Different houses in American English

[ROBINDESBOIS]

How canwe say in American E.
Detached house
Semi-detached house
Terraced house

[laepelba]

I would probably say "single family home" for a home that is not attached to any others.

[Awaken]

Single Family Home is the official term you would find in real estate or home purchasing.

Here is a question to other Americans. How do they classify the row housing like you see in San Francisco or other big cities? Down here they would be town homes. Does the same apply?

[wrholt]

In the U.S. the terms vary somewhat by region as well as by the type of construction and the form of land ownership.

I agree with Lou Ann: a single building configured as one dwelling located on its own building lot and that is not attached to a neighboring building is a 'single-family home'.

A 'semi-detached' house is either one of 2 independent buildings that meet along one side aligned witih the line separating their building lots.

What is a 'terraced house'? Is this one of 3 or more buildings in a row of lots where each house meets two other houses along opposite walls? If each building is an independent structure, in my area we call it a 'townhouse' if each home and lot is independent, and we call it a "townhouse condominium' if the land is held in common among all of the houses. Usually 'townhouses' look like independent buildings; they often have different exterior styles, and they may have different heights, and their floors may not align. Ususally "townhouse condominiums' look like one building; identical architectural and exterior styles, possibly with a common entryway.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Thanks.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Awaken

Here is a question to other Americans. How do they classify the row housing like you see in San Francisco or other big cities? Down here they would be town homes. Does the same apply?

Yes - I would call them "town homes" or, less commonly, "row houses".

[caliber1]

In construction we have a few ways of specifying.

Townhome- Attached on the sides (sharing a common wall), but know other home above or below.

Condominium- More appartment-like having other units on either the sides, back, and/or above and below.

Duplex- Two homes sharing one common wall.

Thought this might be helpful . Also, I've never seen a townhome that wasn't at least a two story or more.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by caliber1

In construction we have a few ways of specifying.

Townhome- Attached on the sides (sharing a common wall), but know other home above or below.

Condominium- More appartment-like having other units on either the sides, back, and/or above and below.

Duplex- Two homes sharing one common wall.

Thought this might be helpful . Also, I've never seen a townhome that wasn't at least a two story or more.

Around here a duplex typically is two units that are side-by-side mirror images. It might be a single-owner property, it might be a 2-owner property with each half having its own lot, or it might be a 2-party condominium association that nominally has some portion of the property held in common by the two units even though each unit is separately deeded. A 2-unit home that is up-and-downstairs rather than size-by-side is a 2-family, but it is NOT a duplex.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

I thought a duplex was an apartment with two floors. Like in Spain.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Around here a duplex typically is two units that are side-by-side mirror images. It might be a single-owner property, it might be a 2-owner property with each half having its own lot[...]

That's what "una casa dúplex" is in Mexico too.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

I thought a duplex was an apartment with two floors. Like in Spain.

Typically, yes, each half of a duplex is two or more floors and each half is a mirror image of the other half. From the outside they look like one large house.

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Around here a duplex typically is two units that are side-by-side mirror images. It might be a single-owner property, it might be a 2-owner property with each half having its own lot, or it might be a 2-party condominium association that nominally has some portion of the property held in common by the two units even though each unit is separately deeded. A 2-unit home that is up-and-downstairs rather than size-by-side is a 2-family, but it is NOT a duplex.

Yep, sorry. I should have been more specific. They do mirror eachother.

[micho]

Lo que en España es un duplex es un apartamento o un piso en dos plantas de un edificio (en comunidad de vecinos, o condominio)
A las casas que son simétricas aquí se llaman casas o chalets "pareados" (de par: dos) y pueden ser de una, dos o tres plantas, normalmente.
Cuando las casas son iguales y están pegadas en hilera se les llama "adosados" o "chalets adosados".
Si son varios chalets independientes, o pareados, o adosados en un terreno con zonas comunes se llama "urbanización".

Sé que esto varía según los países y que los mismos nombres designan cosas distintas por eso hay que adaptarse al lenguaje de cada sitio.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Urbanización in England is called Urban development, what´s called in America, because the other day I heard an American using a different word, but I Forgot.
Thanks in advance.

[poli]

housing development

[Sancho Panther]

Or housing estate.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

Or housing estate.

.. but definitely not in the United States