Why Does America Not Do This?

10 years of owning a house in Texas and I STILL don’t know the answer to this… #USA #America #texas #ThatEnglishmanInTexas #OliPettigrew

[@ronaldmcdonald8894]

Because Tornados will spit those bricks out randomly like a kid on a woundup tireswing with a mouthfull watermelon seeds.

[@mattbradbury1797]

It's not the wind, it's what the wind is carrying. Brick walls don't do well against 100mph trees

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

What does Einstein?

[@Drew-gi5dw]

@@user-co7fb6qe5w The point is that if nothing is going to work, the extra expense of brick doesn’t make sense. I actually live in a brick house in Houston, so I cannot identify with this KZbinr, but I know many do use wood and dry wall, largely because it is just as sturdy. You’d think from this guy that all homes in Texas re rebuilt every year or so. We actually lose very few per storm.

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

@@Drew-gi5dw if anyone wanted to be as protected as could be...you'd have to have your property on high ground then dwell down and build a bunker in the ground. I'd rather be a human and deal with our chances than living like a gopher.

[@Drew-gi5dw]

@@user-co7fb6qe5w - both options aren’t great, as high ground means more dangerous wind speeds and the bunker brings flooding as a threat. IMO, my home in Houston is the ultimate fortress against both, and my community has never flooded or taken much damage in any hurricane.

[@user-co7fb6qe5w]

@@Drew-gi5dw you're nestled in ground so wind is no concern. Because you're at higher elevation you'll escape any flooding. The trade off is no windows, one door and completely isolated from the world. I guess this might gain popularity among hermits or people that seek a gopher type of existence lol.

[@mattbradbury1797]

The Joplin tornado rotated a multi-story hospital wing 4 inches.

[@caldodge]

That Englishman is going to very surprised with a tornado destroys his brick home. Truck stop buildings are generally very study, made with metal frames and cinderblock walls. A tornado destroyed one in north Texas about a week ago.

[@Ozgand]

In addition to what most folks are saying about bricks not holding up. Wood is much more widely available and cheaper to build with than bricks.

[@virginiamoss7045]

There's the real answer. The US has timber and why pay more?

[@1lifemechanics]

Not anymore it isn’t. Yes, new developers and highways are always cutting down trees, but not enough to supply the US lumber market. Most lumber now comes from Canada and they are “running out” also as old growth forests become more protected. Ask an architect. Lumber is becoming more and more expensive in the US. Steel is still an expensive option currently, but new methods of hempcrete and printable concrete might be on the rise soon as lumber becomes more scarse.

[@MrsWheezer]

I suspect the ground the house is built upon plays a role. Like can you imagine what would happen with a brick/concrete building built on Texas clay that expands and contracts so very much. Or in the Houston area where you’re basically building on former wetlands?

[@m.l.miller219]

Funny. Good point. I live in Texas. Short answer: sticks are cheaper than bricks.

[@ylysergic1749]

If you're ever asking why America does something in a particular way the answer is almost always money.

[@HalfUnder]

Me looking out of my window at all of the other houses in my gated community in TX that are made of stone.....As far as tornadoes go, brick homes don't stand up well at all. The pressure differential in a tornado is absolutely insane. The record is somewhere just shy of 6 inches of pressure change from a tornado. So with that, you get a little crack in a window from some flying debris and congrats, there goes your house. Having lived through Supertyphoon Paka on Guam the only houses that got away generally unscathed were the ones on Andersen AFB where we were at. Local housing, Navy base housing all got borked and then some. The Air Force when they moved 13th AF to Guam after closing Clark AB was smart and built the houses out of steel reinforced concrete with heavy steel shutters for doors and windows and the windows were all at least 12 inches thick. That being said, you have more of a warning when a hurricane or a typhoon is coming. Tornadoes can pop up and you have no time to secure your property like you see people doing for hurricanes. As an additional aside, there were lots of brick homes in my Dad's hometown of Xenia, Ohio. Then an F5 showed up and wiped 90% of the town off the map.

