17 Jun
2007
17 Jun
'07
2:56 a.m.
On Sat, 2007-06-16 at 13:40 -0400, Teo Zenios wrote:
Because most houses are not in an earthquake zone, building with wood is
faster and cheaper, and the US and Canada is full of forests.
In the UK we have a lot of timber from Forestry Commission plantations,
but we still build with brick, concrete or stone. My house up north has
3' thick stone walls. Anything less and it would blow away in the
winter storms. What Floridians call a tornado, we call "January".
Basically for a month and a bit, we get a minimum of 70mph winds,
anything up to 120 and we've recorded sustained wind speeds of nearly
150mph. Makes it hard to hang your washing out to dry; you need to use
mole grips instead of clothes pegs.
Gordon