zephyreks , 1 month ago

You wouldn’t want US homes in Europe, either. Most of the world has astonishingly shit construction in the name of higher profits and the understanding that housing has very limited lifespans.

Some US homes are great - robustly built, well-insulated, quiet, no leaky sewage, no leaky building membrane, wires routed properly, etc. Unfortunately, a lot of them were built decades ago. If you’re evaluating them in terms of materials or construction quality, US housing quality has gone straight off a cliff. Sure, there’s a bunch of glass facades on new buildings, but they hide the fact that sound insulation between units is nonexistent, the heat insulation is barely slapped together, the outlets aren’t all plugged in, and the hot water either turns completely on or completely off. Tour a new California townhouse and tell me again that it’s not built as cheaply as possible. Developers have figured out how to be stingy on everything you can’t see and instead dump money on fancy appliances and a marble countertop… Even if the toilet clogs if you look at it funny and you can hear your neighbour three doors down humming to himself.

Meanwhile, most US new build apartments are 5 over 1s, which are notorious for being a tinderbox. Though, US fire code is really well done, so if there’s a fire odds are you can make your way out in time.