[@evilsharkey8954]

Not much can withstand an EF-5. They can scrape the asphalt off the roads.

[@ChristChickAutistic]

Sweetie, your best bet in a tornado situation is a storm shelter or basement, period. Brick isn't going to stand up to an F4 or F5 tornado, I know. A historic F5 destroyed a shopping center the year I was born, my daddy was in it and thank you Jesus survived. That shopping center was made of brick, concrete, cinderblock, and steel, and it leveled the whole place to the foundations. Look it up if you want. Candlestick Park Tornado, March 3rd, 1966, Jackson Mississippi. Peace of Christ, V. ❤

[@bevo65]

Dude, you’ve opened up a very big topic.

[@Big_Tex]

Well for one thing lots of houses ARE made of brick. Not sure what the percentages are but the majority of houses in areas I’ve ever lived, and every house I’ve ever lived in, are brick. Always baffled when foreigners think all US houses are wood. If our boi looks around Waco or wherever he is, he’ll see brick houses. But not sure it matters because a wood house will withstand anything except a tornado, and a tornado will destroy a brick house just as easily as wood. My hometown neighborhood in Arkansas was exclusively brick houses, and they all got wrecked by a mere F3 in 1996. The distinction isn’t between wood and brick, it’s between real houses and mobile homes, that’s your particular vulnerability.

[@Texasfishingfamily]

Those houses aren't made of brick. The brick is just cosmetic and not structural in any way.

[@kevingray8616]

@@Texasfishingfamily Correct. They have brick veneer, but the external walls are still made of wood frame with a vapor barrier.

[@richardfabacher3705]

@@kevingray8616 AND!!! The brick veneer is held to the wooden frame with small brick-ties. About as strong as metal in a soup can. They probably used one every 3 or 4 feet and one regular nail per tie.

[@Hackenberg]

The same reason Americans do not build aircraft out of Black Box material. Cost prohibitive.

[@davidjohnson-ic2nc]

Love the show

[@evilsharkey8954]

There are very few buildings that can withstand an EF-4 or 5 tornado. There was an EF-3 near me that killed one man by collapsing his brick chimney into the house and crushing him, and bricks are supposed to offer decent protection against EF-3 and below. Little red bricks are only so tough, and they’re very expensive because of the labor and materials. Cinder blocks are tougher, but they’re ugly AF. Reinforced concrete is expensive, too. One place you won’t see brick buildings is on the West Coast, in earthquake territory. They collapse like a house of really heavy cards. In coastal hurricane territory, some of the houses that fare well are up on sturdy, reinforced stilts (so the storm surge goes under them) and they have cross beams in their construction. The biggest reason most houses are not natural disaster proof is cost. A lot of people in tornado prone areas are poor, hence trailer parks getting hit so often. In places like that, sometimes there’s a communal, in ground shelter. Honestly, I’d like to see the state and federal governments subsidize putting in more shelters and/or require developers to put them in. They’re cheaper than houses because they only need to protect people for a short time, not look good or have creature comforts.

[@sbelcher4651]

There’s a video topic for you . . . Head up to Lubbock and the storm research center at Tech. Amazing studies come out of there re: the massive damage from wind power plus random debris. Terrifying but very cool videos!

[@kevingray8616]

1. The US BY FAR gets more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world. This mostly happens in "tornado alley". The only safe place is in a tornado shelter UNDER the ground. I was up in the Texas panhandle area recently and was curious about something on a flatbed trailer. I pieced it together that it was a tornado shelter. A decently sized tornado (even an EF-2) will toss your bricks asunder. Stronger tornadoes can literally erase houses from their foundations. Flying debris from a tornado kills too and bricks make excellent projectiles. Basically, when it comes to tornadoes, brick buildings aren't as strong as you think they are. Bricks and mortar that holds them handle compaction very well. They pull apart easily unless they're re-enforced. 2. Hurricanes are different. A properly built wood frame house can handle a lot of wind. Granted, it must have the necessary hurricanes straps, windows, etc. The deadly thing with a hurricane is not so much the wind, but the storm surge. This is the water that the hurricanes pushes up onto the land that drowns people. Sure, shingles might be lost and such. A danger with straight-line winds is falling trees and such. We had a few people killed in Houston recently with the derecho due to a falling tree and falling crane. I doubt brick home roofs are made of brick. 3. The cost and flexibility. Brick would be more costly, but ultimately not provide the protection you think it would. Wood frame houses if done correctly are quite strong for most things and lend themselves for easy changes as necessary whereas brick houses don't.

