5 ms·

From wood? Good one Americans, really good one, ha.

Y-bar 4y ago
Aren't most single- or few-family homes made of wood? I'm living in in the farming belt (i.e. not the actual forested parts of our country) and over 80% of these houses are wooden. It's mostly apartment buildings over three floors being built using cement.
- michpoch 4y ago
  Not in Europe, besides some old mountains huts. It's always a very strange feeling when I see how in the american home-reconstruction TV shows they're tearing the walls and it's all wood. Same case when I see the effects of hurricanes... it all feels very fragile comparing to what we have here.
  - Y-bar 4y ago
    But I do live in Europe... On the flatlands... Stone houses are in clear minority here. According to our national agency 90% of all single family homes built in 2020 was with a wooden frame/core and about 5% masonry.
    - michpoch 4y ago
      Interesting! Not sure what do you mean by "flatlands". Which country/region?
      - Y-bar 4y ago
        Øresund Region Edit: Stucco plaster on wooden core is somewhat common here, which maybe makes it look like more houses are masonry core than actually is?
        Yujf 4y ago
        I think generally in the nordics they use wood a lot. In countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and France wood is not used a lot
  - ed_balls 4y ago
    Houses in US are made of wood because: - wood is cheap in US (historically was 10x cheaper) - there is a lot of land, plots are big, so you can fit everything in a single level - wood is better for handling earthquakes, brick walls cracks - cultural (wood has always been much better for construction in US)
  - alkonaut 4y ago
    I live in Europe and probably 90% or 95% of (single family) houses here are wood, both existing and new construction. For larger homes like tuplexes/townhouses and even up to 10-apartment buildings it's quite common. Even single family houses with brick facades often have wood framing behind them. I work in the wood-construction industry so we are trying to get more people to build from wood, so we have a pretty good picture of which regions traditionally build from wood and which don't. It's really hard to generalize across Europe as usual. If anything, wood construction is certainly becoming more popular, not less.
infecto 4y ago
These kind of comments are so irritating. Same kind of attitude living in the Bay Area and some people scoff at how parts of the country use Air Conditioning. Wood is a perfectly fine for homes. You can build long lasting and efficient homes using it and in fact engineered wood is showing up in some high rise construction. Wood is historically cheap here where as in parts of Europe it is quite costly.
rfrey 4y ago
This is so ignorant. Educate yourself on some building science.

Aren't most single- or few-family homes made of wood? I'm living in in the farming belt (i.e. not the actual forested parts of our country) and over 80% of these houses are wooden. It's mostly apartment buildings over three floors being built using cement.

michpoch 4y ago
Not in Europe, besides some old mountains huts. It's always a very strange feeling when I see how in the american home-reconstruction TV shows they're tearing the walls and it's all wood. Same case when I see the effects of hurricanes... it all feels very fragile comparing to what we have here.
- Y-bar 4y ago
  But I do live in Europe... On the flatlands... Stone houses are in clear minority here. According to our national agency 90% of all single family homes built in 2020 was with a wooden frame/core and about 5% masonry.
  - michpoch 4y ago
    Interesting! Not sure what do you mean by "flatlands". Which country/region?
    - Y-bar 4y ago
      Øresund Region Edit: Stucco plaster on wooden core is somewhat common here, which maybe makes it look like more houses are masonry core than actually is?
      - Yujf 4y ago
        I think generally in the nordics they use wood a lot. In countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and France wood is not used a lot
- ed_balls 4y ago
  Houses in US are made of wood because: - wood is cheap in US (historically was 10x cheaper) - there is a lot of land, plots are big, so you can fit everything in a single level - wood is better for handling earthquakes, brick walls cracks - cultural (wood has always been much better for construction in US)
- alkonaut 4y ago
  I live in Europe and probably 90% or 95% of (single family) houses here are wood, both existing and new construction. For larger homes like tuplexes/townhouses and even up to 10-apartment buildings it's quite common. Even single family houses with brick facades often have wood framing behind them. I work in the wood-construction industry so we are trying to get more people to build from wood, so we have a pretty good picture of which regions traditionally build from wood and which don't. It's really hard to generalize across Europe as usual. If anything, wood construction is certainly becoming more popular, not less.

infecto 4y ago

These kind of comments are so irritating. Same kind of attitude living in the Bay Area and some people scoff at how parts of the country use Air Conditioning. Wood is a perfectly fine for homes. You can build long lasting and efficient homes using it and in fact engineered wood is showing up in some high rise construction. Wood is historically cheap here where as in parts of Europe it is quite costly.

rfrey 4y ago

This is so ignorant. Educate yourself on some building science.