Box rooms

[Beansonapost]

Why is it that houses in the U.K. are still being built with box rooms?


... and still being built with no laundry/utility room?


I grew up having all massive bedrooms... kitchen diner... lounge/living room... utility... garden... garage etc. This is in the Caribbean. My childhood bedroom could fit two uk sized box rooms.


I've lived in other countries almost all of them had utility rooms... except China where the washing was housed in the bathroom; which to me makes sense. Why would you want to do laundry in the kitchen?

Husband is British so is used to this way of life... but I am confused as it's 2018 and I am certain the way people use their homes has changed. Why are people still being forced to have a box room and do the washing in the kitchen? That slot could be used for extra storage.

We went to look at some new builds... while the house was nice for almost £500,000 it just didn't provide what I would want in a family home (based purely on my experience). I think when people buy a home they don't really intend to move anytime soon unless they have to... so why put a room that is useless beyond the age of 10? Then force people to either sell of "create additional space" why not just build a house people can live in for as long as they need or want?

Also where utility rooms are concerned... in a country where it rains so much, wouldn't a dedicated space for laundry be standard? Wash, dry, iron... leave clothes to dry with windows open. Clothes out of sight.


Why is this the norm in the U.K.?

Also... why are homes still built with such poor storage options? You might get an under stair cupboard, an airing cupboard but that's it?! Why aren't built in wardrobes standard in all bedrooms? Gives you back your floor space and means less furniture to buy.

It seems developers are more concerned about how many people they can cram into these developments than how people will enjoy their homes/space.

[DanceDisaster]

I’m with you on the ridiculous number of bathrooms. I have a newish, 3 bed house with.... 3 bathrooms and a loo! It’s ridiculous and it put me off the house at first, as I hate cleaning bathrooms. We bought it anyway as it’s in a nice area and is quite practical in other ways. Tbf, I think it was a 2 bed, 2 bath house before the previous owners put in a loft extension.

[onlyjustme]

Agree OP.
There is a development down the road from me. Houses look nice, but when you actually break down the internal space they are quite small. Bedrooms with room for a bed but not for wardrobes!

And the exterior... they have "front gardens" the size of a postage stamp. Well, ok perhaps actually an A4 piece of paper. Seriously some are THAT small. You can't even get a mower on it. The houses are like old terraces in the way they are so close to the road. And crammed in close together.
And the PARKING. Good grief, most families have 2 cars and more as the children grow up. Shared drive or single narrow drive for these houses. My relatively small car might fit on the drive but I would not be able to open my door to be able get out of the car!
Single garages sit at the end of long drive (so technically in the back garden). NO side by side parking anywhere. Would be a massive issue for us...
Narrow streets, not room to park on the road. No space to extend drives. (See my comment about the front garden... Lots of people round here have widened their drives. This would not be an option!)
Bendy, narrow roads. What does planner do on a corner??? Widen road so cars can pass? No. Build massive grass verge between pavement and road to make the road very narrow at that point when it could have been nice and wide!!!
Huge green open area at the ONE entrance to the whole estate. Should be a car park instead!!!

[DanceDisaster]

I think suave is at a premium in the SE of England though. So I get why they are small. But then why all the bloody bathrooms? Totally unnecessary. I’d rather have a bigger bedroom or utility room as op says.

[DanceDisaster]

Haha space is at a premium. Suave too. We’re so lacking in suave here.

[AutumnMadness]

Here, a typical newbuild with rabbit-hutch bedrooms (three boxrooms as far as I am concerned) and no utility: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53651217.html

[Saracen]

I'm foreign but I am quite happy with the washing machine in the kitchen and would rather have a box room than a utility room. I do want a utility room someday when I am rich though! But it is low down the list.

An extra bedroom, however small, means you can squeeze more people into your house. Even if/when our house wasn't full of our own family, we had the option to take a lodger if finances got tough. Rents being high, a lodger brings in a significant income which eases things.

[ButchyRestingFace]

I live in a 19th century one bedroom tenement flat with an artificially created box room AND a utility room. I like the box room.

I'm looking to upsize to a two bedroom and will be perfectly content if there is an additional box room to store my stuff but no utility room. Having the washing machine in the kitchen doesn't bother me at all.

[caperberries]

OP, I completely agree with you.

There will always be the exceptions (that prove the rule), but for the most part UK new builds of the past 20-30 years are overpriced, unsustainable, charmless and poky. A large percentage (probably the majority) do indeed seem to include a box room, tiny garden, bonsai garage and no utility/laundry.

