why are most suburban houses in the US built with wood, instead of bricks and mortar?

Question

why are most suburban houses in the US built with wood, instead of bricks and mortar?

In: 5

Answer 1

This tends to be asked by Europeans. At least in Canada, besides costs, there is a need for much greater insulation than in the EU. It is not unusual in Canada to experience lows of -30C (at least for a few days) and highs about 33C, so a swing of around 65C. That means houses have to be warm in winter and relatively easy to cool in summer. (Even without air conditioning, a well insulated house is much more comfortable on a hot day).

This is very hard to accomplish with bricks and mortar. My house, for example is Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) and extremely well insulated, but it cost about 2x what the wood equivalent would have cost.