[@RichardGuy-bn4td]

tornados destroy everything, including brick structures. hurricanes tear off roofs, but thats about all it does.

[@bevtuft3572]

and after the hurricane passes, that brick house is possibly up to 5 feet of water, see Houston, see New Orleans......

[@Debbie338]

I think you need to read about the storm surges that accompany hurricanes, if you think that’s all they do.

[@evilsharkey8954]

Hurricanes can flatten houses, too. The winds, storm surge, flooding, and back surge (water returning now heavily laden with debris) wreak havoc.

[@altolows7635]

The roof isn't brick.

[@hap1666]

It's a matter of resources and tradition. On the east coast where the original colonies were founded trees were common and had to be cleared to farm, so wood was a cheap resource, and easier than looking for clay and firing it into bricks. In fact, as the country expanded west, until the reached the great plains, the entire continent was for the most part covered in the old greenwood. This is very unlike the situation in England, the rest of the UK, and Europe, where the trees had been logged off many years ago, so large trees for high quality lumber were no longer available, although smaller trees for firewood and later coal were, so fired clay bricks were cheaper then wood frame construction. There's also the matter of soil type. In England, there is a good deal of clay in the soil, whereas in the American west most soils tend to be loam or sandy loam, so clay is less easy to find. Anyway, nowadays the lack of clay can be overcome using concrete, made of limestone which is relatively plentiful, however the traditions of wood frame houses are entrenched, and builders, being aware of this primarily make wood frame houses for the market. Also, there's the matter that wood and wood based materials such as composition board and plywood are easier to use, so housebuilding is faster and can be done with more unskilled laborers and fewer skilled trades, making the whole endeavor faster and cheaper.

[@michaelpeavy3074]

We have brick houses in Texas. Tornadoes find them crunchy and tasty with salsa. As far as why we don't have basements, depending on where you are: clay soil that is challenging for foundations, bedrock that's costly to cut through, high water table that makes the basements flood, or a combination of all three.

[@elky5987]

In the west coast bricks and concrete are avoided because they crumble in earthquake. wood, being more pliable, holds up better.

[@eeyore6532]

The brick homes that I've seen are wood framed with a brick facade. Even if the walls hold up, which they don't, the roof will still get torn off.

[@shaynearcher3726]

We used to build storm shelters. Why the heck don't we see more of those today???

[@govegan0424]

Trees are cheaper than bricks. Simple. The real question is why do we continue to make houses with brick on only the front? It looks hideous and looks like they had budget issues. Sooooooo tacky!

[@philherrick7319]

When I want advice from the Geico Gecko, I'll ask him

[@nashfordtx]

Brick vs F5🤔 I have always wondered why no basements in Texas...🤔

[@lizzaangelis3308]

In a tornado it does not matter if your house is made of straw wood or brick. You get a strong enough tornado and it’s gone. And so we have found it doesn’t matter much. I have seen hurricanes take out every house in the area save one…. Which then had to be demolished made from brick and wood….seen tornadoes leave well built brick houses as nothing more than clean slabs barely a pipe left standing

[@iamsecond3625]

People want to live free and they build their houses out of what they can afford or what materials are available. They do the best they can with what they got.

[@francheskahenderson]

If you are using the 3 little pigs story as the standard for building that will stand up against Mother Nature vs a wolf blowing out of his mouth maybe you should do experiments on the difference of the force of both wind forces. I have seen plenty of well built brick homes demolished from hurricanes and tornados.

[@Hackenberg]

The pressure differential on a tornado is similar to being nuked.

