Asking a builder how to build a house is like letting Jesse James guard the bank
8 months ago (edited) | 14
In ancient times, people used holes inside columns/brickwork and vaulted ceilings etc for earthquakes which still hold up over thousands of years. In Russia, fires were a constant issue due to wooden buildings being commonplace and Peter the Great tried to rebuild Moscow with brick/stone. Likewise Emperor Nero in Rome likely deliberately burned down Rome in favour of stone architecture replacing wooden houses/slums. Today many houses are still highly flammable due to wood and cheap flammable building materials and shoddy cheap construction and lack of building inspections and enforcements on landlords to maintain proper standards. The Romans added Volcanic ash and Quicklime/slaked lime to concrete which never fully sets and remains damp even after 2000 years (i.e. Colloseum) and the ancient Chinese used Sticky Rice and slaked Lime mortar which also contained bacteria which self-repairs (i.e. The Great Wall of China). Today architects are using these ancient technologies for fire retardation, water-proofing buildings and self-repairing cracks. There are also modern construction techniques which are less expensive than stone/brick today such as G-LWC (Geopolymer concrete), AAC, Cellular Concrete which is incredibly lightweight due to foam and silica glass/lime mix. Frank Lloyd Wright the architect pioneered large sized "Usonian" homes for the Working/Middle Class made from Concrete blocks with plywood walls that families could pick from an off-plan catalogue of 200+ designs and which would be arranged in a grid pattern urban plan.
8 months ago (edited) | 8
Please make it seperate CA, FL. Make each state a indepth series.
8 months ago | 35
my friend was a union carpenter in michigan. years ago when things got tough he went to florida and built houses for a contractor. he went home a couple of years later and told me how shoddy the houses in florida were being built.
8 months ago | 19
Ask them if they will only build blue houses with blue metal roofs that survive DEWs? Ask them if they know the role of Smart meters in starting these fires? If not, don't use them.
8 months ago | 8
With all the latest technology including AI, why are we stuck with 19th century house construction?
8 months ago | 8
I'm from puerto rico, so my questions are based on what i see from afar. 1. Why are homes not built with concrete? 2. Why is the roof not built with concrete? 3. Do prices change drastically if they were built in concrete? Insurance is way lower here in PR due to concrete homes, yet we get more hurricanes and floods than FL. So i think it makes sense for both the buyer and the insurer to build everything in concrete.
8 months ago | 78
The root problem is essentially climactic. In an area like the Palisades it would surely make more sense to build at a lower density using fire resistant materials and maybe even to ban the planting of combustible vegetation.
8 months ago | 6
One solution is monolithic domes they are fire and tornado proof. If it floods take the furniture out and pressure wash it. The problem is home builders convince the local government to not allow them to be built in urban areas. You also can't get financing because they say it is unconventional. I say it's because it won't need to be rebuilt over and over and insurance companies wouldn't have as much leverage to charge high rates.
8 months ago | 4
4 round homes made it through andrew while nothing left around them. Equal pressure all around does no damage.
8 months ago | 24
I’m surprised that there isn’t some regulation for standing structures in wild fire prone areas to be constructed of brick or concrete.
8 months ago (edited) | 5
I see new construction of 1.5-3 milion dollar houses going up in South Florida upper floor complete wood strucure lower part ic CBS. Half wood box for 3 mil is crazy. In case of fire it will go as LA
8 months ago | 3
Earthbag construction withstands fire and high winds. Why is it not more common?
8 months ago | 6
Thanks to updated building codes, my home....built in SWFL in 2016...has made it through 4 hurricanes with just a torn lanai screen. And I was careful not to build in a special flood hazard zone.
8 months ago | 7
These homes should be built w/ all 4 walls & roof out of concrete & reinforced steel/rebar as they’re mandated thru strict building codes on Guam. Guam can be the model. Homes are fire resistant & typhoon (hurricane) proof.
8 months ago | 1
In California most framing is built out of wood 1 & 2 HR 90% due to earthquakes but not fire .
8 months ago | 4
People are talking about how it would be preferable to have homes built of brick or concrete in California to with stand fire, could you ask the person how practical it would be to build these structures from these material to withstand earthquakes?
8 months ago (edited) | 4
At this point sorry but people who want to build on the Florida pan handle or in known California fire zones should be on their own - a separate risk pool. The writing is on the wall and the risk levels are so high that the rest of us should not be on the hook for these expenses whatsoever. So in other words if you are extremely wealthy and want to assume these risks, go for it. But the rest of us shouldn’t have to pay for it through astronomical insurance costs that are absorbed by the taxpayer.
8 months ago | 3
It matters but if someone wants to burn it down for some reason? It doesn't really matter what it's made of, I guess the new fires can make stones almost to dust but your tree will be OK.
8 months ago | 1
Michael Bordenaro
I’m going to be talking to Florida based general contractors who also have a background in civil engineering and architecture. We are going to specifically be talking about how houses are built today, and how they should be built especially when it comes the fires in California and hurricanes in Florida. Leave your questions below about building a home so I can include some of the best ones in an upcoming video.
8 months ago | [YT] | 1,248