Why are American houses built from bricks?

Al B. Sure! · May 11, 2003, 00:55

I heard that in the middle east and latin america, a lot of houses are built out of dried mud and tile. apparently, this construction (aside from being real cheap) cools the interior in the summer and keeps in fairly warm in winter...

so why are all the houses here in the US made out of brick?

Zkribbler · May 11, 2003, 01:05

Mine's not brick. It's wood framed.

Inverse Icarus · May 11, 2003, 01:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Albert Speer
I heard that in the middle east and latin america, a lot of houses are built out of dried mud and tile. apparently, this construction (aside from being real cheap) cools the interior in the summer and keeps in fairly warm in winter...

so why are all the houses here in the US made out of brick?

because mud doesn't last long and we have a life expectancy longer than theirs?

i'm fairly sure the houses you heard about arent that large, ie 2 story houses with full basements. mud might not support that.

and, on long island, almost no houses are made of brick. wood and sheetrock (drywall) on concrete foundation.

Inverse Icarus · May 11, 2003, 01:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Mine's not brick. It's wood framed.

speer lives in the city. the buildigns are usually older and far more standardized. a lot of buildings there are probably made of brick.

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:07

You need to travel more Speer then maybe you would notice the regional differences in building materials.

monolith94 · May 11, 2003, 01:08

Mine's wood. Brick is more attractive than mud, and isn't that what's important???

If I were tremendously wealthy, I'd have a granite house.

Inverse Icarus · May 11, 2003, 01:08

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
Mine's wood. Brick is more attractive than mud, and isn't that what's important???

If I were tremendously wealthy, I'd have a granite house.

no, all chrome house. hardcore.

you'd have to get your fingerprints burnt off though.

Winston · May 11, 2003, 01:11

It was so the big, bad commies wouldn't huff, puff and blow them to the ground.

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:11

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
If I were tremendously wealthy, I'd have a granite house.

There's one of those in mountains north-east of LA the guy made his entire house by cementing granit bolders together. It's something like three stories tall with a basement.

Asher · May 11, 2003, 01:12

Why is everyone in Canada upper-middle class??

GePap · May 11, 2003, 01:13

I have never heard of these materials being good insulators. brick is much better at insulation, and keeping the house warm in winter is more important that keeping cool in Summer (you can always sit on the porch). Same reason why windowns in the US are usually smaller and thicker as well.

monolith94 · May 11, 2003, 01:13

the nice thing is that granite is radioactive, so every day you lived there you could say that you were killing yourself a little bit too follow your dreams.

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:14

Here in Califonia most of the houses are made out of wood frame because unreinforce masonry (read: bricks) has a tendency to fall down during earthquakes.

Still, some of the states oldest and most beautiful buildings are made out of stone or brick.

Inverse Icarus · May 11, 2003, 01:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
Why is everyone in Canada upper-middle class??

communism

Al B. Sure! · May 11, 2003, 01:17

granite is radioactive?

what? for real there's houses that are not brick? I dont think I've ever not seen a brick house... every single house, rowhome, and apartment building in philly is made out of brick except for maybe some of the downtown sky-scrapers

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:21

As a geologist and I can tell you that you have nothing to fear from granite. The argon and potasium elements which are radioactive are extrodinarially small and even trained scientist with state of the art equipment have a hard time measuring the amount of radioactive decay which has occured. They have to take their time and be extra careful.

Besides all volcanic rocks and all sedimentary & metamorphic rocks derived from volcanic rocks contain trace radioactive elements but it is far lower then the background radiation we get bombarded with each and every day.

Al B. Sure! · May 11, 2003, 01:22

Oerdin:

Wood houses don't collapse due to earth quakes but brick ones do?

Nubclear · May 11, 2003, 01:22

Quote:

Originally posted by Winston
It was so the big, bad commies wouldn't huff, puff and blow them to the ground.

I once watched a propaganda video of that sort

monolith94 · May 11, 2003, 01:24

I know that, but on the other hand I like scaring people with Granite houses. And you have to admit that Granite IS radioactive, although I heard that it was a bit more than you seem to believe...

