Houses in other countries (inspired by what baffles you about other countries)

[file]

Inspired by the thread on things that baffle you in other countries, where quite a lot of the discussion related to homes in other countries, I thought it’d be interesting with a thread showing standard homes in different countries and some information about how choices have been made when it comes to their layout etc.

So here are two links to two different homes in Sweden. This one (you’ll get straight to a gallery with pictures and the layout is at the bottom) is a fairly typical house built in the 1970s:
www.hemnet.se/bostad/villa-6rum-rodeby-karlskrona-kommun-fasanvagen-6-17145055#gallery

There are several areas to sit outside, wooden decking areas. There is a large hallway, easy to store clothes and put away shoes. There are two lounges – very common, and normally desired, for families; one for the parents, one for children to have friends in etc. The kitchen was probably a room of its own in the 1970s, but it’s now more or less open to the lounge. There is a separate utility room, and a big storage room with a separate entrance (“förråd”). There is also an indoors storage room, “Klk”. There are bedrooms on the ground floor as well as on the first floor – this is very common, people like not having all bedrooms next to each other (so do I!). Sometimes when the children get older parents like to move downstairs and leave the upstairs to the children completely (including cleaning haha!). In this house, the downstairs bedrooms are kind of tucked away, but it is also common to have a bedroom literally inside the entrance door for example.

When this house was built and bought, the upstairs probably wasn’t ready – people would buy a house that was ‘half-done’ and then when they had saved more money they’d do the upstairs too. So there is no proper bathroom upstairs, just a loo; this is very unusual. (And usually, all bathrooms and loos are fully tiled – all new built houses always have fully tiled bathrooms and toilets, so this is a house that has not been renovated to what is now standard.)

It is also very typical that there are no doors to the lounge/hallway for example. I think that is one reason why Scandi people feel that English houses are so crowded/small/narrow, there’s no open space (even without expanding it would feel more airy if there weren’t doors to three rooms on the ground floor from a very narrow hallway, for example).

So people buying this house would probably fit a proper bathroom upstairs, for example. The downstairs looks quite ‘normal’ and ready to go.

This is quite a standard, recently built flat for families (in fact, it’s just being built, so there are options for the first buyer to choose between, different bathroom tiles for example).

www.hemnet.se/bostad/lagenhet-4rum-majorna-goteborgs-kommun-fixfabrikens-gata-4-17184735#gallery

Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one of them also has a washing machine and a drier. Two balconies (this is unusual, one is standard), open plan living again. Quite a lot of cupboards/storage, including in the hallway and built in wardrobes in every room. Specific cleaning cupboard in the kitchen area. Big windows – really important, this is one thing I miss in England.

(Bedrooms are never presented as 'double' or 'single' - I don't know any 'child' living at home who had a double bed, and everything is measured in sq metres - it'd be pointless information for someone that a double bedroom, it doesn't say anything about the size, apart from the fact that it is at least 2x2 metres ;-) )

Would be really interesting to see a standard home in Italy/France/Spain/Ireland/the Netherlands for example and hear about the choices made there/what people like and want, I’ve never been in any :-)

I can post some homes in Denmark later on too if anyone's interested.

This is a typical modest Estonian house, similar to my grandma's house. 100 years old, usually small rooms, originally heated by that ugly black chimney you can see on one photo, my grandma had the exact one.
www.city24.ee/et/kinnisvara/majade-muuk/Tallinn-Kristiine-linnaosa/1999292?selectedTabMenu=list

This is a typical higher end house, similar to my aunt's.

www.city24.ee/et/kinnisvara/majade-muuk/Tallinn-Haabersti-linnaosa/7887725?selectedTabMenu=list

Terraced houses exist but they are nowhere near as popular as in the UK. In fact they would not be considered houses, but apartments in a shared house.

Estonian houses are very well insulated and usually very warm in the winter. Many houses have saunas, either in the basement or as a separate building in the garden. It's also totally normal to go over for dinner and go to sauna all together before.

@Katharinarosalie, love the first Estonian house! Perhaps because it looks very Scandinavian ;-) Could have been in Sweden too I think.

The second one is too modern to me.

When I get rich (haha!) I'll get a house where I can build a traditional Scandinavian sauna :-)

There's a few different traditional types of houses in Finland but a common one is the post-war ones built for the returning soldiers. Wooden houses built around a large central chimney (these days the chimney space is usually renovated to toilets, as they used to just have the outside loo) so the rooms connect to each other in a kind of circle - entrance room, connecting to kitchen, which connects to living room, which connects to bedroom, which connects back to the entrance room. There's rooms in the attic and often a basement. I live on an estate full of these houses, mine is bigger than the standard size luckily, and has an indoor shower and sauna in the basement - some of my neighbours still have to go out to the outhouse to shower!

