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OK, let's pull out the dictionary. A 'condo' is short for condominium, which is a type of residence built by and maintained by a property developer.
If you have an apartment you generally share one large building, often multi-story, with multiple tenants. Each tenant has several rooms laid out for them, like a kitchen, bathroom, one or two bedrooms, and some unspecified room that could be a den, a dining room, or, for smaller apartments, there is no extra room. There is usually a building superintendent who performs maintenance on the rented facilities. Parking is in a garage that is part of the building, or you park on the street, or you don't park because there is no room for a car so you take the bus or subway. It is possible that the tenants own nothing, particularly if the apartment was pre-furnished. The landlord usually pays utilities and property taxes and will pro-rate that so that each tenant owes some fraction of that particular upkeep.
At the other end of the scale, you buy property with a house on it and you share that with no one. You are responsible for your own maintenance, you own the land, you own the house. You can have a driveway for off-street parking. Depending on many factors, it could be a small house or a huge mansion. You furnish it yourself. You pay property taxes and utilities.
In between those two, you have the condo, which is usually a relatively small house on a small lot in a row of identically built small houses. You often have a private driveway and a small garage - 1-car most often. There is often a postage stamp sized piece of turf that is generously referred to as a "back yard" where you might have room for a small outdoor party. The condo usually includes a maintenance contract that the developer manages. The owner of a condo home DOES NOT usually own the land, but rather there is joint ownership among all residents. (Hence the name: con dominium, Latin for "shared control")
On storm doors and windows:
People who live in places subject to seasonally intense weather will have storm doors and/or storm shutters. In nicer weather the residents want to let the air in to circulate through the house and take away stuffy odors. You are right, by the way... a screen door usually IS quite flimsy. On the other hand, we are rarely attacked by commando squadrons of mosquitoes so a screen door is a case of "right-sized item for the job it must do."
On "shared ductwork":
As to central heat and air, the ductwork is shared by the (usually separate) heating and cooling system in a single home. They share the vents in each room. In private homes, no neighbors share your heat and A/C ducts. No bets on duct sharing in apartments. However, even in the simple case, there might be non-uniformity. After her knee surgery with complications in the form of a severe infection, my dear wife's internal thermostat has gone bonkers. Figuring out how to set the temperature in the upstairs and downstairs areas can be ... contentious. Her knee has healed perfectly well but her thermostat has not. She and I always have to negotiate temperature settings.
If you have an apartment you generally share one large building, often multi-story, with multiple tenants. Each tenant has several rooms laid out for them, like a kitchen, bathroom, one or two bedrooms, and some unspecified room that could be a den, a dining room, or, for smaller apartments, there is no extra room. There is usually a building superintendent who performs maintenance on the rented facilities. Parking is in a garage that is part of the building, or you park on the street, or you don't park because there is no room for a car so you take the bus or subway. It is possible that the tenants own nothing, particularly if the apartment was pre-furnished. The landlord usually pays utilities and property taxes and will pro-rate that so that each tenant owes some fraction of that particular upkeep.
At the other end of the scale, you buy property with a house on it and you share that with no one. You are responsible for your own maintenance, you own the land, you own the house. You can have a driveway for off-street parking. Depending on many factors, it could be a small house or a huge mansion. You furnish it yourself. You pay property taxes and utilities.
In between those two, you have the condo, which is usually a relatively small house on a small lot in a row of identically built small houses. You often have a private driveway and a small garage - 1-car most often. There is often a postage stamp sized piece of turf that is generously referred to as a "back yard" where you might have room for a small outdoor party. The condo usually includes a maintenance contract that the developer manages. The owner of a condo home DOES NOT usually own the land, but rather there is joint ownership among all residents. (Hence the name: con dominium, Latin for "shared control")
On storm doors and windows:
People who live in places subject to seasonally intense weather will have storm doors and/or storm shutters. In nicer weather the residents want to let the air in to circulate through the house and take away stuffy odors. You are right, by the way... a screen door usually IS quite flimsy. On the other hand, we are rarely attacked by commando squadrons of mosquitoes so a screen door is a case of "right-sized item for the job it must do."
On "shared ductwork":
As to central heat and air, the ductwork is shared by the (usually separate) heating and cooling system in a single home. They share the vents in each room. In private homes, no neighbors share your heat and A/C ducts. No bets on duct sharing in apartments. However, even in the simple case, there might be non-uniformity. After her knee surgery with complications in the form of a severe infection, my dear wife's internal thermostat has gone bonkers. Figuring out how to set the temperature in the upstairs and downstairs areas can be ... contentious. Her knee has healed perfectly well but her thermostat has not. She and I always have to negotiate temperature settings.
