Are there any advantages to building a wooden house?

Question

What are the advantages/disadvantages making a minecraft house built out of wooden planks?

Answer 1

Advantages

• Wood is quicker to obtain than cobblestone, as you get 4 wooden planks for each wood block.

• Wood can be farmed (more easily than cobblestone can be), meaning you don't need to destroy the landscape to build your house.

• Transported as logs rather than planks, you can carry a lot more in you inventory (as you can 'expand' the logs into planks as you need them.

• Wood fits better with bookcases, chests etc. to give a more homely aesthetic.

Disadvantages

• Fire caused by lightning

• Creeper explosions will do more damage

• Fire caused by lava, expected or otherwise

• Farming trees can be tedious, especially if you have to spend extra time removing the branches from large trees

• Fire caused by your own flint and steel in a moment of carelessness

Answer 2

I'm no expert, but there are a few fairly obvious points to start:

• Planks are more easily destroyed by creeper explosions than (for example) cobblestone.

• Planks can catch fire and are consumed, which isn't true of some other materials.

• Cobblestone is readily available in practically unlimited quantities, whereas wood for planks is less common and requires a little crafting--so it's a less efficient use of your time.

One advantage is that you'll probably get sick of seeing nothing but stone buildings after a short while, so a plank structure will look nicer in comparison.

Answer 3

Advantages:

• Planks are renewable, as trees are a limitless source. Cobblestone will eventually run out (unless you use lava flows, but that could be dangerous).
• Much easier to construct and bulldoze. You get 4 planks for each trunk of wood, and with any axe trees go down a lot faster than stone. You can even break it unarmed to save tool uses if you're not in a rush, whereas with stone, you don't get anything.
• It matches bookcases, fences, and some other decorative objects better.
• If you completely run out of planks and need something in a jiffy, you can just pop a hole in your house and use the wood from it.

Disadvantages:

• It's easy to destroy; either by fire or creeper blasts.
• You generally won't end up with piles upon piles of planks just by doing mining, whereas with cobblestone you'll likely be overflowing in it.
• You have to plant trees to get more wood for building. This might not be such a big deal if you're harvesting them to get wood for tools, though.

Personally, I find wood buildings to be more eye-pleasing, but that's pretty subjective. Cobblestone, especially in the default skin, is pretty busy looking.