Wooden houses in the U.S. - majority?

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

When they sent images from the Tornado incident in the US a couple of days ago, I've seen many wooden houses were affected by destruction. I was always under the impression the US is full of wooden houses. I mean private homes, not office buildings. Questions to our many US friends here: Is that so? Is wood the preferred material for building homes in the US? Or are those rather poor mans buildings? Or ...? Here in Germany I'd say the vast majority of houses is made of concrete and bricks.

Curious,
Michael

[Scarpia]

When they sent images from the Tornado incident in the US a couple of days ago, I've seen many wooden houses were affected by destruction. I was always under the impression the US is full of wooden houses. I mean private homes, not office buildings. Questions to our many US friends here: Is that so? Is wood the preferred material for building homes in the US? Or are those rather poor mans buildings? Or ...? Here in Germany I'd say the vast majority of houses is made of concrete and bricks.

Curious,
Michael

Depends on locale, but most private homes in the US are wood-frame.  Concrete is rare, brick structures are also common, but not as common as wood.

Building standards are very low in the US.  I remember reading that someone in the US wanted to put up a private home to German standards and couldn't find any builders who had the capability.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Thanks, it's always interesting to compare... Prices: Next year I'll have to get a new roof, because roof tiles are now almost 50 years old and the first start to leak. It's a typical middle class house built in the 60s Wirtschaftswunder with basement, 1st floor, roof with 45° angle on top.
Cost for all in all 110m² of new roof without having to rebuild the roof truss: I'd say 15000 USD is the cheap version with a cheap company, $30000 is average and what I expect, and open end if you use extravagant roof tiles.

[Scarpia]

There is nothing wrong with a wood frame house, my gripe with US building practice is very poor energy efficiency due to poor insulation and very leaky construction.  I've read that modern practice in Germany involves houses which are essentially sealed and ventilated through heat exchangers, which transfers heat from the exhaust air to the intake area in winter (and vice versa in summer).  As energy prices go up this will put the US at a huge disadvantage to civilized countries.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

I've read that modern practice in Germany involves houses which are essentially sealed and ventilated through heat exchangers, which transfers heat from the exhaust air to the intake area in winter (and vice versa in summer).

True. "Perfect" houses are perfectly sealed; with no technical air exchange, you'd suffocate. Vacuum tests are being done! But sealing like this basically applies to new houses, because it's expensive.
Mine is not perfectly sealed, it breathes - I have no problem with mold; I read, more and more landlords and tenants meet on court because of mold.
Prices for energy will be high anyway. The local companies want their money. If all people consume 1/2 of the energy, the prices will have doubled. Currently I pay ~300$/month for gas and electricity.

[Scarpia]

Interesting point, that constant ventilation is necessary.  Here in the US power lines are above ground and electricity typically gets knocked out for large numbers of people with every storm, sometimes for a week or more.  With sealed houses that would be a big problem.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

[Todd]

Cost for all in all 110m² of new roof without having to rebuild the roof truss: I'd say 15000 USD is the cheap version with a cheap company, $30000 is average and what I expect, and open end if you use extravagant roof tiles.

Currently I pay ~300$/month for gas and electricity.

Holy crap!  Life in Germany sure is expensive.  I had a new roof put on three years ago for about $5500, with the most expensive option I investigated being around $12K for a recycled rubber roof with a purported 100 year lifespan.  I didn't bother looking at the most expensive tile options, but some lower cost options hovered in the $10K range.  (I settled for the cheap 40 year option, thank you.) 

My peak months for electricity and gas come in just a bit north of $200, but in the cheapest months I pay around $80-90, and my house is grossly inefficient.  (Electricity is pretty cheap where I live, so that helps.)

I couldn't afford to live on the continent. 

[MishaK]

When they sent images from the Tornado incident in the US a couple of days ago, I've seen many wooden houses were affected by destruction. I was always under the impression the US is full of wooden houses. I mean private homes, not office buildings. Questions to our many US friends here: Is that so? Is wood the preferred material for building homes in the US? Or are those rather poor mans buildings? Or ...? Here in Germany I'd say the vast majority of houses is made of concrete and bricks.

