• BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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    13 hours ago

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

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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      3 hours 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.

    • dafo@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

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

    • GissaMittJobb
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      10 hours ago

      Nothing wrong with wood as a construction material. The key factor is the insulation.

    • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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      10 hours 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.

      • BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours 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

      • el_abuelo@programming.dev
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        9 hours ago

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

        Europeans still have insulation in the wall cavity.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      8 hours 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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        6 hours 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?

    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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      10 hours 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.