• BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Americans should start building their houses like Europeans. Made from brick, mortar and good insulation. Your houses are made from wood and paper.

    • dafo@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      looks around at countless houses made from wood I guess northern Sweden, which gets below -30°c every year, lost its European status.

    • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      You do realize that there’s insulation in those walls right. That’s the whole point of wood frame construction; you stuff the gaps between studs full of several inches of insulation. Besides, most of a homes heat loss isn’t through the walls anyways. It’s through any openings in those walls (windows, doors, etc) and through the roof.

      • el_abuelo@programming.dev
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        3 days ago

        Isn’t the whole point of woodframe construction to use wood?

        Europeans still have insulation in the wall cavity.

        • MNByChoice@midwest.social
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          3 days ago

          Isn’t the whole point of woodframe construction to use wood?

          Well, no. Not as such. The point was to not use brick. Wood was just very useful, cheap, and could be made uniform. Very similar to brick if near a brick factory. Cheaper if not near cheap but heavy bricks.

      • BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        More insulation, double or even triple glassed windows. My in-laws have half the insulation on the walls compared to my parents, roof wise my parents got 2.5 ft insulation

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      3 days ago

      Earthquakes would say otherwise for at least part of the US. Also, without full-time mechanical ventilation, that would be misery in a lot of the US. The climate is also different to some places in Europe and varies hugely on US region

      • skye@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        There’s earthquakes in regions of Europe aswell, and climate varies by regions in Europe aswell.

        So what would be the excuse for not using paper walls?

        • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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          3 days ago

          Look up brick and motor walls regarding their performance in quakes. Those motor joints (or interfaces when dry stone) are all failure points and that leads to a wall collapsing. It’s why you don’t see modern japanese buildings like that; they don’t meet code. If you want earthquake safety, wood or reinforced concrete are the materials of choice.

          Also the walls aren’t paper. Even in modern Japan where I live they’re not and we have some interior walls with paper. I have no idea what you are on about.

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Wood is a better insulator than brick actually. Sitting outside in the winter on a wooden bench would feel warmer than on one made of brick even if they are at the same temperature. A log cabin without insulation is better insulated than a brick building without insulation. Problem is that US homes aren’t log buildings but stick frames boarded up with cheap chipboard.

    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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      3 days ago

      It does not have to be brick and mortar. The house with the best insulation I know is made of wood and straw bales.