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It'd make things much easier to comment on if the OP gave us a link (photos, streetview, or to the skyscreaperpage that he mentioned)
Not to speak for the OP, but I'd take a guess and say he's talking about a lot of the new transit-oriented mixed-use properties that seem to be going up very quickly around the US...many of which I've seen while under construction and they seem to be mostly wooden, sans some steel beams in the underlying structure. A lot of these buildings are finished off with a brick or stucco exterior, mimicking the look of a true masonry structure, at likely a much lower cost.
Here's a new Hudson Bergen Light Rail TOD at the 45th street station in Bayonne.
The only image I could find is the 45-degree angle Google Maps view, as the street view still shows a vacant lot from 2007. I pass by this spot every day either in my car or on the train, and it's almost near completion.
Another example I could think of is out in Fanwood, NJ's town center, next to a station on the NJT Raritan Valley commuter rail line.
Wait, is this a thread about high density apartments or ultra low density McMansions?
It doesn't matter. It's all the same cheap, crappy modern American construction, designed to maximize developers profits. Got to make the 1%ers richer, and if 5000 Americans a year have to die because of it, thats the price we have to pay.
For Gary Keith, NFPA’s vice-president of Field Operations and Education and chair of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Board of Directors, the most critical step for dealing with lightweight fire issues is pushing ahead with NFPA’s Fire Sprinkler Initiative, which encourages communities to adopt ordinances requiring sprinklers in all new one- and two-family homes.
"What is most disturbing to us now is the movement by states, influenced by the builder community, to actually prohibit counties and municipalities from adopting a sprinkler requirement," says Keith.
The codes are influenced by the builders, with their profits in mind, not your safety.
For Gary Keith, NFPA’s vice-president of Field Operations and Education and chair of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Board of Directors, the most critical step for dealing with lightweight fire issues is pushing ahead with NFPA’s Fire Sprinkler Initiative, which encourages communities to adopt ordinances requiring sprinklers in all new one- and two-family homes.
"What is most disturbing to us now is the movement by states, influenced by the builder community, to actually prohibit counties and municipalities from adopting a sprinkler requirement," says Keith.
The codes are influenced by the builders, with their profits in mind, not your safety.
maybe its me, but that looks like its about sprinkler requirements, not about wood frame construction.
For Gary Keith, NFPA’s vice-president of Field Operations and Education and chair of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Board of Directors, the most critical step for dealing with lightweight fire issues is pushing ahead with NFPA’s Fire Sprinkler Initiative, which encourages communities to adopt ordinances requiring sprinklers in all new one- and two-family homes.
"What is most disturbing to us now is the movement by states, influenced by the builder community, to actually prohibit counties and municipalities from adopting a sprinkler requirement," says Keith.
The codes are influenced by the builders, with their profits in mind, not your safety.
You wrote:
"You do know that building and fire codes are written by rich developers, to maximize their profits, by allowing them to construct the cheapest, crappiest buildings that can possibly be inhabited, right?"
Of course builders have input as to the regulations that impact their business. No industry, not a single one, is regulated without the input of the people engaged in that business.
Having input is a FAR FAR FAR cry from being "written by rich developers, to maximize their profits, by allowing them to construct the cheapest, crappiest buildings that can possibly be inhabited."
Risk/liability of fire in residential is highest in 1) older multi-family 2) older single family 3) newer multifamily and lowest in 4) newer single family. From a cost/benefit stand point it makes more sense to add fire protection to older construction rather than require it in new single family.
Also a significant number of newer single family homes destroyed by fire would not be saved by fire sprinklers, specifically the thousands of homes lost in wild fires over the last decade.
As a builder, I have the skill and knowledge to build a completely fireproof house, but I doubt you or your bank could afford it. I do offer a fire sprinkler system as an option in new construction but do not believe it should be required for single family construction.
... and if 5000 Americans a year have to die because of it, thats the price we have to pay.
In a word: Yes.
Though I would guess that only a fraction of those fire deaths are related to wood frame construction and could be eliminated by stricter safety standards. So more like 2000. And, again, yes. That's an acceptable number of deaths.
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