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Comment by ohazi | Hacker News Reader

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ohazi·

> Detached no matter the cost - so close they may as well be terraced, but they'll be detached 'gah-damnit'!

The difference between "so close" and "terraced" is hearing your neighbors fucking at night. No thanks.

Agree with you about the shutters, though...

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Through nearly a foot of solid clay bricks, you can't hear anything. My neighbours across the road with a window facing towards them are more audible than my neighbours next door.

I think US homes are usually timber, so they might not block sound so well.

US soundproofing code has always been lacking because code was mostly invented to solidify single-family detached housing. For example, the 2019 California Residential Code doesn't actually mandate anything related to soundproofing, but includes an _optional_ section on soundproofing in Appendix K[1], which mandates walls and ceilings have an STC of 45, about the same insulating capabilities as a 4" brick face wall [2]. Some cities have opted into these requirements. Notably if you live in the SF Bay Area, neither San Francisco nor Berkeley mandate any soundproofing (e.g. they do _not_ mandate adherence to Appendix K), but the City of Oakland _does_. This is the real reason shared dwellings are so noisy; code doesn't care.

[1]: https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/CRC2019P1/appendix-k-sound...

[2]: https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_16419.PDF

In California they're definitely timber because earthquakes.

In a half decently built apartment building you can't hear that, let alone in terraced housing. Are those houses made of paper? :-)

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