Why wooden houses again as hurricanes rampant in America?

[HawkMan]

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.

Actually, brick and mortar houses transfer sounds better than a properly isolated wood house.

[DAOWAce]

Actually, brick and mortar houses transfer sounds better than a properly isolated wood house.

Last I checked, banging against and yelling next to a brick wall cause no sound to pass through.

Wood on the other hand, well, that vibrates the entire structure and passes conversations through like no one's business.

Maybe I just need to find a properly isolated wood house, like you say. Ours is, after all, over 45 years old. (But owned by someone who does home improvement for a living.. only thing keeping us from renovating is the cost involved and the fact that people live here; got no place to stay temporarily while rooms get rebuilt)

[HawkMan]

Try living in concrete student apartments and tell me it doesn't pass sound.

A proper wood house (you can't properly upgrade an old one if it wasn't built for it) will stop nearly all sound. Meanwhile on a concrete house, the whole house is connected and the sound waves propagate all along the concrete or brick structure.

Actually hitting the wall might cause less sound(more than you'd think though), but conversation, music and movies....

[Fraud OS 11]

Don't forget that for many months, large parts of the US have extreme cold climates and wood is a good insulator, so that's one reason, even if people have central heating and A/C these days. Ever heard of the phrase stone-cold? :p

[threetonesun]

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

Once upon a time it was hard to come by, but now it's pretty well managed, and incredibly cheap.

Wood houses can be built to be incredibly strong, if you spend the money on it. Most people want 2x4 framing because it's fast to put up and it's cheap, and it's easier to work with than balloon framing or post and beam.

There are other issues too, it could be they had a rotting roof, hurricane comes along and blows the roof off, and then the house is done. Wasn't the houses' construction that killed, just bad roof maintenance. Water + wind can cause a lot of issues that wind alone can't.

[Draconian Guppy]

I always wondered the same thing. Wood here is terribly expensive ( Honduras, Central America), so people build out concrete blocks which is the cheapest option, then bricks are a bit more expensive.

[123456789A]

Monolithic dome construction is the way to go.

[Shiranui]

At least they are rebuilding out of straw...

aren't

[-T- Member]

Every time I see a show on TV after tornados I ask my self the same questions. This thread has helped me understand a little

[threetonesun]

I always wondered the same thing. Wood here is terribly expensive ( Honduras, Central America), so people build out concrete blocks which is the cheapest option, then bricks are a bit more expensive.

Around 1/3 of the US is forest, some percentage of which is national parks / protected land. Although deforestation was an issue around the turn of the century, the US now has something like 75% of the forest land that it did when settler's first arrived here.

But! Usually new wood is not as good as old wood. If you look at some of the older houses / boats in the US, the timber that was available to them at the time will probably never again be found on Earth.

[Draconian Guppy]

Around 1/3 of the US is forest, some percentage of which is national parks / protected land. Although deforestation was an issue around the turn of the century, the US now has something like 75% of the forest land that it did when settler's first arrived here. But! Usually new wood is not as good as old wood. If you look at some of the older houses / boats in the US, the timber that was available to them at the time will probably never again be found on Earth.

Makes sense, here, deforestation is still rampant, and will probably be for the next 50 years I guess..

[Stetson]

I live in Florida and almost all the new houses I see being built are concrete block or cast-in-place concrete to meet hurricane code.

[DAOWAce]

the timber that was available to them at the time will probably never again be found on Earth.

This is unfortunately increasingly true with every manufactured resource on earth. Hell, it's even true with food crops.

I wonder what it will be like 100 years from now. What natural resources will we have run out of by then? What will global warming have done?

Big business.. *sigh*

[threetonesun]

This is unfortunately increasingly true with every manufactured resource on earth. Hell, it's even true with food crops.

I wonder what it will be like 100 years from now. What natural resources will we have run out of by then? What will global warming have done?

Big business.. *sigh*

Well, it's a little different, if you want natural crops or livestock, you can raise them in your back yard still, if you have one. If you want a board made of out 300 year old wood, today, you have to go find some magical untapped forest or decide to hold off on your project for 300 years.

[xendrome]

Hurricane Pro Tip (32 year Florida resident)

It only takes 1 entry point for wind to get into a building or under the roof and if the hurricane is strong enough it won't matter if it's wood or block.

