re: Why aren’t more houses made out of concrete in Louisiana?

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I do know someone that did concrete and he has major problems with moisture. Had to add shite to ac system to help dry it out.

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There are ways to mitigate moisture from construction, and while there’s always going to be a certain amount of RH with concrete, it remains a great surface to build with IMO, far better than pier and beam construction and wood walls. It lasts much longer and is much more stable long term than wood construction.

Can't give a good reason why it isn't more popular in Louisiana but as others as mentioned I would expect there to be settling problems with our soil. There is a concrete home built out by the airport in LC that took ages to repair after hurricane Laura. Exterior looked fine but apparently they had a large amount of interior damage. Many wooden homes on the same street were repaired and occupied again well ahead of the concrete home.

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Built like tanks too

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Ian was our first Real hurricane. We got some winds over 110 miles an hour where I was. Dam house felt like a fortress. Concrete is the only way to go in a hurricane area. We went to bed at 9 o’clock, and the wind was still bending the trees over. Didn’t even think twice about it.

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But it’s not. It’s sand and clay mostly from what I noticed, but the real reason we build with wood, and gypsum is because it’s cheap, and it’s not lasting either. I have countless properties that are less than 5 to 10 years old that their wood and gypcrete substrates especially are failing, but it was cheap to build and it simply maximizes profit. That’s all that’s about.

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its not about profits, its about overall cost and ROI. with the standards we have in the US for building, our houses last

trust me if it the ROI on building with concrete was worth it most would

you are talking about raising the price big time on housing here at a time that the average family is almost priced out as it is

other reasons the islands use concrete is they have to import lumber which is really expensive, most easier to import portland cement and mix on the island and the other reason is they take years to build those homes because interest rates are crazy in most places in the Caribbean. They also take dead hits from hurricanes and need the full strength concrete provides.

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Home built with concrete 3D printer

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No fricking way that is “affordable”.

We have a few abandoned houses in Europe which were handed down by descendant to descendant. They are 200+years old built out of brick and stone. The roof was slate. I walked into one of the houses shocked at how well it held up. It was basically move in ready only after plumbing repairs would be made.

We are in the process of renovating one of the houses for family/future generations to stay there on vacations.

That inspired me to design a fortress here in the US. I had a raised foundation with retaining wall around the property to hedge against flooding, slate roof to make hailstorms and hurricanes irrelevant, hurricane windows, fancy lanterns, etc, etc. Only thing I did not address was it was wooden framed.

The cost came out to almost double than the architect expected. We are going back to the drawing board at the end of the year.

And that's the problem with America. Everyone wants the best/biggest items at the cheapest price. If you are wondering why houses are shoddy and corners cut, there you have it. If you do it right you look like a fool for paying so much, because the next buyer wants it for the cheapest price and does not value that. They just want to know if the kitchen and bathrooms have quartz countertops. Most buyers don't even ask details on the AC units, which is the most important aspect of the house making it liveable and no one gives a rats arse about it. I replaced an AC with 22 seer variable speed (which is awesome) and the installer told me that the overwhelming majority replaces their ac with the bottom of the line single stage ac unit.

That's the American mindset for the majority.

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its not about profits, its about overall cost and ROI. with the standards we have in the US for building, our houses last

trust me if it the ROI on building with concrete was worth it most would

you are talking about raising the price big time on housing here at a time that the average family is almost priced out as it is

other reasons the islands use concrete is they have to import lumber which is really expensive, most easier to import portland cement and mix on the island and the other reason is they take years to build those homes because interest rates are crazy in most places in the Caribbean. They also take dead hits from hurricanes and need the full strength concrete provides.

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I’m not actually focusing in on just residential home construction alone, but the plethora of multi family construction and light commercial property going up all over the place, especially the multi level newer construction practices of OSB and gypcrete substrate that is failing and will be even more hot garbage in 10 to 20 years, while I can list concrete foundation properties around town that are 60 and 70 years that are as stable as the day they were built, literal battleships that are there to stay.

I think it actually gets down to a mindset of how long you’re willing to put down roots in a place. The American model is to build more temporarily as we move more frequently. It’s a concept built around our economic model of always building and steady growth, but that does not serve our communities well as we abandon areas to become blights and ghettos rather than building to stay and reinvesting. We used to build that way long ago, but not any longer. We build to upgrade and relocate, a more disposable society, but yes, it looks pretty when it’s new.

Labor is cheaper in Puerto Rico

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There should be a lot more cinder block homes in LA. Lots in Florida

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True, but that hasn’t really done much to bring down the cost of insurance there so it likely would have no impact here either.

They’re built solidly, though.