American and Australian homes

Why are majority of American homes made from wood and majority of Australian homes made from brick?

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

I don't know about the rest of the US, but in California, it is because wood will bend and move when there are earthquakes.
Bricks and cinderblock just crumble.

a reply to: croatianguy

If I lived in Australia I would want a house made of brick to just like the smart piggy .


Because just about everything in Australia wants to kill you .





(Jk)

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

Most of those from the other side of the rabbit proof fence have fibreboard homes. Uniquely brick is a uniquely WA thing.

Dont know why, cheap bricks I guess

a reply to: Greathouse

Because just about everything in Australia wants to kill you .

Bricks dont stop these .



Or these .

a reply to: croatianguy

I thought you guys lived in huts made of kangaroo and koala skin stretched over a stick frame.



Kidding.

Despite how much I want to hate your twitter-like post. you've raised an interesting question. Really, really interesting.

I don't know but I'd like to find out and I am looking forward to any discussion that might develop out of this.

I thought it might be low incidence of earthquakes, but you folks get them too so... I dunno.

It will be fun finding out.



P.S. If you posted a pic of the average Austr... wait, I'll do it...

Here's one from Perth:



Here's one from North Carolina. There aren't any earthquakes to speak of there, and the great majority of them are of brick:



See you tomorrow.

a reply to: borntowatch

Mate, your flying blind.

Try some street views of other Aussie cities

P

a reply to: hutch622

Of course not there's another remedy for those ..........

well.... idunno.....

it seems to me that nobody quite knows why houses in america are made out of wood


SNIP!


and it seems australians favor bricks because they are thick as bricks ..............??




and by the way, where do you take your statistics from ??

a reply to: Greathouse

You can use one of those in your house , we just tread on them . As for earthquakes , well we don't get many that can do actual damage . My guess is we use stone (older houses) or brick most likely because our native trees aren't suited for building houses .

In the US I believe it is a cost issue. Wood is cheap compared to bricks. It takes a lot of fuel to make enough bricks to build an entire house so most "brick" homes are simply veneered in brick in our area. Timber is plentiful and easily harvested.
As Bluesma mentioned, earthquakes are a consideration for large areas of the US. It was certainly a consideration when we designed and built our home.

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.

a reply to: Azureblue

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

Not in South Australia they weren't .

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 .

That's about the time we quit building brick houses and buildings .

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.

a reply to: Greathouse

There was a time that the housing trust went wood framed houses but i would say the majority of houses in SA are brick or stone . The pre fabricated houses were big along the coastline as 1st or 2nd row houses in the country areas (shacks ) but move back from the ocean and its all solid houses . At least the SA i know and that's a fair bit . My guess 80/20 .

Same in Canada as well. All wood frames.
I've often wondered why.

Maybe it's becYse they can be built faster

Wood homes are cheaper and faster to build, it must be a tradition of each place too, I bet in Arizona they are made of bricks mostly, places with few woods made homes of bricks (its baked mud) and places with forest made wooden homes.

I bet Australia is not wildly known for their forest.

Rich people live in brick houses

Oh and they don't fear the wolf, wooden home are harder to maintain, termites are bad

originally posted by: Indigent
Wood homes are cheaper and faster to build, it must be a tradition of each place too, I bet in Arizona they are made of bricks mostly, places with few woods made homes of bricks (its baked mud) and places with forest made wooden homes.

Is that why some people were able to build their own houses in America? Being cheaper and easier to build? I mean nobody in Australia could ever build their own brick house.

a reply to: croatianguy

I know many people that have build their own brick houses, buying the bricks, and some that made them out of mud brick, making their own bricks.

Its not that easy to build a wall of bricks, you need a mason for that, the electricity and plumbing is harder to do in bricks, the bricks are heavy and you need to make concrete in the place, a wood home you make an structure and you staple or nail plywood to each side, fill with fiberglass if you fell fancy and that's pretty much it