Here's an example of one www.etuovi.com/kohde/1291386?haku=M1603163126

Letterboxes are all on the street here, no locks on them either in my area but never heard of anyone stealing from them. Its quite handy because the postie can lift the lid and fit parcels in them that wouldn't fit through a letterbox slot.

Electrics in the bathroom, it is really not a safety issue so long as the right kind of sockets are used (they have a lid that flaps down the moment you take a plug out). Well its not a safety issue unless you move into a house with really old electrics that someone unqualified did... my shower used to give me minor electric shocks!

@file
Thank you for that explanation, I've read about apartment blocks in New York having communal heating too.

Is the cost for the Scandinavian sort just divided between the houses or is it included in a type of tax? I like the sound of it either way!

I'm interested because our heating comes on twice a day for a total of 3.5 hours a day. Energy costs are prohibitively expensive. As a rough estimate I'd imagine gas and electric would be somewhere around £300+/ month for our (tbh large) home. As it stands it's around the £100/month mark. But I am awesome at layering up!

My grandparents bathroom (UK) has a plug in it, and that's where the washing machine is... It shouldn't be there, but tbh that's the least of the worries with that house!

I had a German boyfriend briefly very many years ago, his granny lived in a basement apartment under his parents house. It seemed pretty convenient tbh!

Loving this thread. Liked all the houses. Particularly the 2 Sweden ones.

@file , both kitchens in the cheaper houses look quite basic, interesting! Even the kitchen in the more expensive house isn’t very big – is it not as much of a thing to have big kitchens in NZ?

Tbh it's not something I've thought about, our kitchens have always had what we needed and our homes have always been more about function and the outdoor space.

[quote StartupRepair]Here is what you can get in one of Melbourne's most exclusive suburbs for just under $10 million! www.domain.com.au/21-huntingfield-road-toorak-vic-3142-2016638674[/quote]
I've got family in Toorak, we don't have houses like theirs though. www.domain.com.au/27-turnbull-avenue-toorak-vic-3142-2016572484#price-guide-soi

@DinosApple, you pay for what you use! So your 'heating meter' will be read just like the water meter or the electricity meter here. I had to check exactly how it works, had no idea: apparently there is a basic annual cost of about £350, and then you pay about 6 pence per kWH - I had no idea how it relates to UK costs, but did a quick web search and it says that average costs in the UK are 14-15 pence/kWH. So quite a lot cheaper there. The average cost for a house in Sweden was about £1600 per year. So maybe that's a natural explanation why houses are generally warmer there and less discussion about turning the heating on and off.

@Natsku, really interesting to hear! I really like homes where you can walk round, just make them feel so much more spacious.

@skybluepinks ah ok! Maybe a big kitchen is more desirable when you can't spend as much time outside!?

Really interesting about on off heating. I do that. It was cold last week but this week is 10 degrees so it doesn't need as much heat.

Is it true that most houses in Scandinavia have air source heat pumps? No wonder everyone is obsessed with insulation!

^ sorry I realise Scandinavia is not a country! I meant Sweden

in germany it's also common to have communal central heating in appartement buildings.
the billing for that is quite complicated, you pay a proportional flat fee and on top of that by usage which in case of my mil is measured by a tube on the actual radiator which has a gel in it that gradually evaporates with heat.

central bills generally are quite comllicated. mil own her flat and a share of the freehold. if something needs to be replaced, like the lift due to new safety regulations every flat owner gets a proportionate bill.

Ah that is interesting thank you.

Here you pay a standing charge for both your electric and gas (and water). It can be anywhere between 16p and 26p per day per utility. Then there a charge per kWh too (or per litre too as we're on a water meter).

Energy companies have different tarrifs and don't automatically put you on the cheapest, plus cost cares as to how you pay. You have to research the cheapest, generally each year. It makes it difficult for anyone without internet access to do it easily.
Also, anything other than paying by direct debit incurs higher charges. Highest of all is if you have a pay to top up meter (usually in the least well off houses). It's not a good way to do things, although I think it is changing - costs would be much higher than those listed above.

I'm too young to remember how it was before the utilities were sold to lots of different companies by the government, so can't tell if this is an improvement .

I'm in the process of changing electricity and gas supplier hence the interest!

In my block in Italy we also have communal heating although since last year (2 years ago?) and we also have a thing attached to each radiator so we pay less if they are switched off. Most of ours are switched off and the flat is still toasty!

Love seeing the Finnish and Estonian houses.
Australian houses tend not to be well insulated. My Canadian friends tell me the coldest they have ever felt was living in Australia.

I loved seeing the Finnish and Estonian houses! So close to us but with those minor differences. I've only been to Finland the once (the shame, I know) on a Helsinki ferry (keeping it classy) and was sort of blown away by how exotic it felt. I got St Petersburg vibes in the streets and all the food in the supermarket was different. Loved it.

