Why do people in Tornado ravaged regions insist on building houses made from wood?

Answer 1

i moved out of tornado alley, midwest. i was on the cost of s.c. then va. beach.. went through hurrcaine one time, after that i said oh no way, going deep into the mountains of the blue ridge. i was in a mobel home and got cought by a tornado,in the midwest., totaled it out, my husband had to have 23 stiches i had a head cocncusion and my son came out of it with out a scrach. tornados are and can be sneeky, this one cirled back...it took me so long to get used to hearing strong wind, i would freek out...went through earth quakes on west coast. az. was quite nice once you got climatized to the weather. but monsune season there brought dust storms, terrible ones.with very bad winds. then the pop up
rain that flood over the roads.....but iam safe here. away from the river, for flooding. deep in the woods on my own mtn. winter varys here. but do love the snow, have 4x4 truck have wood heater if needed when power goes out. can cook on it also.
and spring water that never freezes...did out pipes right.
people sometimes do not have a choice as to what to rebuild with...according to insurance... and no a brick home is not safe from a tornado,trees and all sort of stuff go right through the home.....so if you have lived in tornado alley like i grew up in you just rebuild. or move.it took me till i retired to finally get out of thoes places.....because thats where the work was. and my familey. hope this has given you a broader look at places where other weather affects you as bad. ty for your question.

Answer 2

I live in a brick & block house, and it wouldn't survive even a moderate tornado. Brick has a lot of compression strength, but almost no tensil strength; it's held together mostly by its own weight. Most hurricane zones require wood and masonry houses to be built to about the same wind-resistance standards; wood houses just need hurricane straps and J-bolts; masonry houses require steel reinforcement. Either can be made as strong as you want, as long as you're willing to spend the money. The biggest advantage masonry has it its resistance to damage from flying pieces of other houses; wood needs a hard coating like brick veneer or stucco to match it. Some tornado zones have the same building codes as hurricane zones, but most don't, since the average house destroyed by a tornado won't see another one for thousands of years, and a direct hit will wreak even the strongest building. Hurricanes batter large areas; tornados totally wipe out very small ones.

Answer 3

Wood is, more often than not, the only affordable option for most people. It is becoming harder and harder for folks to find insurance to cover the rebuilding of houses in these areas and, as you would imagine, relocating far away is a very difficult (and expensive-again) thing for most people. You have seen houses with exteriors made from several media such as wooden panels, vinyl and aluminum siding, brick and stone. The underlayer is usually an insulation in batting or foam form and, in newer homes, a weather ' wrap' that acts as a moisture barrier to prevent mildew and rot. What most of these buildings have in common is that they are built on a pressure treated wooden frame. Steel framing is available at high cost but, unlike wood, does not 'breathe' and adjust to the subtle shifts of the foundation under the house. There is a relatively new trend in florida that may become available nationwide. people, who can afford it, are building houses out of steel reinforced, poured concrete, on a likewise reinforced concrete foundation. Concrete walls are nothing new, but the new technology gives this concrete a slight elasticity so that it resists cracking that the older, rigid concrete is prone to do. These new houses have extra reinforcement in the joins where roof meets house and where window and door frames are secured. Every effort is made to seal joins and make them airtight. The houses are pressurized and angled so that hurricanes, following the most common paths, will hit the house at an angle preventing the wall face from being hit head on by the damaging winds. Maybe one day this will become more affordable for the residents of the 'tornado alleys'.

Answer 4

Tornadoes tear up brick, steel, and any other types of construction as well as wood. Nothing that is cost effective has yet been developed to be tornado proof. But the fact remains there are rather long odds of actually seeing a tornado, let alone being in one. It isn't a weekly occurrence or anything. I saw one once. And I've live here all my life. How about earthquakes? What is the frequency of them?

Answer 5

Guess it is cheaper to rebuild and brick houses are not always strong enough against tornados so makes sense to make them out of the cheapest materials. Also as said before would kind of be rather painful if you were hit on the head by a flying brick.

Answer 6

Bricks come apart just as easily as wood in a tornado a tornado does not know the difference

Answer 7

Think of how boring it'd be if every single house was made of brick, and it is expensive. That's a lot of area to cover. The tornado belt covers many states. If all the houses were brick, thats a ton!

Answer 8

It doesn't matter what you build a house from - a direct hit from a tornado will destroy it. Wood is cheaper. Plus, it's biodegradable so you don't have to pick up all the pieces.

Answer 9

Actually, alot of wood houses stand up very well. The things that you have to do to make a house stand up better to a tornado are not that hard or expensive, its just most people don't do it. Things like bolting your wall baseplates to the foundations with embeds, stick framing roofs rather than toenailing in trusses, diagonal bracing, things like that.

Answer 10

wood is an abundant resource, its cheaper than brick and other harder materials. And a tornado could probable take down a building made out of brick.