I live in Florida and almost all the new houses I see being built are concrete block or cast-in-place concrete to meet hurricane code.

Yeah but roofs are still wooden trusses and plywood.

[JohnsonBox]

Every time I see a show on TV after tornados I ask my self the same questions. This thread has helped me understand a little

If you just got a little, put your questions here; if you can't put any question, it'll prove you've got a lot.

[DAOWAce]

if you want natural crops or livestock, you can raise them in your back yard still,

Neh; I'm talking really old stuff, like Einkorn. Crops that are region restricted, not domesticated and not hybridized.

Can't grow them in your backyard, as much as I'd love to.

GM crops are a whole different story entirely.. and a big issue in present time.

[ILikeTobacco]

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.

So you are saying we should abondon NYC? This exact same storm almost happened a few years ago and then it happened this year. Chances are it will happen in the future. You heard it here folks! NYC shouldn't get insurance or government aid from the next "perfect" storm.

[ILikeTobacco]

Every time I see a show on TV after tornados I ask my self the same questions. This thread has helped me understand a little

The statistical chance of being hit by a tornado is so low that insurance companies bank at the end of the season since everyone with a mortgage is usually required to have home owners insurance.

http://www.flame.org/~cdoswell/tor_probs/vtornado_prob.html

[Anibal P]

Hurricane Pro Tip (32 year Florida resident)

It only takes 1 entry point for wind to get into a building or under the roof and if the hurricane is strong enough it won't matter if it's wood or block.

Yeah but roofs are still wooden trusses and plywood.

The alternative would be poured concrete roofs like they do in Puerto Rico,, problem is that since we are constantly having small earthquakes the roofs develop small cracks and once a leak start it's essentially over, especially with the climate we have there with the humidity and rain and salt, wood is a much easier and cheaper thing to fix or replace

[ILikeTobacco]

The alternative would be poured concrete roofs like they do in Puerto Rico,, problem is that since we are constantly having small earthquakes the roofs develop small cracks and once a leak start it's essentially over, especially with the climate we have there with the humidity and rain and salt, wood is a much easier and cheaper thing to fix or replace

Same reason that you don't make pure concrete structures in Oklahoma that are expected to be permanent unless you have lots of money for an advanced foundation that can withstand the shifting clay we call the ground. Most building that are more than 20 years old have a cracked foundation, not because of a fault in its creation, but just because of how the ground shifts. You could build brick house for way more money in Oklahoma, that in the end makes no different to a tornado, assuming you were a statistically unlucky person and manage to find your house in a tornado. Or you can build a house that is lighter(wood), thus not needing a solid foundation that has to be fixed every 10 years, and most likely will not see a tornado anyway. People don't realize just how big the United States and the areas that actually get tornado is. Been here 20 years and never seen a single tornado.

So the question to be asked, why build a brick house on a heavy foundation that will crack within 10 years and need fixing which is expensive, plus raising the value of the house so insurance costing more on top of that? Why spend that much money to attempt to be lucky enough to not loose your home from a threat that is very unlikely to ever effect you? Why not save the money on the making the house, the insurance, and allowing you to save tons of money for the off chance you are statistically unlucky?

[Growled Member]

Been here 20 years and never seen a single tornado.

Been here 32 and only saw 1 and saw the aftereffect of another. They are not as common place as many would believe. Even in what is known as Tornado Alley, people have lived there all their lives and not seen one.

[rfirth]

Every time I see a show on TV after tornados I ask my self the same questions. This thread has helped me understand a little

Basically, 200+ mph, or 322 km/h, winds are simply unsurvivable. Loose items will fly right through your brick walls. You will be shredded. And given the incredible cost of attempting to tornado-proof and the high likelihood that even a person who lives in tornado alley will never even see a tornado... it's not worth it. Build a basement and pray. That's all you can really do.

And for hurricanes? Most of the real problems are on the coast where you might see 20-30 foot storm surges. Even a 10 foot storm surge, like Sandy, is going to do extreme damage. Keep in mind that many buildings had their foundations completely washed away.

[DAOWAce]

Chances are it will happen in the future.

Global warming will increase the natural disasters across the world, and also increase sea levels.

So, it's not a chance that it's happening again; it will happen again so long as we don't do something to protect not only the the poles, but also the global atmosphere.

That will most likely only start happening when things get really bad; as humans love to stay ignorant to things until they become a problem.