The haunting question

 I've been thinking about this a lot. For days.

At the day and night.

And even dreamed about it.

When I lay down, I put my hands under my head and wonder quietly,

"Why are American houses built from wood?"

Photo by Sieuwert Otterloo on Unsplash

When I watched a house renovation on Youtube, I thought it was only cabin houses, tiny or small houses that use wood mainly for the structure. But then I saw big houses with multiple floors built with wooden structures, using plywood and drywall for the walls. It is so strange for me because here when we build big houses, we use brick and cement because it is perceived as more solid and strong. So the wooden structures with plywood just look very thin and not really strong for me. It is different from some traditional wooden houses where they use big timber with a secured joint mainly using the structure of the wood.

Even when I watched HGTV, where they renovate a huge house, when they destroy the old room, for example, it was so easy to break down a wall, because it was so thin. It was just amazing to me how they can make a beautiful house, with a big structure by using wood, and the facade looks totally like it is built by brick. In Indonesia, if it is a wooden house, you can tell it is a wooden house because it just looks like a wooden house.

I searched passionately on Google, and apparently, quite a lot of people are wondering the same thing as me. Strangers connection here.  

But I really couldn't find any solid reason that can convince me of the real reason why the houses in America are built from wood.

Some of the reasons are

1. "The reason is because they always make it from wood since they (European) arrive (in America). Because that's what's available. So they continue to use wood. "
2. "it allowed house construction to be faster than using cement and brick"
3. "Because America has a lot of wood"
4. "Because America like cheaper materials to get the best profit"
5. "Because it's been like that for so long, the whole industry for that is already established, thus it is better to stay that way (building from wood) to keep the industry thriving and they already have expertise in it"

Reason 1, but why don't people try to find alternatives now? In Indonesia, the traditional houses are also built from wood and bamboo, but it stays only for a rather traditional house or we call it a semi-permanent house, more modern houses use brick and cement.

Reason 2, well that could be true, but still, I wonder why do they use the same material (wood) when they build big houses as well? 

Reason 3, hmmm

Reason 4, Nah, but wood can be expensive as well. And what about the maintenance? that must be expensive too...

Reason 5, ah....that could be. hmm...

Then I still try to collect more input.

I asked my American friend.

"It has to be wood, especially in California with many earthquakes. The wood gives the building the ability to move back and forth and still stand up. in NY, the old buildings are from brick. And the brick buildings have many internal cracks, which is deemed unsafe"

Hmm..that could be true. But isn't California also prone to fire if I'm not mistaken? which means danger for wooden houses. And there is also reinforced concrete that can be built well to be safe in an earthquake...

I'm still finding more and more reasons for this.

Or maybe the reasons are just the combination of it all, which makes it the perfect reason to keep using wood for houses in America. 

And my follow-up question for this is,

"Why are Indonesian modern houses not built from wood?"

We have lots of wood. We also have lots of wooden houses, as well. Why don't we build the houses with just a modern look but from wood, just like in America?

Or maybe bamboo...we have lots of it, we have lots of bamboo houses as well, but they all look just like original bamboo. Can we build modern houses with bamboo?

Well, if anyone knows anything about it, please let me know. Thanks. Bye.