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wwwadim · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:35 pm Post subject: Of what your houses are made?

I frequently heard from russian realtors who have visited abroad, that the European and American houses are made in another way, rather than Russian.

I frequently heard that cuisine in apartments of New York are without window and have the area in 4 square meters. That bathrooms are equipped with a shower, but not with a bath.

That the partitions of appartment are made of plywood, and interroom partitions are made of gypsum cardboard.

They can be myths.

And how actually? From what material your dwelling is made?

e · VIP Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 654

That would depend on where in the US you live. Here in California, building materials are exclusively wood (mostly, and mostly plywood), steel, or re-enforced concrete because of earthquake restrictions. Bricks used to be used a lot in the old days, but after the big earthquakes, not anymore and the bricks used are reenforced with steel. On the east coast, its probably different, they use more bricks.

And yes, some bathrooms are only equipped with showers and windowless, but i've noticed that mostly in studios and some but mostly newer apartments.

Mine is wooden frame with a concrete foundation.

What about you?

wwwadim · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:31 pm Post subject:

Yes, it is interesting.

For example, I heard, that in Israel wood is very expensive. It turns out, that the house of wood there will be very expensive.

My house is made of bricks. A basis of a house - too a brick + concrete: http://www.obuhovo.net/photo/IMGP0616.jpg

But when I lived at russian Far North, my house was bild of concrete, on high piles, such as them: http://www.anadyr.org/albums/album06/22_G.sized.jpg
http://www.anadyr.org/albums/album06/31_G.sized.jpg

Because, there was a permafrost of a ground. In the summer the ground thew and the base of a house could collapse.

Rick · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:44 pm Post subject:

Brick.. with wooden floors. About 1920's house, with single glass windows. Now they use concrete for the floors mostly.

Where i live the ground is quite weak. Parts of The Hague are built on sand, but my street probably on peat. (basically organic material that didn't rot because of it being under water. you might say most of the west of Holland is swamp Razz

) Because of this we mostly have poles under the foundation beams in areas without a sand soil. Up to 20 metres deep, where the sand layers from the ice age are located.

Old inner cities houses have shorter poles, about 7 metres, wooden ones (and lots of them) Those actually don't reach down to the supporting sand layers. This makes cities like Amsterdam practically float on the peat and clay grounds they're built on.

wwwadim: congratulations. you must be the first person ever to actually start a thread in 'Not Relevant'. and yours must certainly be the first thread that was ever moved out of 'Not Relevant'. Wink

vettra · Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 3:05 am Post subject: American construction

"apartments of New York" - New York City is very bad for an example of average American houses. This city is the only city in America where most people buy apartments ("condominiums"), instead of detached, separate houses (with lawns, yards, and trees). So in that way, NYC is like Russia. Rents are very high. $2,000-3000/month is normal in Manhattan. I lived near White Plains (100km north) and looked for a cheap apt. at the northern edge of NYC (Bronx, ~250th street). I found places for $800/month, but they were horrible. Dirty, crime-neighborhoods, very ghetto.

"cuisine in apartments of New York are without window" ...?
many bathrooms have showers but no bath tub. That is very American. Many (most?) Americans take showers only. Usually it is shower+bathtub.
Houses and apartments are much bigger than in Russia. I think the small apartments in Russia are evoluation from Stalin times, when industrial production was more important than making people comfortable. Of course, rent is higher in America. But proportionally, America can be cheaper to live in per square foot (or square meter). Example, I sold my house in Atlanta for $120,000. It has 1700 sq. feet (~== 190 sq. meters). eg, $630/m2. in Russia a typical apartment would have say, 50 m2. Thus, my place would be worth $30,000 if it was that size. This is a very rough approximation, but the point is America is relatively inexpensive place to live in. The average American home price is now about $160,000.
I know in Moscow this would be cheap. I am curious, what is the price of a house or apartment in other parts of Russia?

American houses are basically all-wood. The walls are wood frame, with sheet rock nailed onto the wood frame inside. The frame has 2x4 wood beams about 1 foot apart. A "2x4" is a standard size wood beam 2" wide, 4" deep - 5 cm wide and 10 cm deep. Sheet rock I guess is slabs of gypsum, with a thin layer of cardboard paper over each side. these sheets are about 2cm thick.

Brick is also used but is less common. Usually in the north and east, especailly older houses. New houses mix brick and wood, but brick is more expensive, so new all-brick houses are not too common.
One thing I noticed in Russia - steel roofs are common. This is considered to be for poor people. Only in the poorest parts of Georgia and Texas have I seen steel roofs.

UsualSuspect · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:28 am Post subject: House Materials

Most houses in OZ are wooden floor, timber framed with gyprock walls and single brick veneer. Most generally have tiles on the roof (sitting on wooden frames), but it depends where you are. In the hotter areas, "weatherboard" (wood) outer panelling is used instead of brick along with sheet steel roof. Double brick (with no timber frame) was popular in the 50's and 60's and we now use concrete slabs instead of wooden floors. Ceiling height is generally 8 feet (2.5 metres) and our doorways are a standard size as well, but don't know what it is.
"Fibro" was used a lot, but now illegal to build as it contained asbestos. These wall/house panels are now made out of fibrous cement sheet instead.

