alt Hacker NewsI live in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I specified a lot of things about it that would keep it dry. The general contractor thought it was a waste of money, but I said it's my money and that's what I want to spend it on. There were still mistakes, but it can be managed.
After 25 years, it has proven its worth.
I've watched my neighborhood evolve, with older homes regularly getting dozed and new ones put up. After two or three years I see the water damage on them. Sheesh!
Probably the most consequential feature is having large eaves, which keeps the windows and siding dry. Lots of modern houses around here have no eaves at all!!
The lack of eaves blows my mind, also in the PNW. My home, and this little subdivision (really just a loop of ~50 homes) was all early 80s. I was bummed because the lot next to me was empty (and I'm on the narrow part of the loop so it's just inner corner, me, inner corner), due to a fire shortly after construction, and it came up for sale just after I bought here. But a developer bought it up, and built one of those new houses, no eaves, etc., about three years ago. And not a month or two goes by without (still, 3y later) some subcontractor there doing work. They've already had foundation repairs, driveway partly replaced, dry wall work, plumbing, electric and flooring. Oof.