American and Australian homes

I've lived in many different places. It's been my experience that the answer to the OP's question comes down to a regional answer. Building material selection comes down to cost and prevalent availability of materials to that region.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
All of New York city is brick concrete and stone.
What gave you the idea they're all wood? Now many are to be sure. My own is a combination of wood and brick and so far has lasted 101 years.

Yes I know New York isnt, since its full of apartments. Im just talking about houses. Im just judging by movies set in the american suburbs..they all look wooden. And I cant believe some are over 100 years old. In Australia be rare to find a house over 40 years old.

a reply to: croatianguy

then I thought of Freo and Tooday

or if u look at old Nedleands pictures

or I watch documentary on aboriginals they all used wood

Australia is so young as a settlement

what I Personaly dislike is the naked brick look
on everything and everywhere
it just looks like everything is on sepia mode

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

Pine is very popular in Australia.

It has to be CCA treated though, coz as you no doubt know, termites love it.

Our older wooden houses are usually jarrah.

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: Azureblue

Up until about 1950 most houses in Australia were built out of wood,

Not in South Australia they weren't .

they were in WA

originally posted by: croatianguy

originally posted by: Azureblue

originally posted by: croatianguy
Why are majority of American homes made from wood and majority of Australian homes made from brick?

Time, era's, availability of materials, Up until about 1950 most houses in Australia were built out of wood, then came asbestos sheet then came brick. Brick has been in ever since because of the marketing power and influence of some brick manufacturers.

Now its enshrined in that level of government that is not recognised in our constitution, local council bylaws. Now when you build a house it has to 'fit in with the street scape' so we cant even build out of concrete even if its stronger and safer.

Yeah I also notice how tightly packed some aussies homes are on some streets. I mean you see some houses side by side which barely a cat could fit through. Then you see American homes with so much space between their neighbors.

i noticed on TV a while back that some houses, at least in some parts, dont even seem to have fences between them, That must be very insecure?

originally posted by: MimiSia
a reply to: croatianguy

then I thought of Freo and Tooday

or if u look at old Nedleands pictures

or I watch documentary on aboriginals they all used wood

Australia is so young as a settlement

what I Personaly dislike is the naked brick look on everything and everywhere it just looks like everything is on sepia mode

Blame Rick New for that and how much influence he exerted over many councils

a reply to: Azureblue

I am not sure if you are from WA

but OMG you should see what they are doing in my area
they are not normal

there is one road and one set of lights to enter highway

Such a tiny area

10 or 15 brand new appartment blocks 10-15 story buildings wt 5 appartments on each floor
and 2 hotels

still there 3 free land areas vacant!!!!

imagine all this people at 8 am driving to work at one set of lights
now mind you there are entering the busiest highway

lol

and the view of the river they promise
yet our naked bricked block is blocking their view completely

just seeing the workers here:0

they should call it
antville

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: grumpy64

No one builds houses from pine anyway. Furniture yes houses no. Too resinous too soft.
Oak is the wood of choice for houses.

Yes they do. In Australia now brick veneer houses usually have an Oregon pine ground floor frame and a radiata pine upper floor frame if it is 2 storey. Oregon is stronger. If it is single storey they just use radiata pine. They treat the timber with chemicals so that it is termite resistant. They do not use oak in Australia to my knowledge. We do have 'oak' trees in Australia such as sheoak and forest oak. Forest oak splits nicely and was used to make shingles for roofs. These shingles were even exported to the US! Sometimes timber exported to the US was renamed oak because they didn't like the names we gave them (such as Blackbutt!). But yes, millions of houses in Australia have frames of treated pine.

a reply to: croatianguy

And in Europe my house would be considered new at 100 !

a reply to: Chadwickus

Jarrah...see I just love the foreign sound of that. My house is oak frame oak laps oak floor but the doors are all mahogany as well as the stair banister and newal post. It's a gorgeous staircase with a rounded step at the bottom. The steps are heart pine wide planks.
So is Jarrah a very hard wood? Is it a large tree. ?

a reply to: grumpy64

I
That just seems strange because pine is soft. I am guessing now because Australia is way far away from me but I guess pine is plentiful there?

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

en.m.wikipedia.org...

I am biased, but it is a fantastic wood, yes very hard and quite a large tree.

My home, in America, is concrete block. The garage is concrete block. The hay storage shed is half concrete block, half wood. The stables are all wood though.

I think a lot of it just depends on the owner/builder when planning it out, along with regional designs. Personally, I like a nice sturdy block home. Something comforting in knowing that small arms fire won't rip through it come the zombie apocalypse, lol.

Just feel better in it when the storms hit. (in FL, so we get bad summer storms, and hurricanes).

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: AutumnWitch657

en.m.wikipedia.org...

I am biased, but it is a fantastic wood, yes very hard and quite a large tree.

Ah... a relative to mahogany. I wonder if there is a janka rating for it? I'm a flooring and design expert.

a reply to: Gazrok

Must be tough to hang a painting on the walls.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

Oh wow cool, I'm a landscaper so have built quite a few decks and patios in my time, will typically use pine for joists and bearers and then jarrah decking..

Here's a hardness table with quite a few Australian timbers, Jarrah is 8.5 American oak by comparison is 6!

www.borthwick.com.au...

Must be tough to hang a painting on the walls.

On the outer walls, yes, you have no idea. The inner walls are more typical.

But, for the outer walls, I need to use a concrete drill bit, a really tough drill, a little water, and then use bolt anchors.

If hanging something light though, I just use those Command hangers as they work pretty well. There is sheet rock over the concrete, so that helps a little.

Dining room is the worst, as two of the three walls are the concrete block.

I had to mount two flat screen TVs though, to two different outer walls, and both were a true pain. (I also ran a "just in case" wire from the ceiling, just in case it ever worked loose).