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European acquaintances often poke fun at our North American wood frame construction, noting their concrete houses are stronger and "will last for centuries." Ar
by foobarian 3y ago
European acquaintances often poke fun at our North American wood frame construction, noting their concrete houses are stronger and "will last for centuries." Are they wrong? I know there are a lot of stone buildings that had excellent longevity but those are made of large stone blocks instead of reinforced concrete. And that's just walls, floors in old houses are usually spanned by wood beams (there goes the wood again).
- cm2187 3y agoI think a lot of houses are made of bricks, not necessarily reinforced concrete. Appartement blocks on the other hand is all reinforced concrete I believe.
- foobarian 3y agoGood point - yes the walls not necessarily, but floors. There used to be a common community activity similar to "barn raising" - "building the plate" where after the homeowner DIYd the molds and rebar, the neighbors would come together and mix and pour concrete over the span of one day. Fun times.
- gnopgnip 3y agoIn the US four to five stories of wood framed apartments over a primarily wood podium garage is a common construction technique. Type IIIA construction.
- cm2187 3y agoI can't imagine what the sound insulation between floors must look like.
- quickthrowman 3y ago> Appartement blocks on the other hand is all reinforced concrete I believe. Five-over-one is probably the most common new residential apartment building variant in the US today, it’s a single story of concrete (commercial space or common areas) with 4-5 floor of stick built (wood-framed) apartment housing on top. Developers only build apartment towers when the land is expensive enough to force them to. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-over-1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-over-1
- sudobash1 3y agoOn the west coast of America, I would much rather be living in a wood frame house when an earthquake hits. Depending on construction, the house may not survive, but I probably will. Cement, stone, or brick all seem much riskier to me in an earthquake zone.
- kwhitefoot 3y agoProperly built concrete will protect you much better. But that is assuming that it is built in accordance with the regulations regarding earthquake resistance.
- kwhitefoot 3y agoWe have wooden houses here in Norway that are considerably more than a hundred years old and wooden churches from Viking times nine hundred years ago. My house is timber frame, built in 1952, and there is no reason why it should not last until the end of this century. But many US timber frame houses are built on the assumption that they will be demolished after only forty or fifty years and built accordingly.