[hinkley]

If you go back to the early 1900s, the cladding was installed on a diagonal, which helped greatly in preventing the building from racking. Now we rely on sheet rock and plywood to provide that protection in earthquakes and wind storms.

If you ever see a house stripped down to the sticks for a rebuild, you will hopefully notice a few braces added. Not to keep the walls from falling down, but to keep them square and true until the walls are rebuilt.

[jefftk]

For what it's worth, in the Boston area traditional sheathing is boards parallel to the ground, not diagonal.

(I've seen dozens of houses from ~1900-1920 in the process of full gut rebuilds, and none of them had diagonally installed sheathing.)

[hinkley]

It might be more of a commercial building thing than a domestic construction one. I know I've seen it in a number of videos of renovations of larger buildings, including barns. I might have the time range off. Big cities are full of 1920's constructions especially on the West Coast, and they don't do that.

My old house (~1920) had diagonal shiplap under the floors instead of plywood (but parallel in the oldest walls). That's probably more for making hardwood floors easier to install than structural integrity.

Edit: The internet says 'start of the 20th century' phased out in 1950's (plywood), and 'sometimes diagonally'.

[jefftk]

The subfloors I've seen for old houses in Boston are also laid perpendicular to the joists, though diagonal does seem like it would make more sense.

[hinkley]

Laying a board over a seam in the subfloor sounds like a titanic pain in the ass. Diagonal means you might have to move the nail a little. Probably also limits the amount of dust and water that passes through from floor to ceiling.