Why are most houses in Hurricane and Tornado prone areas made of wood instead if brick?

Question

You would think after being hit with hurricanes and tornados so many times per year, that the houses would be built a little sturdier...

Answer 1

Tornados and hurricanes are two completely different types of wind events.

A tornado is very slender compared to a hurricane. It's winds are higher than a hurricane's and they whip in a very narrow core. So wood or brick, it doesn't matter. An F5 can have winds over 200 mph.

Hurricanes are a bit different. And after Hurricane Hugo in 1989, a lot of redesign went into how houses are built in the Carolinas.

It's all about the roof. Well not just the roof, but mainly the roof. Elevation counts too.

Almost all new houses built in Charleston had to be elevated off the ground. My cousin's house was 12 feet off the ground. That way, flood waters, except for those of the strongest of hurricanes, do minimal damage to property.

But the biggest construction redesign is the roof. Engineers found that if a roof is too flat, it acts like the wing on a plane and it gets ripped right off. If a roof is too steep, it acts like a sail, and the winds topple it over. But if you get the slope of the roof at just the right angle, it holds up best to strong winds.
All new houses have this specially angled roof.

Plus, there are new ways to anchor your roof to the rest of the house. Engineers found that if the roof goes in a hurricane that the 4 walls of a house topple in. By anchoring the roof to the walls, the structure is more likely to survive a hurricane intact.

So in an F3, F4, or F5 tornado, there's little you can do. The winds are just too strong. But many houses can now be built to survive Cat2 and Cat3 hurricanes.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

In case you hadn't noticed, cheaper DOES matter. If there were no wood houses, many of those people would have been in mobile homes instead, and even LESS safe. Besides, an F5 tornado will erase a brick facade home just as thoroughly as a traditional wood frame house. A concrete/cinder block home would be PROHIBITIVELY expensive - at least triple the cost if not more - and it STILL won't stop a 2x4 thrown at the speeds a big tornado can generate. In short, unless you build it to be blast-proof (which costs ten times as much and more), you're no safer behind cinder blocks than behind wood. And wood is a lot cheaper to rebuild with.

Answer 4

This is the "three little pigs" approach. In many areas, the cost of brick homes is rather high, and in tropical areas, brick homes are harder to air condition than wood-frame homes. Frame homes, if well-built, will stand most hurricanes. Hurricane Andrew, which hit South Florida about 15 years ago was a stark lesson in the outcome of shoddy construction. As for tornado alley, while tornados can be very destructive, the chance of a destructive tornado (F2 or higher)hitting a given home is still quite slim.

Answer 5

Bricks are actually less sturdy in strong winds. They are better at supporting vertical loads (compression) but bricks stink at holding together when pushed sideways. A brick house would break into peices a lot like a Lego house does when you drop it on its side. Wood can bend and therefore is a little betterin high winds. Steel would be stronger but it is way more expensive!

Answer 6

Actually one of the sturdiest home designs is a dome home. The dome shape is very strong; I'd go for a 3/8 dome (top 3/8's of a sphere). But most housing developments don't allow them. You pretty much have to own land out in the country to build one.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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