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Comment by irrational | Hacker News Reader

How do they replace it when it is inevitably damaged or worn out?

Well it’s made of mass produced parts so you can swap out panels relatively easily (though in a lot of cases this involves recalking).

This video shows a full renovation, but if you’re only replacing a broken component then you’re looking at less work https://youtu.be/8E5lH_qppWg

I think generally the point of these is that you’re a lot less affected by skill level of those installing everything, so even really shitty apartments have good infrastructure. Million dollar homes in the US have worse plumbing than stuff I had in starter apartments in Tokyo (not universal but!).

And the boxing up means that your “wet area” is limited (Japan is generally very humid so mold is a constant worry). But I’m not an expert, and everything I’m saying might be totally off base.

Tear the entire thing out and replace it. You have to understand that housing (separate from land) isn't so speculative in Japan, however; a "worn out" bathroom is likely in a house that's going to be torn down completely and replaced.

The “houses getting torn down all the time” practice is getting less and less true. It’s becoming fairly common to just do a bunch of renovations since the old houses now are also from the modern mass production era (whereas in the past your old house was likely to be a much bigger pain in butt to improve). Though I do not believe that we have entered a full speculative era from this.

>housing (separate from land)

Under this definition of housing US housing isn't speculative either. It's only the land that goes up in value. It's just that earthquakes and tsunamis aren't as frequent and powerful here and the zoning laws are more arcane here. (as well as some other reasons related to the speed of development of these countries). Japan is one of the least afordable places to live in the world. That is in large part the reason why the population is declining. But nobody is speculating on US bathrooms.

Also in the US, the house might be valuable because it might be illegal to build a new house of similar size on the land. My last house was 2.1x larger in square-footage than allowed under current zoning laws. If it was damaged due to natural disaster, you could rebuild with the same floor-plan, but if you willingly tore it down, you had to build a smaller house.

That's not necessarily true. People have borrowed against higher land values and built more expensive housing with higher-end finishes. That was the whole "flipping" craze; the contents of the house were literally worth more after renovation.

>But nobody is speculating on US bathrooms.

I've got two words for you, man: rainhead shower. (Or "in-floor heating" for the Northeast. ...I guess that's 3 words.)

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