Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 June 9

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June 9

Construction of American homes

I followed clickbait and saw this page. I presume the comment about "cardboard" is hyperbole. What are American homes typically built of, and are those materials so much less resilient than European ones? If so, is this about cost? Insulation? Something else? --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 08:41, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Typically in North America, houses are built of wood frame and drywall (not really cardboard). Bricks and stone are mainly decorative. The houses thus built are not flimsy, building costs are lower, and insulation is much easier to achieve. In fact, the use of cement blocks is typically a mark of shoddy construction. This does not apply to commercial or multi-story buildings, where concrete and steel are used for framing. And I can confirm that outsiders are surprised when they see housing construction sites in North America. Note that local building codes are based on withstanding prevalent weather conditions like hurricanes, snowstorms and accumulation of snow, heavy rains, earthquakes and so forth. There is of course the common cliché of a trailer park being devastated by a hurricane, but these are not properly-built houses, and they are indeed flimsy. Xuxl (talk) 12:11, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Citation needed on "not flimsy". From what I've heard wood is cheap in America, and building with wood saves on construction labor which is obviously more expensive than in Europe. It's also cheaper to tear down (considering the average American family moves every six years). As for weather conditions, home insurance is a relatively new trend in most of Europe and most houses have been built for all eventualities the owner can afford, including 200 km/h winds, floods, earthquakes. For example brick and reinforced brick does very well in medium earthquakes and is often completely undamaged and unreinforced only tends to fail catastrophically at over ~6.0 Mw which is beyond possibility in most of Europe. 93.136.97.157 (talk) 18:34, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, interesting. How do wood frame and drywall homes stand up to heavy (say 100mph+) winds, and do they have longevity? --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 14:19, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

A wood-frame house may be clad in brick or a combination of brick and stone for reasons that than decorative: this construction is somewhat resistant to the spread of fire from nearby buildings, and is more durable than wood siding. Where I live (Toronto), the structural walls on a lot of older houses are made of brick, which also has these advantanges, but on the other hand it tends to come apart in earthquakes, so if you go to San Francisco you won't often see this construction there. --76.71.5.208 (talk) 20:39, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Not always very well! Alansplodge (talk) 15:46, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Huge hurricanes can be a problem, as trees crashing into houses can be (I suspect that's what happened in the picture supplied by Alansplodge above), but building codes are designed so that houses will last for a long time under normal conditions. Climate change is having its effects however, with an increased number of very large storms, as well as increased flooding. The insurance industry also makes sure that these codes are adequate, as they wouldn't want to insure houses otherwise. Now, will these houses last for 300 years like a European castle ? Probably not without significant repairs, but those are expected in this type of construction (e.g., a roof will be replaced every 30 years or so, and so on). Also note that the foundations (the basement) is usually of poured concrete, anchoring the house into the ground - in places where that can be done. Xuxl (talk) 15:57, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

I love the way American homes seem (from TV) to have basements as a standard feature. It's unusual in the UK. I wonder if it's to do with differences in foundations for the different building styles. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 06:27, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

It does give you a place to run to in case of a tornado. From time to time you'll see a special about the power of violent storms, and they demonstrate that the most resistant building has thick concrete walls on all sides. About as esthetically pleasing as you might imagine, but it works... and it's basically an above-ground basement. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:27, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Basements are much more common in parts of the US that has real winter because air is more insulating and has better thermal retention properties than concrete slab. Basements help lower heating costs and help homes stay warmer in winter. In some places, you find partial basements called crawlspaces that serve a similar purpose, but which are not useful living space connected to the rest of the house, unlike a true basement. --Jayron32 14:26, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

My mother's parents' house in Indiana had a basement, but I have never lived in a house with a basement. —Tamfang (talk) 01:50, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia has an article on Hurricane-proof building. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:28, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Another reason for US houses having basements is the prevalence of warm air heating and heat pumps which require a large furnace and ducting. In the UK (and I suspect elsewhere in Europe), bulky systems like this are unheard of outside of commercial buildings. British homes generally have a wall-mounted gas boiler serving a water-filled radiator in each room. Comparing the US and the UK - How do we heat our homes? Some 19th-century houses in the UK do have a basement (usually called a "cellar") originally intended for storing coal, but now tend to be a hiding place for stuff which might come in useful one day. They made handy air-raid shelters during The Blitz. Alansplodge (talk) 11:13, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

On the other hand, there are also places where basements are not common; one reason is if there's lots of groundwater not far below the surface. --76.71.5.208 (talk) 19:26, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Like in Florida, where it may not get all that cold anyway, most of the time. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:00, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

It is also noteworthy that building codes vary from state to state, or maybe more accurately, region to region. I grew up in the Chicago area and typical construction up there is load-bearing masonry walls, at least in older construction. Many buildings aside from the downtown area were put up in the 1920s following the housing needs because of the great migration, out-of-work veterans, and simple demographic shifts like farmers moving to the cities where work was better. Most buildings of this vintage have basements that housed large boilers or furnaces, as Chicago is a heating market. Nowadays houses are typically CMUs and steel as it is cheaper to build, just like commercial buildings. The basement floor is usually what we in the construction business call a 'mud-pour,' which is simply a cement pour that is about 3/4" to 1" thick.

I moved to the South US last year and was very surprised by the differences in construction and building codes. Down here, basements are nowhere to be found. Of course, many have a crawl space of some kind. I found that unusual due to the prevalence of Great Plains thunderstorms and tornadoes that can occur. It's fascinating how strongly the weather and climate influences construction. I could talk for hours on the differences between building codes and why they are how they are, but I doubt anyone would listen long!

Anyway, my take on Dweller's question is that codes vary from region to region, but I don't think that I would classify any as 'cardboard' in his clickbait-y article. Trailers, sure. They are not meant to be permanent housing and have leaner structural requirements. The vast majority of housing in the US can withstand the weather that is thrown at, aside from acts of God like earthquakes, Cat 5 hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Jip Orlando (talk) 13:26, 11 June 2020 (UTC)