American reacts to Typical Australian Homes

[@twopencehalfpenny]

You cannot have a " Typical " Australian home. It all depends on how much money you have and where you live as to the type of home you can have.

[@shaun5552]

Even just how to deal with sloping land. Eg Tasmania where the normal practice is leave the land as is and build the house to suit with a suspended floor and a storage space or even garage under the house at the low end. Versus some other states where it's more normal to level the block, build a retaining wall then put the house flat on the ground. Climate plays a big part too as does local availability of building materials, eg the stone houses common in SA that simply don't exist in most of the country.

[@Aquarium-Downunder]

Typical Australian home = 3 bedroom brick house and that is still pushing it.

[@paulstewart1557]

Ah - yes that can be a problem but we have only exotics which are deciduous - enhancing rather than reducing the effect

[@gail2500]

I always wanted a Porter Davis home, but now they've gone bust BUGGER!!!!🇦🇺🥴

[@StephenJohnson-jb7xe]

It also depends on the decade the house was built as different styles come into and go out of fashion.

[@rileym117]

The heated light bulbs heat up the bathroom for when its cold; I usually use mine in winter/in the morning but considering I moved to Tasmania I will probably use it a lot more now 😂The fan switch isn't like a ceiling fan as well, its a vent that helps extract the steam from the bathroom so you don't get mold. Hope this helped !

[@chrislocke2267]

Ryan, a lot of that information is not applicable to the rest of Australia. Everybody would think that Sydney (NSW) or Melbourne (VIC) are the only places worth mentioning, but I can tell you that other parts of Oz are so diverse with its housing, weather, and scenery it would blow your mind...

[@sykotika13thirteen]

I think with the video it was that she only knew Sydney. I’m in Sydney but I love travelling all over and seeing all the cities and towns

[@Stefcs92]

@@sykotika13thirteen​​⁠​⁠yeah but she kept making it sound like it was a standard in all of Australia… which it’s definitely not. I would have said the queenslander would be the most iconic Australian house but they differ state to state. And it’s bloody cold all the time in tassie so we certainly have a reverse heat pump- aka air con for the north of Aus but fireplaces are common down here 🥶

[@sykotika13thirteen]

@@Stefcs92 I made so much money in the outback during winter doing firewood. Pretty much every house had a fireplace pumping all day and night in winter. The video was very specific but not even accurate for Sydney. I don’t know where abouts she is but I don’t know many houses that don’t have A/C. I love Tassiie, I prefer the cold to the heat

[@Stefcs92]

@@sykotika13thirteen oh so true, I spent a lot of time in Bell when I was a kid- not quiiite the outback- more so out in the sticks I suppose but it got plenty chilly there at night! It’s nice to hear you speaking positively about Tassie, it’s such an underrated place. I’m a Queenslander at heart though, much prefer the heat! 🥶 I will say it’s getting pretty warm down here these days too- south was definitely the way to go!

[@susansalafia2729]

Canberra has ducted heating in most houses.

[@rayf9194]

Ryan, Australia is a big country, like the USA. We have a diverse climate across this country, it's not all dry and sunny, we have tropical regions, dry and hot regions, cooler regions, in fact some have snow in winter, it's not all desert like many from the USA seem to think. From what I have seen of houses in the USA, Australia is very similar. She is mainly describing Sydney real estate which is mainly not typical of other capital cities here.

[@jazzyannaliesarose]

Absolutely since Australia can be both really hot and freezing cold and also you can have areas that have humid heat and others have dry heat. There’s no Australian house and different parts of Australia are very different in design and still architecture will be different.

[@AussieHussar]

She hasn't seen too many Australian houses that's for sure. You need to get someone who knows what they are talking about.

[@christinahawkins3265]

that's for sure

[@bkelly84]

Yes have to agree. People don’t realise it can get cold in places like Canberra but then total opposite in summer. Hence ducted reverse cycle.

[@joolzmac1]

I live in South Australia and we have cold winters but no snow here. I love all four seasons. Hot summer, mild autumn, cold winter and again, mild spring.

[@angrybutters]

The house I grew up in (Victoria) which is still owned by my parents is old. I don't know how old but it has 3 fireplaces. 1 in a room, 1 in the lounge room, and 1 near the kitchen. The home has high ceilings for summer seasons, old colour glass rectangle windows at the front door, and a front and back verandah. 1 extra toilet outside and a woodcutting shed. it's a good sized land compared to what you can buy now in my state, with an oversized garage with a pit to drive your car over it to work under the vehicle.

