SultanOfSwing

I think I'm going to have to plug something that lights up and/or makes a noise into every plug socket in the house and see what happens. All I know is the extra switch in our bedroom controls the ceiling fan and in the two kids bedrooms it controls a socket. In the hallway, who knows?

Also, for some reason when I turn the living room ceiling fan off using the wee dial thingy that can set the speed and that, it turns the outside security light on

Holliver

We've got three switches by the front door - one for the hall light, one for a lamp in the corner (stupid) and one for .......??? Just remembered - hubs thinks it may be for a ceiling fan - which doesn't exist

Trixie_b

It really depends on where you're looking because California Homes are so different to homes, lets say, in Boston.

Anyway my biggies would be:

homes are very differently styled on the inside in the UK, even if they look the same on the outside.
In the UK we change kitchen styles, wall paper, paint, carpet.

kitchens are very generic in the US.

The size of fridges.
Standard to have the washer in the kitchen
Voltage!!!
Construction methods and different building regulations.

Selling / buying in the uk is so different. our real estate agents only advertise, show the home & negotiate for a much smaller % than the US. All of our legal work is done by a solicitor, one for each party (buyer and seller).
No MLS listings. only the listed agent can show the home.

We don't have as much land, so our homes are traditionally smaller, and until more recently don't have en suite bathrooms unless converted.

SultanOfSwing

It could be wired for one, to be installed at a later date, with the switch already in place for it.

That doesn't make sense in my case because it is in a hallway that is less than six feet wide and maybe sixteen feet long

Trixie_b

You guys are making me laugh. We had a mystery switch in our en suite. We've lived here for 4 years almost to the the day.
In our bathroom we have an open ceiling effect shelf thingy. Last week we found there was a double socket up there for lighting!
A quick trip to the storage loft and now i have a rope light plugged into it and hidden away and some nice mood lighting.

GeoffM

Tiled kitchen Worktops - at least around here anyway. Probably 95% of the homes I was browsing on Trulia had them. Got one now in our rented house and hate it. Give me a smooth work surface I can clean with a cloth rather than a toothbrush anyday.

Jerseygirl

Argh...I hate the thought of them. Impossible to clean them properly...the grout must be a breading ground for germs/bacteria.

On the subject of mystery light switches in the hall...we have one. Also have a mystery light switch by the garage door. Both are 3 light switches...no idea what the 3rd is for.

WEBlue

Our rented house has one (wall switch) by the front door. The landlord said it was not connected to anything. When that part of the house was renovated, rewiring of the foyer meant it's a left-over switch that controls nothing.

Everyone that visits us gets confused by it at some point & tells us that a bulb must have burned out.

GeoffM

You want to wire it up to do something obscure like flushing a nearby toilet.

yellowroom

Thank you guys - I too have a mystery 3rd switch by my front door which I have been puzzling over ever since I moved in. Now I know it's common I can stop puzzling!

joto

I've been looking on the internet at houses in the SE WI area as we might be looking at a job move. Boohoo. None of the houses seem to have a fence of any sort on the property lines. We need a 5-6 ft fence to keep our dogs in the yard. I don't want to have to get electric fence/shock collars for them. It doesn't stop other dogs or neighbor kids coming into or running across the yard. Is it an HOA or subdivision thing or just a regional thing?

Sandra1

One of the most obvious ones is that US houses/apt bedrooms & halls have closets, while UK do not!

kimilseung

? Don't most UK houses have a clock room in the hall? Though few US houses have a hall.

Bob

Our old apartment had a mystery switch in the hall way.

Found out what it did...it switched the pump off to the oil tank in the basement, which kills the heating.

Stupidly, there's a big red emergency heat cut off switch by the door to the basement that is supposed to do that :/

SultanOfSwing

Regional, maybe? I'm just over the border in NE IL and hardly any of the houses seem to have fenced in gardens here either.

Therefore the neighbour's twat of a dog shits in ours whenever it wants. Little bastard