Is my house made of redwood or pine? (Hilo: houses, home inspector)

[hilohopeful]

Hi all, I’ve recently moved into a 1949 single wall home on the Big Island. The inspector told me it was tongue and groove style walls and I assumed that also meant redwood since that was the most popular way to do single wall in Hawaii in that era. However, I’m not 100% sure it’s redwood as there’s no documentation either way. It wasn’t advertised as such either, which I assumed it would be if it were redwood?

I asked the termite inspector what he thought and judging by the outside he assumed redwood as well. Is there anyway to find out for sure? I saw here and elsewhere on the web that some folks have PINE T&G. Is that a possibility as well, even given the age of the home? Would pine have held up against the termites and moisture of East Hawaii since 1949/1950? Any insight is appreciated!

Thank you!

[Willamette City]

Pictures would be nice. Did you ask the inspector what wood he thought they were?

[hilohopeful]

No I didn’t ask the home inspector and the termite guy just commented on it from the outside. I’m also reading that Douglas Fir was a common material as well even for the tongue and groove single walls. The grain pattern looks long and “straight” ish, some occasional waves, but no apparent curves or knots like pine. That straight grain pattern could make it either redwood or fir I guess.

Another thing I noticed is that the boards are only about 6” wide, not the classic 8” like for the typical redwood houses. Also, it’s all painted, so wood color is not possible to assess

[Luau Time]

My guess would be redwood. I worked for entomologists and was told that pine wood is “candy” to termites.

[hilohopeful]

Yeah I feel like a pine house would not have lasted in Hawaii for 70+ years, right?!

[Luau Time]

Originally Posted by hilohopeful

Yeah I feel like a pine house would not have lasted in Hawaii for 70+ years, right?!

I agree.

[hotzcatz]

More than likely it's fir and not redwood or pine. I've seen loads of fir T&G single wall houses, very few redwood ones and no pine ones unless they were built within the past twenty or thirty years. The redwood ones were the very early ones, though, so it could be redwood. But, I'd still guess fir if it's not redwood. The fir they could get then was a much finer grained and clearer fir than we can get now.

For some of the older single wall houses up the coast, the lumber was floated from Hilo up to a landing on the coast so the materials had a sea salt bath for several weeks before building. Those houses are reported to have very few termites. That would have been prior to the seventies, though, after the highway was built, then more stuff was shifted around using the roadways.