Yes that is the standard construction here. Even top end houses that have a brick or stone facing use it only as a veneer over the weight bearing wooden wall. Much of the siding today is vinyl plastic formed to look like wooden clapboards. That also burns quite readily once it reaches it's melting point.kenneal - lagger wrote:I was just watching TV News about the wild fires on the US West Coast, and Oregon in particular, where they have lost as much forest to fires in three days as they as they usually lose in a number of years. Several towns have also burned out completely. What struck me was the proximity of the houses to each other and the fact that they are built entirely of wood. UK houses that close to each other would have to have a non flammable cladding to the adjacent walls to stop the spread of fire. It didn't look as if that was the case in Oregon.
Aluminum siding was used back in the fifties but has fallen out of favor on the theory it holds the heat in during a fire and makes it harder for firemen to put a blaze out.
