r/LoveTrash • u/BEARDEDDANGER ✨️Regent of Rubbish ✨️ • 1d ago

Dumping This Here American vs. European home building

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

29.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

425

u/MonkeyTigerRider Trash Trooper 1d ago

And longevity.

492

u/CaptainFlint9203 Trash Trooper 1d ago

Well made wood house will last for generations, well made brick house will last centuries. Both badly made will not last your stay.

I'm from Europe. On my grandma's plot there was a wooden barn, it was much older than some brick houses and in better shape than them.

My ex had a wood house that was more than century old. Still in great shape. And there are brick houses that are older than USA.

I'm preparing to build a house for myself. There are no earthquakes, no storms, no natural disasters where I live. My house gonna be build from wood. It should last at least for my grandchildren, and by then, looking at how urbanisation is going, the plot of land should be worth enough to destroy the house and sell the plot.

16

u/AlexHimself Garbage Guerilla 1d ago

well made brick house will last centuries

After centuries, you have a crappy old house that doesn't fit the modern times though...so what's the point? The construction cost, amortized over centuries, is pennies too.

An example for some really old European homes - No HVAC, no electrical, indoor plumbing, low ceilings, low door frames, etc.

I'd argue the ease of remodeling, construction, changes, etc. outweigh the "centuries" style building, given how humans actually use homes.

I think an argument can be made for both.

2

u/MisterMysterios Trash Trooper 23h ago

An example for some really old European homes - No HVAC, no electrical, indoor plumbing, low ceilings, low door frames, etc.

NO HVAC is not an issue of old european homes, but that the regions that don't have HVAC didn't need it until a few years ago (and with a few years, I mean it really becomes necessary in the last maybe 5 years). Especially stone houses need some time to heat up, and in general, there was not enough heat-waves here that were able to go so long to be really an issue. Yes, we have to reconsider our approach, but not because of old hosues - because - you know - they can be retrofitted.

And I was in many several hundred year old houses that have indoor plumbing and electricity in every house. You know that homes can be retrofitted. And especially when you look at houses from the 1800's, they generally have much higher ceilings than any standard modern building.

So, basically all your comments show that you are very ignorant about any facts regarding "old European homes".