Fire Danger - The Dark side of the modern synthetic world

This came up on my old house owners web board. Those of us living in those "creaky old drafty houses" - especially ones furnished with antiques and all traditional fabrics/materials - are a lot more likely to survive a house fire.



http://newscience.ul.com/articles/modern-residential-fires


Turns out that everything touted as 'good' in modern construction - open floor plans, engineered lumber, double pane windows, vinyl siding, windows, doors, plastics, no maintenance materials are all combining to cause house fires to spread nearly 8x faster than traditional materials and methods. Sometimes spreading faster than the fire department can get to you.

begreen said:

Not always, sometimes modern means more efficient and better designed. Modern stoves being an example, cell phones another. I really like my modern car. It's much more efficient, way lower maintenance, much cleaner emissions, safer, more economical too as well as more fun to drive.
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Cell phones are certainly disposable... The new trend of non-user replaceable batteries guarantees obsolescence every 12-18 months.

The amount of toxic wast all those thrown out electronics generates prompted environmental rules like RoHS to remove all te toxic stuff, which in turn reduces livespans even more. Its a vicious circle.

Im not being a luddite and not eschewing all things modern. I would not want to commute in the first car I learned on 25 years ago... But I watch the video above and get a smile when I look at these old timer framed walls, the wool rug on the floor and the real cotton upholstery on grandmas hand me down couch and its nice to thin they are less likely to kill us that the modern synthetic garbage at Ikea.And that the real glass "glass" Im drinking out of is less likely to give me cancer than the BPA laden plastics that where all the rage up until a few years ago.

But how many homes have a residential sprinkler system? Seems like a band aid solution to me, and one that wont help the millions of existing houses out there full of plastic without such systems.



I guess we will have to all agree to disagree on this. I just dont buy the modern is always better viewpoint. Call me a luddite

Yes, and like I said I dont think all modern things are bad (somebody up thread thought that was my point - it is not). I think this specific example shows that sometimes we take the cheap/disposable/no maintenance thing to far.

Modern efficiency standards are good. Modern woodstoves are good. Very reliable modern cars are good. HD television and high speed internet is good. The plastic gas tank in my truck that will never rust and leak is good.

BUt there are things I dont like - synthetic materials for furnishings and clothes. Vinyl siding/windows. Water based paint with only a fraction of the durability of hte old oil formulas making me paint the house every 5 years instead of every 30. Engineered lumber and particle board sheathing that wont last a fraction of the lifespan of traditional materials. lawnmower engines with so much plastic in them (I mean they even make plastic timing gears in the engines now for #$(&*#$*( ) they fall apart in 5 years. "High end" appliances that fall apart in just a couple years because all the computers burn out. People destroying antique furniture with chalk paint (grrrrr). and so on.