Let's talk about how houses are built in Austria

You will not find our normal "stick built" house in Austria for new construction. What you will find are houses built with concrete basements and floors bordered with brick walls. You will find the walls well insulated. The concrete floors will be covered with an in floor heating system topped by solid wood flooring. The windows, doors and molding are commercial grade plus, trimmed with thick, solid pieces of wood. I was told that a house like this may last one hundred years without major structural problems. Rap any wall hard with a closed fist and you may not even hear a dull thud.

It is not unusual for houses here to be hundreds of years old. Of course they may be  renovated or repaired, or even expanded, but the basic structure is a fortress--and every fortress here is built on solid rock. The hotel bed and breakfast we are currently staying in has sections that date from the mid-sixteenth century. Even more remarkable, the building and land have been owned by the same family since 1650!

A new house can take over a year to build, much of that time for concrete and mortar to properly cure and dry. Houses are often three stories with full basements. Many new houses have solar panels with modern insulated windows.

Patience is definitely a virtue when building a new house here. The reward,  however, is a house with a quality and durability that would be the envy of any homeowner here. Besides, people here stay put and a house may be inhabited by more than one generation, and stay in the family.