Why do you build houses out of wood?

[BradAtWork]

Hi Americans.

If i'm generalising please correct me, but from TV/Films it appears most of your free standing homes are made of wood?

Why is this. Can most people not afford to build out of brick?

Where I come from (Australia) only older/low cost homes were built from wood.

Brick homes last longer and I imagine would maintain temperature better.

Is it just the abudance of cheap wood you have in the states, or is it just tradition or whatever.

Just curious.

 

[IAteYourMother]

uhhh...

well, in california, you cant build brick buildings because of earthquake codes

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Because we Americans love to chop down forests which provide us oxygen and protect wildlife all for the sake housing developments. And brick is an old school home design. I would imagine it doesn't insulate very well.

 

[BradAtWork]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother
uhhh...

well, in california, you cant build brick buildings because of earthquake codes

Good point, I didn't think of that.

We just avoid earthquakes.

 

[BigJ]

http://blog.stayfreemagazine.o...4/brownstones_old.html

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Because we Americans love to chop down forests which provide us oxygen and protect wildlife all for the sake housing developments. And brick is an old school home design. I would imagine it doesn't insulate very well.

Which is funny, because an ever increasing amount of lumber used today is from trees specifically planted for the purpose of cutting them down.

 

[PrinceofWands]

It's about 1/3 - 1/5 the cost, has infinitely more flexibility in building design, withstands a number of environmental problems better (like earthquakes), can be insulated to be far more efficient than raw stone construction, etc.

A number of homes are wood frame construction and then covered in brick or faux brick overlay. Gives a good compromise between the two.

 

[CorCentral]

Originally posted by: BradAtWork
Hi Americans.

If i'm generalising please correct me, but from TV/Films it appears most of your free standing homes are made of wood?

Why is this. Can most people not afford to build out of brick?

Where I come from (Australia) only older/low cost homes were built from wood.

Brick homes last longer and I imagine would maintain temperature better.

Is it just the abudance of cheap wood you have in the states, or is it just tradition or whatever.

Just curious.

I've not a clue on your overall remark, but I would'nt suspect brick being that much more expensive than wood. I know you're right on the temperature retention and lasting longer.

I hate wood......... Well except for when the wife asks me to get some!
For example, I moved from FL to TN 2 years back and had a nice Aluminium shed in FL 16x11 BullSHED ($2,100). I come to TN and everyone has a crappy termite ridden wood shed they paid more for! All I see are ugly Barn type 10x12 wood sheds. I'll build a metal shed myself before buying a wood one here!

 

[jagec]

Cheap wood + expensive brick + penny-pinching developers.

I like brick better too.

 

[BradAtWork]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I thought it would be a cost thing.

I imagine if we had an abundance of pine we'd probably build em out of it too.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Cost, earthquake.

It take much more energy to built an unsound brick structure than wood. I read some where back in the early 90s that an earthquake sound brick building with steel frame can cost up to 6 times more than a comparable wood frame building.

 

[BradAtWork]

What about the east coast? I didn't think they had an earthquake problem.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: BradAtWork
What about the east coast? I didn't think they had an earthquake problem.

It take much more energy to built an unsound brick structure than wood.

There are more brick & stone building in the East than the left coast.

 

[coldmeat]

Around here, the only time I see brick is when it's covering a wood frame, mostly for aesthetics I think. Our house is covered in brick, but it's not made of brick.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: BradAtWork
Hi Americans.

Er... hi Australians!

 

[Ticky]

Wood here, so you can cram every last speck of insulation into the walls, and it makes routing the central air easier. And wood last nigh-on forever in the desert. Those old puebles still have wood beams...

 

[wetcat007]

I'm not really sure why more homes are built of wood in the US. I would think there's benefits to brick as well as benefits to using wood. It would be interesting to see how well brick or cement insulates compared to the fiberglass insulation used in wood structure homes. Both building types seem to work and last fine...

Could part of it be there's few pine trees in Australia, while they are abundant in the US?

Would be really interesting to see good comparison of wood vs brick structures.

 

[rbV5]

Lack of skilled Masons, much higher costs and poor Earthquake performance.

 

[NoShangriLa]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
I'm not really sure why more homes are built of wood in the US. I would think there's benefits to brick as well as benefits to using wood. It would be interesting to see how well brick or cement insulates compared to the fiberglass insulation used in wood structure homes. Both building types seem to work and last fine...

Could part of it be there's few pine trees in Australia, while they are abundant in the US?

Would be really interesting to see good comparison of wood vs brick structures.

R-Value Table

R-value

Standard wood construction R value is 4-10 times greater than concrete/brick construction.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Because we Americans love to chop down forests which provide us oxygen and protect wildlife all for the sake housing developments. And brick is an old school home design. I would imagine it doesn't insulate very well.

Brick is far more time consuming to build, you need skilled masons. But a properly built brick house can be extremely durable and well insulated.

I grew up in a brick house that had lathe and plaster walls. My Dad was an engineer and knew what he wanted. Not only were our heating bill miniscule, but the SOUND insulation from room to room was highly impressive and beats most any other house I've ever personally experienced.

Have none of you pups ever heard the expression, "built like a brick ****house"?

 

[Vic]

They shoot this TV show in what is practically my backyard, so you can imagine we don't have a lot of brick homes here. It's almost unheard of, in fact.
And homes in Southern California rarely have basements.
While in Australia, there's not a lot of tall pines to build homes with, but plenty of clay for making brick.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I notice everyone seems to have a pine fetish. I know a lot of areas used to focus on pine framing, but now you're just as likely to find fir or any number of other woods. Not a biggie, just thought I'd toss that out there.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Because we Americans love to chop down forests which provide us oxygen and protect wildlife all for the sake housing developments. And brick is an old school home design. I would imagine it doesn't insulate very well.

Which is funny, because an ever increasing amount of lumber used today is from trees specifically planted for the purpose of cutting them down.

That is really a dumb argument. Would you say there are more trees and more forests in the US now or 200 years ago? 100 years ago? Not only pure numbers, but the quality and age of trees? It's akin to saying "Oh slavery isn't an issue because now we rape women for the purpose of producing child laborers"

 

[thomsbrain]

Bricks are probably the number one worst building material in earthquakes.

Occasionally people put up bricks on top of the wood, purely for style. They are not considered a viable structural element, period.

 

[Colt45]

The same reason american cars last 5 years.