HE;S Back (Well Sort OF)

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Sorry for small hijack of original theme but I think it is still connected / on topic... this is puzzling me for years and years...


Why are the private houses in USA made of wood?


When I visited USA (Florida, Georgia, Alabama - my aunt, uncle and numerous cousins with their families live the - all doctors) I saw this myself but answer I always got was "this is the way we do things here". Even their (my aunt-uncle and cousins) houses were made of wood!

In my country every single private house is build from concrete (foundations deep in ground, floors and main walls) and then the other parts are filled with brick and/or stone (including internal walls which are from brick as well).

If such house is hit by hurricane or by flood it would suffer (roof would probably go and windows would shatter) but house itself would stand and not be destroyed!

Thanks in advance and sorry for hijack (although still on topic)!


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S.
Again best of luck guys (who are in path of incoming "Rita")!

[tsimmonds]

Why are the private houses in USA made of wood?

Aside from the fact that wood is relatively inexpensive, requires only basic tools and skills to work with, is widely available, and enables far quicker construction, I can't imagine. [;)]
Widespread use of woodframe construction is the only way we could manage to build 2 million housing units in a year. How many could we manage to build if they all were of concrete/masonry construction?

Good luck to everyone in Rita's path.

edit: my memory betrayed me once again, this time regarding the number of housing starts. Corrected....

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: irrelevant

Why are the private houses in USA made of wood?

Aside from the fact that wood is relatively inexpensive, requires only basic tools and skills to work with, is widely available, and enables far quicker construction, I can't imagine. [;)]
Widespread use of woodframe construction is the only way we could manage to build 13 million housing units in a year. How many could we manage to build if they all were of concrete/masonry construction?

Yes... it's cheap... I know... but what about "I am not rich enough to buy cheeply"?


Leo "Apollo11"

[tsimmonds]

Yes... it's cheap... I know... but what about "I am not rich enough to buy cheeply"?

Again, building with wood is the only way to meet the demand for housing in this country.

[DuckofTindalos]

(Black Humour Mode ON)

It also assures a continued demand for new housing, since the wooden houses fall down in a slight breeze, or if a cow farts in the next county, not to mention in a category 5 hurricane.

(Black Humour Mode OFF)

[Dereck]

Not ALL houses in America are made of wood. There are also brick and stone houses.

Though regardless of what they're made of a Category 5 hurricane or F5 tornado will destroy them.

[DuckofTindalos]

Yeah, obviously...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: dereck

Not ALL houses in America are made of wood. There are also brick and stone houses.

Though regardless of what they're made of a Category 5 hurricane or F5 tornado will destroy them.

Of course they are not... but what I saw in Alabama, Florida and Georgia was 99% wood (and they did look gorgeous!)...

BTW, when I was staying in USA I helped my cousin re-model one room (moving walls and all related stuff) in his 2 storey house (again wooden house) - the two of us had the job done in just few days... if it was "European" concrete/brick/stone house it would take 10x longer (and not to mention dust and drilling and hammering)... nonetheless I didn't like it one bit (where I live the internal walls are made of brick and are 20+ cm wide = 7 inches)...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Dereck]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: dereck

Not ALL houses in America are made of wood. There are also brick and stone houses.

Though regardless of what they're made of a Category 5 hurricane or F5 tornado will destroy them.

Of course they are not... but what I saw in Alabama, Florida and Georgia was 99% wood (and they did look gorgeous!)...

BTW, when I was staying in USA I helped my cousin re-model one room (moving walls and all related stuff) in his 2 storey house (again wooden house) - the two of us had the job done in just few days... if it was "European" concrete/brick/stone house it would take 10x longer (and not to mention dust and drilling and hammering)... nonetheless I didn't like it one bit (where I live the internal walls are made of brick and are 20+ cm wide = 7 inches)...


Leo "Apollo11"

Think it depends on how old houses are. I had a friend who lived on a farm and the original portion of the house which was built in the late 1800s was solid stone with framework or oak but the newer portions were made of wood.

Now I see them build houses with thin wooden plyboard and stuff. Think it all comes down to that wood is cheaper and the builders can make more of a profit by building with cheap materials and still charging you an outrageous price for a house.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: dereck

Now I see them build houses with thin wooden plyboard and stuff. Think it all comes down to that wood is cheaper and the builders can make more of a profit by building with cheap materials and still charging you an outrageous price for a house.

Most plausible explanation - thanks!

BTW, the houses my aunt, uncle and cousins had were all extremely expensive... I couldn't believe the amount I heard (especially for brand new 2 storey house one of my cousins bought just before I visited - in Germany / Austria, for example, for same amount of money you could have same size house in similar good neighborhood build from concrete/brick/stone)...


