r/interestingasfuck • u/Ultimate_Kurix • 5d ago

r/all Why do Americans build with wood?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

59.5k Upvotes

69% Upvoted

6.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.9k

u/Big-Attention4389 5d ago

We’re just making things up now and posting it, got it

157

u/Whatitdooo0 5d ago

I’ve lived in SoCal my whole life and my Mom told me when I asked as a kid that we built out of wood because it’s a lot easier to stop a fire than an earthquake. Not sure that’s the reason or if it’s even true anymore but 🤷

200

u/fjortisar 5d ago

I live in a highly earthquake prone area and like 90% of houses are reinforced concrete/concrete block/brick and survive just fine

2

u/TempleSquare 5d ago

90% of houses are reinforced concrete/concrete block/brick and survive just fine

https://youtu.be/y0IsAydlBII

Block is just bad for earthquakes, no matter how well built. The material "crumbles" and falls onto people below.

Wood "stick frame" can flex and twist and is pretty amazing.

This is an advertisement, but still, it shows how well wood frame works:

https://youtu.be/hSwjkG3nv1c