Our house is over one hundred years old, the basement walls are fine, the floor has many with hairline cracks.
When we moved in forty some years ago a friend’s elderly father told us all about it, they used mules and something called a Mormon board (?), scraping down a small amount with each pull.
The concrete was mixed by hand.
When adding a sump pit, I discovered the floor was only about TWO INCHES THICK CONCRETE on a thin layer of cinders.
The first time I replaced an old wavy glass window... I thought WOW, I have never seen a 2x5???
Not exactly the 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 we use today!
The kitchen wall has a wall thimble from the old cook stove. Hidden behind the cabinets.
About 100 yards out my front window is a house built before the US Civil War. Nothing special about my house.
There have always been good craftsmen and some not so good craftsmen.
Many were trained by their father and the children learned the methods as they grew up.
It is no longer a craft. Computer engineering is great, but cedar pencil and slide rule put a man on the moon.
Too much complexity is destroying us today.
I love computer technology, but I hate how the power of it is being abused now.