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My parents' house in Central Maryland was masonry, covered in stucco, built in 1950. My dad loved it because it was totally maintenance-free. Various neighbors who made the mistake of painting their stucco houses were stuck with regular re-painting, while our natural-finish house never did. After many years, it finally did develop a few cracks. Dad went to the same local spot were the original builder got the sand that was used in the stucco mix, got some, mixed up a patching mix that was very close to matching the existing stucco, and fixed the cracks. Still looks good.
Mostly it's tradition + material availability. In the NY you had plenty of wood so you got wood houses with wood siding (and now vinyl and/or hardiboard which is meant to look like wood). In the southwest, very little wood. My area of NJ is the same, except for some reason whoever built Montclair State University liked Mission architecture so it's stucco.
It’s basically ALL vinyl in NY. Boring and now because everyone has it, to me it looks cheap. They do have vinyl board and batten now, which I’m considering
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Originally Posted by Nn2036
It seems to me that outside the SW and Florida, stucco and clay tile roof are considered upscale and only occasionally seen in expensive houses.
It’s probably considered upscale here. I’ve only seen a handful of houses with stucco but I love it. There’s a couple houses with clay roofs in my development but I’ve never seen any more than that
It’s basically ALL vinyl in NY. Boring and now because everyone has it, to me it looks cheap. They do have vinyl board and batten now, which I’m considering
Yes, it looks very pretty, but has to be done absolutely perfect. A neighbor has a stucco house, white, 17 years old, and looks like crap now due to dirt and mold. It's actually more of a Styrofoam material than stucco. Can't pressure wash it for fear of damaging it. It's a million-dollar custom home too. No cracks, but limited options to maintain it.
Amazing this person built a custom home for that kind of money and didn't think maybe you build out of concrete that's going to last hundreds of years and is the strongest, most resilient, most sound proof, energy efficient, bug-proof material known to man? But no in the US we are stuck on the idea that even in earthquake / hurricane / tornado zones or extreme cold temperatures or hot temperatures it's a really fantastic idea to make houses... out of wood... like you'd see hundreds of years ago, with some stucco siding maybe if you're lucky.
It's a real head scratcher because you even have stuff like ICF construction that makes concrete homes extremely affordable. No matter how you cut it, you're at most looking at 15% above the cost of a wood-framed house but that money would be returned quickly with lower home owners insurance in many areas (good luck burning a concrete home down or having it blow over in the wind lol) and massive energy savings. There are people in Las Vegas who pay $500/month for their AC bill because they're trying to cool a wooden structure that simply cannot be sealed as a building the same way a concrete one can be. It made sense like 200 years ago when you chopped down some trees to build a log cabin, but this is 2018 not 1785.
Until more home owners start demanding that quality though, builders will save every dime they can to build within code. My house is all wood, it was over a half-million, and they put plastic 97 cent toilet handles on the three toilets. I bought matching metal ones that go with the faucets for $2.97 each at Home Depot. Apparently that $6 of savings per house was totally worth making it look like a cheap apartment.
But no in the US we are stuck on the idea that even in earthquake / hurricane / tornado zones or extreme cold temperatures or hot temperatures it's a really fantastic idea to make houses... out of wood... like you'd see hundreds of years ago, with some stucco siding maybe if you're lucky.
In 1906, a major earthquake hit San Francisco. The concrete, steel, and masonry buildings were destroyed by the shaking. The wood ones survived (only for most of them to be burnt down, but... eh, can't win them all). ICF walls are very thick, so you lose usable space to them as well as paying more.
You don't really "lose" anything, unless your lot size is a problem. But that should be something you plan ahead of time. Thick walls are what you WANT. I don't want a 6 inch thick wall facing the outside, I want 14" of concrete protecting me against the outside noise and temperature variations. That's what makes concrete so effective. That's why office buildings and condo buildings are built the way they are.
I'm sure in 1906, building standards were a lot different, but if you're trying to suggest a wood home is more durable than concrete LOL you must be joking! It's not even close. A well built concrete home can withstand anything.
Amazing this person built a custom home for that kind of money and didn't think maybe you build out of concrete that's going to last hundreds of years and is the strongest, most resilient, most sound proof, energy efficient, bug-proof material known to man? But no in the US we are stuck on the idea that even in earthquake / hurricane / tornado zones or extreme cold temperatures or hot temperatures it's a really fantastic idea to make houses... out of wood... like you'd see hundreds of years ago, with some stucco siding maybe if you're lucky.
It's a real head scratcher because you even have stuff like ICF construction that makes concrete homes extremely affordable. No matter how you cut it, you're at most looking at 15% above the cost of a wood-framed house but that money would be returned quickly with lower home owners insurance in many areas (good luck burning a concrete home down or having it blow over in the wind lol) and massive energy savings. There are people in Las Vegas who pay $500/month for their AC bill because they're trying to cool a wooden structure that simply cannot be sealed as a building the same way a concrete one can be. It made sense like 200 years ago when you chopped down some trees to build a log cabin, but this is 2018 not 1785.
Until more home owners start demanding that quality though, builders will save every dime they can to build within code. My house is all wood, it was over a half-million, and they put plastic 97 cent toilet handles on the three toilets. I bought matching metal ones that go with the faucets for $2.97 each at Home Depot. Apparently that $6 of savings per house was totally worth making it look like a cheap apartment.
The issue is that structural obsolescence is a real thing and people know that. For instance, the homes built in Europe that are a coupla hundred years old, or even fifty years old - the ceilings tend to be low, the rooms small, windows small, etc.
Heck, I have owned several homes that are between 100 and 50 years old, and loved each of them for various reasons, but I had to have extensive electrical work done in each of them because when they were built, the demand for outlets was so small. Electricity was a luxury then. One of the homes had to be completely rewired, and I had to have tons of outlets installed or put up with extension cords running everywhere. But wow, that house was rock solid.
My parents bought a new house in the early 1970s. AMAZING - IT HAD A PRIVATE MASTER BATHROOM. The thing is, though - it had a tiny master bathroom - a sink, a toilet, and a tiny shower. That was luxurious by the day's standard but barely acceptable now - in fact, it could be a deal killer in a hot real estate market.
When I lived in Germany, in housing built to last in the early 1900s, we had one bathroom for a family of six, lived up four flights of stairs, and the laundry room was in the basement. The kitchen was tiny. Now, I loved living there and loved my big, beautiful windows and the view, but this well built home was structurally obsolete.
When I went back for a visit a couple of years ago, the locals were tearing down that housing. No one wanted to live there anymore so they were building new apartments.
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