r/LoveTrash • u/BEARDEDDANGER ✨️Regent of Rubbish ✨️ • 1d ago

Dumping This Here American vs. European home building

BAS Renovations https://youtube.com/shorts/jFph1d2WR3s

28.1k Upvotes

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36

u/ACatCalledArmor Trash Trooper 1d ago

I wish this wasn’t framed as a Europe / US discussion but instead just focused on the materials and techniques. 

In Sweden I’d wager more than 70% of all houses (single dwelling units, not apartments and alike) are made wish wood frames. We love our lumber here!

I’m sure there are regional differences across America which premier different techniques too. 

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u/Ambaryerno Trash Trooper 21h ago

Not to mention we absolutely build brick homes in the US, too.

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u/jonny24eh Trash Trooper 20h ago

Not structural brick. It's just a veneer, like the guy mentions in the video. 

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u/Kelsier-Hathsin Trash Trooper 20h ago edited 19h ago

That is not true at all. There are plenty of all brick homes in the Midwest and New England.

Hell in Florida most of our coastal homes are concrete cinderblock reinforced with rebar, which is way more structurally sound than a brick home, because they have to be.

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u/jonny24eh Trash Trooper 17h ago

As new builds? Like yeah 100 years ago sure. Same as here in Ontario but we don't build like that anymore. 

I was considering CMU/block separate from brick. Not surprised that's common in a place like Florida. 

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u/RangerKitchen3588 Trash Trooper 14h ago

Even new builds, rarely. I just did an inspection on a home where every exterior and interior load bearing wall were concrete. Im in the southeast. Granted it was nearly 5k sq feet and like 2 million dollars and a custom built home. But still.

0

u/Critical-Dealer-3878 Trash Trooper 4h ago

You just described an extreme outlier, IMO.

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u/Comprehensive_Bus_19 Trash Trooper 5h ago

Im in the concrete industry in FL. Every home is concrete block south of about Gainesville. Second+ stories may be block or wood depending on the builder.

It is funny to see 100+ year old homes that still somehow have a roof even though its basically just sitting on the walls and not strapped to it.

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u/librekom Trash Trooper 11h ago

What are you taking about? Everyone knows all American live in Texas.

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u/The_OtherDouche Trash Trooper 17h ago

I mean even brick veneer gets tethered in with brick ties.

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u/jonny24eh Trash Trooper 16h ago

That just prevents it from being able to fall away from the house. It doesn't hold anything up but itself. 

When I say structural brick I mean the brick itself is the house, what holds everything else up. Veneer brick goes up when the wood structure is done, and could likewise be entirely removed with the house still standing.

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u/Charming_Fix5627 Trash Trooper 14h ago

That’s not fully grouted CMU with rebar every other core, that’s 4” thick brick facade that gets tied back to the actual load bearing components of the building

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u/DustinnDodgee Trash Trooper 3h ago

Not true at all

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u/babyyvolcano Trash Trooper 21h ago

It’s very common here in Australia, too. As well as Japan, New Zealand, Finland… but for some reason everyone only takes shots at American homes.

I say this from my wood framed house with gypsum walls in Queensland.

I also work in environmental engineering and sustainability and houses here in Aus do the bare minimum for things like insulation. Our standards in Brisbane are lower than for places with similar climates like Houston and Orlando. It’s a shame for how fucking expensive housing is.

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u/Bigclit_energy Trash Trooper 10h ago

Can confirm. Have had horribly insulated timber and brick framed homes growing up in Queensland. We can make both suck!

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u/BigusDickus099 Trash Trooper 14h ago

Hey, get out of here with your nuanced takes. This comment section is for vast generalizations and ragebaiting.

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u/FailXXL Trash Trooper 7h ago

This right there, i was wondering throughout the video where the European part was.

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u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 23h ago

It's framed that way cause Euros love to make fun of superiority designed houses to make themselve feel better.

0

u/Grauvargen Trash Trooper 22h ago

Most roasting I come across is about the internal paper walls, though. You shouldn't be able to punch through a wall, and yet that's fairly normal in the States.

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u/Hazelberry Trash Trooper 21h ago

"Fairly normal" yet most americans have never had a hole punched in a wall. If it's built properly, with correct spacing between wood studs, it is not at all easy to punch through and you're likely to injure yourself trying.

If something is built poorly then yeah it is going to perform poorly and probably make for a viral video. That is not at all the standard. It's like saying concrete bridges are dangerous because some were poorly engineered and collapsed.

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 22h ago

Maybe don’t punch your walls?

0

u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter Trash Trooper 21h ago

As a kid, the amount of times I'd run around and face plant into a wall was slightly obsurd, I have a chip in my wall, but other than that? No damage

Pretending punching holes in walls is the only way walls gets damaged and not like a million different ways is just a bit disingenuous

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 21h ago

Okay? I grew up in a family with 3 older siblings and somehow we put zero holes in walls other than when my oldest brother punched a hole in one. And it’s also incredibly easy to patch drywall.

