Differences between US and U.K. homes

[Youngatheart00]

Just a ponderous thread as it’s my day off and I’ve been thinking, mainly following the abundance of Netflix we’ve all watched over the past year, but also some of my travel experiences (not recently, obviously!)

Some of the differences I’ve noticed are;

• many more of the US homes seem to be fully open plan downstairs. Some don’t even seem to have doors between the rooms?

• the bathroom count / ratio to bedrooms is much higher! (Eg 3 bed / 3 bath or even 2 bed / 2.5 bath)

• heating systems, I don’t recall seeing radiators, instead vents in the floor, are these used to flip between hot and cold air depending on the time of year? How effective / efficient are they compared to our big radiator bars here?

• toilets - they seem smaller and the flushing mechanism is different

• baths - they also seem smaller, short and strangely blocky

• Space and size - all of the bathroom stuff is unusual when the overall size of homes, even cheaper ones, is so much larger. And some ‘back yards’ are absolutely huge! Obviously more land space in the US compared with the U.K. but still, notable but often not much privacy / fencing?

• waste disposal units - what ARE these?

• closets - I haven’t seen any free standing wardrobes. Are these just not used in the US?

Anyone got any others to add or any comments?

I was also really excited to cross a state line was was devastated when I did and found it wasn’t painted on the road. Th Dukes of Hazzard lied to me!!!

Sometimes you can tell by the quality of the paving all the same. I think some states pay special attention to the paving within a few miles of the neighbouring state.

In the case of Missouri and Kansas, there is a road called State Line Road, going straight N/S for about 12 miles, demarcating Jackson County MO (basically Kansas City and its Missouri suburbs) and the Johnson County, KS suburbs of KC. The state line quite literally is the yellow line down the middle of the road for a lot of its route.

You know you’ve crossed from Massachusetts to New Hampshire by the massive liquor store just over the border!

Same at Lake Tahoe - crossing from California to Nevada is marked by the giant Harrah’s casino.

Bristol, Virginia and/or Tennessee

I used to love the sign on the bridge as you crossed the Ohio river saying “Welcome to wild, wonderful West Virginia!”

It's a long-standing tradition in our family that, on a road trip, each state must have a proper greeting. So, for example, when crossing a state line, everyone in the car says in unison "Hellooooooo, West Virginia!"

@UntamedWisteria

Didn't mean to offend!

I did say my view was unscientific - but it's not based on watching TV, I lived, studied and worked in the USA for 3 years and DH has an extensive American family who we spend a lot of time with.

PerveenMistry should I add lack of sense of humour to the list? Certainly many Americans struggle with the concept of irony (again, based on my direct and personal experience).

And many Brits seem to struggle with the notion that the United States is a country of 3.8 million square miles, 50 state governments, additional territories and 330 million human beings, and that generalizations about it are gauche at best.

@SenecaFallsRedux

It's a long-standing tradition in our family that, on a road trip, each state must have a proper greeting. So, for example, when crossing a state line, everyone in the car says in unison "Hellooooooo, West Virginia!"

In my head that’s said in a Niles Crane voice.

The suburban US homes I have been in, almost feel like stage sets, like they have just been pushed into place and made of plywood, they seem very flimsy.

PerveenMistry well obviously I haven't visited every state in the US and I don't suppose you have either, but I have lived or spent a lot of time on the East Coast, West Coast and mid-West.

Your post rather proves my 2nd point I think.

@artquejtion

The suburban US homes I have been in, almost feel like stage sets, like they have just been pushed into place and made of plywood, they seem very flimsy.

May I ask where you've seen this? Home construction is regulated by building codes, both local and national, and everything has to be inspected and verified as code compliant to get a certificate of occupancy.

I'm an American and I have never seen this.

@UntamedWisteria

PerveenMistry well obviously I haven't visited every state in the US and I don't suppose you have either, but I have lived or spent a lot of time on the East Coast, West Coast and mid-West.

Your post rather proves my 2nd point I think.

Let's play nicely, ladies.

@MissConductUS

Mainly around Boston, NY, Rochester, Texas, Florida area.

I think they are modular homes, made of some kind of panels of wood, its also very noticeable watching US renovations shows, walls are so flimsy, one whack of a hammer and then the remainder of the wall can be demolished by hand.

I am guessing it is not unique to the areas I have visited, Interesting you have never noticed it !

@MissConductUS

Not just something I have noticed ....

"One striking aspect of houses in America is the flimsy quality of even the most expensive ones. Houses are built literally like a house of cards. Weak beams, plywood, flimsy insulation, flimsy siding and roofing that either blows off in high winds or just rots away after a few years. Its really no wonder that come tornado or hurricane and houses are literally ripped off of their foundations and tossed into the air.

In contrast, houses and most buildings in Europe are much sturdier, being built with stone or cinder blocks or brick for the whole wall and inside walls. This is true for new houses and apartment blocks as well as old buildings. This is the reason we see buildings hundreds of years old still standing in good shape. In the US a 50 year old house is considered old and is torn down to make room for another flimsy yet expensive structure.

American houses sometimes do have the appearance of having brick walls, however these are just stuck onto the outside of the plywood walls giving a false sense of quality and strength. It is understandable that using flimsy wood is cheaper than using stone or concrete, but this is not really evidenced by the prices of houses. I have seen multi-million dollar new houses in the States that are building using the same plywood, insulation, shabby roofing material as cheaper houses. The fact that walls are paper thin and conversations can be heard 2 rooms away is nothing strange in American houses."

dengarden.com/misc/American-Houses-and-Bad-Quality

On the other hand our high rise apartment was very solidly constructed. Solid concrete floors meant we heard nothing from the apartments above and below us. The walls were solidly built too, great soundproofing in and between the apartments.

