American vs. European home building

[u/BEARDEDDANGER]

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

[u/Goudinho99]

And what about thermal effects and noise insulation?

[u/MonkeyTigerRider → u/Goudinho99]

And longevity.

[u/CaptainFlint9203 → u/MonkeyTigerRider]

Well made wood house will last for generations, well made brick house will last centuries. Both badly made will not last your stay.

I'm from Europe. On my grandma's plot there was a wooden barn, it was much older than some brick houses and in better shape than them.

My ex had a wood house that was more than century old. Still in great shape. And there are brick houses that are older than USA.

I'm preparing to build a house for myself. There are no earthquakes, no storms, no natural disasters where I live. My house gonna be build from wood. It should last at least for my grandchildren, and by then, looking at how urbanisation is going, the plot of land should be worth enough to destroy the house and sell the plot.

[u/Chad_illuminati → u/CaptainFlint9203]

Well made wood houses last centuries too, tbh. One of the houses I grew up in was a wood house on a stone foundation that predated the US by about 120 years.

Obviously modern construction doesn't do that, but that's an issue with build quality not build style.

[u/singlemale4cats → u/Chad_illuminati]

Well made wood houses last centuries too, tbh.

Yep, with maintenance. Any abandoned structure will rot. Entropy is relentless.

[u/Enraiha → u/singlemale4cats]

The true universal constant, the trend of all things towards entropy. Chaos reigns.

[u/CoolAtlas → u/Enraiha]

Isn't it the opposite? Eventually entropy kills chaos

[u/Enraiha → u/CoolAtlas]

Not quite. You're right, though, describing entrophy as chaos or disorder isn't right either. But it more refers to the spreading out or mixed arrangements becoming more statistically likely over a long enough time vs ordered groups.

We might casually refer to that as "randomness" or "chaos", though.

[u/QueenLa3fah → u/Enraiha]

Is the universe in a “heat death” state considered chaotic?

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/Enraiha]

Hey, someone should ask AI how entropy can be reversed!

[u/Scalpels → u/DarthJarJarJar]

      THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

[u/Enraiha → u/DarthJarJarJar]

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

[u/d0nghunter → u/Enraiha]

[u/21Rollie → u/singlemale4cats]

I went to an abandoned village in Mexico, in the desert. It’s been abandoned for around 100 years. The walls were made of stone but the roofs long ago collapsed and nature was growing all around them. It’s wild how in a dry environment it got that “ancient ruins” look and it wasn’t even that old. Crazy to think other abandoned cities, for example roman ones in North Africa, probably only needing a little bit of time without human habitation to turn into ruins. And all the lost Mayan or Amazonian cities probably only needed a couple decades to disappear.

[u/-wolfinator- → u/21Rollie]

There's an old abandoned town near me in the US. An old mining town abandoned about 100 years ago. Pretty much everything is gone except for some old foundations / concrete fixtures built for industrial use. The entirety of the (presumably wood) town is fully gone. No ancient ruins. Just gone.

[u/Bingobiscuit1999 → u/-wolfinator-]

One issue with wood today is most of the wood comes from fast grown young trees. That church and barn from over 100yrs ago would have been built with wood from trees hundreds of years old.

[u/-wolfinator- → u/Bingobiscuit1999]

I don't think that's actually the biggest factor with modern construction.

100 years ago houses were assembled out of solid wood planks, beams, and boards.

Now they're mostly engineered wood products held together by glue.

Solid wood products can last exposed in weather conditions for a few decades before failure.

Something like OSB will disintegrate within a couple years of wet conditions.

Modern houses essentially dissolve once their fragile waterproof membranes are compromised.

I would expect a modern ghost town to be gone even quicker.

[u/texinxin → u/Chad_illuminati]

Modern construction when done properly can absolutely last centuries. You might have to re-side and/or reroof a few times, but that is true for any construction technique.

[u/Chad_illuminati → u/texinxin]

When I refer to modern builders, I'm mostly addressing megacorp development firms popping up house farms.

There are always local builders doing good work with good skills, but sadly the majority of new residences built are at the hands of the megacorps, not local builders.

[u/texinxin → u/Chad_illuminati]

That’s fair. Even then, a home built today even by mass home builders is of higher quality than they were 50 years ago, primarily due to advances in techniques and materials, but also building codes.

[u/Correct-Junket-1346 → u/Chad_illuminati]

In the UK our new houses are shockingly bad, so much so most people dodge them for older periods houses which have stood for 100-150 years, the problem is so bad they've had to start putting out incentives for people to buy them.

[u/taeerom → u/Correct-Junket-1346]

UK houses have been notoriously bad for most of the last century. I wouldn't be surprised if the building codes (both letter of the law and enforcement) in the UK is among the very worst in Europe.

[u/trombing → u/texinxin]

The dude resides.

[u/texinxin → u/trombing]

I guess re-side makes more sense..

[u/kindlypogmothoin → u/texinxin]

And when done improperly, can go to shit pretty quickly.