Colonies of these are springing up on the greenbelt fringes of previously lovely villages, spoiling the landscape forever.

Greedy developers, corrupt or inept councils and undemanding, unimaginative consumers are to blame.

Alain de Botton has been a vocal critic of British new builds. There are some excellent examples on the Continent of a better way of designing and building houses.

[NorbertTheDragon]

I agree OP. Houses, especially newer ones, are ridiculously small.

My house is a 50s built ex-council house and they are quite often bigger. The small bedroom is still quite tiny but not as small as some I've seen.

My friend bought a new build off plan and when they moved in the smallest bedroom couldn't even fit a single bed in it. Not a bedroom then!

I'd love to design and do a self build. Need a lottery win first though!

[AutumnMadness]

Here is another lovely place: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48758049.html.

They don't even provide room dimensions. Why? Because they are shit.

[Agent13]

Ooh I’d love a utility/laundry room but it would seem like a luxury to me, not the norm at all. Don’t know anyone who has one! I don’t see what the problem is with having the washing machine in the kitchen though? I just sort a load upstairs and carry it down in a basket. Not messy.

[DanceDisaster]

It does depend a lot on the builder too though. We looked at a few new builds and some were ghastly. The secondhand house which is now about 10 years old is actually really well done. No box room and a big enough garden to actually want to spend time in it. It’s also in a small close near the town centre, so not in a massive development.

We went to see one new build towards the beginning of the development and it looked brilliant. We went back a year later to view the show home which was for sale as they’d finished building and it was so crowded looking. They lure people in with the plans because you can’t envisage how it will end up looking. Now it’s finished, it’s absolutely horrible and all the houses are right on top of each other. There’s nowher near enough parking space and people just park all over the pavements as the roads between the houses are so narrow. Not good for people now trying to sell on as it’s plain to see how crowded it is now, unlike when buying off plan.

The other lure is the help to buy scheme, which we were tempted by. Looking back though, I’m really glad we didn’t do that as we’d have ended up with an enormous mortgage.

[DanceDisaster]

The secondhand house we ended up with I should say.

[Rachie1973]

Quite a rude OP I think

[Belphegor]

Why is it rude? Who is the OP being rude about?!

[dworky]

Because an extra small bedroom/study/office is much more useful than a utility room.

[ButchyRestingFace]

I wouldn't say rude but I think it's a bit goad-tastic.

[DingDongDenny]

I agree. We have an old house with an unusual layout. It has 3 bedrooms, but big rooms and therefore was a lot cheaper than the 5 beds with lots of bathrooms a lot of people go for.

But the footprint of the house is just as big, if not bigger than a 5 bed. Makes no sense to me. If we ever sell we will partition the biggest room into 2 bedrooms and it will instantly be worth far more

[BigusBumus]

I turned our utility room (which was no where near our kitchen!) into a dedicated Laundry room and I love it! Its a mess, but no one sees it. Alas we still have a box room, but its now my office so works well as that.

[AutumnMadness]

ButchyRestingFace, truth is not always pretty.

[ButchyRestingFace]

ButchyRestingFace, truth is not always pretty.

Oh, I never said I like match box style houses.

But as PP have stated, it's pretty obvious why the UK produces houses with the styles and dimensions it does.

[AutumnMadness]

ButchyRestingFace. I think you are right that it's obvious. But OP probably just wants to let off steam. I understand her totally. Only collective moaning is keeping me from exploding as I search for a house now.

[DianaPrincessOfThemyscira]

It’s money pure and simple. Developers are building houses to the absolute minimum spec per room because then they can squeeze more properties on a site. People go for new builds because of the ease of moving in.

Incidentally if your bedroom would be double the size of a box room then it’s still small compared to my house - our box room is tiny!

[ILikeMyChickenFried]

A lot of the new 4 beds up here have 2 or even 3 box rooms and the master isn't exactly huge either. They do however have utility rooms and about 20 bathrooms.

Unless you're spending huge amounts of money I find new houses are about ticking boxes (garage, downstairs loo, ensuite...) without considering the liveable space so we have 4 bed houses with a garage built on a smaller plot than an old 3 bed semi.

[BarbarianMum]

YANBU

And if you think houses are bad, look at our flats. Apartment living on the continent is a way of life so flats are spacious, have storage, underground parking (again often with a storage locker), often a covered balcony. Great for family life. Here new build flats are pokey, no storage, outdoor parking space if you're lucky, nowhere for pushchairs/mobility vehicles, no lift unless they are high rise. Until recently second bathrooms weren't even a thing.

It sucks but the British know no better don't like to make a fuss about this sort of thing