3 ms·

Great Fire of London 2.0

mschuster91 4y ago
For what it's worth: wood actually has better properties in the case of a structural fire than today's usual stuff - it gradually loses its rigidity, compared to the iron in reinforced concrete which suddenly snaps [1]. [1] https://www.hilti.de/content/hilti/E3/DE/de/business/news-und-events/magazine/directory/trends/firestop-wood.html https://www.hilti.de/content/hilti/E3/DE/de/business/news-un...
- notahacker 4y ago
  On the other hand, the reinforced concrete itself isn't combustible, and gradually losing rigidity whilst burning isn't exactly a desirable structural property. And building entirely from timber implies using a whole lot of combustible woods, not just glulam beams. (Then again, this is pretty standard practice in housing anyway...) Construction solely in reinforced concrete might be undesirable for other reasons, including environmental impact, but does tend to isolate household fires so they burn themselves out long before the structure is threatened
  - mschuster91 4y ago
    > Construction solely in reinforced concrete might be undesirable for other reasons, including environmental impact, but does tend to isolate household fires so they burn themselves out long before the structure is threatened So what? Then change building codes to - mandate fire suppression systems like sprinklers in wooden houses - require a licensed electrician to review the condition of the electrical wiring every ten to twenty years and to bring it up to code at least every twenty years - ban space heaters and force landlords to provide state of the art heating systems instead These are the most common causes of house fires not related to cooking [1], so forcing landlords to actually do their job and not be slumlords should cut down on a very high amount of fires. [1] https://www.statefarm.com/simple-insights/residence/protect-your-home-against-these-common-causes-of-house-fires https://www.statefarm.com/simple-insights/residence/protect-...

For what it's worth: wood actually has better properties in the case of a structural fire than today's usual stuff - it gradually loses its rigidity, compared to the iron in reinforced concrete which suddenly snaps [1]. [1] https://www.hilti.de/content/hilti/E3/DE/de/business/news-und-events/magazine/directory/trends/firestop-wood.html https://www.hilti.de/content/hilti/E3/DE/de/business/news-un...

notahacker 4y ago
On the other hand, the reinforced concrete itself isn't combustible, and gradually losing rigidity whilst burning isn't exactly a desirable structural property. And building entirely from timber implies using a whole lot of combustible woods, not just glulam beams. (Then again, this is pretty standard practice in housing anyway...) Construction solely in reinforced concrete might be undesirable for other reasons, including environmental impact, but does tend to isolate household fires so they burn themselves out long before the structure is threatened
- mschuster91 4y ago
  > Construction solely in reinforced concrete might be undesirable for other reasons, including environmental impact, but does tend to isolate household fires so they burn themselves out long before the structure is threatened So what? Then change building codes to - mandate fire suppression systems like sprinklers in wooden houses - require a licensed electrician to review the condition of the electrical wiring every ten to twenty years and to bring it up to code at least every twenty years - ban space heaters and force landlords to provide state of the art heating systems instead These are the most common causes of house fires not related to cooking [1], so forcing landlords to actually do their job and not be slumlords should cut down on a very high amount of fires. [1] https://www.statefarm.com/simple-insights/residence/protect-your-home-against-these-common-causes-of-house-fires https://www.statefarm.com/simple-insights/residence/protect-...