What is it REALLY like to live in a Victorian house?

[WhereBeThatBlackbirdTo]

One day, in the far off distant future, we will be moving (once the children have left home and settled).

I was wandering around Rightmove yesterday, as usual, and realised that I seem to like the style of Victorian property more than any other era. This was a surprise to me, I always thought I'm a 1930's-semi kind of person

We have a 1950's house at the moment, double glazed, centrally heated, wood burner etc - all cosy and easy to run.

So - my question is - what is it really like to live in a Victorian property?

Little urban late Victorian terraces are absolutely fine. I love the high ceilings - modern houses feel like doll's houses to me. The terrace (and the double glazing in our case - ugly but convenient) means it doesn't cost a lot to heat. No parking of course.

Chilly in ours, if I go to someone's with normal warmness I am boiling hot after ten mins! You get used to it and the space/features is worth it for me.

My house is 1901 so I'm never sure if its Victorian or Edwardian.

But its nice. We have double glazing so no draughts. There's no cavity wall so I think that makes it a bit colder but its a semi which helps. dd's bedroom seems cold but we're getting a woodburner soon in the room below her bedroom, the flue will go up through her chimney breast which I'm hoping will warm it.

Walls must be thick as we rarely hear the neighbours. Big garden with an old brick stable and a brick pigsty and a working outdoor loo.

Depends. My parents had one in my teens and it was freezing and mank. By the time they sold it 20 years later it was lovely, windows fitted properly, no damp or woodworm left, decent heating, secondary glazing throughout, lovely big rooms but not as many as newer houses for the price.

My house is 1905 and was cold until we refurbished all the sashes and did a loft conversion with shedloads of insulation - now it's fine and I love it. Wouldn't suit people obsessed with en-suites though.

Mine wasn't cold but I did have the heating on 24/7 - I was told this is cheaper in older houses because it prevents the stone getting cold as it holds onto it.

High ceilings upstairs make small rooms feel bigger. Hardly ever heard the neighbours, except in summer when we both had windows open.

I found it dark, but I suspect this was due to the abundance of woodchip and textured wallpaper which apparently absorbs light instead of bouncing it back into the room.

Electrics were dodgy as hell, and not enough sockets in any room so I had to use loads of extension leads.

The bathroom was in an odd place because it was added later. Again the plumbing was a bit dodgy and seemed "bodged" although that might be because it was a cheap/small house so the owners might not have wanted to spend money on doing it properly.

It was damp - a couple of the walls had stains - but this wasn't a problem in practice.

The other thing about a Victorian house is that you find bits of broken china and clay pipes in the garden, which is nice.

Ours is a bit chilly in winter....BUT...we choose to have bare floorboards and rugs so put up with it.
My sisters house is Victorian and mostly carpeted and she keeps having to turn her heating off it is that warm!!
Summer is great as the house is lovely and cool.
I love the separate rooms, high ceilings, original features.
One thing....if you buy somewhere that needs doing up a bit, be prepared, it wont need just decorating.
eg - take out old kitchen cabinets, plaster falls off all walls, have to budget for replastering ...

Well - I was expecting cold, draughty, rattley windows, even 'on the wonk'.

But - slugs! Eeeww!! I suppose lots of the houses were built without true foundations?

Oh God yes, slugs. Massive ones, only under the stairs though.

Cold and draughty - radiators have to be on in rooms we're in most!

Always seems to be dusty, too. Although, that could be due to my lack of regular dusting!

Apart from that, lovely and full of original features.

Big rooms high ceilings. We have draught proofed our sash windows so pretty OK. No issues with damp. House is wonky though. And walls are a but dodge where they're the old lathe and plaster....

Yes, expect very wonky walls and floor etc. The reason they needed cornicing etc was to hide the imperfect lines and wobbly finish :)

Mine is lovely and warm but we are mid terrace so our neighbours keep us warm. Never had slugs, bugs or any other sinister horrors (except in the cellar which is DH's domain).

It is dark, the windows just aren't big enough for the size of the rooms and the bathroom is odd as it was added later. The only other downside is it is very dusty, and very big which makes it hard to clean (I am a slattern)

I love it, couldn't live in any other kind of property.

dusty draughty but lovely

I miss mine

Wonky!

I love ours, it's really toasty and heard us quickly as we have double glazed sashes and insulated. Need rugs on the stripped floors though.

We have seen 2 slugs in the 18 months we've lived here.

Can hear the neighbours on one side but not the other, don't know why!

Chimneys howl though, I'm currently thinking about balloons

Ours is Edwardian (1898) barely, 6 bed 3 storey monster. Wouldn't do it again, it's too big too draughty and maintenance costs are extortionate. We were in 30s semis prior to this house and I miss them! I find the room layouts (if work hasn't been done) are not very family friendly. I'm not really appreciating the nice features anymore because of the bills and the cold.

Plaster is like cream cheese if you've got plaster and lath, so difficult to hang anything more weighty than a small picture.

Cold! But lovely.

We get slugs but the cats like to kill them.

No right angles, 100 years of other people's DIY bodges, rubbish parking.

But a pleasure to decorate, design-wise.

My plasterer was a witness at our wedding. Find a good one, they'll soon be like part of the family!

accessorize - Queen Victoria lived until 2001, so yours is Victorian if built it 1898

We have an Edwardian. Gorgeous to look at, spacious and loads of character. F
reezing, enormous energy bills, annoying corridor style

I love ours, we have original sashes but a new boiler and it's not that cold.

no slugs here but plenty of woodlouse.

Rented a Victorian flat and a house. Freezing cold. Glad I didn't own them. Money pits.