Would you buy a house with single glazing? Help me decide which house

[bananamonkey]

I have totally lost all perspective :(

We accepted an offer on our flat, found somewhere we liked, all was proceeding well till our buyers started messing us around and pulled out. We lost the house we were trying to purchase.

Now we have a new buyer and need to find a new house, there's not as much on the market now as a couple of months ago. We've seen 2 houses this week that we like but I can't decide which one I like more.

1. [Link removed at OP's request]

This street is not so pretty although it's in a great area, is in great school catchment, has 3 generous bedrooms and just has a lovely feel to it.

1. [Link removed at OP's request]

On paper this looks like my dream house but it didn't grab me as much as I thought it would and I just don't know why. DH loves it but likes both houses. This has fantastic living space downstairs (an extra room vs. house 1), is on a prettier street in the same area as house 1, is not in the great school catchment but in a decent one. The small 3rd bedroom and single glazing are putting me off though. It wouldn't have been so bad but the bedrooms had additional plug-in heaters in them and there was black mould in the bathroom which set off alarm bells. Is this house going to be drafty and damp? It's right at the top of our budget so we couldn't afford to get new windows and I'm anxious about the money as it is.

We've seen so many houses now I have house blindness!

House 2 has 2 front doors

Thanks all! This is great food for thought as DH and I have lost our objectivity a bit.

House 2 was pretty dark downstairs when we looked round which I was surprised about as it's so bright on the pics, and the kitchen layout was a bit strange. My feeling is that it is very beautifully styled but as you say we could also do house 1 in a similar way. The bathroom in house 1 is too big but not sure how you could make use of "wasted" space.

The 2 front doors thing is strange, they've blocked up the passageway that did go direct to the garden so the kitchen extension can go full width across the back (there's no access to garden from the street now), they use it as a cloakroom and bike/buggy storage but it looked a bit damp and spidery.

I do love sash windows but am not sure I'm prepared to live with single glazing long-term and the cost is potentially prohibitive.

only if I could replace the windows to efficient ones to my taste.
wouldn't buy listed/conservation area.

Could you use house 1s big bathroom for laundry? It looks like that cupboard would be big enough for a stacked washing machine and dryer. That would be a plus for me.

It had the boiler in it but also some shelves at the bottom that could be removed to fit a washer/dryer - great idea! Don't think there's space for separates.

House 1 has much better bedroom sizes and you could reconfigure that bathroom and create a small bedroom/study and decent sized bathroom from it. Also a side return extension on the downstairs could be done in the future.

The description for House 2 made laugh - in the kitchen there is 'space for an Aga'! Also, no mention of radiators in that kitchen area. Fine while there is an Aga, but without it?

I have single glazed sashes and double glazed sash in the kitchen extension and uvpc dg sash in loft room.

To be honest I think dg sash has to be very expensive to be worth it and of good quality. I think the hardwood dg sash is better overall. But it's very very expensive...for my single glazed sashes I'm draught proofing which has made a difference plus they are beautiful... There is also a lot to be said for good quality infeined curtains.

Heating bills are more costly but it would take a long time to get back what you spend on replacing windows anyway hence why I decided to draught proof mine. There is also conservation dg which you can put into existing sashes I've been quoted about 200-300 per window to so this and I have largish sash windows.

Overall I would take property 2 because that style is highly sought after and if will probably sell very quick but property 1 is more practical it really depends in your family needs and it sounds like 1 would suit you

House 1 for me. House 2 is nicely dressed for the photos but is really only a 2 bed house.

The single glazing wouldn't bother me in the slightest.....

We had a 3500 sq ft Victorian house in a conservation area with single glazing (eventually after seven years we double glazed the rear windows, but only because the original sashes were literally falling apart) and our bills were not huge and nor was the house an ice box in winter. We just lit plenty of open fires and wore extra jumpers if need be.

All the houses we've lived in have been period properties and we've never had any real issues with draughts caused by ill-fitting sash windows. Out of about seven houses we only put DG in the one above and the one we sold last year (Georgian, non-listed) - again the old sashes were rotten as anything and we needed to replace in order to sell - if we'd been staying there we wouldn't have bothered. In the last house we had timber sashes installed - front elevation had seven windows (not including the attic bedrooms) and these cost around 10k inc fitting (Wiltshire).

Personally I don't get the obsession with wanting to devalue a house by automatically replacing windows with nasty plastic DG......if the house I wanted had the original timber sashes, I'd much rather fit secondary glazing and throw on a few extra layers when it gets chilly.....but then I've never been one for wearing t-shirts indoors in winter, lol!

I agree with OliviaBenson that maybe house 2 isn't for you if you're that hung up about the windows.