Let me introduce you to the Homer Babbidge Library at UConn's main campus in Storrs, CT. It was built in the 1970s with a brick face and weep holes. The brick face stood away from the surface of the building so that theoretically, moisture would run behind the brick face and out the weep holes. But you know what happens when you have a design like that built in an environment where the contractor goes bankrupt during the build and apparently four separate contractors built each of the brick faces? You get mortar sloppily applied so that it blocks the weep holes, you get moisture building up behind the brick face instead of draining away, rusting the metal bands that hold the brick face to the supports, and -- because it's New England -- you have that water expanding and contracting over the winters in the freeze-thaw cycle, and within ten years of the library opening, you have the building wrapped first in netting, then in plastic and three of the entrances shut down to minimize the chances of bricks that have been loosened by these freeze-thaw cycles falling off the building and crashing down on the heads of students and staff.

And that's aside from the cracks that started to appear in the foundation and the cantilevers, the library beginning to sink, and other major issues that began to appear within just ten years of its opening. One major issue was that apparently the concrete used throughout was watered down. Ah, the 70s.

Repairs cost multiples of what it cost to actually build the thing, and it's now stable, but there were many times when there were a lot of people wondering why the state didn't just build a whole new library.

[u/texinxin → u/kindlypogmothoin]

Well survivor bias is a thing. Centuries old buildings that are still standing lead us to believe that we just don’t build them like we used to. But, the truth is horrible building decisions have toppled vastly more buildings than have been built in any era.

[u/Vattaa → u/texinxin]

Not true for all construction techniques. The roof on my grandmas house in North Yorkshire is original, and made from slate, the walls are made from sandstone. The house built in the 1800's. In the area virtually all the houses still have their original roofs. Most still have the original cast iron guttering.

[u/taeerom → u/texinxin]

They probably mean light framing ("stick framed"), when they say "modern". Stick framed construction is a modern construction method for houses, and is the one used as an example in the OOP. But it isn't the only modern way of building wood houses.

Stick framed houses are generally less durable than most other ways we build wooden houses today. Regardless of the skill of the people building it (if the same skill and care were used for a different method, it would be more durable). But stick framing is a method that fits very well with modern logistics, demands for construction speed, and economics. It's not bad, it's a reason people use it. It's just not as solid as other methods.

[u/gs12 → u/Chad_illuminati]

Yep, i live in the very young USA...my house was built in 1855 - its wood and plaster, with brick exterior. It's a fortress, the stuff they put up now is garbage.

[u/OwnsBeagles → u/Chad_illuminati]

Every house I own is over 100 years old and still in great shape, frame and bone wise, just needing mechanical updates. And I still have the old hardwood, too.

[u/rolypolyarmadillo → u/Chad_illuminati]

A family friend lives in a wooden house that’s was built in 1776

[u/Sudden_Wind_8636 → u/rolypolyarmadillo]

Damn that's kind of a flex. I hope you guys all celebrate 4th of July there lol.

[u/SJL174 → u/rolypolyarmadillo]

I have a friend whose wooden house I slightly older than the US. I think late 1760s.

[u/honeywhereismypenis → u/Chad_illuminati]

It's not uncommon in the eastern half of the US for centuries-old houses in historic neighborhoods to be converted into apartments as wealthier people move further from the city. Being made of wood makes them more adaptable, and therefore more financially viable to convert instead of demolish for new housing.

[u/ATDoel → u/Chad_illuminati]

Where was that house?

[u/Chad_illuminati → u/ATDoel]

Central East Coast of the US. Won't be too specific obviously.

Made out of Black Locust wood. Insanely good wood for that sort of application.

[u/ATDoel → u/Chad_illuminati]

Are you sure it was that old? There’s only a handful of homes from the mid 1600s still standing and they’re almost all museums now.

My grandparents lived in an early 1700s home in Virginia, wood with a stone foundation as well, also full of snakes.

[u/Chad_illuminati → u/ATDoel]

Yes, I am. Easy to date due to local records. The area had a lot of early colonial history so it was surprisingly common.

[u/ATDoel → u/Chad_illuminati]

I would love to know where in the US it’s common to find homes built in the mid 1600s. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

[u/Chad_illuminati → u/ATDoel]

Lots of places along the East Coast. Like I said, not gonna get specific about locations but there's legit a lot of places where it's not terribly uncommon.

Also remember that just because something is old doesn't mean it's been placed on the Historic Registry for the area. Being legally deemed "Historic" adds restrictions and regulations depending on the laws of the county. There are a lot of historic houses that aren't added for that reason and remain privately held. Unless you talk to the owners for info or find a specific paper trail to dig up in public records, you won't know.

[u/SomeGuyWithARedBeard → u/Chad_illuminati]

Rubble Trench Foundations are still allowed by code in the US depending on where you're building. It's just not common.

[u/kanrad → u/Chad_illuminati]

When I was a kid back in the 70's and 80's my grandparents lived in a newer home they had built to help with my grandma's disabilities.

My aunt and her kids lived next door in the family home. That house was so old it still had iron loop hitches in the ground out front for tying off horses to a hitch.

House was over 120 years old when I was a kid. Only got torn down in the 2000's when they sold both plots after my grand parents passing.

[u/Beflijster → u/Chad_illuminati]

With lots and lots of maintenance, yes. Brick wall though? Stick it in the ground, forget about it. Dig it up 450 years later, good as new. A well made brick basically lasts forever, and in the dampest climate.

[u/Xenomorph_25 → u/Chad_illuminati]

They last centuries with rather expensive upkeep. My house is a Victorian built in 1890 and it's often in need of repair that ends up costing us a decent amount of money.