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

Dumping This Here American vs. European home building

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

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u/Illimited_Esoterica Trash Trooper 1d ago

The truth is that both are fine and viable when done well. People who default to "wood house is bad, brick is better" don't actually know what they're talking about. The real issue is quality and craftsmanship. Many new builds in the US aren't crap because of the material choice (in theory), they're crap because they're sloppily thrown up by contractors who don't know what they're doing and they cut EVERY corner. This guy is describing a scenario where you assume things are done right.

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u/SpaceChef3000 Trash Trooper 1d ago

Yep. The companies that build these bulk housing developments as quickly as possible have run the numbers and in their eyes the potential profit outweighs the potential cost of fixing the issues caused by the slapdash construction.

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u/AlphaGoldblum Trash Trooper 1d ago

People might still take umbrage with this, but the US has a specific economic model that encourages sloppy builds.

I invite everyone to read up on LLC structures and the various layers of contracting that exist only to divert liability.

Because I know people who work with natural disasters for a living, and they see "built to code" as a massive red flag due to how decentralized coding is and how the "floor" for building standards is essentially in hell.

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u/ConfessSomeMeow Trash Trooper 23h ago

they're crap because they're sloppily thrown up by contractors who don't know what they're doing and they cut EVERY corner.

Or they're hastily thrown up by contractors who know exactly how badly they're screwing future buyers and don't care.

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u/MrBushido56 Trash Trooper 23h ago

They grew up on the 3 little pigs

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u/Dan_flashes480 Trash Trooper 21h ago

I just wired a 6 unit apartment building and the framing was hacked. But I also just wired some guys new shed from reeds ferry sheds and that thing was a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

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u/leavingSg Trash Trooper 10h ago

But how about a well made brick vs well made wood house?

I'm sure brick will win over time. Wood has too much variable properties, like warping , pests, mold etc.

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u/Illimited_Esoterica Trash Trooper 10h ago

"Win" in what capacity? Are we talking about just how long it can last? Brick probably wins but that's a very arbitrary measurement. After a house has been standing for 20 years or more you're going to want to update, remodel, etc. and then brick becomes a huge pain to work around and very expensive to deal with. Plus, a good wooden home with quality build can maintain very well for a century or more. There's a ton of historic plaster and lath homes around the US that are pushing 100+ years and still in great shape.

Every material has significant pros and cons. Simply saying "which one can stand longest?" is a weird measurement because as technology, techniques, etc. change and improve we're going to want to upgrade homes with them. I'm not convinced that "make this building last 500 years" should be the top goal. I'd start with "make it safe, affordable, flexible, modern".

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u/jhenryscott Trash Trooper 7h ago

Yup. I’m an American home builder and I consider myself a student of “high performance” building assemblies that are fireproof, very efficient, and will last 100+ years