Home Construction, Was: [U.S.] Protest Thursday - Nobody is Above the Law

[robkelk]

Wood frame building is incredibly common in North American buildings of three storeys or fewer, for the simple reason that we have a lot of forests and thus a lot of inexpensive timber. Yes, it's a fire hazard. We cope... somehow.

Frame construction also has the advantage of being slightly more survivable if it collapses during an earthquake - you've got dozens of kilograms of mass over you instead of the hundreds of kilograms you'd have with solid-wall concrete or stone construction.