Why are American houses built from bricks?

[DanS]

Brick doesn't provide any meaningful insulation.

[Skanky Burns]

Double brick does.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Oerdin
As a geologist and I can tell you that you have nothing to fear from granite. The argon and potasium elements which are radioactive are extrodinarially small and even trained scientist with state of the art equipment have a hard time measuring the amount of radioactive decay which has occured. They have to take their time and be extra careful.

Besides all volcanic rocks and all sedimentary & metamorphic rocks derived from volcanic rocks contain trace radioactive elements but it is far lower then the background radiation we get bombarded with each and every day.

The problem is Radon, and this isn't cloud-cuckoo stuff. If you are buying a property in Cornwall (all granite), you will be strongly advised to fit sub-floor ventilation to minimise Radon incursion into the house. Otherwise your risk of contracting lung cancer (and other problems) rises significantly.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Here's an EPA link.

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/

It's a problem in non-Granite areas, but Granite bedrock hikes up the risk factor.

[Dr Strangelove]

It doesn't rain very much in the middle east. That's why they can build their homes out of dried mud. Their homes wouldn't last very long in wetter climes like the eastern USA. Brick resists rain much better than dried mud.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
(is that the term I'm thinking of, Oerdin? it's been so long)

You were right on target MM.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
The problem is Radon, and this isn't cloud-cuckoo stuff. If you are buying a property in Cornwall (all granite), you will be strongly advised to fit sub-floor ventilation to minimise Radon incursion into the house. Otherwise your risk of contracting lung cancer (and other problems) rises significantly.

Radon is a naturally occuring gas which isn't necissarially tied to the presence of Granite or any other rock. Here in California Granite is the most common rock in the state but we have extremely low instances of radon. Of course we also don't have basements where the stuff can just pool up in but still the natural release of radon from the ground is dependent upon alot of factors and the presence of granite in and of itself isn't really indicative of much.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oerdin
As a geologist and I can tell you that you have nothing to fear from granite. The argon and potasium elements which are radioactive are extrodinarially small and even trained scientist with state of the art equipment have a hard time measuring the amount of radioactive decay which has occured. They have to take their time and be extra careful.

It's radon that people are worried about.

[MOBIUS]

My theory at least for the eastern cities of the US is that it is due to the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed a vast swathe of the centre of London and meant that sweeping laws were brought in to prevent a repeat by using less combustible materials as building materials...

Since we were your masters back then, I expect those laws also applied to cities like New York, Boston and Philly etc.

Nowadays house fires are less common and we are far more able to tackle them quickly...

[Sava]

Originally posted by Oerdin
You need to travel more Speer then maybe you would notice the regional differences in building materials.

Speer is under the impression that all of America is like his little corner of Philly.

[tinyp3nis]

So, if somebody builds a house from granite it will be radioactive if the granite is taken from a place that has lots of radon? Or not even then?

[Spiffor]

Over here most new houses are in concrete, sometimes with a makeup that looks like wood/brick/whatever looks good. In Britanny however, most houses are in granite (most common rock), and I didn't hear there were any problems attached to it.

[Ned]

I have been in the adobe building of the attached mission at Carmel. They are indeed very cool in the summer. They also seemed to have survived several hundred years of California quakes.

I suspect that adobe construction is no longer used in California for a reason. The most likely reason is that Americans know nothing about it since the first American settlers from in the 1840's began building with wood.

[monolith94]

Temple is in Philly, huh? Well, speer, if you ever leave Philly, you will discover an amazing non-philly world out there.

[Al B. Sure!]

i really thought all the houses everywhere were made out of bricks... i know that out of the city you don't got littered side-walks with spent roaches all over the cement and you don't got gutted factories and what not... but houses aren't universally made out of brick? that's something...