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That's just it. Places in CA, especially southern CA aren't as well insulated as they should be. Newer places often got hot in summer and cold in winter so energy bills do tend to be rather high. Now as far as other things, there have been some improvements as all new structures in CA have to meet seismic standards due to the reality of earthquakes in this part of the world.
If you're not too picky about indoor temperature, insulation isn't that useful in California. Especially in the summer, often it's not that hot overall outside but the inside gets hot from sun exposure. A well ventalited house is a plus.
If you're not too picky about indoor temperature, insulation isn't that useful in California. Especially in the summer, often it's not that hot overall outside but the inside gets hot from sun exposure. A well ventilated house is a plus.
Yes, speaking for myself, it is true that my house is not well insulated. However, we get by 50 weeks out of the year with no heat and no air conditioning. (I usually do run a portable a/c in one room for about two weeks in the hottest weather). Otherwise, fans in summer and sweaters in winter suffice. Our windows are open almost every day. They are open right now and it's 68 F (20C) in the house, which feels just about perfect. Why bother with expensive heavy insulation in a climate like this?
What is much more important in California is that your house not collapse around you in the rare event of a severe earthquake. So houses are made of wood, not stone or brick, and the building codes for earthquake safety are quite strict. And, it is also correct that wood shingles are not allowed because of the fire hazard. My house has a tile roof.
If you're not too picky about indoor temperature, insulation isn't that useful in California. Especially in the summer, often it's not that hot overall outside but the inside gets hot from sun exposure. A well ventalited house is a plus.
as insit here and remember how hot the inside got this past summer. Older better insulated places don't have this issue.
American residential building standards have fallen. There is a reason many Americans prefer pre-war housing.
However, for the most part it is hyperbole to call American housing 'shacks' and I say that as a critic of recent American building trends. I think the chief problem with stick-built* housing is that while they insulate well in winter, they are hot as can be in summer and really suck in tornados and hurricanes, though as pointed out they are well suited to areas with earthquakes.
*stick-built refers to dimensional lumber as opposed to log or timber-framed wood building techniques.
The main reason stick-built wood housing exploded in America is because it is cheap, and goes up fast. And with a population that grew rapidly in the 20th century, especially after the second world war, there was a huge demand for rapid built, inexpensive housing. Furthermore, the U.S. has a tremendous supply of pine/fir lumber, a commodity in short supply in most of Europe. Except for Scandinavia where building trends in the 20th century were very similar to the U.S., with dimensional lumber.
Actually there honestly isn't a problem with wooden homes, humans have used wood to build homes for a very long time... its only a problem because America has a lot of homes built out of wood.
We have lived in wood homes for a very long time, the only people who complain about them are.... you guessed it... people who don't even live here.
And again, no reason given why wooden homes are worse.
Yeah, many of the older buildings in Amsterdam are wood framed anyway. Generally speaking Europe has more stone constructed building for two reasons: Fire and a scarcity of wood in medieval Europe. The continent was clear cut by the Middle Ages. Wood was the crude oil of that time.
So I think that America is extremely violent place(compared to the 1st world).
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