American and Australian homes

Similar to my house

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

My house was built in 1918. It is a 'Sears Catalog House" That is right. You would order the house from the Sears catalog and the parts would be delivered. Possibly because wood doesn't weigh as much? Many, Many Sears Catalog homes were built in the US.

a reply to: croatianguy

lol can u imagine us here in WA made of wood. one psycho who gets of on starting a fire (how many were there this year already!!!!!)

a reply to: croatianguy

Simply put, it's all down to availability and cost.

We also have a lot of zincalume (colourbond) cladded houses too

Aussie hardwood is the finest material in the world to build houses. The strength is incredible, rated up to F27 as opposed to radiata pine which is usually rated at F7 for strength. Most Aussie hardwoods are termite resistant and have been exported all over the world under different names to be used to make bridges and even legs for oil platforms at sea (I know this stuff because my Dad worked in the Australian timber industry). There is no timber stronger and heavier than Aussie hardwood. It is hard to cut and is as hard to saw as frozen American wood. I have seen old houses pulled down or renovated and the timber frames look almost new. A mate was doing up a 150 year old house and the hardwood frame looked like it could go on forever where it was protected from the weather. Yes we still have huge forests of the stuff and it is hard to kill. The eucalypts have become a pest in some countries where they have been introduced and they love fire so you cannot burn them out.
In the old days, apparently brick was regarded as a poor man's building material. Go figure.

a reply to: grumpy64

Yes, I grew up chopping jarrah for firewood every night, for 3 fires!

a reply to: Sanssouci

There once was a lot of wood in the US, mostly oak and conifers. The forest and individual trees were cut to make shelters for the ever-growing population and the trees were cut for no other reason than to free the land for farming.

Mexico, a relatively poor country has many small, relatively poor homes from local bricks. The wood is mostly gone. Bricks, a step up from basic adobe, comes from clay dirt. Fairly easy to obtain in the right regions. Bricks can be manufacture with a single, one-brick frame and heat temper with a housing made of bricks. However, it does take wood to make the charcoal to "fire" the bricks. Bricks are usually a step up toward copying the rich man's stone castle. About any "brick" building in the US today, other than in older cities, has only a brick facade over a wooden frame. Hardly of any practical value except for being a heat sink.

Like the dog-eating thread, history and tradition has a lot to do with contemporary style, taste (no pun intended) and cost.

In the south where the soil is clay there are a lot of brick homes. In the southwest there are still Adobe houses and in the north with the old forests there are houses made of wood.
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.

a reply to: Aliensun

Actually America's bread basket a was not forrest we needed to cut down but prairie.
The east had and still does have forrests and they are replanted when they are cut. We're not raping the land. A hugh lesson was learned when the bread basket became the dust bowl in the 1930s. after prairie grasses were not replaced and the area was subjected to drought.

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.

Odd. Where I live if you want to see wood houses, you have to ride into an historic district, or just a really, really old neighborhood. Wood homes have been passé for decades. I'm in the southeastern U.S.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
In the south where the soil is clay there are a lot of brick homes. In the southwest there are still Adobe houses and in the north with the old forests there are houses made of wood.
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 noticed in New England many of the homes are wood, but I think it's because they have so many old neighborhoods. Like Einstein's little old wooden house in Princeton.

a reply to: Bybyots

Yeah let's pretend that's an average American house. Lol.
The Aussy house looks more like our average house but it also depends on the region. The east has a lot of very old homes that were well built and large. Victorian styles, New England salt boxes, big farm houses. Then you have the newer developement that present a lot of low slung ranch style houses or cute little cape cod style houses. I grew up in what was called a high ranch. 12 rooms. Seven bedrooms though my parents took two and combined them to make a big den complete with bar. It was the 1970s. Lol everybody had a bar.

a reply to: angeldoll

New England was a big old forrest old growth and had a lot to offer. Lots of sturdy farm houses.

a reply to: angeldoll

South east houses are still wood frame they only have brick facades. New construction here is all wood and concrete clad in beige vinyl siding. Every house looks like the one next door though they seem to be reviving the older Victorian or farmhouse style with big porches. I'm in the south east and even big apartment buildings are wood frame with brick facade. Just watched a very large complex built a few streets away from where I am. All wood with a thin vaneer of brick. It's beautiful but it's still wood frame.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657
Ah! Didn't think about the frame. I thought all brick houses have wooden frames, except the concrete, cinder block houses you see at the beaches. : ) and the stucco ones in the really old neighborhoods.

I saw some new constructions recently and they all had wooden frames. It's a pricy neighborhood, too, so I know in the end they will all be bricked. Haven't really thought of it as a veneer though. Might need to rethink that.
My house is brick, but I know it must have a wooden frame, because I've had termites before. They were in a wall in the master bedroom. Grrrr..........

Anyway, you know a lot about houses!

a reply to: hutch622

Oh, jeeze. Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine.

a reply to: croatianguy

My guess would be that it has something to do with the materials at hand.
I like Greathouse's answer though. Because everything there can kill you.

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.

In Australia houses are exclusively framed with pine wood.

a reply to: angeldoll

I'm 58 and houses, home decor, furniture all that has been a life long interest. I bore my family when were on the road. Oh look at that mansard roof, oh see the pretty tudor, that one is a Georgian or colonial or federal style. Lol

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

Really? Must be a different kind of pine. Here we won't even burn it in our fireplaces.