←back to thread

Is the world becoming uninsurable?

(charleshughsmith.substack.com)
476 points spking | 2 comments | 17 Jan 25 00:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.481s | source
Show context
Animats ◴[17 Jan 25 04:28 UTC] No.42734092[source]▶
Not uninsurable, but buildings are going to have to become tougher.

It's happened before. Chicago's reaction to the Great Fire was simple - no more building wooden houses. Chicago went all brick. Still is, mostly.

The trouble is, brick isn't earthquake resistant. Not without steel reinforcement.

I live in a house built of cinder block filled with concrete reinforced with steel. A commercial builder built this as his personal residence in 1950. The walls look like a commercial building. The outside is just painted cinder block. Works fine, survived the 1989 earthquake without damage, low maintenance. It's not what most people want today in the US.

replies(18): >>42734105 #>>42734140 #>>42734173 #>>42734290 #>>42734511 #>>42734544 #>>42734644 #>>42734673 #>>42734722 #>>42734995 #>>42735134 #>>42735677 #>>42736159 #>>42736211 #>>42736562 #>>42736923 #>>42741822 #>>42744129 #
asciimov ◴[17 Jan 25 04:43 UTC] No.42734173[source]▶
When I briefly lived in Oklahoma I found it frustrating that they use stick frame construction for homes and apartment buildings. Even when we know how to build much safer wind resistant houses.

What I thought was worse was once a tornado rips up a neighborhood builders are allowed to build replacement stick framed homes.

replies(2): >>42736106 #>>42737794 #
1. mfro ◴[17 Jan 25 14:25 UTC] No.42737794[source]▶
Oklahoma is full of lowest bidder builders. Living in OK I rarely see a house built in the last 10 years that looks like it was built to last. Yet another thing Americans don't seem to care about anymore.
replies(1): >>42737962 #
2. hb-robo ◴[17 Jan 25 14:40 UTC] No.42737962[source]▶
More like can't care about anymore. Median household income is 63k in OK and housing costs are through the stratosphere, it's no wonder people will pick any home over none.