[teoruiz]

Honest question: why are houses in the US primarily built with wood? Is it just because it’s cheaper?

Even if it’s cheaper, is it worth to have a cheaper but obviously less durable building when compared to brick and mortar?

It’s always been baffling for my southern European mind.

[Gibbon1]

Depends on where you are in the US. There are a lot of brick and stone buildings in the northeast. Florida because of hurricanes they tend to build houses out of cinder block. In California because of earthquakes they tend not to build with masonry.

That said the US historically had a lot of wood. Most everywhere. So it was cheap and light[1] easy to transport. And wood if it's kept dry is durable. My house is 70 years old. The wood framing is totally solid. Previous house is 115 years old. The framing is also solid.

[1] House built of wood is probably 1/4 the weight of a house built of masonry.

[rsanheim]

It goes up much quicker and requires less highly skilled tradesman to build and to maintain.

There are new developments in the states where they produce the frames for the various housing 'templates' off-site, and then ship it to the plots and build the house there, almost like a lego kit.

[kps]

A wood frame is much better in earthquakes; it just happily flexes. Steel is an alternative but until the plague was more expensive than wood.

[QuadmasterXLII]

At least in my area, brick houses are actually less durable because they crack on our shifty soils

[jjtheblunt]

I'm from the suburbs of Chicago and brick and mortar are very very normal there.

[diydsp]

For my gf (in the usa), it's aesthetics. Though I look at brick and think "longevity." Perhaps historically it was cheaper/easier to use local wood and that image stuck with people?

[ImprovedSilence]

Nothing is built with brick anymore. If you see a newer than 1940s brick house, its a stick frame (wood) with a layer of brick outside it for aesthetics. Also people associate brick with longevity, but as several of my friends in old ass brick row homes, their foundations are crumbling, and are usually in need of serious structural repair. Brick isnt bomb proof like people think it is. Its even more susceptible to long term stress from wind shear.

[cigaser]

Relic from boom after WW2, many houses needed to be build fast.