Brick houses? (Seattle, Everett, Newcastle: schools, earthquake, live)

[Ira500]

Beacon Hill has some brick homes. Can't tell you why.

[lucy luck]

my question is because i just recently moved into a brick home are they more or less to heat or cool?

[JustCallMeTC]

Heating a brick home really depends upon the insulation. Well insulated means cheaper. And in the summer, if you don't have good cross ventilation, you'll cook if you gets lots of solar. Assuming you don't have AC, which is the norm for sure.

[Deena160]

Hey! I moved from Adelaide about 16 years ago where we'd been for 5 years. My husbands family is from there. I'm originally from Washington. I remember the disgust my in-laws had when I pointed to a home in the paper that was for sale that was wood-clad. Ugh--it was a older trust home(What did I know? Almost all of the homes around here are wood and originally had cedar shingle roofs). As far as they're concerned, nobody worth anything would live in a wood-clad home if they could help it. I think that they'd think we'd 'made it' if we moved to a brick home now! lol.
Another thing to consider is the availability of wood for building in the northwest compared to Australia. I know that down in Utah in the desert type climate you find a lot more brick homes(& stucco) with tile roofs like you see in Australia, and I think that's pretty typical of the southwest, too. :~) D

[emopoops]

brick houses make fun of the wood houses wehn they burn.

[solomani]

Originally Posted by Deena160

Hey! I moved from Adelaide about 16 years ago where we'd been for 5 years. My husbands family is from there. I'm originally from Washington. I remember the disgust my in-laws had when I pointed to a home in the paper that was for sale that was wood-clad. Ugh--it was a older trust home(What did I know? Almost all of the homes around here are wood and originally had cedar shingle roofs). As far as they're concerned, nobody worth anything would live in a wood-clad home if they could help it. I think that they'd think we'd 'made it' if we moved to a brick home now! lol.
Another thing to consider is the availability of wood for building in the northwest compared to Australia. I know that down in Utah in the desert type climate you find a lot more brick homes(& stucco) with tile roofs like you see in Australia, and I think that's pretty typical of the southwest, too. :~) D

Hiya,
I think that was mine and my wife's attitude. Looking at the houses in Seattle it seemed "backwards" to us Sydney-siders. But explanations here have been helpful and I wont 'look down' anymore at the cladded/wooden houses. Makes sense not to have full brick in an earthquake prone area.

You can see how much damage the Newcastle earthquake caused in Australia back in the 90s. It was a tiny quake and lots of houses just fell down - brick being one of the reasons.

How earthquake prone is Seattle then? Is it just tremours? once/week? or once/month? I know when I lived in Tokyo tremours would average once a week to once/day (or more) during times of high activity.

Thanks all.

[skinem]

Much of the southern US used and still use brick for houses...it's still much preferred over other types of siding in the South. Makes for cheaper heating/cooling and don't have to worry about termites (the house frame is another matter).

Brick is very, very common in old and new construction back east and south.

[emopoops]

no seattle isnt earthquake prone. but its surrounded by volcanoes. and the buildings in seattle are really high and some are old and prone to breaking when a big enough earthquake happens.. then theres some seattle fault. blah blah blah. then they are taking down the alaskan viaduct and making a tunnel maybe becuase its old and doesnt seem to hold well.

[skinem]

Originally Posted by emopoops

no seattle isnt earthquake prone. but its surrounded by volcanoes. and the buildings in seattle are really high and some are old and prone to breaking when a big enough earthquake happens.. then theres some seattle fault. blah blah blah. then they are taking down the alaskan viaduct and making a tunnel maybe becuase its old and doesnt seem to hold well.

WHAT!? Not earthquake prone!? Maybe not in comparison to to parts of Cali, but,...wow.

You say it's not prone, then you say it's prone to break when a big enough earthquake happens, and reference a "seattle fault"...

Hve you lived there a long time? Are you young?

[Ira500]

Seattle is absolutely earthquake prone, and quite capabe of major quakes. Minor ones that some people feel but cause no damage seems to happen every few years, but we've had fairly big ones in 1949, 1965, and 2001.