Why Americans (Intentionally) Build Cheap, Flimsy Houses

In the United States, an area known as "Tornado Alley" experiences over 1,200 tornadoes each year. Yet still to this day, 93% of new single-family homes are built with light wood framing, mostly without basements or shelters. WHY?! Go to https://surfshark.com/typeashton or use code TYPEASHTON at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!

In this video, I explore the costs and benefits of timber versus concrete construction and why there are differences in US home design to European home design. Plus I take a deeper look at how US building practices remain influenced by cost and financing, despite the obvious benefits to safety and human life.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:26 The History of Home Building in the United States
06:07 The Cost of Cheap Houses
09:22 Seek Shelter... where?
12:54 Accessing Blocked Resources & Research
14:13 How Likely is a Tornado?
16:36 The Real Reason We Build Wood Houses in Tornado Alley
19:50 FEMA & American Consumption

All Sources at End of Video to Read More

Did you enjoy this video? Here are some others that I enjoyed which provide different context and information on US Home Design and why US houses are built from wood.

Recommended Viewing:
Why So Many American Homes Are Flimsy - Cheddar Explains by ‪@cheddar‬    • Why So Many American Homes Are Flimsy - Ch...  

Why Do American Homes Suck? by ‪@UndecidedMF‬    • Why Do American Homes Suck?  

Why We (Intentionally) Don’t Build Tornado-Proof Homes by ‪@TheHustleChannel‬    • Why We (Intentionally) Don’t Build Tornado...  

House Sizes Are Getting Absurd by ‪@stewarthicks‬    • House Sizes Are Getting Absurd  

Episode No. 177
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Attribution:
Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic
Thank you to AP Archive and the Library of Congress for access to their archival footage.
Stock footage and others clips by Getty and Envato Elements

Narrated and produced by Dr. Ashton Schottler

#home #homedesign #safety #tornado #concrete #woodframing #construction #homeconstruction #economics #financing #buildingconstruction #buildingconstruction #europe #unitedstates #usa #europeanunion #eu #macroeconomics #gdp