Leo "Apollo11"

[anarchyintheuk]

Depends on where they live. Some neighborhoods/states are more expensive than others.

[Lord_Calidor]

ORIGINAL: dereck
Though regardless of what they're made of a Category 5 hurricane or F5 tornado will destroy them.

Don't bet on it. Old Mediterranean stone houses withstood centuries of rough treatment by Bura (Bora) winds of up to 250-300 km/h with just an occasional roof tile blown off.
Last winter Croatia had one of the strongest wind storms ever recorded. Traffic was paralyzed, trailers & boats found a few miles away from original position, sattelite dishes never found again, trees were torn out completely with roots, yet damage to houses was limited to a few roof tiles and shattered windows. There was never any evacuation order or peril to inhabitants, except danger from mentioned roof tiles falling on someone's head.

[Oliver Heindorf]

dont forget guys that even in Biloxi MS were lots of houses made of concrete. Katrina simply blew them away.

I think an important thing is that we europeans simply cant imagine the winds the USA face every year. compared to their cat 3,4,5 storms even our strongest storms over the north sea are laughable compared to hurricanes. at a certain degree flooding and water storms simply will remove complete houses ( happend in germany in 2002 in the former east germany when the river elbe went riot ) the water simple removed entire houses made of concrete/stones.

A house made of brick/concrete would help but only to a certain degree - same goes for power lines as well ( we have them in the earth )

[Mynok]

Yep, it is the water, not the wind, that destroys houses. Hurricanes like Katrina bring 18-20 feet (close to 6 meters) of ocean with them. Yes, that is how much the sea level rises temporarily. It is very much like a tsunami *in addition* to the constant wind hammering, lightning and tornados. I can assure you from personal, on site, eyewitness experience that when that 6 meters of water returns to the ocean, it leaves nothing but debris behind. Rock, stone, wood, you name it, it is rubble.

Houses that are well above the water levels generally survive even the worst hurricanes to some extent. Those that are not, do not, no matter what they are built out of.

[doktor1957]

I went through the Northridge quake back in '94. I lived in Burbank and woke up in the middle of the night. I actually heard the quake coming, not a low rumbling, but more like a really bad train wreck that just kept going on and on, stuff crashing, exploding. Then it hit, and the whole apartment complex felt like it was being drug over a washboard. I immeadiately went to bathroom. Then I got out of bed...

[captskillet]

It (storm surge, around 30/35 ft) took one of the barges that one of the casino boats is built on (supposedly sec. moored) and moved it close to a mile inland!

[captskillet]

If such house is hit by hurricane or by flood it would suffer (roof would probably go and windows would shatter) but house itself would stand and not be destroyed

A Cat 5 would take em' out also Leo........ if the wind dont get em' the storm surge will.......a 30 or 35 ft wall of water being pushed by a 150+ mph wind is pretty nasty!!

And just to show you how big this thing is they are getting storm surge flooding from Mobile Bay to Souht Padre Island.....thats 600 miles!!!! In fact they are getting water back into parts of New Orleans and thats 250 miles away!!!!!

[RevRick]

And contrary to popular opinion, a wood house properly constructed will resist the wind as well as any CBS structure. The caveat hers is "properly constructed." With proper hurricane braces, rafter ties, sole ties, etc. (all metal strapping) the average wood house could stand up to a cat 3 or 4 storm, and even possibly a cat 5 inland. Nothing can stand up to storm surge which can be affordable and house a single family at this time. The biggest problem with houses away from the coast is wind lift on the roof. It tries to tear the roof off, and usually succeeds, unless there is proper structural bracing in the rafters and top plates.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: captskillet

A Cat 5 would take em' out also Leo........ if the wind dont get em' the storm surge will.......a 30 or 35 ft wall of water being pushed by a 150+ mph wind is pretty nasty!!

I remember seeing many hurricane/tornado devastation photos from USA (that were taken over past decades) that all have sad "Hiroshima like" look of neighborhoods shattered to pieces... [:(]

If you look closely those were all 100% wooden buildings.

Even with latest "Katrina" hurricane I don't recall seeing any destroyed concrete/brick/stone building (like hotel for example and there were many of those in affected areas).

What we saw were shattered windows and lost roofs but concrete construction withheld wind, rain and even storm surge (i.e. water incoming to land in "tsunami like effect).

Are there any pictures of leveled hotels build from concrete?

Please note that what I called "European" like house made of concrete / brick / stone (and with deep foundations - usually 2+ meters deep also made of concrete) is similar only to bigger constructions in USA (like hospitals, hotels and similar).


BTW, in tsunami that hit Asia last December hotels withstand but, slums where poor people lived (shacks made of wood, paper and cardboard) didn't... [:(]


Leo "Apollo11"

[Titanwarrior89]

Good luck Pry. Hang in there.[:(]