"I dont think I've ever not seen a brick house"
If you get to Temple, and I hope that that works out, then I'm willing to bet that you'll be seeing quite a few wooden houses.

GePap · May 11, 2003, 01:24

The Northeast urban centers is the center of brick in the US. Wood or some more mixed constructions are more popular elsewhere.

Al B. Sure! · May 11, 2003, 01:26

Monolith:

Why's that?

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Oerdin:

Wood houses don't collapse due to earth quakes but brick ones do?

Wood houses have a tendency to sway back and forth while brick houses have a tendency to crumble and kill everyone inside them. Watch next time there's an earthquake in a third world country like Iran or China. See all the people buried alive in brick homes? Hmm, all the wooden homes seemed to survive intact...

monolith94 · May 11, 2003, 01:27

Temple is in Connecticut, right? Why is that? Because they exist, and you'd have to wear blinders to not see them. Seriously, watch Good Will Hunting - he's wicked poor and lives in a wooden house. Not all ghettos are built the same.

Imran Siddiqui · May 11, 2003, 01:28

Quote:

for real there's houses that are not brick?

YEAH

. I don't think I've lived in a house that wasn't brick, except for my college dorms.

Edan · May 11, 2003, 01:29

So the nasty, mean old wolf won't be able to blow our houses down - not by the hairs of our chiney-chin-chin!

Al B. Sure! · May 11, 2003, 01:30

ah... Temple is in Philly...

Oerdin · May 11, 2003, 01:32

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
I know that, but on the other hand I like scaring people with Granite houses. And you have to admit that Granite IS radioactive, although I heard that it was a bit more than you seem to believe...

"I dont think I've ever not seen a brick house"
If you get to Temple, and I hope that that works out, then I'm willing to bet that you'll be seeing quite a few wooden houses.

The granite itself is not radioactive instead it contains in it's matrix a certain about of radioactive isotopes which are commonly found in the earth's crust. Often those elements are Potasium and or argon because those two elements are of the right size and charge to fit into the crystal matrix of the rock. Scientists use the decay of these isotopes to date how long abo the magma crystalized and formed the Granite.

Still, if you want to call that radioactive then just about everything is radioactive. Turn on a gieger counter sometime and just watch how you get random hits all the time. That's just the background noise which exists on this planet.

Inverse Icarus · May 11, 2003, 01:33

it's cheap, and fairly common.

The Mad Monk · May 11, 2003, 04:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Oerdin:

Wood houses don't collapse due to earth quakes but brick ones do?

Yep.

Don't get me wrong -- both can fall, depending on the quality of construction and the strength of the quake.

Wood frame houses (and steel frame buildings) are able to flex, which allows them to 'ride' out the waves.

Brick buildings have several things going against them:

- brittleness of the bricks themselves, which means they're much more likely to fracture when hit with a wave

- the fact that bricks and mortar are two different substances, with different physical characteristics which will cause them to respond to waves differently -- in terms of flexing, rates of transmission, angles of reflection and refraction (is that the term I'm thinking of, Oerdin? it's been so long) -- and which, in turn, increases the effects of all the planes of weakness brick buildings naturally have (that is, each and every place brick meets mortar).

- the heavier weight of overlying bricks makes any displacement of bricks in lower layers much more significant.

:) Smiley · May 11, 2003, 04:40

Wood frames are most common in residential building because it's cheap to buy and cheap to work with, the USA has lots of trees, and its aesthetically pleasing. Wood also has a special place in the American culture, which invented things like the log cabin, the balloon-frame house, and the do-it-yourself house kit. Wood framing also allows for easier modification of the house later on, something you can't do with concrete. Wood can also be prefabbed and hauled into place on a trailer. Structurally, wood has one of the highest strength-to-mass ratios of any material (a wood beam is stronger than a steel beam of the same weight) and properly cared for will last the expected lifetime of any American house (30-50 years).

Older US cities have lots of brick buildings due to fire codes, in the suburbs houses are far apart so wood is OK.

Most other places in the world don't have a big supply of trees to chop down locally, so concrete is used instead. Most commercial construction in USA is done with concrete cinderblock these days, though there are many wood framed businesses as well.