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Comment by jungletime | Hacker News Reader

Most of the US still lives in really crappy old homes built in the last century, with asbestos insulation, tar shingles, fiber board, and wood rot. Doesn't really compare with building standards in Europe, even Eastern Europe. China also has modernized and built some awesome cities. Middle East, and Asian cities are also pretty modern. I'm not really sure who you are comparing to? India? Africa?

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US homes are relatively new compared to many of the homes in Europe, so I'm not sure why you're calling them 'old'.

Also, Europe's prevalent masonry construction might "feel" solid, but that doesn't equal a high level of "building standards". A whole lot of western safety/environmental/plumbing/electrical/accessibility standards have changed in the past 20-70 years.

Much in the way chrome-adorned '60s US cars "felt" solid, and older people scoffed at the inornate "plastic cars" of the '90s, this perception of quality didn't translate to actual engineering superiority.

Some of the over-sized chintzy boxes that are built in the US are actually built to pretty dang good standards, i.e.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Building_Code

Average US home is twice as big as European. Only Australian homes are bigger: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/average-h...

Thats not neccesarily contradicting his point, the house coild be large but poorly built. In fact that could make sence

1) asbestos wasn't really used widely for insulation in the normal sense of that word. 2) in the right climate, tar shingles are actually extremely effective as a roofing solution. 3) the US does not have large supplies of bricks, and many areas do not have easy access to stone suitable for building (which is also extremely expensive in terms of labor). Hence wooden frame construction. 4) fiber board, when properly isolated from the weather, is an extremely durable and strong material. it is unfortunate that it tends to require environmentally unfriendly resins to manufacture. 5) there is a LOT of poor construction in the USA, but picking on particular techniques isn't the way to describe the problems. 6) there are many cheap houses in the USA that have much better energy efficiency than classic old houses across Europe, specifically because they use wood frame construction and moderate levels of insulation and air sealing.

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