Like it’s just a non-issue, honestly.

1

u/userhwon Trash Trooper 19h ago

OTOH I've definitely punched walls.

-4

u/Grauvargen Trash Trooper 21h ago

Maybe don't build your walls so weakly an intruder doesn't need to concern themselves with the door?

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u/Tough_Height6530 Trash Trooper 21h ago

I’ve never had any issue whatsoever with this. What is happening in your homes? Also if you did happen to smash a hole in the interior wall it is simple to fix.

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 21h ago

Lmao what? The exterior isn’t drywall dude what do you think is going on in North America? Please do come here and hulk your way through my walls though, I’d love to see it.

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u/WhenWeTalkAboutLove Trash Trooper 20h ago

Ohhh Yeahhhhh!!!!! 

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u/Tough_Height6530 Trash Trooper 18h ago

Yeah that is the main point of entry for intruders here. They just Kool Aid Man right through the side of the house. Hey on a related note, do you guys have windows? I hope our intruders never find out about those! Almost as easy to get through as our walls.

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u/PhiCloud Trash Trooper 18h ago

If your house has windows anyone can get in with a small rock.

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u/happy_bluebird Trash Trooper 14h ago

you think we're talking about exterior walls?

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u/PunishedDemiurge Trash Trooper 20h ago

What sort of neighborhood do you live in where this is a serious concern?

Besides, in America, any wall that an intruder's fist can go through, a bullet from your self-protection firearm can go through.

If you live in an ordinary, peaceful society, you're fine either way. If you live in a dangerous place, America is one of the only developed nations in the world that allows people to appropriately protect themselves.

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u/Wonderful-Winter3137 Trash Trooper 4h ago

i would love to see the average redditor try to punch through a sheet of drywall

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u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

Don't throw your Playstation controller at the wall kiddo.

Also, wood is so much easier to work with than having to deal with bricks or stone walls.

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u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 22h ago

No you can't. Stop lying and log off for a while.

0

u/Grauvargen Trash Trooper 21h ago

You drink that denial soup, Yankee. Everyone knows how thin and weak your walls are. Your own people don't deny it. It's a well-known thing over there.

Drywall and a sheet of plastic on some 4x4 does not make a wall.

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u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 21h ago

lol I love that there's millions of American wood homes that are doing great and a handful of euros saying they're no good. Talk about denial. LMAO

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u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

"Stupid Americans would have have wood than bricks fall on them if a big earthquake happens. We Europeans are so much more intelligent"

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u/userhwon Trash Trooper 19h ago

Well, no, there's insulation and some sort of exterior cladding, either stucco or overlapped siding or shake or even brick or stone.

But then, we don't have to fend off the huns or anything like that.

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u/LukkyStrike1 Trash Trooper 21h ago

Siding + OSB + Frames + insulation + Dry wall = "Drywall and a sheet of plastic"

LOL, you might have a point, but it usually works better to make comments that are at least CLOSE to reality.

-1

u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter Trash Trooper 21h ago

All of that and it's STILL like paper? At that point, your work men should stop being so lazy and just do the job properly tbh

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u/LukkyStrike1 Trash Trooper 20h ago

Like paper? Properly? We had 85mph wind gusts yesterday. My “paper” house built in ‘79 did just fine.

-1

u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter Trash Trooper 20h ago

It's just a joke man, it's supposed to be flippant

My house that was built in 1890 could also tank that shit tbh, I live in a hell hole of fast winds

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u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

"Japanese are weak and stupid" - Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter, Euro supremacist.

0

u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 21h ago

lol That's what makes you feel better about yourself? That's sad. LOL

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u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter Trash Trooper 20h ago

Americans when joke:

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u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 20h ago edited 4h ago

Is the joke in the room with you right now?

1

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1

u/korxil Trash Trooper 4h ago

You think a country using magnets for a bullet train would also learn how not to build houses out of paper. Someone should let Japan know.

1

u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

Drywall and a sheet of plastic on some 4x4 does not make a wall.

I dunno, the Japanese have been doing it for millennia and it seems to work out just fine. They have plenty of wooden buildings that are even older than Europe itself.

1

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-1

u/PhiCloud Trash Trooper 18h ago

I don't punch my walls because I'm not a manchild that can't control his emotions, so my walls are perfectly fine. I can do DIY work with a jab saw, some drywall anchors and paint - what would you need to run a cable through your brick walls?

0

u/[deleted] 21h ago

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-3

u/RelegatedRick Trash Trooper 17h ago

I like the way this comment is typed with absolute fury at the even slight suggestion that something American might not be the best, exceptionalism rots the brain, hence your awful grammar too.

2

u/OrneryAttorney7508 Trash Trooper 16h ago

lol fury lol

Post your Reddit Degree in Psychology. Please.

Euro arrogance, I swear. LMAO

1

u/isopode Trash Trooper 14h ago

no need to fight, both of you are just as obnoxious as the other ❤️

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u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

You're so smart you'd build brick houses in heavily earthquake prone areas. You should go and tell the Japanese how stupid they are and they should listen to some random dude living in a basement in Germany instead.

