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Fire test: wooden house vs. ordinary house

Fire test: wooden house vs. ordinary house on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2019–2021.

Paulius Milčius

demo · evergreen

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A short unscientific fire test comparing a massive timber house with an ordinary house. It shows the wood chars and burns slowly while still holding together.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Linked in threads on wood buildings as a vivid demonstration that heavy timber resists fire and keeps structural integrity.

people recommended it
1
separate months
1
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2019–2021
“This video makes the difference very clear”
— crote, Feb 2019, in “At 18 Stories, Mjøsa Tower Is World’s Tallest Wooden Building”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

croteFeb 2019Recommends

This is what a forest looks like after a fire: [link] . Note that the trees are all still there. Wood is surprisingly difficult to burn, and if it does, it will do so very predictably, slowly, with relatively low temperatures, while maintaining structural integrity. This video makes the difference very clear: ▶ this video . It's not that wood can't burn, it's that it won't burn significantly.

in “At 18 Stories, Mjøsa Tower Is World’s Tallest Wooden Building” · View on HN

fy20Mar 2021Cites it

Wood can actually resist fires more than other building materials such as steel. Yes it does burn, but it also doesn't lose it's structural integrity when heated: ▶ this video

in “The Era of the Wood Skyscraper Is Arriving” · View on HN

samskJan 2019Cites it

I've found small fire test, its not very scientific, but shows what I was talking about: ▶ this video To correct myself, its the mortar that doesn't likes the fire much more than pure concrete, therefore brick wall has to be usually demolished after fire. But yes, everything depends on intensity of the fire, but I would never say that (properly built) wood house burns easier or faster than brick house, its kind of a myth. It burns differently with different result, and different kind of damages. Where, in the wood house the damages can be _usually_ fixed easier as in brick house.

in “More buildings should be made of wood” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Civil engineering & constructionHome, DIY & practical skillsfire testmass timberwood buildingsstructural integrity