dc koop

I've had no problems with my home built in 1981 unless a blocked sewer line on one or two rare occasions could be called a problem and the blockages were caused by the roots of a tree. I certainly wouldn't call American houses junk

I can remember some of the shortcomings of a couple of houses in which I lived in England. Damp seeping through brick walls, wooden windows that either swelled and couldn't be opened or leaked in air on windy days. Then there were the pipes which were not concealed in the walls which made the rooms look ugly and had a tendency to burst in freezing weather and oh ! not to forget those roof slates which could fly off in a gale force wind

johnwoo

I wouldn't worry about about it. Most houses in California are timber framed construction. Brick houses have a tendency to collapse during an earthquake.
Everything built in Britain is better than here, don't cher know.

zzrmark

True, Florida doesn't use slate tiles. It uses nasty felt shingle stuff (which funnily enough was what I was doing today - for the first time ever!) which doesn't cause too much grief if it comes loose in a tornado/hurricane but it will need replacing in about a decade and, as a rule, it's not tiles that go flying around but the sheets of 8x4 plywood that they are laid on.
I've have yet to see a tile flying off a roof in the UK (although I have replaced a few that have dropped off post storms) but this summer I was working on a roof when a mini tornado came through the area and folded one half of a roof over it's ridge and left half the roof upside down on the 'good' bit. That was a bit of a sphincter tightening moment when it (the tornado not the roof!) continued on towards me...missed by about 50 feet.

On a positive note I suggested to the boss that he go find the owner (silly bugger was slightly reluctant as there was an EMS vehicle present but I pointed out to him that if there was an owner strapped to a gurney they'd have to listen to his sales pitch ). It was an 'interesting' job getting rid of the crap before we put a new roof on it.

dc koop

Many houses in Florida now have a metal kind of roof which is anchored to the concrete slab and my brother-in-law says that they're completely hurricane proof. I hope for his sake they are. You've probably seen them anyway

Houses in California are built to withstand quakes with a sturdy wooden frame anchored to a cement slab. The walls are constructed in the best possible way for maximum insulation with an inner facing of dry wall and in between the tar paper and chicken wire thick insulation padding. A good thick layer of stucco outside finishes the job. We don't get gale force winds here but the Santa Anas can be somewhat strong at times. I have heavy Spanish tiles on my roof and haven't lost a one yet. The fireplace chimney is the only brick structure and reinforced with rebar.

The first house I owned here had a great big picture window with single pane glass set in wood framed squares, There was no porch and the house faced east to west the worst possible situation for any home in southern California. We had A/C and heating installed not long after we bought it but we often wondered how the original owners managed during summers back in the 1950s.

dc koop

Pray to the Almighty that nothing more than 1.5 on the Richter scale ever happens though

scrubbedexpat091

Those who complain about US housing being poorly built, should come see how poorly built places can be in Canada...lol

Cold air coming through all outlets/light switches that are on exterior walls. (I even put in some wall insulation behind the plates to fill in the space, but cold air still comes in.

On the main exterior wall along the bottom where the wall meets the floor, can feel cold air coming in there, lots of cold air coming in around the window frame.

The patio doorway was cut weird so even with 2 layers of extra large weather stripping cold air still comes in.

The floor is laminate wood flooring on top of concrete, under us is an empty retail unit that isn't heated. Our floor is liking walking on ice sometimes it's so cold. No insulation under the floor.

No wonder our electric bill has tripled and why they heater can't heat beyond 67F...


Poor construction certainly not unique to the US.

johnwoo

There was 6.9 in 1989.

dc koop

The houses and apartment buildings in Montreal were pretty well built as I remember. There were outer and inner entrance doors and double glazed windows. The only concern I had as an apartment tenant was that it would get too warm sometimes and there were no thermostats to control the heating system but still when it was minus 20 F outdoors was there really any need to complain ?

In late March when the temperatures rose to the low 40s I would open all the windows and walk around wearing a light T shirt because it seemed too warm but that was a long time ago when I was a young un and still had red blood in my veins

dc koop

Was there much damage? I wasn't living in the UK at that time

johnwoo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_L...and_fatalities

scrubbedexpat091

Older buildings here built in the 60's and 70's are like that, well insulated and stay quite warm.

Its the newer buildings, builders simply build things on the cheap now.

zzrmark

Yup, I see them quite regularly...I'm one of the fruitloops that you see on the tops of homes in 100F heat fitting them!!! They are rated to 140/150mph (depending on the code applied), very few things are 'hurricane proof' and anyone that tells you they are is lying. Sure they can stand 150mph winds but whether they can withstand that and a 40 foot by 20 foot trailer home slamming into them is another matter!

Sarah

Oh you poor bastard. I moved to Pennsylvania for my husband as well. If only I could go back in time and warn myself....There is a famous quote that goes, "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia at one end, Pittsburgh at the other and Alabama inbetween."
Hope you like right-wing, super-conservative, anti-muslim, pro-gun, anti-gay people!

lizzyq

There is also the little liberal bubble of State College right in the middle in Centre County.

Pulaski

.... Which voted in 2016 for a Republican senator and voted for Hilary by a much smaller margin (about 2,200 votes) than the number of voters who voted for the Libertarian and Conservative candidates (about 3,000 votes in aggregate), and in fact was taken by Hillary with less than 50% of the votes cast, so hardly a bastion of liberalism!