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Two summers ago Boulder had a record fire that destroyed 168 homes. Then last year Colorado Springs had their fire destroying 368 homes. All that is nothing now: at least 1,500 homes have been destroyed.

And it is still raining.

There are now evacuations in the east of the state as the flood waters continue their inevitable march to the sea, thousands of miles away.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist How is your basement?

Cerberus

What??

How can a fire destroy 368 houses?

That never happens here.

At least not since the Middle Ages or something.

Or are those houses all made of wood and built closely together?

tchrist

2:21 AM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Wet.

@Cerberus What else does one build houses of?

Cerberus

Stone, brick, concrete.

tchrist

@Cerberus No, they aren’t built close together at all.

They are built in the forest, which is where people want to live.

Cerberus

Ah, that explains it.

tchrist

And they are built of wood because that is what one builds houses with. It is incredibly cheaper than stone.

These are not city buildings. These are people's homes.

Cerberus

We have very few wooden houses.

tchrist

2:23 AM

Bizarre.

Cerberus

Neither in cities nor in the country.

tchrist

Weirdos.

Oh wait, did you cut down all your trees?

Cerberus

There is a house near where my parents live that is know as "the wooden house".

tchrist

Nutters.

Cerberus

A rare sight.

tchrist

2:24 AM

We don’t live in tenements buildings, jamming a million people together.

Cerberus

Perhaps it was made illegal because of the risk of fire...but surely that would not apply to the countryside?

And yet it's all bricks.

tchrist

Everybody has their own house.

You’re rich. That isn’t reasonable.

Cerberus

?

Poor people don't live in wooden houses either here.

So I wonder why not.

tchrist

> Labor costs for brick masons make new brick homes a luxury these days.

Cerberus

Wood is not expensive here: barns and such are normally made of wood.

They sell ready-made brick wall-parts these days.

Although that is luckily still rare.

tchrist

2:28 AM

A brick home will cost 4 or more times what the same wooden home will cost to build.

It simply is not possible.

I have never lived in a brick home nor known anyone who did. They are rare.

They would be called “the brick house” here for their uncommonness.

Cerberus

Then how come all houses are made of brick here?

tchrist

Is that a prison? The grass looks too nice.

Cerberus

Even the cheapest, most uninspiring neighbourhoods where you wouldn't want to be caught dead. Would wood command ooohs and aaahs in those neighbourhoods, they would love it.

Yeah it is like a prison. Cheap modern neighbourhoods for families.

tchrist

I associate brick buildings with schools and prisons.

That would be much more expensive than a wooden house. Much much more. It could not be cheap.

Cerberus

I associate wooden buildings with romantic cottages.

tchrist

2:32 AM

Everyone has a frame house here.

Even those with brick siding are still frame houses.

Cerberus

It's the cheapest houses we have, probably along with concrete flats, but we don't have those in the country. And I think they are rarely built any more.

What is a frame house?

No supporting walls, you mean?

tchrist

One built of a wooden frame.

Framing (construction)

Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around vertical structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof made of horizontal ceiling joists and sloping rafters (or pre-fabricated roof trusses). Modern light-frame structures usually gain strength from rigid panels (plywood and other plywood-like composites such as oriented strand board (OSB) used to form all or part of wall sections) but until recently carpenters employed various forms ...

Cerberus

So I wonder why most houses seem to be built of wood in most of the world, but not in some other places.

tchrist

This is how houses are built here.

You might actually look at that article. For example, the Walls section.

Cerberus

This is a more familiar sight here.

tchrist

2:37 AM

> Light frame construction using standardized dimensional lumber has become the dominant construction method in North America and Australia because of its economy. Use of minimal structural materials allows builders to enclose a large area with minimal cost, while achieving a wide variety of architectural styles.

Cerberus

I think bricks are simply stuck to the concrete supporting walls.

tchrist

@Cerberus Reminds of skyscrapers.

Cerberus

We don't really have those either.

tchrist

You would build a home of concrete? How horrible!

If I want that, I’ll move to prison.

Rich.

Cerberus

That started in the 19th century...the supporting structure would often be made of concrete from that time on, but completely covered in more pleasant materials.

But anyway, how come some areas in the world have wooden houses, while others have brick houses?

Others, again, have stone, like in France.

Scandinavia is kind of known for its wooden houses, so it can't be insulation, can it?

Perhaps brick is cheaper in the long run, because it does not deteriorate as fast?

Do you have many wooden houses left from before the 19th century?

tchrist

3:07 AM

I don’t know.

It.

Is.

Still.

Raining!!!!

Just changed out the towels from the floor, putting them in the spin cycle.

Laid down lots of extras, and hope to sleep without getting up every half hour to change them.

The article above says that it because of the economy.

Robusto

RegDwighт: Re BB: You have no fear. It's back to form, and then some. Shockingly good, I'd say. Stunning.

MετάEd

3:28 AM

The Coliseum is made with concrete.

A concrete home doesn't need to look like cinder blocks.

Johan Larsson

5:42 AM

@Cerberus we have a mix, brick houses were more common in the sixties. Now wood or plaster is the most common for small houses I think. We also had houses made of brick and wood they are not common to build any more.

Johan Larsson

9:49 AM

*commonly built

tchrist

11:17 AM

Had more than two more inches of rain yesterday, but I think we may finally be reaching the other side. 17" of rain here is considered a thousand-year event.

Noah

Hi

Good morning

everyone

@tchrist That sounds pretty scary.

What does this mean? i.stack.imgur.com/qBFb6.gif

Cerberus

11:49 AM

Hi.

tchrist

12:00 PM

It has begun to drizzle again. WTF?

@Noah Dunno. Pacman operator? Laughing?

They pierced the exclusion zone into Nederland late yesterday and managed to get a tanker full of gasoline in.

I don’t know where those people had to go anyway.

They came in the back way from the south, not from the east or north as is normal to get to Nederland. They came up through I-70 at Idaho Springs and then up through the gambling towns of Blackhawk and Central City. Turns out the south route was the fastest of the three to fix, because it had had less rain than up north.

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