I live in a 1920's house in a $$$$ area. The place I live in is built essentially out of solid wood and stone. The floors are perfectly fitted hardwood and they do not squeak. The rafters are several inch thick solid wood beams. My countertop is thick hardwood and lacquer and could withstand an impact from a timber axe. This house feels like it's gonna last for centuries. But it has essentially no insulation, no central heat (when I moved in), kinda small floorplan compared to the lot size, low ceilings and low doorways, and you need a team of mountain dwarves to be able to put a picture up on the wall because it's either plaster over hardwood slats or stone/brick.

If a nuke hit the bay area, my house would

a) still be standing
b) shield a few houses nearby from the blast, and
c) still be cold

Friends of mine just had a house built in tractville, San Jose. While they were building, I made a few trips to the work site. Their walls are thin sheet rock and on the other side is plywood and vinyl siding. Every interior cabinet is made out of particle board. The builders put in the de rigeur huge jacuzzi tub which is imitation marble (fiberglass actually). The house and garage(s) were built to take up the statutory maximum fraction of the lot size. Every other house on the street looks a bit different but has nearly the same basic design qualities. Of course the place is wired throughout for ethernet and TOSLINK audio. Their house is quieter and warmer during nights than my place, has every modern convenience for the year 2006, and probably would cost $5M if it were built the way my house was made in the '20s.

Will their house be in as great shape as mine when it's 80+ years old? Doubtful, but by then human civilization will have ended and I will still be cold in my non-insulated nuke shelter house.

 

i rehabbed a house built in about 1935.... the bathroom had some kind of crazy heavy everything..... i must have removed 10,000lbs of tile / cement backing... it had tile on the floor that was 4" thick and on the walls with the same 4" thick stuff.... the poor rafters were sagging like crazy.