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The other comments seem to be missing the point of this, but as I understand it's in reference to building construction. In Europe pretty much nobody builds st

• coderintherye 6y ago
  Part of the reason everyone builds stick frame houses in the U.S. is because county building codes are restrictive and have not adapted to new ways of building such as with cob. Even California is way behind in this regard. That and consumer demand towards stick frame houses.
  • swiley 6y ago
    We really need to do something about our local building codes.
  • parhamn 6y ago
    > new ways of building such as with cob Ha! Cob is like as old as history. Im sure there are other reasons. When you add sprinklers wood isn't a bad choice especially for making modifications later. Adding a wiring/outlets/making modifications is a lot easier to.
    • chrisseaton 6y ago
      Do you not have a problem with noise when all your walls are just hollow wood frames?
      • lazide 6y ago
        If you share walls with neighbors? Sometimes though modern buildings no. Gaps and other engineered voids cut that out. I had more issues in Singapore with concrete construction and noise than with a modern townhome and shared walls.
      • nemo44x 6y ago
        Depends on the construction. Older holes used plaster and lath. Modern dry wall is pretty good at dead ending sound as well. If there’s an issue with sound then you can install dampening material in the wall or floor. You’re more likely to have noise travel through vents though. In some places with high humidity though you want the home to breath to prevent mold, etc. Otherwise it gets damp and stays damp.
  • hedora 6y ago
    California is further behind on building codes than most neighboring states. For instance, the local university uses permeable pavement, but the local building code forces homeowners to use less sustainable options, and then spend exorbitant amounts of money on environmentally destructive drainage.
  • bronson 6y ago
    Another part is how expensive it is to make masonry buildings safe in earthquakes.
    • lostmsu 6y ago
      That's only brick though. Concrete does not have that problem AFAIK.
  • readflaggedcomm 6y ago
    Most counties adopt a recent International Residential Code without modification, and the rest use it as the basis. Also, cob was approved and published in August, though it's not a very useful building method in wet places.
• rypskar 6y ago
  That is sad for the climate, concrete is a large source for CO2 emissions while wood used in building is a carbon sink. I am not so sure that pretty much nobody builds wood frame houses in Europe, where I live it is mostly wood that is used and even for larger buildings we are starting to move away from concrete to wood to make buildings more sustainable.
  • corty 6y ago
    Well, in Germany it is common wisdom that stick-frame houses only live for roughly 40 years, have poor insulation, poor fire safety, are prone to infestations and transmit sounds so you can hear all the footsteps everywhere. So nobody builds with wood, basically. There is a growing market, but it is still very small and mostly limited to prefab houses. There are old (>80 years), wood frame plus open clay filling buildings ("Fachwerkhaus"), but those are impossible to construct anymore due to building codes. Upkeep is extremely expensive and quality is not up to current standards, so nobody would want anything like this. Due to the reasons stated above, there is no experienced construction workers available (at least not cheaply), no architects and since that part of the building code is rarely used, statics evaluation and building permit take ages. In short, new construction will still be concrete plus bricks over here.
    • goodcanadian 6y ago
      I suspect it is strongly down to culture and experience (i.e. "common wisdom" is wrong on both sides of the Atlantic). In North America, most everything is built in wood. There are plenty of houses approaching 100 years that are just fine. Good insulation exists and is used. Infestations aren't generally a problem in European climates. There are plenty of techniques for dampening sound. The point is, in North America, everyone builds with wood so it is very difficult (expensive) to find someone who can build in brick. There is also the issue of material availability and familiarity of building inspectors. Building anything "non-standard" will be a big pain. I am sure the same applies in Germany, but swap wood for brick or concrete.
      • ghaff 6y ago
• gambiting 6y ago
  >>In Europe pretty much nobody builds stick frame houses today. Last time I checked UK is still in Europe, and that's how nearly all new houses are built here. I'm from "the continent" personally but when I mentioned to people having concrete floors they looked at me like I'm mad. It's just not done here. The exterior walls are however made from "air bricks" quite often. But nearly the entire internal structure will be just wooden frame.
  • tonyedgecombe 6y ago
    But nearly the entire internal structure will be just wooden frame. Not the load bearing parts though, a light frame for internal walls. The load bearing parts are still masonry. I suspect this is going to change as the big house builders all seem to be moving towards making houses in factories then assembling them on site.
    • corty 6y ago
      There are prefab wooden frame houses. But most of the prefab parts that are used are prefab concrete parts, e.g. ceilings and staircases.
  • laputan_machine 6y ago
    I'm not sure where you live, but where I live in the UK, every house I've lived in has had a concrete floor. All 1960s - 1990s houses. Internal structure is definitely not a wooden frame, it is brick, wood is used for decoration, floor boards and the roof. Maybe modern houses are built as you say
  • chrisseaton 6y ago
    > and that's how nearly all new houses are built here. This is definitely not the case. All the houses around me a structural brick, including all the new ones they're building now.
• moogly 6y ago
  > In Europe pretty much nobody builds stick frame houses today You'll have to exclude Scandinavia there
  • orthoxerox 6y ago
    And Russia. We still prefer solid wood to framing, but framing is getting more popular.
• kelchm 6y ago
  I really don’t understand the distaste that many Europeans seem to have for wood. It’s an incredible natural composite material and trees are basically the ultimate renewable resource. Particularly when combined with modern building science, there is absolutely no reason that a modern stick built house cannot last for hundreds of years and be energy efficient.
  • pjc50 6y ago
    It's simply much more expensive here, as we've had longer to deplete the available forests. The extreme of this was, say, 1800s Scottish architecture - the typical croft house was designed to use exactly one piece of proper lumber, the roof beam, while the walls were all stone, because trees were scarce. https://www.electricscotland.com/history/journey/jour3.htm https://www.electricscotland.com/history/journey/jour3.htm > From the bank of the Tweed to St. Andrews I had never seen a single tree, which I did not believe to have grown up far within the present century. Now and then about a gentleman's house stands a small plantation, which in Scotch is called a policy, but of these there are few, and those few all very young. The variety of sun and shade is here utterly unknown. There is no tree for either shelter or timber. The oak and the thorn is equally a stranger, and the whole country is extended in uniform nakedness, except that in the road between Kirkaldy and Cowpar, I passed for a few yards between two hedges. A tree might be a show in Scotland as a horse in Venice. At St. Andrews Mr. Boswell found only one, and recommended it to my notice; I told him that it was rough and low, or looked as if I thought so. This, said he, is nothing to another a few miles off. I was still less delighted to hear that another tree was not to be seen nearer. Nay, said a gentleman that stood by, I know but of this and that tree in the county.