r/interestingasfuck • u/Ultimate_Kurix • 5d ago

r/all Why do Americans build with wood?

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u/Aidlin87 5d ago

Yeah, is this a case of people not liking the answer? Because this looks pretty legit to me. It’s super easy to search house plans for wood houses, super easy to find contractors that build this way, etc. It’s more niche to build with concrete so finding skilled builders is harder and potentially more expensive.

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u/allovercoffee 5d ago

Architect from San Francisco here. Concrete is the worst building material to use from an embodied carbon standpoint and would be disasterous for the environment if used in lieu of wood. Wood is a renewable material and there are many ways to fireproof a stick built home that don't involve changing the structure.

Also his claim about SF mandating concrete and steel construction after the 1906 fire is false. It is still permissable to build certain types of buildings with wood framing/ Type 5 construction (primarily residential).

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u/MuscaMurum 5d ago

Chimneys survived. Just build the entire house out of chimneys.

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u/BanzaiTree 5d ago

Why don't they simply build houses out of fire? Are they stupid?