Our current house - not listed, but in a conservation area with an article 4(2) as it's considered to be of 'townscape merit' - has 1920s Crittall lead light casement windows (thought I'd hate having these, but have grown to love them!) and I wouldn't dream of replacing them however cold the house gets.....

House 2 looks far naicer imho, but agree that the same look could be achieved in house 1, plus the box room is tiny....still think that would be my preference though.....and we always go for projects so I'm surprised at my choice!

Thanks again. The windows would not really have bothered me if it hadn't been for the additional electric radiators and damp in the bathroom, that suggests to me it could be a problem? It's not so much the cold that worries me, more condensation and damp.

We have crittall windows now and I hate them. They can get condensation and this can turn into mould, however this is probably made worse because we're a ground floor flat with large opening windows so we can only ever have them open when we're at home/only the bedroom one open at night etc.

House 1 has a downstairs loo as well which the other doesn't.

House 1. It can be repainted and dressed for very little additional cost.

House 2 has a downstairs loo under the stairs, it is a bit hidden on the listing.

House 2 has more scope for improvement with windows and a loft conversion [assuming there is the height to play with in the loft]. You'd be looking at another £50k though to do all that.

Do you need 4 bedrooms or just fancy the idea of it? House 1 to my mind has more legs because the loft has been done, plus the windows and the kitchen is lovely, it just doesn't have the extension which you could do later for a similar amount of money.

House 2 will always be a 3 bed house though unless you take a chunk out of that lovely large bathroom.

We couldn't get into the loft in the viewing in house 2, none of the other houses in the street have conversions which seems strange so not sure how viable it would be. House 1's loft conversion is really well done, you can stand in nearly all of it and there's a proper dormer on the back with a great view.

I love the kitchen in house 1, I'm not even that bothered that it doesn't have an extension at this point, there's a breakfast bar at the end by the garden doors so you can sit in there. We could always extend sideways at a later point if needed as has been mentioned.

Bedroom-wise 3 is enough. House 1 has 3 good double bedrooms, house 2 has 2 large bedrooms and a tiny boxroom but an office/den downstairs as well.

I think my heart is leaning to house 1...

House 2 is all fur coat and no knickers - it's lovely looking in the pics but is really a 2.5 bedroom house (the 3rd bedroom is tiny - the dressing room is bigger!).

Also the fact there is no picture of the bathroom is concerning. Single glazed windows and damp/mould alone wouldn't necessarily put me off but in conjunction with the other issues (school etc) makes it less appealing.

So I'd go with House 1.

House 1. Definitely. It has a warmth about it and will be a lovely family home.

I much prefer house 1. Lovely traditional one, just up my street. I could see that being a really nice family home whereas house 2 is just a bit to flashy for my tastes!

I have single glazing in an 1840s cottage and it is fine. Correct me if I'm wrong but i though mould was more to do with bad ventilation rather than single glazing?

Op I went to UEA. From memory isn't Lincoln road busier (think there was traffic calming) than Gloucester Road. Love the area but it is very studenty which I am sure you know. Before making an offer on either I would check out the number of student properties on both roads and more importantly either side of you. I was looking at investment properties early this year in the area and noticed that Norfolk CC were selling off quite a bit of stock. Is it worth having a look at the auction sites (if your finance is in place) and getting a place you can put your stamp on for less dosh? Just a thought. Good luck and for what it's worth I like 2 but then I always fall for fur coat no knickers style houses

Ps reason I mention students is because we were bloody noisy and not ideal to live next door to!!

Thanks Pradaqueen, I am aware of the student population in the area and have looked at the neighbouring houses to see whether they look like student houses - will be checking with the vendor though! I think it's still the right area for us, DH wants to be able to walk into the city (we are currently cc), I need easy access to the A11 for work and we don't want to be too into suburbia. I didn't see any traffic calming measures on Lincoln St.

I'm a bit scared about auctions (although I watch a LOT of Homes under the Hammer!), we are rubbish at DIY and it's got to the point where I don't want to do much work up front, I just want to move in somewhere and have babies start enjoying it

Both look nice OP but the slight oddities in house 2 put me off that a little and the good school catchment of house 1 moves me further towards that, plus your general good feeling about it.

Both lovely houses. The step up to the sink in the kitchen (House 2) would really annoy me numerous times every day.

Prefer house 2 decoration but house 1 layout. Layout plus school catchment would win house 1 for me. But I would never consider a house with single glazing throughout unless I had the money to replace at least the main living areas windows. I have lived in a older single glazed properties and was constantly cold and felt all the draughts. but I am in Scotland and one was in Edinburgh which is constantly windy.

House 1.

House 2 looks nice in the photos but that's the styling, the practicalities don't stack up as well as it looks.