Bevm

I think it is build quality. In Canada we had mostly houses built in the '30s and one built in 1910. They were all solid. But the recently built suburban homes are often not built to last, plus if the insulation is not done right it rots the wood frame house by trapping moisture.

The push to insulate old houses caused a lot of problems, too. Remember urea formaldehyde? Then the blown-in cellulose generally packs down, and if there's no good vapour barrier -- or it's punctured by putting in some new electricals without paying attention -- you have the damp in it again.

The latest one is vermiculite, which was used in walls and attic insulation and some of it contained asbestos. If they find that, the homeowner is in for a huge bill to get it all out of there.

Just in case anyone is heading over there. Watch for these things.

Bev

BristolUK

Worth pointing out that the UK has not been without its own problems relating to buildings.

I seem to remember a phrase along the lines of Building Cancer to describe some housing stock.

Piff Poff

My Mum bought a brand new house in just outside of Lincoln, ALL the plaster had to be replaced on ALL the houses built by that particular builder within 5 years of them buying it, one buy one everyone had to move into the former showhome whilst they replaced the plaster. The house is a nightmare, it's all coming away from the walls again but no one can be bothered to fight the problems anymore so they are just filling in the 2 inch holes between the ceilings and the walls, so yeah, there are house problems everywhere.

Bevm

I wasn't suggesting that the problems were special to Canada, just that some of them were different to ones in the UK because of wood frame construction.

I'd never for choice buy a new build house. I'd much rather buy a house that's a few decades old. It's been tested a bit.

Bev

Piff Poff

That's my thoughts too - tried and tested. I wouldn't mind if I won a new house though

theli

Victoria, Vancouver Island - my ex home of 20+ years! ):

I miss my favorite tea and coffee shops (Black Stilt! Mocha house!); cheap to medium priced restaurants; Chapters; T&T Superstore; Daiso; summer time going up island to places like Chemanius, Long Beach, Salt Spring; Denman Islands Chocolate; Capers/Planet Organic; abundance of health food stores; family :P; island weather; central heating; swimming in the various lakes; cheap & fresh water salmon... there's so much I miss but at the same time I'm glad I've made UK/Oz my home for now

Ciderman

With the current weather I'd say plenty of snow ploughs and the mandatory fitting of all season tyres to all new cars sold in the UK....oh and easy access to reasonably priced snow tyres for those in the far flung corners of the UK who are worst hit.

ann m

We were discussing this with a friend in the UK over the weekend. Prior to moving to Canada, I'd never heard of winter tyres. All-seasons, maybe. Are winter (or all-seasons) readily available in the UK? We joked that if you turned up at Quik-Fit or whoever, they'd just look at you as if you were mad. Or it would be a very special order?

Ciderman

I think the ready availability would depend on where you live in the UK. For most places they'd probably need ordering in advance.