Why the homes in US are not built with Concrete and Steel as the rest of the world do?

Question

Due to touch down of tornado in New Iberia, LA the whole town razed to ground and two innocent lives are also lost. Had those homes are built with Cement and Steel like rest of the world do there wouldn't have been any loss of lives and property. US claim that it believes in recycling. Yeah we recycle petty things but we build our homes with 100% non-recyclable wood. In our homes every single thing used is non-recyclable and comes from trees the Structure Frame to Roof to Cub Boards in our kitchen. Not only single family homes even multistoried apartment complexes are also built totally using wood. The federal government oversees so many things but conveniently ignores this type of wastage there by allowing the cutting of trees and global warming. The lame excuse we give for this type of wastage is building homes with concrete and steel is very expensive because labor involvement is too much. OK why can’t we use the cheap labor that is coming across the border?

Answer 1

Alot of it has to do with following what everyone else is doing. People tend to stick to what is tradtional in their area when it comes to housing. In Florida there is alot more masonary construction because of the hurricanes and local building codes. This has become a more tradtional form of building there. An ICF (insulated concrete form) home while more expensive up front (and this is what scares builders most) is actually cheaper in the long run because it is much more energy efficent, fire resistant, termite resistant, wind resistant, and is also resistant to seismeic activity. This can be combined with steel roofing truses, doors, interior wall frames, and roofing for a wood free home with maybe the exception of cabinetry and interior doors. Even those coud be replaces with fiberglass and plastics but this would change the looks of a home while all the other things mentioned would not.

Answer 2

One of the primary reasons is because wood is cheap in the US. Other countries would have to have large amounts of it imported. Also, wood is a renewable resource. Clear-cutting and environmental destruction may be the norm. But a lot of places are now realizing the benfits of re-planting (i.e. making sure they have lumber again in about 25-30 years)

Also, most places aren't made completely out of wood. I've seen several houses going up and they run i-beams along the length of the house and add steel uprights for multistory houses.

Answer 3

most homes built in the us today use recycled products plywood ,joists,beams,metal studs in walls just to name a few.most of these products are usually stronger but i wonder if they are not as good for the enviorment cause they incorporate epoxy and glues when manufactured.myself i work with concrete and plan on building my home with it but i will build it into a hillside making the house virtually naturally climate control ed

Answer 4

steel and concrete come from ore found in the ground, once it is gone it won't grow back. we grow trees every day. so your logic is that we push down all the trees, and start open pit mining to build all the homes in the us, yep makes perfect sense!