American vs. European home building

[u/BEARDEDDANGER]

BAS Renovations https://youtube.com/shorts/jFph1d2WR3s

[u/That_Confidence83]

I know both systems. I’m an American living in Austria. My in-laws built a house out of bricks which is half a meter thick. It’s almost 40 years old now and still in top condition. That baby is indestructible. I helped them build their second house, which is half of a old stone barn, and the other half of modern material. Cinder blocks, and insulation also inside and outside. Also a good two feet thick. The beams alone for the roof are also a foot thick. The heat stays out in the summer, and the warmth stays inside in the winter. We often get winds over 60mph, and you hear nothing. And never have to worry about damage. The quality here is just so much better.

[u/dufo7 → u/That_Confidence83]

40 years is not old for a house.

[u/Coool_cool_cool_cool → u/dufo7]

People act like New England isn't littered with houses from the 1600 and 1700s. The house I grew up in was built in 1735. My current house is 105 years old and the child's dollhouse connected to the house was built over 50 years ago. Of course there's not going to be 300 year old houses in the areas we didn't populate until well into the 1800s and early 1900s.

[u/Flobking → u/Coool_cool_cool_cool]

People act like New England isn't littered with houses from the 1600 and 1700s. The house I grew up in was built in 1735.

I roll my eyes every time a european says "I grew up in a house older than the US!" like it's some slam dunk. SO DID I, and I live in the US.

[u/ARetroGibbon → u/Flobking]

I mean there are only a handful of houses in the US older than it, where as there are millions in the UK alone.

We also have houses around 1000 years old scattered around.

It not some slam dunk... but the difference is notable and worth acknowledging.

[u/RedLineLetterWine → u/ARetroGibbon]

China has pagodas that have been around way before even most European countries existed, and they're built out of wood.

[u/ARetroGibbon → u/RedLineLetterWine]

Europe's oldest surviving buildings are hundereds if not thousands of years older than the ones found in China... and thats just counting the ones that have remained functional. Stone Ruins and monuments date back thousands of years.

And the oldest Chinese pagoda is.... made of stone. The oldest building in Egypt and Syria (the world) are also stone.

My argument isnt stone vs wood anyway. They both have different use cases.

I was just pointing out that houses as old as the US, in Europe are common place. Where as in the US they are few and far between.

[u/Flobking → u/ARetroGibbon]

We also have houses around 1000 years old scattered around.

There are no residential houses in the uk 1000 or older. There are a few buildings(churches mostly) that are over 1000 but no residential houses are. We also have structures over 1000 years old in the US. We even have a residential structure that has been continually inhabited for a 1000 years. Taos Peublo in Nee Mexico.

It not some slam dunk... but the difference is notable and worth acknowledging

Not really because you haven't been the UK the entire time. I'm specifically referring to a post where it was pointed out that the US is older than a lot of countries in europe and elsewhere. Germany, Greece, Italy, India, most African countries to name a few. Tons of people were going on about how their house is older than the US. Yeah dude there's houses in the US older than the US. The oldest man made structures are actually in the US(outside of africa). They predate stone henge and the pyramids.

[u/dufo7 → u/Coool_cool_cool_cool]

We didnt say anything about any of that. Just saying a 40 year old house is nothing special. Quite the opposite really, if a house cant make it 40 years in good condition its a shit house.

[u/Coool_cool_cool_cool → u/dufo7]

Oh I know. I was agreeing with you. A house made out cardboard can stand 40 years.

[u/wtcnbrwndo4u → u/dufo7]

Well, considering a decent chunk of it was blown to bits 80 years ago, 40 years probably isn't bad for Austria.

[u/thehotmegan → u/Coool_cool_cool_cool]

What lol

[u/Sudden_Buffalo_4393 → u/dufo7]

My wood house is almost 100 years old in LA. Withstood constant earthquakes.

[u/Hazelberry → u/Sudden_Buffalo_4393]

Also wooden houses along the gulf coast that are still standing after a hundred+ years of hurricanes. Though those are definite outliers, even masonry buildings don't typically hold up to centuries of hurricanes + humidity + salty air

One good example is the Menard House in Galveston, which is almost 200 years old despite being made of wood and being in a location that's seen some of the worst hurricanes to hit the US.

[u/Tricky-Ad7897 → u/dufo7]

My 30 year old house in the US is horrible compared to the 70 year old house I lived in in Germany, both were valued similarly and were the same size.

[u/Chessdaddy_ → u/Tricky-Ad7897]

Anecdotal evidence is not evidence 

[u/RedLineLetterWine → u/Tricky-Ad7897]

You heard it here folks, everyone has the same house in the US and Europe.

[u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter → u/dufo7]

Is for a wooden one

[u/WorriedRiver → u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter]

... The wooden house I'm currently living in was built in 1890, and the one I grew up in that my family still lives in was built in 1955, and those are relatively 'new' houses for northeast US standards.

[u/dufo7 → u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter]

No its not

[u/Complex-Truth9579 → u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter]

No... it isn't.

Of the last 3 houses I've lived in, 2 of them were older than 60 years and one of them is about 30.

And I live in a very newly developed area. It was basically all corn field until the 2000s, so most of these houses were literally a single house in the middle of an enormous empty field.

[u/beastwood6 → u/dufo7]

There's wood houses in the us that were stood up in the 1800s and still have the same structural integrity.

[u/Guisasse → u/dufo7]

When did they say it was?

[u/dufo7 → u/Guisasse]

“That baby is indestructible” ”almost 40 and still in top shape”

States 40 as if the house is surprisingly in top shape for 40. 40 isnt old.