Why 95% of American Homes Are Made With 2x4s

Concrete all the way. Paper house have nothing to do against a tornado or a hurricane.

8:52 r we gonna talk about that massive puddle likely not being cleaned up?

37% more costly, 2x more time to build but 71% more lasting

I live in U.S. actually in northern part of South Carolina since 44 years, so I can tell why in America houses are built of 2x4 and plywood. The reason is: builders are not able to build real houses. Although I am not a builder, in 1985, with a help of 2 teenage sons, working only weekends and vacations, started construction of a areal house: masonry (8"concrete blocks and 4" concrete blocks separated by 2" Styrofoam) walls and concrete slabs as a floors, including the attic floor. Local builder's price for typical 2x4 frame, unfinished 1600 sq.feet house was $85 k. We built 1600 sq. feet house with full, livable basement, including 3 bathrooms, kitchen and even an elevator running form the basement to the attic for $50 k. My neighbors called my house "atomic shelter"; some of them wanted to sue me because of use concrete blocks. I avoided the law suit by stuccoing exterior walls.
We live in this house 39 years with no problems and I am not afraid of tornado. This house will serve for another 100 years.
Later, in 1998, I decided to build my business building 16 k. sq. feet. By law, I had to hire general contractor, which hired several subcontractor. The construction was a disaster. They did everything wrong. It was finished in courts. On the $390 k. project, I received $200 k. judgement for correcting the bad work. General Contractor went out of business, so I had to do it myself. It was only because I insisted on masonry walls, while the General Contractor wanted to build metal building, which in summer time works as an oven.

Americans even deceive themselves by building frame houses for crazy money. What you don't have enough housing for is that, apparently, most of it is just rented out. So, let's say, a group of people has a lot of houses and rents them out to you, so you're forced to buy houses at inflated prices because there's a constant demand for rental houses.

THE FRAME HOUSE IS VERY BAD. THE THERMAL REGULATION IS BAD, IT BUDS, IT ROTS, THE HOUSES HAVE LONG BEEN BUILT FROM FOAM BLOCKS THAT ARE LIGHT AND DURABLE.

Yes more than twice the size of house but how many live in the streets?

You can build the walls and the roof of German masonry home in a few weeks. What takes time is fitting in all the internals: Windows, floors, wall finish, heating system, plumbing, electrical.

How many houses a country builds does usually not depend on how long it takes to build a house. The time it takes to build mainly influences the cost.

What limits the rate of construction is availability of land (including permitting), available capital and available labour. If building takes longer that can increase the cost (and thus less unit for the same capital) and it can require more labour.

What might shock Americans, just putting in a screed floor can take a month (as you have to let it dry very slowly).

Germany sits at the top when comes to what percentage of people are paying rent instead of owning the place they live in, with over 50% renting. An even higher percentage, 62% (if I understood the data correctly), live in multi-family homes, ie, apartments.

you can also build really fast using lightweight concrete blocks with isolation built in, it's basically like building with Legos. Classical masonry techniques are far from the best method if you want something heavy and robust.

70 yrs for major repairs more like 10 yrs if it gets built in the minimum standard

I'm from. Romania and there are plenty of competing technologies and solutions. A friend of mine built an American style house right close to me. Went to help him add some cameras, the structure is not great not terrible. Squeaky stairs and upper floor, nice downstairs, average house. Clearly an industrial product and this puts it above the majority of whatever other housing. How much of your house is made industrially and how much on site is the key to cost and benefit. Cos the american guy may build with plant based products. But he raises an entire wall, an OSB board or whatever it is. You could raise the entire wall for European style housing. But you don't and that's a problem. Of course the industrial product wins. It doesn't have to be OSB. Can be anything, concrete panels, all sort of engineered panels. Americans have the correct ideea, highly urban mentality, faster is better. The execution happens to be rural and plant based but the ideea is totally correct

I've moved from a masonry to a stick country (Australia) and I must say, I really miss masonry. No fear of termites, strong winds, fire... One feels more protected. It feels sturdy, solid and not so lightweight. And where I'm from most houses have proper centralized heating for every room. But there's one upside to sheetrock and studs: you can just open the walls and do whatever you want, wire something, put insulation in, whatever you desire.

You know one way to improve the supply of homes? Build homes that last. A well-built structural masonry home can stand for centuries. But in America, we have short attention spans, and we’re incapable of thinking long-term.

7:28 6-7 ???

12:26
I don’t believe this, for the rich it’s of course okay but for the mass majority population buying homes at higher prices while the materials get cheaper. I wouldn’t take pride in the American homebuilding industry.

Here in America the quality of homes is crap. Custom vs Tract homes, custom homes can be pretty well built. Only the rich can afford it obviously. For the majority our houses such as myself are built of 2x4s, 1’ foam and 1’ stucco layer. Garbage build. This is here in California. Why do we build this way. I would’ve been more impressed if they sheathed the walls with plywood or OSB. It’s embarrassing to explain this to someone from another country that own well built homes. As an American why can’t we call out our city or county and demand higher quality builds. I already paid over 350k. I’d rather pay $400k for the same home built with higher standards.

I'm building a small house by myself. It has been quite feasible with stick framing. Given how much effort just the piers for the foundation where, I can't imagine tackling a masonry walled home in my retirement.

Where are the sources for all of your claims and "figures"? Nearly everything shown here is contradicted by actual studies. The only true point I've seen here is that stick framing is faster.
Worse yet is the perpetuation of the misdirect that there is demand for more housing, rather than a demand for affordable housing. We have enough places available to live, but no one can afford them.

It's strange that American family is smaller but the houses are continuously getting bigger.

