When did we switch over to using wood framing to build buildings as opposed to brick? Is one better than the other?
In: Engineering
People have been building timber houses for a very very long time.
From the context of your question though I am assuming you’re talking about the general change in the US where in a good portion of the country the dominant housing material changed from Brick to Timber during the 1960s to 1970s?
Prior to this era timber required a fair amount of skill to frame and was a lot more labor intensive than it is now. Over the 60s and 70s there were a bunch of advances in timber construction that made it much more economical:
1. Joist hangers. These are light gauge metal angles and other connectors that allow economical and quick and strong connections between timber members that used to be much harder to obtain.
2. Portable power tools.
3. Standardization of timber sizes and pre-fabricated roof frames. This made it very quick to frame out roofs.
4. Long span timber truss type products (there are a bunch of these, but the gist is they fabricate long spanning members from relatively cheap 2×4 pieces.)
5. Better building envelope products – keeps water out better so timber is much more durable.
All this, and more, made timber a very economical way to build a house. Brick, on the other hand, saw very few developments. Even today the tools and methods are almost identical to those used centuries ago. So it was/is much more labor intensive, and therefore much more expensive, so it fairly quickly became a niche construction material. You’ll rarely see an actual brick house built today in the US.
Timber has a lot of positives – good in earthquakes, it can be designed for good wind resistance, an exterior wall with 2×6 studs and insulation has around 10x the insulation rating as a brick wall, and things like plumbing and electrical systems are much easier to install and more flexible to modify.
Brick is better at high winds, normally, and is more resistant to water and other environmental issues, although can be very expensive to repair.
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