jyoutz
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Mine is a 2020
I was going to edit my post and say "not the entire Europe is like English roads between the dry stone walls (as my mate Edward in England calls what he makes by stacking stones without cement, for rich estate owners that like traditional)
But indeed, in Europe there are streets that are older than your country. Yet Eisenhowers interstate highway system was inspired on H'tlers Autobahns... Just that youve seen it on tourist postcards, doesnt mean that those narrow streets are all over Europe: Only where they have so much history that they deserve to be preserved.
Keep in mind that after H'tler bombed the crap out of our large cities, it took us untill the early 60s to rebuild Rotterdam, it remained in rubble for more than a decade: Rebuilt according to a modern city plan with sufficient access... So what history we had left, was precious...
What i find is that Americans (so to speak) live in plywood houses and drive a 2.5 ton truck. Europeans live in double wall brick houses and drive, what Americans call an econobox...
Many Europeans dont understand why Americans build houses like that, when they live in Tornado alley...
Hay Dude
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One answer: freedom.
You can do pretty much what you want here, as long as you pay for it. Gotta abide by the laws though.
On specifically houses, wood framing is plenty strong. If you mean longevity, more than 50 years doesn't matter. I'll bet less than 5% of Americans live in a parents passed down home. I dont have real numbers, but I would guess atleast 50% don't live within the same state as were they were born. Thats not to say Europeans don't move too. So, things aren't typical build with a "legacy" thought.
Now, 1970s/1980s homes, stick or block, were built pretty bad. Much of the modern (last 5 years) stuff has gone down in workman ship,but the design is strong. We also have plenty of CMU and stucco homes, but they aren't automatically stronger. Brick is just a decorative, status symbol here.
Now, 1970s/1980s homes, stick or block, were built pretty bad. Much of the modern (last 5 years) stuff has gone down in workman ship,but the design is strong. We also have plenty of CMU and stucco homes, but they aren't automatically stronger. Brick is just a decorative, status symbol here.
WinterDeere
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There seem to be many factors driving this.
1. Cost of land. Here, just as in Europe, better-quality houses are built on more expensive land. The cost of housing is so high in much of Europe, that it makes little sense to build cheaper housing on it. With that comes the reality that few young Europeans can afford a house, we tend to achieve ownership at a much younger age, here.
2. At least in Germany (and I think Italy was similar), families are more likely to live inter-generationally. I had more than one friend in Germany whose parents and grandparents shared the same house or property. Excepting family farms, that's comparatively rare here.
3. The average American may own 3-4 houses, moving more frequently than the average European.
4. And here's the kicker... Europeans do build OSB stick frame houses, now. I have a few friends in Germany, living in new houses that are the same stucco on stick-frame and OSB that you'd see here, all jammed on 1/4 acre lots located on cul de sacs. I guess they're chasing the American dream, too.
WinterDeere
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Not in an earthquake zone! In that case, get the hell away from any stone or brick building.
I've only ever lived in masonry houses, the oldest being 1690's and the newest being 1870's. They'll hold up to everything, except an earthquake.
To bring it back around a bit toward the original topic, part of what I said about the past 5 years in homes, might also apply to vehicles. The engineering and design fundamentally is very good. Now, if it being build that way? Not necessarily. So, I dont build cars, but I've been around construction basically my entire life. On the design side, it's all better; basically everything is designed for atlwast 130 mph winds (around 210 kph), roofs, shear walls, windows, ect. If the windows blow out in a brick home, it's going down in a hurricane, as soon as the envelope is breached, you get positive pressure inside, and negative pressure on the leeward side, and nothing is going to withstand that other than 12" of reinforced concrete. The catch is; often the wall sheathing (OSB), they miss the studs nailing, same on roof sheathing. Broken trusses, forgetting to nail hurricane straps, ect. Just a lot of piss poor workmanship.
So; maybe we should wonder, are some of Dodge's designs excellent, but they are missing on the production and QC side?
So; maybe we should wonder, are some of Dodge's designs excellent, but they are missing on the production and QC side?