[@PhillipGWilkie]

The 3 switch wall control contains: The Fan is for the exhaust that vents the humid air outside so the room doesn't get mouldy. The heat is if you have halogen lamps in the roof so in winter its not too cold when you get out. They also help defog your mirror. And the light is obviously the standard light

[@jamescameron2156]

It is also quite common for the three functions (i.e. light, exhaust fan, heating lamps) to be built into a single unit, often situated in the middle of the bathroom. As the heating globes can consume a large amount of power (e.g. between 2000 to 5000 watts/hour), it is also common for a timer to be built into the unit that automatically cuts power to the heating globes after a period of time (e.g. 20 to 30 mins). Obviously, this is in case someone forgets to turn the heating globes off and they are accidently left on for several hours.

[@tonirolfs9142]

Yep. I grew up in Queensland, where the most you get in the bathroom is light & fan. But visiting my bro in cold old Canberra & later Tassie, that "heat" switch got a lot of use in Winter.

[@dosdan]

You can have a 4-switch version: Heat, Heat, Fan, Light. Look up "IXL Bathroom Heater Light Fan". The heat is 4 x 250-275W heat lamps in a square configuration, with a LED illumination light (5-10W) situated in the centre, and a grill around/behind this allowing air to be sucked in by the exhaust fan inside the ceiling behind the light. The two heat switches turn on separate 2x heat lamps (diagonal config.), so you can have half or full heat power. My daughter sometimes uses the heat lamps for illumination instead of the LED light, and can leave them switched on when she leaves the bathroom, leading to 500-1000W of power being consumed instead of say 10W from the LED light being left on. I try to save as much electrical energy as possible.

[@timcarr4673]

Your comments are just what i would have said so thanks for saving me the time

[@mehere8038]

@@dosdan ouch at leaving those on! I get annoyed just at my birds being slow to have their bath on cold winter days, forcing me to leave the 500w of heat lamp running for 20-30 minutes while they screw around deciding if it's actually warm enough to bathe or not (not helped by the fact the little horrors refuse to bathe in warm water & insist on only cold water, therefore need the room heated to prevent them from shivering so much they fall off their perches or fall into the water & half drown cause they're too shivery to get out)

[@miniveedub]

Differences I have noticed between Australian and US houses. Wooden houses are less common here than in the US. Basements are extremely rare here. So are attics (too hot up there). Our sinks don’t usually have garbage disposals, they are banned in some places, because it pollutes the water and adds to the cost of treating it before it is released into the waterways. Our toilets have less water in the bottom and flush differently, they are less prone to blockages. Dual flush is mandatory to save water. All new homes must have a rainwater tank to collect roof runoff. In some houses it is used to flush toilets but usually it is used to water gardens to save the water in the dams. Solar panels are starting to become quite common, our power prices are high. It’s common here to have the shower separate rather than over the bath and those triple switches in the bathroom are for a popular ceiling fitting which combines a light and exhaust fan and heat lamps to remove steam and to heat the bathroom in winter.

[@downundarob]

7:00 - The triangle atop the mailbox is for larger items, they get rolled up and stuffed into the triangular area, Australian Mailboxes are also a one way thing, you cant send mail by putting an outbound letter in there and hoping the mailman picks it up. I was also going to mention that the triangle thing is for shade so the redback spider living in your mailbox doesnt get too hot.

[@joannedyson1768]

😅

[@caroldudgeon50s]

The bit about keeping your Redback spider cool made me laugh out loud. 😂

[@rotkatzeredcat4284]

lol

[@debbiemohekey1509]

@@caroldudgeon50s Use bar 'b' que tongs to remove your mail from the box.

[@caroldudgeon50s]

I get them in my backyard but thankfully not IN my letterbox hahaha that's the snails' domain it seems 😂@@debbiemohekey1509

[@smmcb647]

I’m an Aussie travelling in Europe in Summer and I have found from the UK to Scandinavia all the AirBnB’s and most hotels I’ve stayed in are TOO HOT. Europeans seem addicted to overheating their houses. I like my cold Sydney house, so much better to sleep in. I only need a little bit of air conditioning for about 4 weeks in Summer. That’s it. In Winter, we wear warm clothes inside the house because our houses are cold and that’s the way I like it.

[@minka_thork2892]

YES! I couldn't believe aircon wasn't standard in hotels. It was a sauna.

[@vvvbbbbcccc]

I visited a friend in Holland in their late winter. I couldn't believe how hot it was inside the house. The house had floor vents under every window pumping out heat like it was going out of fashion. I would walk to the local shops wearing jeans and a polo and all the local people were rugged up as if they were at the Snowy!

[@maxbrooks1191]

A common complaint about pommie land and europe from Aussies you come in from the cold and they have the houses sooo hot you have to stip off down to yout tshirt or singlet.

