h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm wondering whether survival bias is at work here. Cathedrals ere made of durable materials. Thatched huts must have been built by the millions, but one good lightning strike would have destroyed whole villages. The cathedrals are left, but maybe they were vastly outnumbered by less durable structures? Just a thought.

Gloucester Cathedral was thatched until a fire in 1122.

<BB<

Of course churches could afford more durable materials and would therefore better withstand natural forces. Also churches (and castles and other important builödings) were of course considered to be worth more than a normal houses so if anything happened to them they were rather restored/rebuilt than torn down. Also normal houses were (like today) often simply removed if not needed anymore and replaced by buildings in a new fashion. It's a thing that still happens every day everywhere in the world.

Touche!

I was offering food for thought.

Wood-framed houses can last four centuries if they are carefully preserved -- e.g., the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Mass.

My wood-framed house has aluminum siding, and is on wheels so it has been moved once or twice. It will not last as long as, say, Saint Vitus cathedral in Prague.

A quick search on google told me the oldest wooden building is a Japanese temple from 700 AD. You are right, your trailer will probably not last that long. But yes, there are in fact plenty of wooden buildings which are at least a few centuries old, not only temples but also profane houses.

The oldest part of my own house is made from natural stone and about 100 years old.

We have many wooden houses here that are around 300 years old, residential houses mostly. The oldest dates back to 1644 and that's a church on a small island.