I have a wooden floored, single brick veneer, gyrock walled house. Most of the houses I have lived in have been this type, with the exception of a "terrace" house which was double brick and one of my parents' place was double brick as well.

An interesting fact is that our hot/cold water supply is not separate, which is not the case in Russia. Another? Oz voltage is the same as russia, ie 220-240 @ 50Hz but we use three prong plugs versus two pin types.
AND...our water rotates in the opposite direction when the sink is draining.....my wife's friends got me to send a small video of this to them!

Regards
Usualsuspect

MrSpice · Lounge Wizard Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 3431

I also noticed that in America, the kitchen is also part of the dining room. However, many people (and especially russian immigrants) appreciate a separate kitchen, and especially a kitchen where one can eat with a window (referred in the real estate ads as EIK - Eat-In-Kitchen).

Most apartments in New York have both shower and a bath tub, just like most apartments in Russia. In New York, the prices for real estate are sky-rocketing and many people live in the apartments that are quite small. The apartment I am renting now is just a bit bigger than the one I lived in when I was living in St Petersburg.

The going rate for a decent 1-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn (one of New York's borough, the most russian one) is about $950-1100 per month. 1-bedroom means 1 large room and 1 bedroom, or what was called 2-room apartment in Russia (2x komnatnaya).

MrSpice · Lounge Wizard Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 3431

wwwadim: Those russian landscapes are priceless :)

You have a very good house, by the way. To buy a house like this one in New York I would need millions :)

vettra · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject:

i don't see that much value in looking at drab pre-fab concrete buildings - i'm sure most Russians share that opinion. If you like huge houses, I stayed briefly in Wilkingsburgh (in Pittsburgh). You can pick up a 3-story house for $10K-30K. Huge abandoned houses are everywhere. However, it's dark ghetto.

wwwadim · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:59 pm Post subject:

It not a ghetto, and quite little decent area of my town Smile

Simply Moscow strongly differs from the Moscow area and such strong distinction seems.

At photo - it still the unfinished house. Now it is available for sale. It is necessary to tell, that the majority of houses in the Moscow area look practically equally, as this.

There are still other houses - wooden. From bars of a tree.

Cost of apartments and houses in Moscow Region in 2-3 times is lower, than in Moscow. But even cheaper: in 200 kilometers from Moscow you can quite buy a decent apartment with 1 bedroom for 15.000$, same in Moscow would cost 70-80.000 $

My grandma lives in Kazakhstan. She told to me, that in their city Kostanai the apartment with 2 bedrooms could be bought for 5000 $, and the house - for 3000 $

Anya · Lounge Lizard Joined: 19 Feb 2004 Posts: 157

I live in one of the newer residential areas in the south-east part of Moscow city where they throw up a few pre-fab blocks of 'panel' apartments which is pretty standard stuff these days. I'm on the first floor so I get to admire the flowers growing just outside the window, as well as get all the noise from people and out-of-control car alarms. Well at least we've got good windows that seal the weather and sound out. Anyway one thing about the apartments is that the walls are too thin. I know exactly what my upstairs neighbour is upset about every day. Every morning at about 9am she's always scolding and yelling very colourful language at everyone in her domain and next door is this guy who plays tasteless popsa every weekend. Well at least he does it only in his room so as long as I vacate the adjacent room and close the door (and windows) I can't hear him. Boo hoo!

Xela · VIP Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 781 Location: Shanghai

Mine is a Victorian house.

So it's very large, sturdy double-layer brick work all the way through, with all room divides being brick also. Foundations are typically deep and strong, as is usually the case in this country, due to the (albeit geographically varying) nature of the soil.

Roof is timber: layered with felt: then layered with ceramic tiles, windows double-glazed, and some cosmetical rendering in the style of a villa; which gives it it's uniqueness.

Victorian houses are amongst the most in demand in London(and probably one of the most appreciated in England), and I think it's not only their robust qualities, but the classical nature of the British people, that has led to them still being so popular.

wwwadim · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:20 pm Post subject:

Here is typical SubMocow wooden houses:
http://www.obuhovo.net/photo/IMGP0853.jpg
http://www.obuhovo.net/photo/IMGP0297.jpg Smile

Xela · VIP Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 781 Location: Shanghai

Surprisingly, wooden houses can offer far more in the way of insulation, although that first house seems to have concrete lintels for some reason?

UsualSuspect,

I hate to have to tell you this, but water flowing down the drain in the other direction Down Under is a complete lie.

cyndy22 · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:17 am Post subject:

wwwadim,
I think yur house is very nice. You have done good for yourself! It's nice for westernizers to see that Russians do have opportunities and interest to venture out and build nice homes for themselves and family. I know of course money is essential to do this, but risk is also needed. I admit that I have never lived in a big concrete apt. building. The closest I came to that was when I first went to Honolulu, Hawaii for school and spent 3 weewks in a high rise with friends while I looked for housing. Well of course Hawaii is entirely different than Russia. I could not complain.

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