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Utopia Talk / Politics / Why are US houses so flimsy?
williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 07:11:45
I always wondered about articles about cars driving into homes in the USA. If you drive a car into a house in Europe, in most cases all thats going to happen is the car will get busted up. But its not uncommon to read about a car ending up in someones living room in US media. Then when I went to the USA, I saw close up that while homes look similar, they look flimsier, the walls look like theyre made of paper in comparison.

The reason is, they are. Theyre all built of flimsy wood in a country full of forest fires and hurricanes, unlike Europe where brick houses are brick houses, not wooden houses with a brick facade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9vhlvoWmA4

Sam Adams
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Mon May 18 08:32:18
No one with an ounce of scientific skill thinks brick construction is stronger than wood. While the brick itself is decently strong, the brick-mortar interface is horribly weak and will fail in a pretty small earthquake or any decently sized hurricane or tornado. Then you have heavy bricks falling on you and you die.

Brick is the absolute last building material to use in earthquake country and near the bottom vs extreme wind.

The only time bricks win is verse fire... alas the places in the US that tend to get fires also tend to get quakes and quakes... Without warning... Are much scarier.

Now if you live in the northeast US or most of Europe... Places that don't really get threatened by storms or quakes... Then brick is ok.
TheChildren
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Mon May 18 08:44:47
muricanesium

thats why. its sturdy..until termintes or fires wipe it out in 5 min

than da truth comes out. its basically made out of cheese. sturdy when cold. melts like butter when warm

williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 08:48:18
Theyre actually called "disposable homes". US wood huts last for about 70 years, while european stone houses last about 700 years
Sam Adams
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Mon May 18 09:41:28
Euro cars are also tiny.

Who wants to live in a 700 year old house from an era with primitive construction techniques? Give me my modern giant windows and open concept interior, oh and straight lines without centuries of settling and sagging.
williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 10:10:07
What the hell is the Lying Pedophile waffling about? Small cars? Wood is as strong as concrete? lol...Like Trump, everything is an attack on their fragile small penis-insecurity.
williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 10:15:02
The building I live in in France is twice the age of the USA, once upon a time the office building for the local church here.

Of course, the outer walls are 2 foot thick stone walls, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and any car trying to smash into this building would be reduced to rubble.
jergul
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Mon May 18 11:15:18
Plywood is the problem for the US. It has poor construction variation tolerance. The house is screwed if the builder messes up the wall ventilation and is a total nightmare with water leaks from piping or condensation.

Sam Adams
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Mon May 18 12:51:24
"Wood is as strong as concrete?"

Wtb you should really work on your thinking problem. You said brick. Not concrete. But if you do want to talk about concrete:

Concrete by itself is extremely shitty in earthquake country, though unlike hopelessly worthless brick that should never be part of any modern structure, concrete can at least be a component of a very solid structure with a bit of help from other materials. And without quake risk concrete is great.

"The building I live in in France is twice the age of the USA"

Ya society does generally relegate poor people to older, shittier buildings.
Rugian
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Mon May 18 13:04:29
Wood has stronger earthquake resistance than brick and lumber is plentiful here so it's much cheaper to use.

...does this thread really need to continue beyond that?
williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 13:39:51
So according to AI, the reason so many houses even in wildfire prone regions like California still choose wood is because they have to choose between equal risks of fire or earthquake, and wood being cheaper, they usually choose that risk lol
williamthebastard
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Mon May 18 13:43:59
Apparently its standard engineering today in most cases to prepare stone buildings for earthquakes, it just costs more, so flimsy wood buildings that burn like tinder are really just about being cheap.
jergul
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Mon May 18 16:39:33
Stone is a complete different material. It is ludicrously strong, way stronger that concrete. Granite close to an order of magnitude stronger.
Forwyn
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Mon May 18 16:44:53
"Apparently its standard engineering today in most cases to prepare stone buildings for earthquakes, it just costs more"

Where? Japan also uses primarily wood for residential builds, and they lead the world in quake-resistant engineering.
Sam Adams
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Mon May 18 20:02:59
"its standard engineering today in most cases to prepare stone buildings for earthquakes"

You can wipe your ass but it's still an ass.

Just don't build with stone in earthquake country. Having huge heavy stones above you is a terrible idea. The mortar isn't up to it and will fail. Reinforced shit is less likely to kill you but is expensive and the structure will still be cracked beyond repair after the quake.

