In Europe, we are proud of our “solid” houses, about which we mistakenly believe that they are also more durable and healthier than wooden ones. Well, that’s what we were taught in the fairy tale about the three little pigs – and what little Johnny learns, he also does and convinces others about it.
Myth #1: Wooden houses are not safe from earthquakes
That wooden buildings are extremely safe in terms of earthquake resistance is confirmed by tests from the Technical University of Vienna. Wooden houses are ranked far ahead of brick and reinforced concrete in terms of earthquake safety. Slovenia is located in a seismically active area. The ground constantly shakes. The strongest earthquake, in 1511, destroyed all brick buildings (houses, churches, castles), only the wooden ones remained (ARSO archive). Wood is an extremely strong material, which makes it easy to build structures with large spans and even multiple floors.
Myth #2: A wooden house will decay sooner than a brick one
Historical sources prove that wood was used for building houses as early as 1200 BC, and wooden houses are among the oldest buildings in the world. Wood is classified into three categories based on durability:
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Durable wood (oak, pine, larch, acacia), which lasts up to 1800 years when dry,
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Semi-durable wood (spruce, fir, walnut), which lasts up to 800 years when dry,
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Less durable wood (lime, beech, maple), which lasts up to 500 years when dry (Žitko, 2009).
Venice, for example, began to be built on wooden piles in the year 500, and they still stand today. A house made of wood, straw, and clay, still in use today, celebrates its 130th anniversary this year. The oldest still-standing Slovenian hayrack was erected in 1764. All of this clearly shows that concerns about the durability of wooden buildings are unnecessary. In contrast to claims about the durability of wood, reinforced concrete has a lifespan of up to 100 years.
Myth #3: Maintaining wood is more expensive
To avoid high maintenance costs for houses, high-quality wooden construction uses wood that is cut at the right time and is properly stored and processed. Such wood does not require special maintenance since it lacks tree sap, so pests do not attack it. Over time, it develops a noble gray patina that protects it from weathering and gives it durability. If we want to maintain the appearance of new wood, we have natural oils, resins, waxes, and pigments available for protecting and decorating wooden surfaces. These are easy to use, harmless to health, and require no special knowledge or tools—just some time and good will.
Today, energy standards in construction are set very high, so wooden construction has a significant advantage over traditional concrete construction, as a wooden house is made from insulating materials, and the price of wood is affordable. Moreover, Slovenia is a country rich in wood. A big advantage of wooden houses is also the faster construction method, which means that wooden houses are ready for occupancy much sooner.
Myth #4: Wood is dangerous in case of fire
The fire safety test at the Technical University of Vienna places a wooden wall, filled with straw bales 35 cm thick and coated with clay plaster, in the fire class F90, which means that the structure, exposed to a temperature of 1010°C, will not catch fire for an hour and a half. The walls of brick houses are made of non-flammable materials, but they are often insulated with flammable substances (polystyrene), which represent a significant potential fire hazard. In the case of a fire in such buildings, most people are affected by suffocation from the toxic gases released by the burning insulation.
Myth #5: A wooden house requires more heating
The insulating properties of wooden houses are exceptional. The limit value of thermal transmittance for passive houses is U = 0.15 W/m²K. A wooden wall with 35 cm thick straw insulation has a thermal transmittance of 0.12 W/m²K, while the same wall with 50 cm thickness reaches an incredible 0.08 W/m²K. This is a result that would be difficult to achieve with traditional construction methods and at high costs. Here we see the exceptional power of natural materials. As a result, much less energy is required to heat wooden houses, and clay plasters excellently accumulate heat, providing a very pleasant living environment. Cooling the rooms in summer is unnecessary, which means significant energy savings.
Buildings made with traditional methods need to be insulated with expensive artificial insulation materials, which are a heavy burden on the environment, and we use a lot of energy to cool them in the summer. When we talk about the impact of houses or buildings on people’s health, we cannot ignore the “sick building syndrome” (SBS), which, according to the World Health Organization, causes health problems for many residents of the developed world. Modern (brick, reinforced concrete) buildings are full of harmful substances such as radioactive fly ashes in concrete and bricks, as well as in gypsum boards, solvents, heavy metals, and other chemicals in paints, adhesives, coatings, plasters, insulation, furniture, flooring, etc.
It is very important whether we live in sick buildings, from which all the previously mentioned substances evaporate, which we inhale, or whether we live in natural wooden (solid, skeletal, straw) houses, where the air quality is good because natural materials used in construction do not endanger our health. Wooden houses have a soul, they embody the knowledge of ancestors, the innovative solutions of today’s architects and designers, and all the precision, skill, experience, attention, and responsibility of the craftsmen who build these houses, not to mention the awareness, diligence, creativity, uniqueness, and pride of the owners of these homes. Wood is certainly the material of the future!
When everything is over, from the rubble of a concrete, brick house, fumes from toxic, harmful materials rise, which continue to harm the Earth and people for a long time, and testify to the (un)awareness of the residents; at the site of the wooden house, which turns into soil, a living tree grows, a symbol of the awareness of the people who once lived in this house and cared.
