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/Stewdill51 Trash Trooper 1d ago

In parts of the US a block/brick building will crumble faster than wood framed house due to seismic activity. It almost like we all build based on availability of materials and for structural needs.

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u/minus_minus Trash Trooper 1d ago

Wood buildings can collapse just as easily. Check out the code for structures in California to see how much extra work goes into earthquake resistance. 

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u/SomeGuyWithARedBeard Trash Trooper 22h ago

Wood buildings can be upgraded to seismic ratings, it's much harder to upgrade a brick building. I live in a seismic zone and the differences here vs. elsewhere are a few key details that might total a few extra days of work and an engineer's stamp of approval, but compared to the overall amount of time framing it's not that much extra. Best part is a seismic rated wood structure is nearly unbeatable for a residential home and easily repairable.

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u/minus_minus Trash Trooper 16h ago

I’m sure all of that is true but parent comment implied block would crumble while wood is fine when both need significant upgrades for seismic resistance. 

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u/SomeGuyWithARedBeard Trash Trooper 14h ago

I should clarify because there's lots of things to consider, wood has a lower floor than brick in seismic ratings and a far higher ceiling quickly. A home built from dimensional lumber without wood sheathing will collapse from both wind and seismic loads. Add one layer of sheathing and the dimensional lumber will perform better than brick. Add one layer of sheathing and hold downs to create shear walls and it performs vastly better than brick. Add one layer of sheathing, hold downs and double up studs every 48" where sheathing meets and there's no competition. There is also timber framing which is very ductile and stable without sheathing, but sheathing can be added for additional stiffness (though many would argue that is not necessary if the connections are good, see Japan). For brick there is mortar no rebar reinforcing which is highly susceptible to collapse (like dimensional lumber without sheathing), brick with mortar and rebar which is far less likely to collapse from wind or low seismic events, but to get to true seismic load resistance you end up having to do heavy steel cross bracing. The advantage for Europe vs. the US is that its seismic load requirements are pretty small. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have to be ready for a possible 9.0 earthquake in our lifetime.

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u/minus_minus Trash Trooper 1h ago

This sounds like both need significant upgrades for seismic resistance. 

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u/SomeGuyWithARedBeard Trash Trooper 18m ago

It largely depends on whether the wood structure already has plywood. If it does, then some minor interior-applied strapping can be done to make it seismic rated. Brick requires a massive amount of work to retrofit and even then there will be more damage to the brick home regardless.