Home construction is regulated by building codes, both local and national, and everything has to be inspected and verified as code compliant to get a certificate of occupancy.

I've lived in Missouri, there are a lot of rural counties that have no building codes. State regulations regarding wastewater discharge but that's it

When Grenfell happened, DH very quickly had the buildings he has built here in the US reviewed to make sure they wouldn't risk suffering a similar awful fate. All the independent specialist reviews confirmed that his buildings with cladding were not a risk - they'd been built to local code standards, and they did not require any mitigation.

Meanwhile our houses here in Maine cope with incredibly cold winters and hot summers - being built of wood means that you can use very effective insulation. It's common for us to have more than a foot of snow sitting on our roof - we have very deep insulation in the loft which keeps us warm and the roof cold and prevents any issues with ice dams.

New build houses often have insulation blown into all the walls, resulting in effective heat and sound insulation.

We don't tend to have problems with wood floors conducting sound to floors below because they are built with the correct levels of sound protection.

We're currently looking at rebuilding our deck. We have to submit plans to the town code officer, and we need to change the way it's secured to the house so that it meets code. That's just a deck.

Just because a house is built of wood does not mean it's flimsy. And from the many issues faced by buyers of new homes in the UK it's clear that building with brick does not guarantee quality in any way.

May I ask where you've seen this? Home construction is regulated by building codes, both local and national, and everything has to be inspected and verified as code compliant to get a certificate of occupancy.

Some of the construction differences depend on when a house was built and what codes (or lack thereof) were in place at the time. I live in a high-risk area for hurricanes, and the building code (and recent revisions) reflect that.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo

When Grenfell happened, DH very quickly had the buildings he has built here in the US reviewed to make sure they wouldn't risk suffering a similar awful fate. All the independent specialist reviews confirmed that his buildings with cladding were not a risk - they'd been built to local code standards, and they did not require any mitigation.

Meanwhile our houses here in Maine cope with incredibly cold winters and hot summers - being built of wood means that you can use very effective insulation. It's common for us to have more than a foot of snow sitting on our roof - we have very deep insulation in the loft which keeps us warm and the roof cold and prevents any issues with ice dams.

New build houses often have insulation blown into all the walls, resulting in effective heat and sound insulation.

We don't tend to have problems with wood floors conducting sound to floors below because they are built with the correct levels of sound protection.

We're currently looking at rebuilding our deck. We have to submit plans to the town code officer, and we need to change the way it's secured to the house so that it meets code. That's just a deck.

Just because a house is built of wood does not mean it's flimsy. And from the many issues faced by buyers of new homes in the UK it's clear that building with brick does not guarantee quality in any way.

Exactly.

Even my garden shed here in the US required a permit, a poured concrete actual foundation with rat wall and post-completion inspection by the city.

Most brick houses ARE actual brick; I think that faux brick cladding was a 70s/80s thing. My own 1940s bungalow is cinder block (including the exterior and interior basement walls) up to the eaves; it's rock solid.

For all the supposed flimsiness I don't notice any dearth of people wanting to live here.

Our apartment also had a sprinkler system for fires, a central fire alarm system, which was regularly tested) and three independent staircases in the building. We weren’t allowed to have anything in the corridors, not even a doormat and real Christmas trees were banned because of the fire hazard. It felt like a very safe building.

Our apartment block in London had no sprinkler system or central fire system. To get to the alternative staircase in the event of fire we had to climb up to the top floor, climb up a wall ladder looking down over a 5 storey drop, open a hatch to the roof, climb onto the roof (which had no railings), run to the next hatch over, somehow get it open, climb down another ladder over a 5 storey drop, then run down the stairs.

But it was built fairly solidly with brick, so that's good, right?

The suburban US homes I have been in, almost feel like stage sets, like they have just been pushed into place and made of plywood, they seem very flimsy.

Maybe you're thinking of wood frame and drywall interior construction?

The plywood would clad the exterior, covered with wood or vinyl siding, or maybe brick. The interior of the walls could be insulated.

My former home was a wood frame Victorian built in 1906. It will probably see another 150 years. The apartment I live in now is a former farmhouse, also wood frame construction, dating from 1880.

I've also lived in old brick apartment buildings dating from the 1920s. It would take heavy artillery shelling to shift any of them.

We get bitter winters here, and hot and humid summers. Luckily, no termites.

We moved into a UK house which had been extended and fully renovated by the American previous owners. We loved the large kitchen but hate the dark cupboards. There were ceiling fans in all the rooms which we removed - totally unnecessary here in the North. Added doors downstairs. Best feature - en-suite with every bedroom! No closets though

Air conditioning! You cannot live in NY without it. Also, washing lines that you pull along from your window so all the neighbourhood can see what you’ve been wearing 😩

@Teandsympathy

Air conditioning! You cannot live in NY without it. Also, washing lines that you pull along from your window so all the neighbourhood can see what you’ve been wearing 😩

Boston is the same. I really appreciate the moderate British weather now. I can do without thinking I’m going to die of heat exhaustion walking up a street or wondering if eyeballs actually freeze in the icy Boston wind.