[ClumsyPilot]

The old world associates US construction with 'houses made of paper', where anyone can break into your house just by kicking in a hollow wooden door.

Even in UK it was shocking to find out that walls between apartments are just plaster, that's totally unacceptable in continental europe, When i tell my folks that I could break through to the neighboirs with a kitchen knife, their brain implodes (It would take a while)

[CalRobert]

That's weird. Living in Ireland I found the houses to be crap, with blown bricks, no insulation, terrible draughts, and no eaves (encouraging water ingress). I was delighted to build myself a proper stud frame home insulated with 200mm rockwool throughout.

[Jensson]

Ireland is not continental Europe.