I understand the argument that the United States has more land available for housing, but land alone does not explain why homes are still so expensive. The real issue seems to be a combination of land prices, construction costs, labor, permits, financing, material prices, and the way the housing industry is structured.



Material costs are also a major part of the problem. If reinforced concrete or masonry is much more expensive than wood framing, then most builders will naturally keep choosing wood. But that price difference may also reflect a lack of policies, incentives, or large-scale supply chains that would make more durable materials affordable for regular homes.



And honestly, it also makes me wonder whether there are powerful interests in the lumber industry protecting the current system. Maybe it is not a “mafia” in the literal sense, but there could be monopolistic behavior, lobbying, or industry pressure that prevents better policies from being implemented. If large companies benefit from keeping wood framing as the standard, they obviously have no incentive to promote reinforced concrete, masonry, or stronger construction methods for regular families.



I also think the size of American houses is connected to lifestyle. In the U.S., everything tends to be larger: cars, garages, kitchens, appliances, furniture, and indoor spaces. There is also a health and comfort factor, since a very high percentage of adults are overweight or obese, so larger spaces may feel more normal or necessary in everyday life.



But maybe the solution should not always be to build bigger and more expensive houses. Maybe the discussion should be about smaller, better-designed, more efficient homes that use space intelligently and are built to last.



In countries like Chile, many homes use reinforced concrete or masonry, which can offer more durability and a stronger structure. In the U.S., wood framing is cheaper, faster, and deeply embedded in the construction industry, but that does not mean it is always the best long-term solution.



At some point, the question should be: why are there not more policies, subsidies, incentives, or construction standards that make it possible to build homes properly, from strong foundations upward, with reinforced concrete, solid walls, and long-term durability in mind?



So I think this topic is much more complex than just “there is more land.” It involves land value, construction costs, material policy, industry interests, lobbying, lifestyle, housing design, and long-term durability.

in which world a home build of concrete needs a replacement/major repair in 120 years? Where did you find this statistics? The vast majority of capitals and big cities in EU have buildings 3 times older than US itself. I own a couple of appartments in buildings that are 150 YO and nobody even envision those ever going away.
We eat asian food with what you build houses in US.

Disposable houses like in the US main goal is to serve the capitalism, constant repairs, constant maintenance which is not bad. More work, moves the economy.

Make bricks and concrete houses great again

Nice video.

But if you dont tell why Americans started to build with this wood you miss the point.
Tell what George Washington Snow did in Chicago that caused the huge change in house buiging in the USA.
All other stuff is related to that

So basically Americans prefer quantity over quality

"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" - Everytime this goes through my mind when I watch storm chaser videos from Tornado Alley. Does "balloon framing" imply that houses made that way likely "inflate" and then go "pop" when a tornado with it's low air pressure tears it apart?

You have your historical info wrong, houses in European countries dating back to the XIV (the 1300s) and XV ( the 1400s) centuries during the Renaissance and even centuries before the time of the Pilgrims' arrival to the American Continent in the XVII century were built by masons, NOT CARPENTERS, with stones, bricks and mud. Paintings and frescoes from that era show that, as well as some historic ruins still standing like the great European Castles, or much earlier like the Roman Colosseum, the ruins from the city of Pompey, as well as homes in most European countries' towns and villages, or the Greek temples, or the "Castros" (homes) in Galicia, Northern Spain, built by the Celts, the Suevi and the Alans that settled that area when it was still a Roman province (Hispania) as well as the Visigoths in the rest of Northern Spain.

The Romans in their provinces, and the Muslims during the 800 year occupation of most of Spain (from 711 BC to 1492 AC) taught most of Barbarian Europeans, after they conquered them, their masonry skills. The actual reason why those who immigrated from Europe to the American Continent in the XVII century started building very rustic log cabins was because there was plenty of trees and a log cabin was the cheapest, simplest, quickest and easiest way to build an abode to protect themselves from the elements and for security reasons, not because they used to build their homes in their original European countries out of wood. Good construction wood was readily available, why complicate their lives doing masonry homes?

Your video is very entertaining but your historic info is completely flawed, specially that story about the pilgrims... maybe because your channel is dedicated to do videos based on the U.S. way of building homes with "sticks"...

I’d still choose the cardboard house for so many reasons. If you’re in the trades, you can fix almost anything yourself and or know a buddy that can help you out. Cheap and fast. Anything that is a problem, you can always bulletproof if you are smart and crafty enough

So, does Germany want Americans moving there

My stick frame home was built in 1912 , and it's still standing , we also have another home ,two doors from me that is over 150 years old, and it's in great shape

I have written a white paper on this topic. Ask me. And interviewed many builders. Most are afraid to lose market share if they switch from stick framing (termite farming). I own a 270 sq m home accrossthe pond. Times it by 10.8 to get the sq ft. My company built several 11000 sq ft office buildings with AAC blocks in 4 months turn key. That was in Kazakhstan when I ran a company over there

Now I know why punching on wall break the wall in USA & in Europe it’s the hand

Both methods are valid. I live in Argentina, where we had italian and spanish inmigration, so our homes are mostly made with bricks (solid or hollowed). The pro is that homes are stronger and more resistant to water infiltration without having the rot issue. On the other hand, once you built and layed out the wiring, pipes, etc, any upgrade or maintenance will envolve heavy intervention, affecting the visuals of the finish product, where with a drywall you can replace a panel, paint and no one will notice the difference. And the trade off between cost and size is a big thing that make me understand american homes. They are so much more comfortables than small houses. And don't forget about the equipment: most american homes have central HVAC systems, 2 car garage, dishwashers, big fridges, etc, is not only about the construction itself, is about the whole house when you compare.

Affordable 😂

2450sq ft average home size? Buddy visit NYC.