Why do Americans build their houses out of wood and other cheap materials?
Answers:
Being cheap, they don't cost so much to replace when things like Katrina, Ivan, flooding, tornados, eathquakes, ice storms, etc. happen. Which unfortunately happens too often for my taste.
Other answers:
You dont have tornados in IRAN? Get over yourself. America is doing well.
You dont have tornados in IRAN? Get over yourself. America is doing well.
Because we send so much charity over seas, we are too broke to build a palace of gold. Like some of your Middle Eastern friends.
Because we like to rebuild. We like rebuilding so much, we tear down other countries, just so we can rebuild them.
We have houses made out of everything here. You should see all the different kinds of houses we have. They are not all built with the same materials.
Houses are expensive. Building them out of more expensive materials would make them even more so.
A wood house if properly cared for will last over 100 years.
Everywhere in the world housing is built from the cheapest available resource that will do the job.
does brick count as cheap? and if you re not american should you care? Will you get answered? and doesn't Katrina start with a K?
you're an idiot
if you had tornados like they do in america, your houses would be blwon away too. wood is a very good construction choice
I kinda agree with you. Where I live they are building houses left and right. They go up very fast, look nice and are VERY expensive. But whenever it rains (rare) just about all the houses gets leaks. You hang up a picture and end up putting a huge hole in the wall. The quality sucks big time. BUT the real estate business around here is booming. If you build they will buy. They make LOTS of money using cheap materials to build just to turn around and sell it for triple what its worth.
First of all, it's Katrina, with a "K." Secondly, wood is not cheap. Thirdly, at least we have indoor plumbing in our houses.
Strength.
In earthquake land (California) brick houses (like Middle-East homes) fall down and kill their occupants. Wood houses flex with the ground's movement. Which is why when a major earthquake occurs in California 200 people die. I seem to recall that more than 20,000 died in the last Afganistan earthquake.
Wood houses do fine in winds, I regularly get 50 mph with gusts to 80 mph. No problem.
We also have trees!
on the contrary wood and steel is used in most homes.
And despite what you think it is very strong.
where do you get the idea it gets blown over by light winds?
whoever told you that is dead wrong.
wood is light weight, strong, abundant, versatile, inexpensive, long lasting, and is a renewable resourse. Perfect for construction of homes.
American homes are typically not square like mud houses in iran, have air conditioning and furnaces, and wood allows the use of insulation. Thereby giving the houses very efficient heating and cooling.
do you even know what american houses look like?
take a look
Frost keeps forming all over my Air Conditioner (AC)! What's wrong with my AC actually?