Always amses me to see you guys build your wood houses. This looks so much like a construction game for children, I want to play too!
I live on a fault line along the pacific ring of fire, and so building with wood was an absolute necessity for us so long, as they were structurally more lenient to the constant earthquakes. Even now I believe our old government building is the largest wooden building in the Southern hemisphere (and it's only 4 stories tall). These days as construction techniques have changed, we've obviously built things with concrete, steel, brick, etc., but the wooden tradition remains strong, with a huge majority of modern houses here still being built like this.
That aside, wood was also just a much cheaper material to build with, so it was the most economical material to use for a long time for much of the "new world".
Right. Buildings were mostly wood and mud in Europe until the 18th Century. By then, cities became so dense that big fires were extremely deadly. Little by little people started building in stone, then bricks and now reinforced concrete.
It didn't really have anything to do with fires. Pretty much every hardwood forest was cut down in Europe and any remaining were protected so they could be used to build ships.
America was colonized late enough that it never really became an issue.
you guys build your wood houses
What do you normally build houses with?
Here in Europe, we use mostly cinder blocks or bricks. I guess wood is more common in Northern Europe and Switzerland
In California we use wood because it flexes during earthquakes. There may be damage during a big one but at least the house is less likely to collapse on you.
In earthquakes in NZ the wooden houses flex for sure. What kills you is the brick chimney falling through the roof.
If we did that in the US west coast, they would crack and fall apart from tectonic plate shift. You need to build things to be flexible for earthquakes and general shift.
I live in a 100 year old farm house in California and every spring and fall we have to move the strike plate (thing the door latch nubbin goes into) on the front door up or down about 3/4 inch due to seasonal house shifting. The door stops closing and we know it's spring time!
Steel reinforcement is what keeps them up. At least it's supposed to.
The structure would still be damaged, although it may be “standing”.
It doesn’t work, it’s been tested plenty by people far smarter than either of us.
In Florida houses are also built from cinder blocks because wood is too weak against hurricanes.
Edit: interiors can be built from wood, but all exterior walls are made with cinder blocks.
So that people can remain secure like the third little pig!
Exteriors are wood too, hurricane straps. Basically metal connectors connect everything from ground across the roof to the ground again.
Interesting. Here in California, building brick structures is prohibited because of the risk during earthquakes.
That's because Europe has had many more centuries worth of deforestation. The greatest resource the Americas had to offer to Europe was essentially unlimited lumber.
And we wasted a lot of our forests on superfluous things like war ships - see the Castillan plateau which is now a dry and barren land.
In Europe? Bricks and mortar
Wouldn't the inside of your house still have wood framing structure like this though? Looks like this neighbourhood uses vinyl siding, but you could easily have a brick/stone/stucco exterior.
Isn't it way harder to run plumbing/electric through cinder blocks, let alone hanging drywall? Or do you build a cinderblock box first and then frame the inside with wood?
This place looks like it doesn't have a basement, which is a must in Canada, and all our basements are generally concrete pour or cinderblocks, but we still have framing on the inside walls, and usually everything above the basement is wood + facade
Portugal here, no wood, just iron, steel and concrete. And bricks, of course.
Where I am in South Carolina very few people have basements as they would be prone to flooding
Ok… and?
And I took a picture of it.
I like the picture. I like how the wood pops against the clouds. And the green of the tree. It is perfect for a sub(Lemmy) dedicated to pics, which I believe to be short for pictures, but don't quote me on that.
This looks like the US. For someone from outside the US, this might be very interesting, because it's very different than what you might see in other countries, especially in Europe, where everything is brick and mortar inside and out.
I don't see floor trusses used too often so it's neat to see them here
It’s used so the other trades don’t wreck all the TGIs by putting incorrect penetrations. It has all the holes they could possibly need, but sometimes they’ll stick cut a plate….
I'm currently in a neighborhood that was empty farmland as far as they eye could see just 5 years ago. I had never seen a building being built before, but now I drive past 4 complexes being built just on my way to the grocery store. They're also building a closer grocery store.
This area is going to be so nice in like 5 years, but right now it's an absolute mess of construction, road widenings, putting utilities in the ground, etc. We didn't even have cell access here when I moved in 9 months ago.
ITT: Bricks good, wood bad. Nobody with a clue about thermal bridging and energy efficiency to be found.
Oversized garden shed by the looks of it.
It just looks like a regular house to me. Your garden shed has two floors?
And yet, that’s someone’s home that they are proud to have, I’ll bet.
I always wondered why american houses are destroyed so easily in storms
I now have my answer
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