[@lyndenbobbitt5532]

We are more likely to call bedding “ linen” . Manchester is normally used in department stores. Most people would call a sofa a “couch” , but the whole set would be called a “ lounge suite”. The three switches on the bathroom wall usually operates a light called “fantastic” which heats , lights and operates the exhaust fan. She was talking about the Sydney places that she houses at, but Melbourne architecture is probably a bit more similar to English architecture , particularly the older houses. Fireplaces are much more common in Melbourne, Victoria where the weather is cold for 6 or 7 months of the year.

[@lisathedivinetruth]

Lol also have open fires here in Mackay, North Queensland, even though you southerners (lol) might think we don’t need it, but it can get cold here for us!! Lmao 😂 cheers 🎉

[@songofjoy164]

The 3 button switches operates different functions of a triple use unit which has a standard light globe, 1-2 heating globes & an exhaust fan wihich draws the steam out of the room through the roof.

[@bunyipdragon9499]

I lived there in Alice, NT for a while and while having a built in heater isn't a necessity in winter it can bloody cold. The desert areas of Australia can be very chilly in winter and lots of the Southern states have cool to cold winters -- the nights especially.

[@Bambi_Sapphic]

11:20 the fan/heat/light buttons is usually a vent system where the roof light is which has an exhaust fan, usually a set of heat lamps and a normal light. The heat lamps are for winters in which as they said earlier in the video aussie houses tend to be colder, so heat lamps above you when you hop out the shower keeps you warmer as you dry off.

[@terriemcgarrity-sr9kg]

Unfortunately this girl hasn’t really experienced too much of Australia. Most apartments and houses have air conditioning, so not quite sure where she was staying, other then her saying Sydney.

[@daveamies5031]

Now they do, but that's a recent thing, in the 1990's it was very rare and in the 1980's basically unheard of. The first time i lived in a place with air-con was late 1999, my wife was pregnant and so we sought out a place with air-con because she was due late December and pregnant in summer with no air-con wasn't a pleasant thought.

[@testedTransgressor]

Our house has air con in the master bedroom, but the rest of the place has ceiling fans. A lot of older rentals and places with asbestos tend to have the ceiling fans rather than risk disturbing the asbestos with installing air con.

[@petermcculloch4933]

She made it perfectly clear at the beginning of the comparison, her knowledge was based on living in Sydney.

[@LoveratLoves]

Im 58 and have lived all over Australia - only the last two houses I have lived in have had aircon. The first one we built, and this one we have had it installed. It hasn't been common at all until about 2000 ish. You just opened the windows and sweated =)

[@mindi2050]

@@daveamies5031 Air conditioning in the 1980's was basically unheard of? No it wasn't. My very average income parents' house had air conditioning. Not like the split system air condition we have now but many homes had air conditioning units sticking out of the windows when I was growing up. Maybe it depends where you live.

[@twoflyinghats]

Ryan, housesitting is volunteering to live in people's homes when they go away, often for longer periods when travelling. Some may bring their own caravan. House sitters look after the property, which makes it more secure, and care for any pets, animal stock and gardens in exchange for free accommodation with no bills. I have a friend who does it continually. She's always booked up as she has a great reputation from word of mouth.

[@sindyln2005]

My daughter housesits constantly and gets paid to do so, some people don't just do it for free, she's very busy.

[@overworlder]

Remember she’s talking about Sydney which has mild winters. Wood-fired slow combustion heaters are massively popular in southern Australia. Governments are trying to phase them out for environmental reasons but nothing pumps out heat like a wood fire stove.

[@sykotika13thirteen]

They were popular in Sydney and slowly disappeared when they banned backyard burn offs. More people are starting to realise you can use fire to cook and for heating so they are making a comeback again.

[@chaiwad21]

They banned because they are not getting any benefit from it. + when people set a place on fire they have to spend money for the fire fighter to come. So they loosing money both way. ,😂

[@chucky6367]

Wood fire is the only heat l have in my house, great for the chilly wet southern Victoria Winters and cooking if the power goes out 👍

[@sykotika13thirteen]

@@chaiwad21 I’m old enough to remember having an incinerator and a fire pit, I am also old enough to remember how many people burnt their house down and sometimes a neighbours house.

[@akitas8165]

Nothing pumps out heat like a wood fire stove ???? What utter nonsense. Wood fired heating is the most inefficient form of heating there is.

[@chrish2277]

You also need the wide eaves for the heavy rain we get, especially the further north you go.

[@imaginativeteacher8508]

The ‘triangle’ on the letterbox is for rolled up large letters, junk mail (catalogues) and magazine subscriptions. The heat button is for bathrooms to keep you warm when you get out of the shower in winter.