Choose something with a good strength to weight ratio and is flexible... Wood is pretty ideal vs quakes and is good enough vs wind. Plus it's easy to fix and everyone can work it on their own with 20 dollars worth of gear.

Hence we use wood.

The only thing clearly stronger against all threats is steel frame... But that's expensive and requires specialized skills and gear.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 15:59:55
Israel just proudly seized a 1000 year old castle built by Europeans in Lebanon. You can bet it wasnt a wooden US castle that lasts 50 years before it has to be torn down and replaced.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 17:04:26
"Wot??? Is you a moosluhm atheist euro homisexy uninteligentitist? Teh esensse of USA is to avoyd makin kwality products. teh core of the usa is to pump out as much toxic shit as possibel, ripp of evrywun, niggroes, foriners, murcans, everywun, an maek em have to buys it agin a cupla yeers later"
Habebe
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Sun May 31 18:59:11
So, Ive fielded these questions before.

The US depending on the area has loads of differe t building materials used in houses.

I live in a building that is 150 years old. I grew up in a house that was 150-200 years old.

Brick, steel reinforced concrete, wood all the way down to McMansions and cheap trailer homes.
Sam Adams
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Sun May 31 19:01:36
You mean the ruins that are in shambles?

Lmfao
Sam Adams
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Sun May 31 19:02:14
Wtb
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 19:16:31
^American who never shuts up about how proud he is to have european genes rather than the inferior brown genes native to his continent

murder
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Sun May 31 20:12:13

"The building I live in in France is twice the age of the USA"

Do you have to duck every time you walk through a doorway?

-
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 20:16:19
It's pretty low but I dont have to duck, although there are quite a few doors in ancient buildings around here that are shockingly low, kept mainly out of tradition. Some only reach to about my chin, and Im 180cm.

Habebe
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Sun May 31 20:19:00
Fun story about European genetics.

The largest single ethnicity claimed by americans is German. So they did comparisons of modern Germans and US Germans.

They were quite different, the reasons being the US Germans were less homogenized Germans, often that mixed with other groups. While modern day Germans were mostly blended Germans, so it's as if the US Germans were a snapshot of a group of people from particular parts of Germany where those people no longer exist.
Habebe
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Sun May 31 20:19:00
Fun story about European genetics.

The largest single ethnicity claimed by americans is German. So they did comparisons of modern Germans and US Germans.

They were quite different, the reasons being the US Germans were less homogenized Germans, often that mixed with other groups. While modern day Germans were mostly blended Germans, so it's as if the US Germans were a snapshot of a group of people from particular parts of Germany where those people no longer exist.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 20:22:13
And that "snapshot" of Germans consisted of immigrants to Germany 100 years before that, not even the tiniest hiccup in the history of a species.
American immigration mythology is exempt from all scientific scrutiny.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 20:23:40
American immigration mythology is as real as scientology
murder
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Sun May 31 20:41:23

We got the rejects but we did pretty well with them.

-
Sam Adams
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Sun May 31 21:10:15
Lol wtb you thought brick was strong.

Probably shouldn't be talking about iq
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:17:13
Shhh, Hitler jugend, I read about 1% of your yawningly unintelligent vomit
Sam Adams
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Sun May 31 21:17:54
https://pb...XQAYxzpu?format=jpg&name=large


https://x.com/no_itsmyturn/status/2061134713532694925?s=20

Euro build house so good lol.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:21:19
Pedophile protecting Hitlerjugend: I wouldnt dream of clicking one of your brain-diseased vomit lies in a million years
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:23:26
Mainly because as one of the pedophile ring's most emphatic protectors, you should be taken out back and your throat slit, the end.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:29:41
Anyway, back to thread topic: McDonaldsania's contribution to global architectural knowledge of McDonaldsanian architecture. Build quickly from junk - throw away.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:56:16
US wooden houses are a beautifully emblematic representation of US culture. Fake. Its all fake. Like American bodybuilding and all other American expressions of "culture", bereft of all healthy approaches and totally focused on the visual beauty pageant aspect - its all about pretending.

williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 21:57:55
"Fake it till you make it" - Jesus teachings, according to the USA.

Sam Adams
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Sun May 31 22:31:04
Take ur meds wtb.
williamthebastard
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Sun May 31 22:36:07
You mean your meds that you were prescribed for ODD after being refused to serve your country based on yout mental illness, ODD? Since I know nothing about these drugs, what meds were you prescribed for your ODD illness, pedophile ring-protecting Hitlerjugend?
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