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.

what difference is it to if the main bathroom was right next door to yoir bedroom? it's still pooing next to where you sleep? en suites have walls they have doors 🤷‍♀️ 20 years of having houses with ensuites - never ever had smells etc, none that people keep saying on this page. even my parents had one when I was growing up. only rule was us kids weren't allowed use it unless parents said we could.

@Thistlewoman we retrofitted an ASHP in our previous house, which was 1960s. The process was very straightforward and the disruption minimal. And it worked brilliantly.

Sadly we're now in an Edwardian drafty house with single glazed sash windows and no cavity walls so an ASHP wouldn't work here. I'd definitely retrofit to a better insulated property though

Log burner, hated it such a faff, expensive and stank the room out.

This was such a craze a couple of years ago, with the rise in energy costs. A couple of neighbours spent a fortune on wood, and they don't have an open plan house/pump, meaning the hot air doesn't circulate around the rest of the house. One of them started seeking logs from the woods too🤔 I'm pleased we didn't buy into the whole thing!

Log burner, hated it such a faff, expensive and stank the room out
We have two log burners and have had them for over 20 years. They've never stank any of the rooms and they are hardly a faff.
Apart from the initial outlay they don't cost much to run, we get free pallets do are bills are really low.
We've got both lit now and the house feels cozy.

really miss my log burner 1st house ever lived in now without a some form of solid fuel stove or fire. have a electric gives out heat but not the same. don't miss cleaning it and logging sticks and coal ik though

If a log burner is stinking the house out, it hasn't been fitted properly or something wrong with the chimney.

We had that, after a few call outs, one guy sorted it. Turned out it was a big job, others happy to get paid the call out fee but the job too faffy. He spent a whole day on it and no issues since.

https://www.bioethanol-fireplace.co.uk/washington---bioethanol-wood-burning-stove_2012r12406.html?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADPUjjxg-CaGWgeAeFz7ND3r9gRuj&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyc67BhDSARIsAM95QzslyA0JuKWPDGhfsZVRgB_BG8lFQeQbkJ6Zb1IW2CK2LhqX9L4cZ3caAr71EALw_wcB

these log burners don't drink the house out and you can take them outside in the summer months for an outdoor heater

Apparently, it's now called an orangery. I also had underfloor heating but never use it.

Thanks, happy with our old one.
Apparently had a thingy missing, but has been sound since fixed.

It wasn't the log burners fault it was brand new and fitted by a Hetas engineer, it was mine as I was shit at lighting it and ended up with a room full of stinky smoke. I just couldn't take to it, all that effort. Not for me.

A front door that leads straight into the living room.
Artex.
A garden with no exit from the back garden.
Neighbours (sadly I can't afford a house with no neighbours).
A single toilet.

I am most definitely considering one of these.

Oh dear - I have four of those!

We fitted a bio ethanol burner box into an old cast iron wood burning stove we got at the tip!
it gets really warm, definitely warmer than our actual wood burner, I think mostly because it is cast iron.

What a fantastic idea.

That sounds interesting. I hate my horrible old fitted kitchen.

Honestly, fitted kitchens take up so much room and just create extra cleaning, not to mention the kneeling on the floor trying to extract pots and pans from the back of cupboards. You can change things around (apart from sink and hob) if you go freestanding too. And it's cheaper 😃

If you have a fitted kitchen, you need pan drawers. I have two big drawers for pans, one for cake tins and another divided vertically for baking sheets, roasting tins etc.

Less cleaning surely with a fitted kitchen? The dust and dirt can't fall down behind and between the units. And properly designed make good use of space.

You need to have pan drawers, not just for storing pans. Then there isn't a back of the cupboard that's hard to access.

I'm finding there's less cleaning and my stuff is more accessible. I can only speak as I find. I don't miss all those cupboards and cupboard fronts.

Thought this was obvious. The door of the bathroom is opening to your bedroom. Smells have one direction to go to. Fan you'd say, but noisy. Can't have windows open all the time. Then there's noise. Dh showering in the morning next to you. Fart noises etc. If bathroom has a wall with your bedroom and door opens to a corridor, then there's more acoustic and physical insulation.

A well built house has none of these issues - no noise, no smells.

That has nothing to do with en suites that is badly built buildings. If the bathroom is next door to your bedroom you will still here people showering regardless if the door is open to room or not. I have lived with an en suite for 20 years and never had any of those issues you speak about. Read out the comment to work colleagues on my tea break there now, 8 of us on the table, all bar one ( and only because she has downsized ) have en suites and never had them issues. One lady has 4 boys and loves that she has a separate bathroom to them with her stuff. The lady who has downsized misses her en suite especially after xmas and had family stay over. Its like everything else if its well built then it works

Having an en suite means my partner and I can walk in and out of our bathroom naked with no teenagers complaining and the teenagers have a bathroom for their things. I don't have a problem with either noise or smells, we have a fan that goes on with the light and can open the window.