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.

I have open plan living, really enjoy it & it certainly doesn’t feel cold & unwelcoming.

what are you all doing with your open plan living that it feels cold and uninviting?

Open plan dining/sitting room. Kitchen/diner fine.
Decking!
Kitchen with no door. Previous owners redid kitchen very nicely but for some reason no door into hall>

Stepped/levelled garden

The 90cm sheer drop onto concrete + toddler plays havoc with my nerves.

DD2 is about to become toddler number 2 and we're moving on Tuesday and there's a flat garden which is hard to come by where we are, I can't wait!

Very narrow hallway! Nowhere to put anything! It does mean though there is never any tidying up to do and always looks immaculate

Not sure I would want a massive hallway though! Waste of space.

From a closed hallway with a closeable door at the bottom.
i don’t like noise and cooking smells going up through an open hallway and I worry about fire!

I paid about 1.6k - best thing I've done for a very long time. I could only use ours in spring or autumn - and I'd have to close the close in winter completely as it was so cold. It can stay open all year round now. I'm evangelical about them now 😂

Yup, although we had glass panels to replace our old plastic conservatory roof, which we absolutely love now. We had replacement plastic roof sheeting on our back porch roof, and it's probably just as good - we have a tiny radiator in the back porch, but it's now one of the warmest "rooms" in the house. The modern materials are so much better than the crap they used 30+ years ago, whether glass or plastic.

For me that would be such a waste of space we need for more important things.

I would like a 2nd toilet or small bathroom as theres 5 of us and a 2nd toilet would be handy but not as an en-suite, I would want it to be usable by anyone and small are space is at a premium.

@housethatbuiltme yep it's really horses for courses- there's only 2 of us in a1600 sq foot house, 3 loos - so for me it's great-

@MikeRafone I think open plan works better when you still have kind of 'defined' areas- lounge bends round into a definedkitchen area etc - less well in the way they build new flats just as one long thin room with kitchen stuck at one end

We had open plan when we lived in Copenhagen - but the rented villa was done into 'defined areas' had a kind of beams and industrial steel feel mix - sounds odd but was really funky and lovely -and warm!

Our first house was as back to back terrace so the front door just opened straight into the (only) room downstairs. I never felt cosy in that house. I love love love having a hallway now we have a bigger house.

Interesting, was this a while ago?

I was learning about them a few months ago. I thought almost all back to backs where demolished in the slum clearances (apart from single examples as museum in places like Liverpool & Birmingham) after being outlawed in the early 1900s.

Unless you live in Leeds of course where seemingly planners did not care about safety laws until much later.

Yes I live in Leeds :-D There are still loads of them here. They are solid houses and now they have bathrooms rather than shared loos for the street which was the main issue for sanitation they are good little houses.

This is a minor thing compared to many - I would never have a kitchen tap again with one of those extendible hoses. Just having mine replaced as I type. It's leaking like Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscars many years ago . 😂

"Unless you live in Leeds of course where seemingly planners did not care about safety laws until much later."

Yes, there are still plenty of back to back terraces in the Beeston area of Leeds, for example this one for £130k on four floors with windows on only one side:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/151011176#/?channel=RESBUY

or this one

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147521651#/?channel=RES_BUY

We have a small section of flat roof over our utility room. It was picked up on the survey when we bought the house as probably needing to be replaced within 4 years. We planned to gut and partially rebuild the room anyway so weren't too bothered. 13 years have passed, we still haven't got around to doing any of the works, it's had absolutely no maintenance and still going strong. Goodness knows what we'll find when we do finally take it off!!

Ahhh, I was reminiscing as I read this - always lived in a back to back terrace when I was in Leeds!

@Another2Cats that first one is bloody lovely for the money !!

3 neighbours!!!!
Ouch!
I wonder if people know their back neighbours?

I have a big enough hallway to double as an extra room, it was great when the grandchildren were younger, it made a playroom and as it has laminate they could set up tracks etc which can be difficult on carpet.

Stairs directly in living room
No bath
No window in toilet
Small kitchen

I love my house but my main regret is not altering the downstairs to make the kitchen bigger. We have a huge dining room and a tiny kitchen. Years ago when we first moved in we had a lot of work done and we should have done it then. I now feel I don't want the hassle even though I hate the kitchen.

Underfloor electric heating. Total waste of money, total lack of heat.

Excuse me butting in there but if the conservatory is double glazed and you fit a tiled roof and if you have a radiator too, a conservatory is fine. I converted mine to a kitchen and it works well with one brick wall for appliances.