[@Shanktuary]

As a bricklaying family here in Texas, I assure you that most houses have brick and and rock and block on them. Only cheaper houses don't.

[@user-fv5ms4sz8e]

You need to watch more tornado videos and come to learn that brick cannot endure Tornadoes. There will be more of the structure remaining, but it will still mostly be gone. Only houses made out of reinforced concrete can withstand the stresses of tornadoes and most often there is too much expense involved in creating an adequate substructure to withstand the weight. This structure, to meet the size of the average house would be cost prohibitive to most people. This is why most people opt for a storm cellar. Relatively cheap and easy to maintain. It's best to have the cellar away from the house, to avoid getting trapped by its collapse or a tree falling on it.

[@kenhaworth7722]

Great question. Mine might be, Have you ever layd bricks? I'm thinking probably not.

[@jelipebands1700]

My house might not built out of bricks but it sure does sit on bricks… saves money on taxes!!!!

[@tanyamyers1637]

It's a lost art. The craftsmanship and patients is not there anymore.

[@cliffrusso1159]

Ollie, EF5 tornadoes can literally pulverize anything in their paths buddy. Bricks won't last a second if they're hit with a few trees or cars at 135+mph

[@caldodge]

Someone who's never experienced tornadoes pretends to know what sort of structures are tornado-proof.

[@michaelmendez5600]

Because it’s more profitable to build houses that fall down in the first storm.

[@brookeking8559]

Structural brick makes sense where some pests are prevalent, but truly they are not great in most storms, especially tornadoes. The US gets 90% of the tornadoes on earth each year. Most are near the middle of the country. Bricks don’t work. Regarding hurricanes. My family has been visited by both Camille and Michael, two of the strongest ever. Only three such category-5 named hurricanes have made landfall on the 50 states in recorded history, one more unnamed before we named them, and one in Puerto Rico. Yes, Camille and Michael caused a lot of devastation. After Camille our “sticks” home six blocks from landfall still stood but was uninhabitable because of the storm surge. After Michael’s eye and the rest of Michael passed over our “sticks” home in Panama City, it still was habitable, though it needed some work. Our detached garage was torn off its foundation and across the yard. Admittedly, some homes in the neighborhood were completely shredded down to the foundation. The brick house next door still stood like our “sticks” house, but they had to get a new roof - as did most in the area - while we didn’t. Even if bricks helped, no one makes roofs of brick.

[@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244]

First of all, a mandate for all buildings and homes to be made of brick is impossible. That can only happen in a socialist/communist country. I lived in Slovenia for a few years in the late 90s. They don't get high winds there, but the government-built apartment flats are small and highly regulated. As others point out here, brick homes don't stand up to large objects ramming them at 100mph. Another issue is that bricks make walls, not roots. Most often, homes lose their roofs in high winds. Finally, since American Freedom is founded on the idea of private property, the individual, not the state, must rebuild their homes. For this, they buy insurance. However, insurance companies are going out of business where high claim volumes have occurred. But this is why many victims of hurricanes, floods, etc., end up with trailers, or modular homes, as the payouts rarely match the rebuilt costs of the original homes. We do have well-established taxpayer-supported housing programs such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), but these programs have often been abused and politically manipulated. Abuse of FHA and government-guaranteed loans is what led to the Housing/Foreclosure Crisis of 2008=9 resulting in "The Great Recession." Simple analogies and simple thinking without full information rarely lead to a solution.

[@debbie9068]

Because we give all our money to world support and have little left for ourselves

[@evilsharkey8954]

We spend comparatively little on foreign aid compared to domestic spending, and people don’t vote for politicians who want to subsidize sturdier home construction because that means higher taxes and home prices, and the politicians who prefer to give tax cuts to rich people convince them that the real reason their lives are difficult is because of immigrants, gays, and other poor people, not the parasitic investment firms buying up everything around them and increasing prices while reducing quality and services.

[@susiedupuy9532]

We built own cities out of them. Bricks aren't in fashion since Chip and Joann came along.

