Pablo leaned against the fence and the wood gave way. It did not snap and it did not crack but it compressed like an overripe peach. A small cloud of gray dust puffed onto his shoe. His shoe was made of Italian leather and it was polished to a high shine.

His car sat three feet away in the driveway and the black paint reflected the afternoon sun like a mirror. He had spent four hours on the car on Saturday and he had spent zero hours on the fence in five years. He looked at the hole in the wood and he looked at the gleaming bumper of the BMW and he felt a strange lack of logic in his life.

The Asymmetry of Attention

The car is a machine of steel and it is a machine of motion. We see it move and we hear it run and we understand that it requires care. The house is a structure of organic fibers and it is a structure of silence. We think the house is a permanent thing and we think the house is a solid thing but it is a living thing in a state of slow decay.

We have internalized the oil change as a religious rite and we have ignored the siding as an optional chore. This asymmetry is a cultural habit and it is a financial disaster.

Weather: The Patient Player

I design escape rooms and I think about how things break. In an escape room the players are the enemies of the furniture. They pull on things that are meant to stay still and they push on things that are meant to be pulled. We build the rooms out of steel and thick plywood and we use heavy bolts. We assume the player will try to destroy the room.

The exterior of a house has a player too and the player is the weather. The weather is a patient player and it has infinite time. It finds a gap in the caulk and it inserts a wedge of ice. It finds a flat ledge of wood and it pools the water. It finds the lignin in the timber and it sends the UV rays to break the molecular bonds.

Status vs. Silence

We lavish care on the assets with the loudest social scripts. The car is a public statement and it is a sign of status. The neighbors see the car in the driveway and they see the car on the road. The car has a dashboard and the dashboard has lights. When the oil is low a light comes on. When the tires are soft a light comes on.

The car demands the attention of the owner and the owner obeys the car. The house has no dashboard. The house does not blink and the house does not beep. The rot happens in the dark and the rot happens in the silence. The wood loses its strength and the fungus eats the cellulose and the homeowner sits inside and watches a movie.

The economics of this behavior are a mystery. A car costs fifty thousand dollars and it loses value every day. It is a depreciating asset and it will be worth nothing in fifteen years. A house costs six hundred thousand dollars and it is the primary store of wealth for the family.

We protect the fifty thousand dollar asset with waxes and synthetic oils and premium fuels. We ignore the six hundred thousand dollar asset until the water is leaking through the ceiling or the fence falls over in a windstorm.

The Chemical Process of Destruction

There is a process to the destruction of a building and it is a chemical process. The sun is the first actor. UV light hits the wood and it attacks the lignin. Lignin is the organic polymer that acts as the glue for the wood fibers. It gives the tree its rigidity.

When the UV rays break the lignin the wood turns gray. This is not just a color change and it is not a “patina.” It is the death of the surface. The fibers lose their grip and the wind pulls them away. This leaves the wood porous. The rain falls and the wood acts like a sponge. It sucks the water deep into the grain and the wood swells.

Then the spores arrive. They are always in the air and they are always waiting. They find the wet wood and they grow. They secrete enzymes and these enzymes break down the complex carbohydrates. The wood becomes soft and it becomes brown. This is the rot that Pablo found.

It is a one-way street and there is no way back. You can paint over it but the fungus is inside and it will continue to eat. You can ignore it but the structure will fail.

I checked the fridge three times today for new food and I found nothing but a jar of pickles and a lemon. I am looking for something that is not there and I am hoping for a result that I have not earned. This is how we treat our homes.

We hope the wood will last forever and we hope the paint will never peel but we do not do the work. We want the beauty of the wood and we do not want the burden of the wood. This is a contradiction and it is a trap.

The realistic homeowner understands their own nature. They know they will wash the car because the car is fast and the car is fun. They know they will not sand the siding and they will not stain the fence every two years because that work is slow and that work is boring. They need a solution that fits the human they are and not the human they wish they were.

Material Engineering vs. Human Habit

This is why composite materials have changed the way we build. A Wood Polymer Composite takes the look of the timber and it removes the hunger of the fungus. It is a mix of recycled wood fibers and high-impact plastic. The plastic shields the wood from the water and the UV stabilizers shield the plastic from the sun.

It is a material that does not require a ritual and it does not require a religious schedule of maintenance.

Pablo looked at his fence and he knew he would have to tear it down. He would have to dig out the posts and he would have to buy new lumber. He would have to spend his Saturdays with a brush and a bucket. He looked at the wall of his house and he saw the same graying wood and the same small cracks.

He decided to change the script. He looked for a product that would look like the Dark Teak he loved but would survive the San Diego sun and the winter rains without his help. He needed something that would stand up to the weather like his car stood up to the road.

The panels had texture and they had depth and they had a warmth that looked like the wood he had failed to save. He realized that he could have the aesthetic of the timber without the debt of the labor.

We spend our lives trying to escape the chores that we hate. We buy robots to vacuum the floors and we buy machines to wash the dishes. We should buy materials that protect the house. The exterior of the building is the skin of the family. It is the only thing between the children and the storm. It is more important than the oil in the engine and it is more important than the shine on the bumper.

If you build a room and you know the players will break it you build it stronger. If you own a house and you know the weather will eat it you build it smarter. You stop buying the organic materials that require your constant service and you start buying the engineered materials that serve you. You stop being the servant of the siding and you become the owner of the home.

Pablo bought the panels and he installed them. They did not rot and they did not warp and they did not fade. He washed his car on Saturday and he looked at his house and he felt no guilt. The car was clean and the house was safe and the fence was a problem for another day.

He sat in his driveway and he drank a cold beer and he watched the sun hit the wall. The wall did not change and the wall did not fail. It just sat there and it did its job.

The car reflects the light and the house absorbs the rain and the man ignores the difference.

Aligning Materials with Habits

We are a species that loves the move and hates the wait. We love the speed of the highway and we hate the slow growth of the mold. We must learn to see the house as a machine too. It is a machine for living and it is a machine for protection.

It needs a shell that is as tough as the steel of the car. It needs a surface that does not offer a meal to the spores and it does not offer a grip to the ice. When we align our materials with our habits we find peace. We stop fighting the forest and we start living in the home.

I think about the escape rooms I have designed. The best rooms are the ones where the players cannot break the illusion. The illusion is that they are in a different world. When a piece of wood rots or a handle falls off the illusion is broken. The player remembers they are in a building in a strip mall.

When the siding on your house rots the illusion of safety is broken. You remember that the house is just a pile of sticks in the wind. You can fix the illusion with a better material. You can build a wall that does not remind you of your own neglect. You can wash your car and you can look at your house and you can believe in the permanence of the thing you have built.