[@auntie44m]

You can install a unit in the bathroom ceiling that contains a heat lamp (the bulb that warms up) for winter and an extraction fan and a normal light. Google the brand name Mistral - bathroom light. Hence the various switches. Also in Australia you click the switch down to turn power on where as in a lot of American television shows i see them flicked up for on. The old metal letter boxes had triangle roofs mainly for rolled up newspapers, back when they were home delivered (way before online news/papers etc). Australian baths mostly sit inside a wooden box shape frame up against a wall. The front panel is usually tiled. I understand the plastic panel in the UK provides access to plumbing etc. I hope this helps.

[@splashpit]

The top triangle was from the days we got the daily paper home delivered

[@bencodykirk]

@@splashpitBack in the "olden days" lol

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

@@bencodykirk yes - about ten years ago!

[@bencodykirk]

@@Alicia-ij6gt Yes. Olden days - 2014, haha.

[@annamitchell9875]

I would never call a couch a ‘lounge’. As another poster said, if you had a whole suite (often a long couch/chaise and an armchair or two) it might be called a lounge suite. Anyway, the room where the couches and tv is is often called the living room or family room. Oh, and the heat light in the bathroom is a must in winter (at least down south where I live).

[@TL-li2lu]

Australia is a huge country. Down south we have snow and ski resort's. I live up north but in the high country. We get frost and have fireplaces here.

[@sykotika13thirteen]

I lived outback for a few years and summer was around 40-50c in the day and winter we would drop to about -5c overnight. There wasn’t enough moisture for snow or much for rain either. The variations in Australia are massive

[@bencodykirk]

@@sykotika13thirteen There are massive variations of house in the US too. The UK, not so much as it's so much smaller.

[@sykotika13thirteen]

@@bencodykirk I think with the UK a lot of it has to do with age too. When you look at the original houses in Australia they were small too. It was somewhere to eat and sleep

[@tennilletobin7823]

The screen door is also for security… you can open your main door and still have something stopping people from entering. Also add an extra layer against break-ins. They are strong and lockable, and covered in mesh to keep the bugs out too. 😊

[@apm77]

A sunroom - which is the nearest parallel to what she calls a "conservatory" in the UK - is *extremely* common in larger homes in Australia. How she could have missed that is beyond belief, frankly. However, the conservatory she shows is small, whereas sunrooms are big, being a multi-function activity room. When she talks about "manchester", she's talking about how things are labelled in department stores, not talking about how Australians speak in everyday life. A lot of the language differences she mentions are simplified, but that's to be expected.

[@terrilee68]

Well said!!! 🇦🇺😃

[@dee-deelove9310]

You are talking about the rumpus room, that is different to a sun room…..a sun room is generally mostly made of windows to let the sun warm the room and generally runs along one side of the house and isn’t very wide

[@apm77]

@@dee-deelove9310 I know what I'm talking about and my description is accurate.

[@teloenand]

The triangle bit on top of the mailbox/letterbox is a dual purpose thing. It helps keep rain out/off the mail, and it's also for larger mail/periodical deliveries (magazines/newspapers) that won't fit through a normal mail slot.

[@noelleggett5368]

Ryan, back in the olden days, we had these things called ‘newspapers’. They were made of lot of sheets of paper and had the news written on them for people read. Letterboxes in Australia also had a large space (like the triangle bit at the top) for the newspaper delivery… rather than some kid on a bike throwing the paper at the house and breaking a window.

[@bencodykirk]

I live in QLD. When we DID have a local newspaper (up until maybe 3 years ago), it was delivered by a kid on a bike who would randomly throw the paper in the general direction of the house - never leave it in the mailbox, lol. The only thing the newspaper slot got used for was junk mail so eventually I bought a sign from Bunnings to cover the slot that reads "NO JUNK MAIL". These days I barely need a mailbox. Hardly anything gets put in it.

[@imanafshari6128]

The triangle on mail boxes are to hold news paper as they used to and sometimes come rolled up

[@paulstewart1557]

Dear Ryan, I built my house in 2018 in the city of Canberra and one of my strong requests to the builder, was deep eaves and passive solar design, to ensure that the windows were shaded in the summer and yet streamed with sunlight in the winter. It makes a big difference to liveability and comfort throughout the year. The winter sunlight feature is important as that energy is then absorbed by the floor (our floor is oak but has a concrete base) throughout the day and radiates back into the home at night. The angle of the roof and the depth of the eaves prevents this solar penetration in the summer, as the shade falls across the window. Bathrooms in Australia often have an extraction fan (which is mandatory in most jurisdictions, if the bathroom does not have an opening window) and a separate function for heating, that is generated from intense incandescent lights.

