Why are still building house made of wood?

Question

With all tornado that come in USA, why don't you build house made concrete like us in France?

Answer 1

The houses are older and very well constructed in France, there are many more people here in the U.S., most of the building was done after WW2, so speed and low cost, were the objectives. We do have some very well made houses here but, "Block Row" housing was what they did to get them up fast. The real question should be "Why would anyone live in a trailer, in "Tornado alley", also tornado's are SO FIERCE there, that a concrete house would be much better, yet no guarantee, that you would survive, the corner of the basement is the safest place. A tornado is a very frightening thing, be glad that there are none in France !

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

When building homes in the US, "opportunity cost" is the supreme dictator of which material to use...

For the less refined that would mean getting the "biggest bang for the buck"...

Wood is lower cost than other materials and also easier to work with in most cases.

Not everyone in America wants to own a high dollar house with high taxes, high insurance, and even higher payments...

Opportunity costs rule the day using available funds in as efficient manner as possible.

Go to Concord, Massachusetts and look at the wood houses that are still standing even though they were built before the American Revolution. [@1700s]

Granted not all houses built in the last 50 years will be standing for hundreds of years. Houses are now so low quality built.. count on 25-40 years tops.. before massive degradation.

Answer 4

You would use wood too if you haden't used up all the trees. Even a block home is distroyed by a tornado. Blocks might be there but the roof is 10 miles away.

Answer 5

There's a number of reasons. Tornado's do not hit "all over" the U.S. and it's far more comfortable to own a house made of sticks, than one of concrete. Granted, the concrete house has little maintenance, and last forever but, it's still not comfortable to me, anyway. I've lived in several and everything is so hard to repair. The shower is behind, I should say, embedded in a four inch concrete wall. The bathroom sink leaked and the living room wall and five tons of concrete along with about five truck loads of mess were hauled out, the cost of repairs, about 58 cents, the damage, about ...insurmountable. No thanks you can keep your "French" homes" I'll take my stick home.

Answer 6

I`ve never seen any stats, but I`d be willing to bet insects do more damage to homes in the U.S. than tornadoes. I think contractors are getting "kick backs" from big pest control companies!!!!! It`s a conspiracy I tell ya!!!!!!!!!!!