They also make it easier for homes to burn.
“These are quickly becoming urban fires.”
Architects I’ve talked to generally agree that chance played a big role in deciding which structures survived.
Soon, many people across the US may have no choice but tobuild smarter.
“It’s time for change here,” Long tells me.
Long says the cost of building his homes roughly matches that of wood-frame houses.
Eliason isn’t calling for the kind of paradigm shift in building materials that Long suggests.
In the event of an earthquake, its pliability is a huge plus.
For all these reasons, Eliason says, “going away from wood-frame construction seems really shortsighted.”
No words really - just a horror show.
Some of the design choices we made here helped.
A streamlined, boxy structure offers fewer places for stray embers to linger.
Metal roofs are preferable to classic shingles.
Another is replacing old vents with newer models designed to deny entry to embers.
Costlier measures include swapping in a metal fence for the wooden version or opting for a new metal roof.
But Boomhower’s study found limited adoption of these best practices in areas that didn’t require them.
This is far from just a California issue.
Jursnick, the Denver-area architect, has been thinking about this stuff a lot recently.
James Rodriguezis a senior reporter on Business Insider’s Discourse team.
