NashvilleBrit

Hello Everyone,

I had previously used the forum to help me get through the ordeal of getting a US green card. I am happy to say that I have now been living in the US (with my green card and husband) for a year and a half and everything is working out great!!

I am back again to see if any of you lovely people can help me. My husband and I are going to be on House Hunters (I know, yawn... reality TV) and they want to address the differences between houses back home in the UK, and the houses that are here in the US. I need some input on how houses differ but I only have my experience to go on, I was wondering if anyone else has some great things to say about either side of the pond...

Thanks in advance!

fatbrit

More boo, hiss I'd have thought.

Bog exits downwards rather than sideways. That should hold their interest.

Guindalf

No two-door rule between bog and kitchen in the US is one.

My wife loves this show (even though it's faked!). Let us know when it's on - and keep us informed of your experience - so we can watch and criticize!

SultanOfSwing

I'd say the obvious one is brick/stone construction in the UK vs mostly timber construction in the US.

The temptation to make some stuff up to see if they believe it is almost too great, though ...

Jerseygirl

Welcome back. As you have re-registered with a new username...could you please let me know what your original username was so I can arrange for that account to be closed? Thanks.

NashvilleBrit

All reality TV is faked to be fair. It is still interesting to watch and predict which house they will buy etc.

NashvilleBrit

I love that, I could say anything and they would fall for it!!!

SultanOfSwing

My wife watches it sometimes. It's funny - will they buy the shit one, the one that's too expensive, or the really nice, perfect one ... ?

Yep - plus for any Brits watching, it'd be highly entertaining

"All British residential streets had one communal outside bathroom until the early 1990s". That's your starter for ten

MostlyYank

Refrigerators the size of the Grand Canyon, few houses have bay windows, houses over 200 years old are generally a novelty, much of the time the craftsmanship in US houses are lacking a bit (just my observation and not always true), 'yards' (gardens) tend to be bigger, but generally not walled in, and for your additional pleasure you get an explosive rocketship device in each home (a pressurized water heater).



LOL!

Pete

shorrock

So my comments are based on being in the state of Washington.

US - Paint Walls
USA - Wallpaper walls

US - Roofs need replacing ever 10 years or so. Due to being wood/composite
UK - Slate / brick roofs don't need changing.

US - Appartments = You Rent, Condominiums = you live in
UK - Flats / Units = Rent or live

US - Use a realtor to help you buy AND sell a place
UK - Estate agent used to sell a place. Buying is usually done byself

US - A seperate room or place (not the kitchen) for washer / dryer.
UK - Washer/dryer tends to be in kitchen

US - Garage is way bigger
UK - (if you have one) tend to be smaller and just big enough for a small car.

US - All bedrooms have a switch near the bedroom door that turns on / off a wall socket / power point near the bed. Used for a bedside lamp.
UK - On / Off switch near door turns on main light. No switch near bedroom door to turn on / off wall socket

US - No letter boxes on front door. Tend to be on street group togther (lazy postman / postwoman)
UK- Most houses have a letter box on / in the front door

I'll think of some more

Bink

That would be too funny. Wonder how much research they do if they're asking the participants for this information. Would be interesting to see just how much you could get away with!

More seriously though, the big differences are:
- construction methods as previously mentioned
- space (British houses are much smaller)
- Individuality (The UK is leaning towards 'cookie cutter' style housing in some of the newer developments but it's much more prevalent in the US, depending on the specific location of course).
- location (depending on which city/state there's much more emphasis on commute time here as the highways can be horrific in rush hour and public transport links are far better in the UK as a whole).

joto

UK USA

Brick/stone vs Wood framed mainly

Smaller rooms vs Larger rooms

Seperate rooms vs Rooms that run into one, eg: family room

Little space More space between
between houses vs houses

Same style houses vs Different styles of houses in a
in a street, except street for the most part
for maybe the very
expensive areas

I think it all comes down to lack of space in the UK and a bit more space available in the US at least in the suburbs and country. That might not apply in the inner cities. Something I didn't think about was the amount of single family homes and apartments, but not many semi detatched homes. I can't remember what they are called here.

Sorry if it looks a mess, that's how it came out.

kimilseung

British houses do not have sniper slits, nor camouflaged spiked pits in the yard.
British houses call it a basement (if they have one). American houses call it a bunker.

The biggest real difference is lack of shared walls, almost all US homes are detached. Resulting in less intrusion from neighbours.

More bungalows/single storey in the US.

Most UK homes have limited sky spaghetti. US homes can have their air space criss-crossed with spaghetti going to their neighbours.

Walk in wardrobe is standard in US.

SultanOfSwing

Duplexes (that should really be duplices ...)

You don't see too many of them, really - multi-family housing seems to lean more towards the 4/5 unit rowhomes/townhomes/whatever they call them.

robin1234

Surely not - we had a garderobe which emptied into the moat, and I think that was back in the 80s.