Why are the houses in several US states, MADE OF WOOD(!!) despite the Hurricanes and tornados?

Question

for instance In Florida

Answer 1

Wood works that's why. The material isn't the issue it's how the house is put together that makes the difference.There are wooden houses all over New England that have withstood hurricanes and blizzards and some nasty N'oreasters and barely sustained any damage.
Florida houses are built like junk because the building codes allow them to be. Just last week in Tallahassee a bill that would have required that houses be retro-fitted with functioning storm shutters was rejected because the legislature felt that the $3300 average cost per house would place an unfair burden on senior citizens limited income. Houses don't sustain hurricane damage because they collapse due to wind pressure on the exterior walls.Houses sustain damage because the windows ,or garage doors are compromised or because the roof lifts off-all are preventable occurances.In addittion building houses using slab on grade makes them susceptible to water damage.Go to any seacoast town and notice that the main floor of all the older houses is one flight of stairs up from the street-for good reason.
The State of Florida doesn't want to pass those kind of common sense building codes bc it would increase the average price of the housing and make the state a les attractive place to live. So when they wrote the codes the gambled on the probability of a catastophic hurricane occuring and like all who gamble occassionally they lose -oops

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

having built wood homes on St Thomas VI for 30 years, which by the way stood quite nicely in Hugo and Marilyn, I can say Barry and Mr danger have it exactly right..a well built wood home is just as good ....maybe better .......in a hurricane than a block or brick house........and if your windows go it doesnt matter what the place is made of, it will be ripped apart from the inside......

Answer 4

Cheap, mostly.

You want a house to move a little in a storm and wood allows for that.

What we need to do is build more dome and rounded houses and buildings in those areas so the wind will just go around the building.

Answer 5

Personally I think a better question is "why do people continue to build houses in low-lying areas (like beaches and floodplains) where destruction by hurricanes is just a matter of time?"

Answer 6

Cheaper than bricks and people are stupid but probably figure no matter if it's brick or wood if a storm comes the house is going down!!

Answer 7

2

Answer 8

It's the cheapest building material.

Answer 9

It's a lot cheaper to make, fix, remodel etc...