A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.[1]
Coverage[]
Houses were generally covered in the documentary and was minorly featured in Home Wrecked Home in the context of Levittown.
Documentary[]
The process of rot in wooden structures.
It was introduce in 40 years after people when the suburbs are under attack. The show informs that there are roughly 90% of all homes in the United States are wooden frames. While some houses burned down, the rest are being devoured by a siege of termites. Without paint and preservatives, termites feast on cellulose and some colonies can eat as much as 1,000 pounds of wood per year. Along with termites are the process known as rotting. Kevin Harrison explains that rotting occurs when the wood gets exposed to the elements by which microbes attack the wood and release carbon dioxide & methane to the atmosphere. He continues that it'll take a matter of decade before most structures with significant wood components start to decay. Faced with a two pronged attack, the house starts to collapse with the beams that hold up the roof being the first to give way, and were soon follow by the rest of the structure between inside and outside.
Stone houses like this would last longer than 40 years which depends on their environment.
Kevin Harrison explains that other substances like mortar and rock would last longer than several decades but will crumble after natural, chemical, and physical weathering processes, and would eventually fall down as well. The show then examines a crumbling house in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park with Kevin Harrison commenting on how quickly the vegetation has reclaimed the area with vines have started to climb up the walls and trees growing into the structure as it both physically pulling the structure apart and chemically dissolving it. However, stone or masonry structures like stone houses would far outlive anything made of wood and exactly how fast they'll crumble depends on the environment.
Home Wrecked Home[]
Frozen pipes as seen in Levittown.
In 1 year after people, pipes in each house freeze and burst during the winter. When the spring thaw the ice, fountains of liquid destruction gush from thousands of pipes from suburban homes. Mold and dry rot follows after the flood and the dampness also attracts carpenter ants and termites, which set a primordial battle within the rotting walls. Lynn Kimsey stated that carpenter ants will prey on termites while termites protect themselves both from water loss and predators by walling off their galleries and feeding tubes with mud.
Gallery[]