[@carolynrobertson4657]

We have reverse cycle aircon in Australia... she has obviously very limited experience

[@jpbaley2016]

US code also requires extraction fans if there isn’t a window.

[@Kymberlee_W]

One of the biggest differences is that in America, the homes with air-conditioning have a vent in the bathroom which will send either cool or warm air, depending on the season as most homes have reverse cycle aircon. Homes in the far north tend to have boiler and stuff because it's more economical and more efficient as reverse cycle doesn't do well in super cold temps. Sorry I can't remember more but it's 1 am and I'm just rambling off the top of my head what I can remember - btw, my dad was a home construction company owner in the states but I've lived in Australia for 20 years.

[@desleybettens5356]

I grew up calling them a lounge ; high set homes are designed to cool the house (not make them hit); I’m not sure where this Sheila got her information but some of her reasoning is a little off

[@nickislade5533]

@@carolynrobertson4657depends where you are.reverse AC is relatively new most older homes in our town still have ceiling fans and window air-cons. Split systems go in usually when the homes change hands

[@Bambi_Sapphic]

6:55 idk if you realise, but the mailbox is a little house shape. Also the top hinges up from those front bolts so you can fit larger stuff in there than the slot hole

[@billjackrock]

Rather than lounge I think it's common just to call a 'sofa' a 'couch' in Australia. I personally only use the word 'lounge' in this context when talking about a 'lounge suite' which is the whole matching set of sofas usually a 3 seater and a 2 seater or with maybe an added 1 seat recliner.

[@TL-li2lu]

I'm Australian and we call it a lounge

[@rosaliewestphalen8121]

Yeah.... Nah... I'm Australian and we call it a lounge.

[@brendonrookes1151]

Lounge or couch there both used

[@buchinsku]

Lounge, couch, sofa... pretty much interchangeable for me.

[@Kiwi_Conor]

​@@TL-li2luok so I'm a Kiwi and it's definitely a couch here. The word lounge refers to the room, so what do you guys call it? Sitting room?

[@courtneymitchell8439]

Ryan, the top triangle part is where rolls of catalogues that list store specials and rolled newspapers are placed. the bottom hole is for letters. Sometimes there will be cement (or brick) pillars that have PVC pipe for the newspaper and a box built into the pillar with a lockable door on the opposite side to the letter slot.

[@jaccilowe3842]

Australia and US are both new countries, thus more space to build. The triangle atop the mailbox is for newspapers. Everything had to be imported to Australia in the early days, hence Manchester.

[@elowishusmirkatroid4898]

The triangle on our mailbox is a fancy apartment for a Huntsman spider.

[@jamescameron2156]

Just to clarify, since Ryan seemed to be shocked when he heard that some things "had to be imported to Australia" in earlier years. "Had to be imported" in this case really means "needed to be imported due to lack/shortage of local production". It does not mean that there was a government mandate forcing locals to import things from overseas. This mainly applies to the times before WW1 and WW2. After WW2 Australia's manufacturing base expanded exponentially; some things were still imported but most things were able to be produced locally.

[@tonyonofrio1147]

Australia had/has a large cotton growing industry, but pre 70's it did not have a large enough cotton manufacturing industry. So most of our cotton production was exported to UK which was then processed (in Manchester) and made into cotton and linen products that were imported for sale here.

[@bblake5116]

My mailbox is on a pole at the front and usually houses a green tree snake thats looking for frogs in the pole.

[@mehere8038]

@@elowishusmirkatroid4898 huh? huntsman have always lived in the main mail segment in mine, with smaller spiders with their webs relegated to the newspaper section

[@imanafshari6128]

heat switch is a light designed to get hot and let off heat to help drying bathrooms or to heat them up

[@cbjones2212]

Our house in the Goldfields of Victoria is over 170 years old. Known as a 'worker's cottage', it has a front verandah and, in the original part of the house, small sash windows. Windows in this area were small to stop the heat coming in from the summer and to reduce heat loss in winter. When we bought the house, the washing machine was in the kitchen and the real estate agent (realtor) apologised for it and said the current owner "is Welsh" 😅

[@tonimedlen5371]

lol

[@7GodIsLoveAndTruth7]

I love it!!!!!!

[@Reneesillycar74]

😂

[@imac1957]

We have one of them too. The front part of the house is original, but fortunately there was a new extension to the back that brought the toilet inside! Lots of extra insulation added but still bitterly cold in winter.

[@vanessagoddess1]

lol. Yeah, clean clothes in the kitchen?!? Ewwww!

