My family is hosting a foreign exchange student from Haiti and last night at dinner he posed a question to me: “Why are American homes built from wood?” This was prompted from all of the damage in Alabama caused by tornadoes.
I was perplexed. “Why wouldn’t they be?” I retorted. He said that in Haiti, residents would see building a home from wood as a waste of an investment—the resulting houses would be flimsy and would rot away over their lifetime. He told me that the nicest homes in Haiti are built from poured cement, stone or other hard materials.
I rebutted his assumption that wooden houses rot away over their lifetime. Poorly built ones might, but he was amazed to learn that there are houses in the United States that are over one hundred years old and are made out of…you guessed it, wood! With moisture protection and termite pre-treatment, wood is as fine a material as any to frame a house with.
Still, my Haitian friend’s question got me thinking. Why do we frame our houses with wood? I came up with a few answers:
Abundance
Trees are everywhere in the United States; much more abundant than on some island nations like Haiti. It simply makes sense to use the material that you have the most of. I imagine if we had more quarries than forests then we would build houses from stone!
Strong Enough
It’s true that many areas in the United States are at risk of being hit by tornadoes and other inclement weather, but even there we frame houses from wood. The extreme cost of making a storm-proof house out of a material like aluminum is simply not worth it to consumers.
It’s What We Know
The construction industry is one of the few remaining industries where knowledge is still passed down from skill tradesman to novices. Building Science programs are becoming more popular in colleges, but for now most contractors are still learning the trade from a tradesman passing down his knowledge. It makes sense that these tradesman would prefer wood—a familiar and flexible medium—than newer technology like plastic lumber or recycled material.
After explaining all of this to our foreign exchange student he seemed a bit more understanding, but said that he would still want a house made out of a more durable material!
Hah! Almost 13mths later, my comment. Only in West, and USA wood is used for construction. Concrete is much better. It may cost a bit more, but pays off in the end. Better fireproof, tornado proof, no water damage.......endless. Why is Pentagon poured concrete. They try to tell us that plane demolished it!
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