Why wooden houses again as hurricanes rampant in America?

[JohnsonBox]

The houses torn to pieces by hurricanes were often seen in America. The reconstructions of them after the disasters are, again, rebuilding the houses with wood. The phenomenon has puzzled me for long. Because they can still fall victims of another hurricane. Why Americans keep doing this? Why not introduce brick concrete structures instead of wood ones?

[episode]

Because wood is far less expensive, easier to change (home improvements), and much faster to put up. Just to start. A wood structure can be just as sturdy as brick. The houses you saw from Sandy were old, and not built to hurricane codes.

[neufuse Veteran]

The houses torn to pieces by hurricanes were often seen in America. The reconstructions of them after the disasters are, again, rebuilding the houses with wood. The phenomenon has puzzled me for long. Because they can still fall victims of another hurricane. Why Americans keep doing this? Why not introduce brick concrete structures instead of wood ones?

brick structures are just as hurricane prone, when we have hurricanes the pressure change has been noted to even take down completely brick / morter structures... lots of strip malls, commercial buildings fall down... they are made of brick and block almost always anymore...

and if you build CORRECTLY with wood framing using the correct tie down methods you don't have a problem... the main problem is, people are still skimping on the correct steel tie downs, not anchoring the roofs (the first main problem) not anchoring to the brick foundation correctly (2nd main problem) and during a hurricane you need a way to handle the pressure changes... you can't have your house high pressure and a massive low pressure front hit it... it can littlearly bulge out to the point it breaks... same thing happens with block

places like Florida have some of the strictest building codes, and even with that a cat5 hurricane still can destroy buildings... unless you are building your house out of steel beams and steel reinforced walls (no normal home owner is going to do this, it costs WAY to much) you are vulnerable to some degree

now if you are looking at New York and this last storm, the problem was most of those houses where never built for any kind of hurricane, and most of them where built many many decades ago even at times when there was no building codes to follow

[JohnsonBox]

Because wood is far less expensive, easier to change (home improvements), and much faster to put up. Just to start. A wood structure can be just as sturdy as brick. The houses you saw from Sandy were old, and not built to hurricane codes.

Sounds you're quite familiar with the situation. Thanks for replying.

Are you American who lives there for more than twenty years?

[MikeChipshop Member]

Wood = cheaper and not much less resistant to high wind than brick buildings.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Making houses in dome / octagon shape vs square would be better against strong winds.

[JohnsonBox]

brick structures are just as hurricane prone, when we have hurricanes the pressure change has been noted to even take down completely brick / morter structures... lots of strip malls, commercial buildings fall down... they are made of brick and block almost always anymore...

and if you build CORRECTLY with wood framing using the correct tie down methods you don't have a problem... the main problem is, people are still skimping on the correct steel tie downs, not anchoring the roofs (the first main problem) not anchoring to the brick foundation correctly (2nd main problem) and during a hurricane you need a way to handle the pressure changes... you can't have your house high pressure and a massive low pressure front hit it... it can littlearly bulge out to the point it breaks... same thing happens with block

places like Florida have some of the strictest building codes, and even with that a cat5 hurricane still can destroy buildings... unless you are building your house out of steel beams and steel reinforced walls (no normal home owner is going to do this, it costs WAY to much) you are vulnerable to some degree

now if you are looking at New York and this last storm, the problem was most of those houses where never built for any kind of hurricane, and most of them where built many many decades ago even at times when there was no building codes to follow

Excellent!

I've never seen any pictures about American commercial buildings felled by any hurricanes. Would you mind to post some here?

[daniel_rh]

Interesting topic, I was wondering the same thing

[neufuse Veteran]

Excellent!

I've never seen any pictures about American commercial buildings felled by any hurricanes. Would you mind to post some here?

Hurricane Katrina

shutter stock has some "stock footage' of some of the commercial devistation also http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-1400542-stock-footage-a-destroyed-commercial-building-shows-the-destruction-caused-by-hurricane-katrina.html

there's tons of stuff out there just search for it

heck hurricanes aren't even the worst of it, tornados can destroy commercial buildings... we had schools destroyed by them and schools are almost always steel and brick construction

[episode]

Also, most of the damage from Sandy was from flooding/tidal surge, not the winds.

[neufuse Veteran]

Also, most of the damage from Sandy was from flooding/tidal surge, not the winds.

yeah and having brick outside isn't going to stop water from destroying electical, and drywall

[The Laughing Man]

From reading the replies , sounds like OP is gathering information to write a report lol

[JohnsonBox]

Hurricane Katrina

shutter stock has some "stock footage' of some of the commercial devistation also http://footage.shutt...ne-katrina.html

there's tons of stuff out there just search for it

heck hurricanes aren't even the worst of it, tornados can destroy commercial buildings... we had schools destroyed by them and schools are almost always steel and brick construction

Very informative.