[@silverstreettalks343]

Nice to see my former home town, Marrickville, get a mention there! English houses are usually about 3-5 metres from the fence line, often less; Australian houses are usually set back about 7-½ to 8 metres except in older areas. The closer to the street, the more practical the front door letterbox. Also the gable roof on our letterboxes makes a space for newspapers and magazines which might not fit the ordinary letterbox. A lot of Australian houses were built for heat exclusion until recently, with little thought to winter heating -- coal and wood were cheap, and some houses had more than one fireplace. Consequently houses are often cold in Australian winters, and retrofitting insulation is expensive and disruptive. Newer building standards require planning for energy economy, both hearing and cooling.

[@divahc1]

Some peopledo have open - fire places. Australia is a vast country, with a wide climate range.

[@carokat1111]

I have two open fire places and a wood combustion heater. Yes, I live in Tasmania!

[@vtbn53]

@@carokat1111 I only have one open fir place but I love it, Ialso have two gas heaters, one with a chimney and LOOKS like a wood combustion heater (wish it was), and and a fan powered radiant convection floor heater. Oh and I am in the Southern Highlands of NSW which is not unlike Tassie climate wise.

[@heatherwardell2501]

We had one in the countryside but it's too expensive for firewood in the cities

[@carokat1111]

@@vtbn53 Yes, very similar. I think you actually get even colder than we do overnight. Hobart minimums are actually relatively mild.

[@vtbn53]

@@carokat1111 Yes it can get down to -7C or even less and we get 6-10 frosts per winter. No snow in my 12 years here but it has happened.

[@Simbacat997]

Lots of homes have security doors in Australia. In relation to heating, new build homes usually come with central heating and lots old homes have been updated/renovated to include central heating.

[@TL-li2lu]

If you want the feel of an Australian home, watch this movie "The Castle" 😂👌🏼

[@dianaperry1929]

Excellent movie🍿❤️

[@karenwadwell6007]

​@dianaperry1929 one of my favourites

[@vtbn53]

That's a great recommendation - do it Ryan!

[@IPEX-BADD]

Tell him, "he's dreaming"

[@macdac9861]

You have to have lived in Australia for The Castle to make any sense. I’m kiwi and even I didn’t get the first time I watched it

[@NaGromOne]

That fancy switch is wired to a fancy combination fitting in the bathroom ceiling. It contains a normal light, a special heatlamp to warm the room in winter, and hidden above an exhaust fan to suck steam into the roof cavity.

[@Max_Flashheart]

In New Zealand we have similar housing to Australia. We don't have screens over our windows because we don't have many bugs compared to the US or Australia. Heat Bulb = Heat Lamp - Heat lamps are special types of incandescent bulbs. They are designed to generate as much heat as possible through infrared radiation, so they are often called infrared lamps, infrared heaters, or IR bulbs. Sofa = Couch Manchester made everything cotton (cotton from the Southern States)

[@shaundgb7367]

Yeah, I would have thought Austalia, Canada, New Zealand and USA would have similar housing compared to the much older UK.

[@M3rVsT4H]

Wait, you guys don't have screens at all? I don't know how I never noticed that. lol

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

The heat lamps produce infra red radiation, which heats surfaces, not the air.

[@brosert]

I think in Australia there's a difference between units, flats and apartments. Units are typically detached or semi-detached and generally single' level (or at least are ground floor access) - basically each unit is reasonably independent of another and usually has at least a little bit of property as a small private yard or courtyard. Flats are generally buildings with multiple residences, with access to different ones on different floors, but always with external access. Apartments are like flats, but with only internal access (and generally more modern). So with flats you can generally access anyone's front door (sometimes there might be a gate or door on the stairwell, but this seems to be more recent), whereas with apartments you have to enter the building through a main door (typically with security so you might need to be 'buzzed in' by a tenant - especially outside certain hours).

[@jasonb9652]

In the UK I found many bathrooms with carpet. Never happens in Australia 🇦🇺

[@CateB66]

Particularly in the older homes. When I did live in aged care, many homes had carpet (more so washable carpet) in the bathroom and kitchen. Warmth

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

Carpet was all the rage in Australia from the 1950s. Then it seemed like a huge number of people developed asthma and hayfever, and it was blamed on dust mites in carpet. So they were ripped out by younger people.