Curious,
Michael

Yes, as a German-born transplant to the US, that's something that struck me, too. It's not just the poor energy efficiency of wood houses that bothers me. They are also often horribly unsuitable for the local climate. Here in Chicago, summer temperatures are easily 36ºC and winter can go -30ºC. Why you would want a wood house under those conditions beats me. You have to repaint it practically every other year because the paint can't handle such temperature changes. Also, real roof tiles are rare. Most often it's tar paper. My wife and I were looking around last weekend as we are toying with the idea of moving soon. Now that we have a little one, our current apartment is a bit too small (in a brick structure!). If you eliminate wood structures, you basically cut out over half of the available market and that's even in good neighborhoods. It seems that building material rarely makes a difference in the asking price either. Lot size and how recent the rehab/construction/applicances are seem to have more of an influence on price than whether the house is wood, brick, stucco, concrete or what have you.

[Coopmv]

When they sent images from the Tornado incident in the US a couple of days ago, I've seen many wooden houses were affected by destruction. I was always under the impression the US is full of wooden houses. I mean private homes, not office buildings. Questions to our many US friends here: Is that so? Is wood the preferred material for building homes in the US? Or are those rather poor mans buildings? Or ...? Here in Germany I'd say the vast majority of houses is made of concrete and bricks.

Curious,
Michael

I live in a brick house but most houses around me have wooden frame ...

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Holy crap!  Life in Germany sure is expensive.  I had a new roof put on three years ago for about $5500, with the most expensive option I investigated being around $12K for a recycled rubber roof with a purported 100 year lifespan.  I didn't bother looking at the most expensive tile options, but some lower cost options hovered in the $10K range.  (I settled for the cheap 40 year option, thank you.)

$5500?!? DIY or with craftsmen? This, or maybe at the 4k$ mark, is maybe the money I'd need for renewing the tarpaper on both garages.... A lot of the price is the craftsmen. a) you pay them for every trip, and one person is about EUR 50/ USD 75 per hour which is a typical price.

Real estate is all very expensive. A single house from the 60s in an unimportant town like in mine, 70m² per floor, with basement, 1000m² of property -> 300.000 USD. And AFAIK prices for the private property increased. Also, people tend to build new houses on a micro area. A bit of "Earls lane" (As in lil. Lord Faultleroy) flair everywhere. I'm not a friend of new houses. I'd always try to get houses from our golden era, when many people with average education earned a lot more money than we do today. The floor here is made of parquet, entrance has a lot marble - things usual suspects cannot pay today. The guy who built that house was a police officer. His wife of course a house wife. Today, usually both partners have to work. Times change

I live in a brick house but most houses around me have wooden frame ...

So do you represent the upper class of your neighborhood then?

[The new erato]

I live in a brick house but most houses around me have wooden frame ...

You are Big Brother Pig?

[Florestan]

True. "Perfect" houses are perfectly sealed; with no technical air exchange, you'd suffocate.

Can't you just open the window and breathe? 

[MishaK]

I'd always try to get houses from our golden era, when many people with average education earned a lot more money than we do today.

1970?

[Todd]

$5500?!? DIY or with craftsmen?

Roofers did the work; ain't no chance of me getting on a roof to do all of that work.  Your explanation of house prices explains it all.  There are certainly high priced markets in the US, but $300K for the house and lot size you describe is just too much where I live.  Like I wrote before, I couldn't afford to live on the continent.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

1970?

60s, 70s, yes.

[MishaK]

60s, 70s, yes.

OK, just checking. When come people here (not you) talk about "golden ages" of this or that, they usually have rather skewed and romanticized ideas. Real wages for average folk peaked in the late 70s in most of the western world and stayed flat or declined slightly since in real terms.

[The new erato]

Real wages for average folk peaked in the late 70s in most of the western world and stayed flat or declined slightly since in real terms.

Thats certainly not true in Scandinavia.