I remember hearing that Europe doesn’t use drywall nearly as much. A benefit of drywall is cost and repairability, but is basically glorified paper, yes.
The benefit of stick frame houses is that they can be built quickly, comparatively cheaply, and actually perform much better than other types in hurricane and tornados. The US also has plenty of domestic wood production, so it’s the cheapest material to build with. During the housing boom and suburban sprawl of the 50s (where modern American culture started), where everyone wanted their own house and plot of land in rhe “safe suburbs,” these were all desirable.
As for the “why don’t you build out of brick and stone,” it’s not like someone would be better off with a stone house in the event of a natural disaster or fire. Even if the structure was still standing, the damage to the foundation would condemn the house under US building code. And now not only does your insurance have to pay to build a new house, it has to pay to have the old one tore down.
Your houses seem to be made out of paper. Then you complain about strong winds…
I remember hearing that Europe doesn’t use drywall nearly as much. A benefit of drywall is cost and repairability, but is basically glorified paper, yes.
You don’t have to repair it if you can’t break it.
Try breaking a brick wall with your head or fists, lol.
Try rebuilding a brick wall after a tornado, you’re going to spend so much more money and you won’t have a house for a lot longer
That’s the other side of the confusion. You build houses out of sticks and paper, and live in somewhere called Tornado Alley…
I don’t build houses, nor do I live in Tornado Alley lol
I think that was an empirical “you”, not you specifically…
I’d like to see a tornado tearing up a brick house as easily as a wood and drywall house.
It doesn’t need to tear it down, just weaken it enough that it’s no longer structually sound.
Easy, can your brick house handle a 400 kph car flying into, follow by chunks of trees, houses, ice ball the size of grapfruit.
They do, its a tornado. They destroy anything weaker than a nuclear bunker.
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It also hurts way less if you accidentally hit it as an side benefit. I’m Canadian and we also use drywall for everything.
The benefit of stick frame houses is that they can be built quickly, comparatively cheaply, and actually perform much better than other types in hurricane and tornados. The US also has plenty of domestic wood production, so it’s the cheapest material to build with. During the housing boom and suburban sprawl of the 50s (where modern American culture started), where everyone wanted their own house and plot of land in rhe “safe suburbs,” these were all desirable.
As for the “why don’t you build out of brick and stone,” it’s not like someone would be better off with a stone house in the event of a natural disaster or fire. Even if the structure was still standing, the damage to the foundation would condemn the house under US building code. And now not only does your insurance have to pay to build a new house, it has to pay to have the old one tore down.
Where does this come from. All Euro houses made out of harden steel and concrete?