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Comment by purple_ducks | Hacker News Reader

> lack of surrounding noise

in an apartment. can't speak to the US but most apartments in western europe are really poor when it comes to sound. neighbours above/beside/behind all making noise/water pumps/washing machines.

near impossible to get a moments peace.

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In London I used to live in one of those flats by Tower Bridge, by the water, and one day my neighbour apologized to me while we were in the lift about the noise her kids had been making all weekend. I'd been sick that weekend and stayed home and heard not a thing.

Most of the time, the most noise was the Thames lapping against the wharf. Quite pleasant, really. I never actually heard my neighbours, to be honest, except if we were both out on the balcony talking.

Old appartments in europe are horrible, yes. And in so many ways.

We had to see 20~30 appartments last time we moved, and ended up just filtering from the start anything older that 30 years. It’s just not worth it, even for rental.

The worse was the electrical wiring that was at best impractical. And water pipes that needed serious revision.

I just can’t imagine how it goes for 100+ years old houses.

Dealing with an old house that you own is often much easier than dealing with an apartment. It’s yours. You don’t have a huge collective of people to deal with. The piping only affects your house. Same with the wiring, HVAC, insulation, windows, whatever. You can pay a professional, they’ll get some permits if necessary, and it’s done within some agreed upon timeframe, and will only inconvenience you and your family during that time. Some projects you might even be able to do yourself - good luck with that in an apartment. The worst thing about older homes can be some of the building materials like lead and asbestos - which will also be present in older apartments

The new construction buildings I've lived in in the US definitely solved the neighbor noise issue except when the guy next door would have loud parties on the balcony -- I'd hear that through the windows even if closed. But while higher floors have nice views, they also came with a lot more white noise from distant highways.

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