Wood vs Brick built houses
May 25th 2011, 7:23 pm
#46
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Re: Wood vs Brick built houses
I live in an area that was apparently the biggest building site in Europe. Thousands of new houses over the last decade and they're still building. All the ones I've seen are breeze block inner walls and brick exterior. Note that the brickwork is not just decorative though, it also forms the insulation barrier.
May 25th 2011, 8:19 pm
#47
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Wood vs Brick built houses
PU would give an R of 6 per inch so that is probably the filler, more likely sheet if it is new build.
May 25th 2011, 10:13 pm
#48
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Re: Wood vs Brick built houses
No filler here, though I know what you mean. I don't know what it does to the dozens of airholes either - they must be there for a reason, so is the filler "breathable"?
May 25th 2011, 10:44 pm
#50
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Joined: Oct 2005
Location: US of A, TN
Posts: 3,573
Re: Wood vs Brick built houses
I live right on the border of Alabama and I can tell you from first hand experience that even brick buildings were wiped out last month. I drive through Harvest Alabama several times a week and some very nice and expensive brick homes are nothing but rubble.
It's probably going to take much longer to rebuild that area than it will places with wood built houses. That said I still like my brick house but I always go to my storm shelter when the sirens go off.
It's probably going to take much longer to rebuild that area than it will places with wood built houses. That said I still like my brick house but I always go to my storm shelter when the sirens go off.
May 25th 2011, 10:51 pm
#51
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Joined: May 2008
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Re: Wood vs Brick built houses
Safe rooms (usually small rooms built under the concrete garage floor or house concrete slab) are becoming common in recent years in tornado alley. They are small and cheap to build in a new house. A cellar may not be safe if it is not below a concrete floor since a F4-5 tornado can rip a wood framed attached floor from the cellar.
Even if someone builds a steel frame with rebar brick house, that still won't protect anyone since windows will break causing debris flying through the windows. Also the roof will likely be torn off in a direct F4-5 tornado hit.
Even if someone builds a steel frame with rebar brick house, that still won't protect anyone since windows will break causing debris flying through the windows. Also the roof will likely be torn off in a direct F4-5 tornado hit.
projectiles, such as tree limbs, vehicles, and other debris being hurled at them at a high rate of speed. Then it becomes a domino affect. I haven't done any structural design for a while, but I believe that in most areas, the wind loading is designed for 90 mph. In hurricane areas, buildings that house things such as backup generators are designed for a wind loading of 150mph.
An EF4 tornado hit 5 miles from us last month, and the damage done to older buildings was horrendous. A recovery I was at in the 90s had 2" thick steel doors bent beyond repair. A 400lb roof fan was torn from its moorings, and found 1/4 mile away, after being through a warehouse wall.
So, I guess if you design your house using H and W sections, it may well stand, but the windows will be blown out. Which is why some poor souls believed that if they opened their windows during a tornado, they would be OK!!
The experts say that there is still a lot that we have to learn about tornados, but one of the more recent thinkings is that often there are tornados in tornados.
