I learned a lot from that project but forgot some of the words used by the work crew when they made mistakes. The main lesson I learned was the importance of getting a foundation right before completing the structure. The work of that crew from thirty-some years ago still stands. You see, cement blocks when they were first introduced were meant to all be filled with poured concrete in the middle. But the common habit is not to do that.
Good timbers are also well advised.
Dad had gone to a local lumber mill to have the structural wood cut from hard wood trees. That lumber is still strong, while the pretty milled wood from the lumber company is rotted clear through. But even the good stuff doesn't last forever. Westminster Abbey was four hundred and fifty years old when the caretakers noticed that the oak timbers holding up the roof were nearly at the end of their useful life. Parliament worried at how they would ever find timbers of that size at any cost they could afford to replace the roof.