fraction of the houses in major cities in the northwest, particularly seattle, are these sears homes. there are entire blocks of them, built around 1920 by developers plotting out whole neighborhoods.

many have extensive renovations, others are essentially standing as-built. typically they are worth millions, but that's more about geography and zoning than the construction itself.

i have lived in a few, all with the original plaster, and a mix of original plumbing/electrical. generally i would say even the mostly-original ones were are some of the nicest places i've ever lived, but that's not saying much.

there is definitely a survivorship bias, but the ones still standing seem to have weathered the moisture well. much of the ~70/80s era construction i have seen seems to have fared worse, and the new construction i've seen is downright laughable.

As a person who grew up and still lives in and around Seattle, I agree with everything you've said. Only thing I would mention though is:

>typically they are worth millions

That might be just a more generality of single family homes in the Seattle area than a nod to their craftsmanship.

I think you’d be entirely surprised to discover how many have NOT been gutted. Most houses built in thy era still standing probably have original piping or wiring somewhere.

Lath & Plaster is still pretty common, they were usually built without insulation so retrofitting the knob & tube was actually pretty simple to do from the attic.

Bathrooms have usually been gutted though, if for nothing else than the common designs had windows in the bath/shower and pretty much guaranteed water damage in the wall.