Wood has the advantage over brick and stone of being lighter and easier to cut and work. In the right climate, or protected with an overhanging roof like this chalet in the Austrian Alps, wooden houses can last for hundreds of years. But there is a high fire risk, so wooden houses often have brick or stone chimneys.
Today, the most common use of earth is to make bricks. They are strong, durable, and much lighter than either mud or stone. Bricks can also be made in a uniform size, making it easy to lay them in courses. Since the time of the ancient Middle Eastern civilizations, they have been widely popular.
Some wood-framed building have panels of brick between the timbers. Because bricks are heavier than material such as wattle and daub, the wooden beams and posts have to be strong to support them. Wooden frames with brick infill often sag and subside with time. To avoid this, the builders of this German house have to put in extra X-shaped cross braces.
The best building stones are decorative, lending themselves well to ornamental carving, and last for centuries. But stone is heavy to transport, laborious to work, and not always available. In many places, stone is kept for the most prestigious buildings, and stonemasons are the most valued and highly skilled of building workers.
In dry climates, roofs are often flat. But in most countries they are sloped so rainwater or melted snow drains off.
Roofs are often decorated with much ornamentation, since they are high for all to see.
Some time between 3000BC and 2000BC, a potter discovered that by giving his pots a hard coating, called a glaze, he could make them waterproof. He did this by covering the pottery with water mixed with powdered glass and a colored substance, such as cobalt or nickel.
Most plaster is made of lime (made by burning limestone) and sand. Extra ingredients are added to give it strength. In the past, cow hair or dung was mixed in. Today, cement is used.
In order to highlight the serenity of a Gothic church interior, grotesque carving often adorned the outside of the building. The idea was that worshippers left this grotesque world outside when entering the consecrated space inside the church.