[@SleepyDove-zo8sk]

So so gross and unhygienic holy moly. It's just as bad as the fluffy toilet seat covers that are a massive breeding ground for germs galore ughhhhh

[@leahhaines5713]

Carpet in Australia really isn't a thing as it would promote the growth of mold

[@leahhaines5713]

In the bathroom I mean

[@primroseletcher5698]

I don’t know because I’ve only been to Sydney once for a short stay but as an Australian I can say there are no typical houses because the ones she’s shown in the pictures are very different to where I live… and with the “sofa” being the “lounge” I have actually never heard anyone in Australia call it a “lounge” I’ve always heard everyone say couch, bedding I have absolutely NEVER heard anyone ever call bedding “Manchester” we might call it linen or what the actual thing is like a towel or blanket…

[@trig1900]

The "Federation" style house [and the "Queenslander"] are probably the most practical build styles for comfort in Australia. Designed when things like air conditioners did not exist, the federation house provided for a continuous overhang of the eaves around the entire house to shade not just the windows but a lot of the walls also. The federation house was predominantly built of brick, and the better ones [more expensive] also had a verandah [porch] around the entire [or most of] house also, generally with doors from a lot of the bedrooms opening onto the verandah. When I was young you could actually see some of them still around the suburbs. BUT, with property sizes [because of cost] being continually reduced and building costs going up, builders tend to build out to the edge of the eaves these days to maximise the floor space inside. All of which means you MUST have insulation, window tinting and air-conditioning/heating, resulting, I feel, in a loss of elegance and style. The Queenslander [obviously, built primarily in Queensland] was generally built of wood and on stilts. This allows for the free flow of air over, around and under the house. Unlike brick, wood cools a lot more quickly in the evening, allowing the heat and humidity of the day to be shed more easily. I've actually stayed in a Queenslander where the walls were also louvred and could also be opened to allow air, and some of the internal walls did not go up to the ceiling or down to the floor. This was in Townsville [which is very humid in the summer]. After staying in a brick building in the same area, the Queenslander was a blessed relief and way more comfortable. Oh, I might also mention every part of the queenslander also had mesh screens to keep the bugs out, and muslin curtains over the beds!

[@sykotika13thirteen]

The federation and Queenslander are starting to make a comeback in Sydney now. I love the design

[@trig1900]

@@sykotika13thirteen Ah? I wasn't aware of that... been a while since I was in Sydney. Good to hear, though. Much better for the environment also...

[@jackvos8047]

The Queenslander has the advantage over other houses on a Flood plain as well.

[@trig1900]

@@jackvos8047 Oh, absolutely! Problem is, though, flood plain areas were designated for a reason... floods. When I first started working in Qld in 1976, flood plains were areas to be avoided for building because they had the potential to flood. When you drove up the highway between Brisbane and Caloundra there were areas of virgin bush land dotted along the route with big signs in front of them saying Flood Plain. By the time I left in 1978, the signs had disappeared and wholesale building was going on with a vengeance. A lot of people were asking why; the answer being given by the Bjelke-Petersen govt at the time was that these areas had been sectioned off previously in case there was a massive flooding event; a 'once in 100 year' event' which was highly unlikely to ever occur. Besides... look at all the land which could be sold off and built on! In 1974, the house I was renting in Ipswich, which backed on to the Bremer River, had been underwater up to the roof and the government said it was unlikely to ever get that high again. Fast forward to 2010 with the horrendous flooding which occurred. And again to 2022 and you begin to see why you should never trust a politician or build on a flood plain...

[@anneloving8405]

I have poor person window tinting...aluminium foil,works good tho,cools the house by at least 5-6 degrees and good insulation.I rarely use aircon.

[@EarleyDaysYet]

7:00 the “triangle” on the top of the mailbox is for newspapers etc that don’t fit in the mailbox. Our house is freezing at the moment - we’re in SE Qld, but right now we have a polar air front moving through and it’s super cold. Especially downstairs where it’s all tiled and we don’t get direct light at all through winter.

[@scott1001]

Verandah. What you would call a porch or some of us have a deck. Sometimes a back verandah or both. Very important in Australian homes to sit and watch the world go by.

[@mistymane52]

I don’t see it as often now days but I loved the heated lights in the bathrooms growing up. When it’s winter and your cold getting out of the shower, you can feel the light if you stand under it kinda like the difference of if you are outside and in the shade or sun. Subtle difference but a difference all the same Doesn’t really heat the room but you can feel it on yourself

[@sandradavid4080]

House sitters look after people’s houses while the owners are away, generally because there are pets or gardens to be looked after. Could last from a couple of day to months at each house.

[@tracysage2565]

And it’s usually free

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Yes, my sister used to do it especially at Christmas and family birthdays etc time! She lives on the North East Coast and only comes to Sydney "if she must", she particularly looks after pet cats and houses while the owners are on holiday! A huge saving in accommodation costs and also family stress!