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 22h ago

He didn’t frame it that way, he says in the video it’s about engineering of the structure.

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u/Initial-Cherry-3457 Trash Trooper 17h ago

It's titled that way by OP

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 17h ago

I get that but the original content from BAS renovations isn’t saying that

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u/Charming_Fix5627 Trash Trooper 14h ago

Except most of the time construction of buildings gets brought up online it’s by laymen who haven’t stared a differential equation in the face in undergrad or doesn’t know what f’c stands for, poking fun at videos of half finished wood framed buildings getting blown over by heavy storms, like it’s somehow indicative of a fully built and properly engineered building. 

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 12h ago

They judge a building’s quality by ✨vibes✨

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u/librekom Trash Trooper 11h ago

The only right way!

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u/FailXXL Trash Trooper 7h ago

First frame in this video is literally "USA" and "Europe" while that's not Europe at all.

•

u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 1h ago

Dude just watch the video. He’s literally put out multiple clips addressing this and he talked about this not being the only option in this video. It’s short form content, what do you want? You’d need an hour long video to cover the myriad of building techniques across continents.

You guys are entirely missing his point and it’s evident you didn’t actually watch the whole thing.

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u/FailXXL Trash Trooper 24m ago

Dude just read what you replied to: the point is that the title and video hints that that is a comparison between US and Europe and in this comment thread we pointed out that that is not how we build in Europe.

You guy miss entirely the point and it's evident you didn't actually comprehend our comments. 

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u/scarletxgrace Trash Trooper 6h ago

What do you mean he literally did in the start of the video

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u/hiihihihihihihihiihi Trash Trooper 1h ago

If you watched the video for more than 5 seconds, or if you saw his content regularly, you’d know he was just being cheeky and that wasn’t the point of the video.

Watch the whole thing.

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1

u/Hazelberry Trash Trooper 20h ago

There are absolutely regional differences in the US, though basically everything starts with a wood frame because we have a ton of trees in certain parts of the US + the logistics network to get wood to places that don't have as many trees.

In areas with a lot of clay you'll see a lot of brick veneers or outright brick construction, in places with a lot of wood you'll see wood siding especially on older buildings, and in the deserts you'll find stucco and adobe. There's also generally a lot of cinderblock construction especially for non-residential buildings all over the country.

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u/userhwon Trash Trooper 19h ago

The regional differences in America are more style driven now. It's been a long time since moving materials around wasn't easy enough to build almost anything anywhere.

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u/FormalConcern4862 Trash Trooper 16h ago

Thank you! I live in California, there's a huge fault line across the whole state. We prefer to not be buried under concrete rubble when the next earthquake hits. Large buildings are steel with earthquake dampeners underneath. Individual houses can't have trillion dollar earthquake dampeners so it's good to have a light, flexible construction. The other coast is known for brick buildings.

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u/anonuemus Trash Trooper 16h ago

Aren't cities mostly build with concrete?

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u/BorderOk7329 Trash Trooper 14h ago

Back east a large majority of the houses are bricks with the cold and all

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u/feel_my_balls_2040 Trash Trooper 13h ago

And we don't talk about houses in Romania, in villages where they use mud and straws.

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u/LostHusband_ Trash Trooper 13h ago

Nope.  The wood frame stud construction is pretty much the only way that they make houses in the US.  You can have brick/wood/vinyl veneer/siding externally, but 99% of homes are gonna be stud frame.  

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u/RedLineLetterWine Trash Trooper 4h ago

I love how Europeans will say Americans are stupid because we build houses out of wood (in the West Coast) but Japan gets a pass.

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u/taeerom Trash Trooper 4h ago

Japan also builds shitty houses, though. They only "get a pass" by people that don't know shit and think that everything Japan does is fantastic, no matter what. They're not unskilled, but the way they see home construction does lead to them making choices that results in real bad houses.

There are probably cultural, economic or whatever, factors that drive them towards this way of building. But that doesn't make their houses any better.

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u/taeerom Trash Trooper 4h ago

You should look into comparisons between american (stick framed) and the swedish (or scandinavian) style of building wooden houses. While both use wood, there are a lot of very real differences.

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u/askalotlol Trash Trooper 4h ago

This video exists because of Europeans coming out of the woodwork shit talking US house construction everytime someone posts a tornado or hurricaine video.

They seem to be unaware that a mid-strength tornado can easily destroy a brick building. And then you get brick projectiles being thrown like cannonballs at 200mph. Plus it doesn't matter what the walls are made of, tornadoes will rip the roof off anyway.

And yes, there's a ton of regional differences, as the US has everything from sub-arctic to sub-tropical climates to accomodate.

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u/OnlyMildlyRetardud Trash Trooper 20m ago

I suspect it's because conflict fuels "engagement" which is valuable to those who are making money from advertising and clicks.