A quick poll. Which is better new (warm) estate house or old (draughty) and characterful?

[MrsSeanBean]

I was always an 'old house' fan, but I am having my head turned by all these new estate developments. They are so nice and shiny/new and warm. I have gaps in my floor and draugts.

Would you sacrifice your love of old and antique for warmth and modernity?

old (and wear an extra jumper)

I was just about to ask about that actually The Young Visiter. We are in a Victorian terrace but the house on one side has been empty for ages. New people are just about to move in and I was wondering if we might notice it feeling a bit warmer.

old. new houses are foul

Janite - i think it depends on how well insulated the rest of your house is, but basically you are getting free insulation down the 2 largest walls of your house - so it should make a difference.

I grew up in a long thin Victorian terrace and it was always toasty!

I would choose old, more space, more character, more lovely. If my house is cold I try and block the draughts, fill up the stove, pile on the layers. There are no nasty chemicals and the garden is big, so we are not practically living in our neighbours pockets, hearing their every sneeze.

I have always lived in old houses, with no central heating, and I remember icicles on the inside of the windows (in winter) as a child. Now we have double glazing but still draughts and no central heating. I would rather live here, in my rented house, with lovely orchard, full of plums and apples, and few but good neighbours, where we have loads of space for children, parties and our hens.

It depends on the house. Ours is 6 years old, not tiny and designed with good storage space. When you look at the development as a whole you can see how carefully it has been planned to give reasonable gardens and house sizes on a really quirky plot design so there is nothing uniform or boring about it. They used about 7 different designs of house and two different types of brick and roofing. So it's newish but doesn't look boring. This house gives us space, a garden and a garage - you just wouldn't have got that it in this area on our budget if you also wanted old. I like the straight walls too - makes decorating very much easier - also no damp!

Yes, straight walls are what dp yearns for!

Does anybody want to talk to me about insulation?

Lived in both new build and very old Elizabethan. I liked both for different reasons.

Worst house I lived was a 1930s semi with terrible insulation, pokey rooms and corridors and characterless. Worst of all worlds.

I live in a old house - it is damp, moldy and disgusting. When it rains it soaks through walls and runs down the interior wall. Not a good enviroment for ds1 who has asthma and prone to pnuemonia. I would take a new warm house any day.

I've lived in old, new and somewhere in between. Am bewildered that people will pay quite so much money for any old skanky house as long as it's 'period'. Some of those Victorian terraces are really shoddy - although clearly cowboy builders under her late majesty were of far higher quality than today's Barrett boxes, given they are still standing. Doubt you'll be able to say the same for the current crop of mass-developer rubbish in 150 years time.

My favourite home was built in 1920, stone-faced (proper Yorkshire millstone grit) with a square bay window. The pair had been built by two brothers who had their own firm - they were demolishing a local manor house at the time so acquired some beautiful fireplaces. Absolutely gorgeous.

We bought our half from the daughter of one of the brothers - she still lived in the other half.

The kitchen hadn't been touched since 1935, there was no central heating and we had to chuck out the beautiful cast iron bath as there was simply no way of getting rid of the tide marks. (This was 1983, I think there are more options now.) And it was unbelievably freezing. Living through a Yorkshire winter with only coal fires between you and hypothermia was, um, challenging. I suppose I did get to see Jack Frost making patterns on the inside of the windows but was happy to trade it for central heating!

My main priority is light. I have found that new tend to be lighter (although not always). The much miligned 70s houses are actually the lightest because they tend to have the biggest windows.

It does make me laugh though how dogmatic people are on this. Come on people - in some parts of the world people live in mud huts and have to walk two miles to get water!

60s and 70s are the worst of both worlds IME. Not old enough to have character, but probably just starting to 'come apart at the seams', yet none of the conveniences (en-suite/ dressing rooms) etc of some of the new builds.

oooh this is a tricky one. We had a Victorian house which was UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY FREEZING and quite dark. Horribly depressing with a new baby. Brrrrrrrrrr. AND we had an Aga, insulated the walls and it was still baltic. We now have a (very large not at all boxy) new house with a large garden. Everyone that comes here loves it. Very warm (much cheaper as heating hardly ever on), lots of space, individually designed (partly by my DH who is architect) so not characterless at all and we love it and very happy here.

However, just the other day I saw a huge Victorian house for sale in need of a lot of work, and went ooooooh. Stained glass windows, turret rooms, the works. But could I deal with the drafts, freezing cold and constant maintenance all over again.............the jury's out on that one!

And weirdly my parents live in a Georgian house and it's always toasty. No double glazing anywhere but they do have an Aga, open fires and a huge boiler too. Maybe their heating bills are gigantic............must ask them! Or maybe Georgian are warmer than Victorian? (doubt it).

Personal choice I reckon.

But they are light MrsSeanBean, I didn't say they had an ensuite and dressing room or character . Very new houses often have smaller windows and older houses are often dark. I really dislike these 'generalisation' threads where people bark one way or another. At the end of the day the house needs to be made into a home however old or new it is.

The answer is in the cost of new vs period

Most people are happy to pay a premium for old houses

Newer houses are too small! Well ours is

I'd love an older house with quirky nooks and crannies, character and SPACE. And they feel like they've been made to last. Not chipboard and hollow walls.

(But I am a wimp about being cold, so I'd probably have huge heating bills!)

Old isn't always more expensive, in cities (Midlands/north) victorian terraces are very often some of the cheaper housing.

brett, that very true actually, i know someone from barro in furness and the older terraced houses are the cheapest houses.

maybe the are wiser up north.

either that or parkier!

It is strange how the prices vary.My parents bought a boxy bungalow years ago in ireland and I thought it was a ridiculous price considering it was a bit of a box and needed renovation.Two streets away a stunning 6 bed period house with sea views and in top order was 50k cheaper.

I have a new build and it is HUGE...6 large double bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 reception rooms. They aren't all little boxes!

I don't think we are talking about houses only a few people can afford though

ilove i would have to agree with you there.
i love the modern conviences of downstaairs loos and ensuites etc.

new builds are not all small!

I've never lived in a new house, at least not since I was about 2, so maybe living in one would change my mind, but I suspect not. I think high ceilings make a house seem so much airier. If we were living in a new house, it would probably be a small new house with the same number and rough size of bedrooms and living areas as we have now and the high ceilings make our house way more comfortable to live in because for the same floor space, you feel like each room is larger.

We live in a Victorian terrace and it's not draughty at all. Our heating bills are pretty low, I think (about £40 a month for gas over the year for three bedrooms, two receptions, kitchen and bathroom).

Also, older houses are generally just much much prettier.

I don't feel the need for an en-suite, I must say, though I can see that's a selling point if you like that sort of thing. With only three people in the house, one of whom is only two, I don't really feel the need for more than one bathroom or loo!

We have a toasty old house that is very ligth and has all the modern conveniences.Modern houses a la grand designs are a different story to the barratts type houses with small windows and cardboard walls.

I'd have to vote for old and characterful, too. Despite the fact that we currently have no ceilings in our (400-year-old) ex-farmhouse, and it's bloody freezing (they are in the process of being re-built, I hasten to add; just not as quickly as I'd like).

I couldn't bear to live anywhere that was completely symmetrical and didn't have any quirks, I don't think. You just have to develop a different mentality in old houses and wear lots of jumpers