What property features would you never have again?

[AnxiousRose]

What features from your current or previous property would you avoid if you were househunting again?

For me, it is three storeys. I had this in my last house and did not expect to dislike it as much as I did. My bedroom was on the top floor and I hated all the stairs especially with young kids. Three storeys usually means the downstairs space is small for the number of bedrooms.

It got way too hot when it eventually kicked in properly (days after we had switched it on!) so we had to switch it off. We were only there temporarily so it couldn't be left on constantly.

Open plan. En suite. Really high ceilings (much as I loved the overall look of our old Victorian house, it was such a pain to heat). No hallway - you have to go through the living room to get to our kitchen, and I hate it.

the mistake was it should never have been switched off in the 1st place. you should not have had to switch it on at all. it's works on thermostat. it's a screed that takes a while to heat up after been off for so long and needs to be controlled when turning on after being off for a while. each area is zoned and you have stats to set the temp where it comes on or not. in the background a constant temp is running. even if you are not in the house it will only kick on when the stat temp goes below the level you have set. it's costs a fortune to run if yoi constantly switch it on and off and you also mess up the systems

I would ensure there was a hallway with the rooms leading off it. We have a hall but you have to walk through the living room to get to kitchen diner. It’s fine on the whole, just a pain if someone is coming to do a job in the kitchen etc. and I have to ensure everywhere is tidy. Husband works from home now three days a week, so if we were looking to move having rooms which were more separate would be good.

Decking. It rots, gets slippery and looks rubbish after a bit.

I really like open plan although I have to keep on top of everything. You cannot just close a door on the mess.

White Venetian blinds. I had them because they were much cheaper than shutters. My horrible ex neighbors had them so it's put me off!

Houses. I live in a bungalow (and an apartment before this) and nothing would get me to have a house again. All the lugging up and down the stairs.

A big back yard. Mine is quite big as it's wide but once I'm on top of the big scrubs I'm hoping it will be more manageable but it's still too big for me really.

I'm in the process of remodelling my home and I know everyone doesn't do work my standard but tiles over tiles, wallpaper over wallpaper ...

It was a holiday flat. It was summer, but unusually cold that week. I can understand why the LL didn't just leave it on when the place was unoccupied.

Septic tank! I love living rutally but hate the bloody thing, can't use bleach in the house, the motors always breaking, manhole covers everywhere.

Conservatory.

Hard to hear, hard to cool and liable to age and leak.

Stupidly small garden. Either a decent size garden or no garden.

but your meant too. your reduce the temp on the stats instead. it's not costing any money by leaving it on. its keeping the system right the pipes flowing and by switching it on and off is costing a fortune aswell as potential damage to the pipees. then when people stay just increase the stats and the room warms up nicely
it not going to work correctly if it's not used correctly

I miss having a conservatory. It made the house so much brighter and open. It was double or triple glazed and sheltered from the south so didn’t have the problems with being too hot or too cold.

I would not have a lot of separate rooms or a completely open plan space. Have had both. Now have a nice mix between the two and it feels much more practical. Kitchen that opens out to a family room is great.

Would try and avoid having a home with no space to do laundry. Easy to say when not having to buy in a southern uk city.

Too much floor space. It took me forever to vacuum and mop it all every week. Really takes a chunk out of every weekend.

No dormer bedroom. Mould as not well insulated!

out of interest why can't you use bleach? we have a septic tank but I never knew this!

Dormer bungalow here. Never again! My children sleep upstairs and we sleep downstairs. Our bedroom is at the front of the house so anyone passing can see in. You can hear EVERY noise. If one of us stays up late you can't sleep because you can hear the dishwasher clinking, the doors opening and closing. I miss going 'up to bed'!

kitchen sink at one end of the island. There is no flow to washing up (ie stack one side, leave it dry on the other). Drives me nuts

I thought this would bother me about our new home but it doesn't one bit. I am completely used to it now. It is interesting to see what bothers one may not bother another, isn't it!

I agree, our conservatory is an extra room we can use any time of the year and brilliant for watching the wildlife etc.

We replaced the old conservatory that came with the house as it was the typical too hot/too cold old fashioned type. We replaced the glazing with top of the range new double glazing with some kind of heat reflective film. We replaced the plastic roofing sheets with top of the range glass roof panels, again with heat reflective film.

Now it's perfectly useable all year round. The modern ones using modern glass are game changers.

It's something to do with killing off the enzymes/bacteria in the septic tank that process and break down the waste. If you put too much bleach down the drains, it kills it off, so the waste just sits there and doesn't decompose.

a wet room is the worst. Got so fed up with getting wet socks when I used the toilet, as the floor never dried properly. Decking is awful and we have a lot of it unfortunately. The upkeep is crazy and it only looks good for a couple of months before the rain and cold and dogs and kids get to it. Plus it’s so slippery.

Exactly the same for me. I'd love to sleep upstairs!
Our postie used to cut across the front gardens, right outside the bedroom window (can't do it now because of hedge). I felt so exposed and had to keep the light filtering blinds down all the time, which made the room really gloomy.
Still hate it though, even without the postie, just feel so 'on duty' all the time!

Conservatories and downstairs toilets. I have neither, my parents are obsessed with them. They keep trying to get me to put them in but i am not interested. In their last house they had a big conservatory all they used it for was to put lots of pot plants in it. They never sat in it and only went in it to water the plants. I just saw it as a massive waste.

Downstairs loo would be nice but i have no space for it. Parents moved into a new house a few years ago, they have put a small conservatory in, and again never use it apart from walking through it to go into the garden. Why the hell they think i need one.

So, a bit pointless commenting then?

My house in Australia was built in the 70s and has an en-suite window. The only houses I've seen without a window in Australia are federation houses built in the 1900s.

Before coming to Australia, I lived in Madrid. Our first apartment didn't have an en-suite. The second one has a window overlooking an internal patio and often getting too much sun. I had to put blinds to stop the bathroom getting too hot in summer while keeping the window open for ventilation.

I think British housing is a bit exceptional. 😀

UK houses are very different indeed.

Ours is a couple of acres and half lawn, half borders, which are full of plants, camellias, magnolia trees etc. I think the original planter really overdid it, without much of a plan for when everything matured. As we're in the south west, the growing season is every month except January, so it's a constant battle against everything going feral (including the grass). Plus the badgers like to roll up strips of the lawn to get to the bugs underneath...