Is it true that statistically, no house in America would have been destroyed twice by hurricane or tornado?

[Charisma Veteran]

I asked about this when I first moved here (Alabama, ugh) because they have tornadoes all the time.

The answer I got is about the same--it's cheaper, plus the insurance covers to replace it anyway, people seemed very flippant about it. O_o

[DAOWAce]

Brick houses sure are sturdy:

Personally, I would prefer a brick house; mainly because it's far more noise resistant than wood. Insulation can only do so much and wood transfers sound waves very easily as well.

Also, most of the damage from Sandy near the coast was from flooding/tidal surge, not the winds.

FTFY.

All the damage in my area (inland) was caused by the wind. We had no power for 12 days (including water due to being on a well). There are STILL downed trees and wires around here, if you can believe that.

[jerzdawg]

All the damage in my area (inland) was caused by the wind. We had no power for 12 days (including water due to being on a well). There are STILL downed trees and wires around here, if you can believe that.

Yes but "damage" in your area is nothing compared to what was scene on the coast(s). Yes we had downed trees and power lines but the majority of damage was done by flooding, by the time the hurricane reached landfall it was barely a cat 1..then eventually tropical storm wind speeds. As mentioned above by a few unless the house was made of steel it was not going to withstand the storm surge/high tide.

[episode]

FTFY.

All the damage in my area (inland) was caused by the wind. We had no power for 12 days (including water due to being on a well). There are STILL downed trees and wires around here, if you can believe that.

No, you didn't fix anything. Trees and power lines down isn't the type of damage he was referring to in his OP. We are talking about the pictures of destroyed houses. Most of those were caused by the storm surge and flooding. Not the winds - with the exception of the fire in Queens.

[Growled Member]

Because wood is far less expensive, easier to change (home improvements), and much faster to put up. Just to start. A wood structure can be just as sturdy as brick. The houses you saw from Sandy were old, and not built to hurricane codes.

Plus, major hurricanes are not any everyday occurrence. More like once a generation occurrence. So people build cheap and take their chances.

[DAOWAce]

No, you didn't fix anything. Trees and power lines down isn't the type of damage he was referring to in his OP. We are talking about the pictures of destroyed houses. Most of those were caused by the storm surge and flooding. Not the winds - with the exception of the fire in Queens.

'most' is highly subjective.

The 'most' damage, LAND WISE, was caused by the wind as I said, as that affected over 15 states and over 2 million people.

The 'most severe' damage (addition of severe) was caused by the flooding. I've seen the NJ coast; I know how uninhabitable it is.

If talks were going on about the most severe damage, then he was accurate, but he lacked the keyword to show it, including previous mentions of flood damage. The OP and people prior to the post I quoted were not talking about flooding, they were talking about wind. My comment about trees and power lines mainly referred to the cleanup activity. I even posted a picture of a destroyed brick building, so I'm really not sure what you're getting at.

[JohnsonBox]

Wood is expensive in my country. Is it much cheaper and environmentally friendly in America?

[neufuse Veteran]

Wood is expensive in my country. Is it much cheaper and environmentally friendly in America?

wood is dirt cheap

[Shiranui]

Perhaps they should read the Three Little Pigs.

At least they are rebuilding out of straw...

[John S. Veteran]

Wood is expensive in my country. Is it much cheaper and environmentally friendly in America?

It's the cheapest option and a renewable resource. Companies that sell it like Georgia Pacific and others replant, harvest, and repeat.

[Gotenks98]

The houses torn to pieces by hurricanes were often seen in America. The reconstructions of them after the disasters are, again, rebuilding the houses with wood. The phenomenon has puzzled me for long. Because they can still fall victims of another hurricane. Why Americans keep doing this? Why not introduce brick concrete structures instead of wood ones?

The issue isnt about wood but for the retards who continue to build so near to the coast that this keeps happening over and over again. Personally I dont think any insurance company or any federal aid should go to disaster victims if they previously went thru this before in the same area. If they have then they should get nothing because they should not rebuild in a dangerous place yet again.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

The issue isnt about wood but for the retards who continue to build so near to the coast that this keeps happening over and over again. Personally I dont think any insurance company or any federal aid should go to disaster victims if they previously went thru this before in the same area. If they have then they should get nothing because they should not rebuild in a dangerous place yet again.

with that logic no one should be allowed to build in most of the mid west area of the United States because there a chances of tornadoes.

it's not like the hurricane is a daily occurrence, and it's definitely not always a strong damaging hurricane like that.

truth is, there's no such thing as perfectly safe, you take what you can get, everything comes with some risk, you just learn not to let it bother you