@Natsku I thought that Finnish houses were often built around the sauna (this is what the interior decorating magazines have told me in inspirational articles about architects building summer houses in the Finnish archipelago)? Love that last house you posted, so charming - the original doors in teak/similar

I suspect we pay more for heating here, this is true, but we also accept that heating will be a big cost. I think that is a difference. I rent, and usually for renters heat and water would be included in the rent i.e. we wouldn't have been able to separate the costs. This is still common in cooperatively owned apartment buildings, you mush out the costs of water and heat into the service fee they pay each month.

In new builds they charge separately for heat and water in the name of environmentalism (but it's only an excuse to be able to charge higher rents, the only cost we can attempt to control then is heat and water). I only pay separately for water though.

My radiators are always on max because they are "scientifically controlled" by the landlord company to regulate according to outside temperature which in my opinion means they are either on or off, if I turned mine down from max now they'd go cold. It's a ridiculous system. My flat is fine but def not overheated. They are currently pumping out heat because it's -10 but it's not enough to overheat the place. The renter's lament!

Swedish people don't draw curtains, this is a big cultural difference. I think you're supposed to not look hard. But the difference between us and the Dutch is that this is the same for all windows, whereas the Dutch seem to have one show window?

To counterbalance the Expensive Toorak house, here is a very unpretentious cottage in country Victoria. www.domain.com.au/1-bradman-street-horsham-vic-3400-2016672867

In Estonia, heating goes on in the autumn and off in spring, nobody would turn it on and off constantly.

In fact if you live in a semi-detached house, terraced house or an apartment building, it is not allowed to turn your heating totally off in the winter, even if it is empty and nobody lives there.

The law says that the apartment owner is required to keep the temperature and air humidity at a level which ensures the preservation of the entire house and the use of the other apartments according to their intended purpose and without excessive expenses. (if you turn your heating off, the neighbours will indirectly heat yours as well and therefore they will pay more for their heat)

@afromeg
I dey fine. I just give birth na to my 5th pikin so just relaxing. Abeg which tribe you be ? My oba speak hausa too.

I love speaking pidgin so no Oyinbo knows what we are saying Haha
I'm Oyinbo too. Lol but naija on the inside abi

Ooh, lovely thread!

@NewHouseNewMe

Is it true that most houses in Scandinavia have air source heat pumps? No wonder everyone is obsessed with insulation!

They're very widespread but none of the houses we've owned have had it. We want to have it installed in this house but it's expensive and we've other things which need doing more.

Our house is currently heated by communal hot water, which is one of the main forms of heating, at least in the area I live. The council have a giant boiler plant that pipes hot water underground and then houses have 'heat exchange' plant which uses the communal hot water to heat the house.

@banivani I think the traditional way to build a house is to build the sauna first so you can live in there (warm, can wash yourself in it etc.) while you build the rest of the house, but the post-war houses were built en masse to provide for the returning soldiers so they built the houses first and I guess the occupants then added on saunas, made the upstairs into bedrooms themselves. I love the look of these houses, especially when they've been recently repainted. My house is red which is my favourite colour for these houses and my street has a variety of colours - so much more interesting to look at than a row of terraced houses all the same colour!

Helsinki ferry - so much class hope you enjoyed the sight of drunk middle aged Finnish men buying huge piles of booze from the duty free

I miss having district heating, that was so much cheaper

The 2 Estonian houses look lovely, huge. What sort of profession / standard of living would live there?

All the houses shown seem very expensive. Is this what normal working couples can afford though? Surely not. All these are higher escalon, surely?

When I've stayed with my 'normal , working' friends in their small flats in Moscow, Kiev, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Ravenna & Rome, all flats were small, often old and decrepit.

Helsinki ferry - so much class hope you enjoyed the sight of drunk middle aged Finnish men buying huge piles of booze from the duty free

It was a fecking anthropological study, that's what it was. We noticed that Finnish people have a huge knowledge of Finnish "schlagers" and were able to sing along to everything the band threw at them, for example.

On that trip we amused ourselves by inventing the sequel to "Bron" - "The Ferry". It would just take the police much much longer to go between the two cities (Helsinki-Stockholm)

I'd like to see more from Africa. In "The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency" he writes that they have polished concrete floors and how superior they are for keeping a house cool. For me that was a big difference because a floor like that in Sweden would feel like a cellar or garage floor and would seem cheap and uncomfortable. A complete difference in how you look at the trappings of "home" there.

When I was in Palestine I reacted to how many Palestinians furnish their houses - there are sofas everywhere, they're not relegated to a lounge space but rather there is lounge space everywhere. Also the Middle Eastern style of interior design tends to a preference to the opulent and frilly, which is a def contrast to Scandinavian ideals. I also asked my friends about why all houses looked the same and there's apparently building codes saying that houses have to be built from stone so it all ends up being done with similar cladding.

One big contrast was a thorough clean I witnessed - the metal shutters over the windows and the windows were basically hosed down, even on the inside (floors were stone). A luxury for a hot climate that, to be dead certain it will all evaporate!