[@johnnyllooddte3415]

hmmm.. yes i do know the answer..we re from texas and live in italy.. im an engineer and doctor.. weve built hundreds of houses in texas and the usa.. and none of ours have ever flooded or fallen from storms.. first, europe does NOT have many monsoons ,, hurricanes or tornadoes.. most europeans have never seen or heard of a tornadoe before the last decade or two.. most europeans live in community housing,,apartments and taller buildings .. most of europe has learned over the last 1000 years not to build in flood zones.. but weve still seen 1000s of houses FLOOD all across europe this last few months.. most western states didnt have building codes in the 1960s 70s and 80s.. especially out in the county.. millions bought lands on rivers and lakes and low lying areas that FLOOD.. you cant fix stupid.. millions live on lakes in europe.. millions live on beaches and flood zones along the coasts.. 90% of the world lives on coastal planes.. im happy you grew up on the HIGH CLIFFS of dover..90% of amercans live within 60 miles of the coast ,, lakes and rivers.. building codes are finally being improved.. BUT NO ONE in usa or england or europe is immune from flooding.. 90% still live in flood zones.. you just have turned a blind eye to it.. we see it every day

[@BrettHondow]

I can't afford a house of bricks. My wages barely allow for sticks, wood glue and used nails...

[@caldodge]

No hurricanes or tornadoes in Britain. That Englishman is Engnorant.

[@kathydever3674]

I have a brick house. I paid close attention to the 3 little pigs Lol

[@dianequigley9457]

😆😂🤣

[@alexhurst3986]

Because the US gets 94% of all tornados, some exceeding 250mph and can be over a mile across. It makes not a damn what you build your house of when it gets hit by that thing.

[@brandonfbomb_2327]

Also, wood is, and has always been, cheaper here. Ahem, capitalism, it's your mic...

[@wisdomcalls2475]

🤔you know , what will preach? there a Bible scripture on that topic; Matthew 7:24-27 English Standard Version Build Your House on the Rock 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

[@evilsharkey8954]

The rich people bought all the land on the rocks. The rest of us are stuck with sand and dirt.

[@davidjohnson-ic2nc]

We have more trees and if y’all live in the Northwest we don’t get y’alls nastiness as much. And that is my .02 cents

[@lsudx479]

Tornados 🌪 will take anything down. I'm not a meteorologist so I don't know how correct/incorrect I am, but I don't think many places outside of the USA get tornados.

[@paulbingville6485]

Because it's cost effective and works 99% of the time. The instances where a wood framed house was destroyed but a brick or block house would not have been are the exceptions, not the rule.

[@tillettman]

Sometimes a straw house is stronger. Look up straw bale housing.

[@jekku4688]

RIGHT. Houses made of sticks. AND NO BASEMENTS. in tornado alley. Go figure.

[@merriecardin8773]

$$$$$$

[@windmuser]

Why do Englishman assume they know better than us?

[@davidtillwach5542]

No your wrong Buggy bunny blew up the brick house with dynamite ,the three little pigs laughed and then buggys bunny blew it up with dynamite .

[@RealzFoSho]

Tornadoes delete big concrete and steel industrial buildings... I don't think you understand what "inclement weather" means in American English.

[@fjb4932]

Stubbornness combined with Pride, a deadly combination. " 'sides, i gots insurance !" ( won't really help if you're dead or mangled up, duh ). In '92 my unit from Charleston SC went down to Homestead Fl after hurricane Andrew. Hundreds of bare concrete pads with a water pipe or electrical conduit sticking up where a house Once stood. Only one house i remember, had soil/sod built up on all sides to the roof with doors and windows clear and free. Winds could not get a-holt ( Americanism ) of anything to grab on too. It was intact. Rest of the neighborhood was devastated. So, simple answer, No...i don't know. Guess "God will protect us !" Or "God's will !" Once you figure out Humans, let the rest of us know. I'm right curious myself . . . ☆

[@wesley4714]

Maybe when America moved away from real nails for airgun wire nail where a 16 penny nail is now a 8 penny 😂😂😂😂 and knotty would replaced good timber. The old homes stand the new blow away😂😂😂😂😂😂😂