[@shaz8486]

We had a house sitter once to look after our cat and 2 dogs…… it was a disaster, we had their food individual frozen, named, but she only fed them biscuits. She used other beds (we had made up a bed in the biggest room other than ours) but she didn’t put sheets on them, oh yuk all the hairs in the beds, dirty towels, and bathroom, along with makeup, and had been smoking weed, it left green drip marks all down the walls in one bathroom…. The usual transaction I had been told by a different sitter, they live in your home rent free, eat your food and look after your house and pets for NO fee. We paid this lady $500 after she stayed there, ate our food, made a disgusting mess (which we didn’t know at that time) of the house and didn’t give two hoots about our animals. When we paid her she looked at us as though is that all ??? …..it was about 10 days we were away……NEVER EVER AGAIN! It took days to clean our home that she had trashed with her filth.

[@mehere8038]

@@tracysage2565 Actually a friend of mine on the Gold Coast was telling me it's not anymore, she was trying to find someone to house/petsit her dog & cat & house (near the beach) & all wanted to charge her for the "privilege" of staying in her home & feeding & cuddling her 2 pets! That blew both our minds!

[@NaGromOne]

​@shaz6570 that wasn't a usual housesitter, not one who is registered anyway. that was a squatter that you essentially bribed to go away before they completely trashed the place - sorry you had that experience :(

[@annetteenchelmaier2474]

A veranda sometimes runs along one side of a house but it may wrap around two or more sides. The veranda is cool in summer and is a good place to eat meals, read or play in summer.

[@1001reasons1968]

Nobody is saying manchester in normal conversation. But we know what it means when we go shopping for sheets and towels.

[@andrew_koala2974]

Nobody can say anything because everybody is buried in the cemetery. It is FULL of bodies Go and count them - and pay attention to what is write om the grave stone and HOW it is written. Then write an essay explaining it. Also explain - How many of YOU are there in existence on this earth ? And lastly - learn correct grammatical legal English. You are still at elementary school level

[@katzrantz]

​@@andrew_koala2974"elementary school"? What are you, a seppo? Neck up ya pelican.

[@rachaelburrows1516]

Dissapointing and unnecessary. @andrew_koala2974 A body should always choose kindness and humility. If that is not possible, choose silence instead.

[@1001reasons1968]

@@rachaelburrows1516 you have completely misunderstood my response of the use of the word Manchester in Australia

[@rachaelburrows1516]

@1001reasons1968 it was not your comment I was responding to. It was the person trying to give you an English lesson that I did not appreciate. I have amended my comment accordingly. My apologies.

[@Ultram69]

Fan - exhaust fan to get rid of moisture and steam. Heat - heat lamps to warm up the room. Food on cold winter mornings. Light - self explanatory. Heat lamps also produce light but cost more to run as they are also generating heat and chewing up power. Mine also has a kill switch that turns all power off. Generally the breaker at the powerbox has a few different circuits so if one breaker goes, you might still have power to the lights but not the power plugs.😊

[@lozinozz7567]

Unfortunately a lot of investors have forgotten they’re in Australia and I’m seeing more and more houses with out eaves and verandas. They even get rid of or don’t plant shade trees. Having a house with shady spaces helps to cut down the fuel bill as well as providing relief from the sun. I personally admire the queens lander or old country homestead. They knew all about breeze ways and cool space.

[@Mark-wv6sg]

I’ve never had ac don’t need it use fans only hot for short time on the coast,we have safety circuit breakers on circuits,we don’t say Manchester it’s linen,most new homes are insulated so are cosy

[@Krenisphia]

With more and more foreign investors/residents growing every year, that's bound to happen as a lot are not that familiar with the local climate.

[@elmohead]

Air-conditioning allows architects to absolutely ignore the climate when designing. It's irresponsible imo

[@robynmurray7421]

It's nothing to do with immigrants. The builders leave off eaves because it's cheaper. Also the extend the windows up to the roofing so they don't have to put in a lintel, which is not very energy efficient.

[@redwarpy]

Smaller eaves is due to houses being so close together and complying with the housing code.

[@freman]

The triangle on the letterbox is for junk mail or papers, often delivered all bundled and rolled up together. We rarely have GFC outlets in bathrooms, almost never in new builds. The sockets aren't even usually on their own circuit, they will share with something on the other side of the wall in an adjacent room. Instead we'll have one or more RCD switches (breaker) that break when current doesn't return correctly (is slightly more convoluted than that bit that'll do) for the whole house (or groups of circuits)

[@colddiesel]

Australian houses are usually very poorly insulated because until recently, energy, both electricity and gas were very cheap. That is changing with increases in costs. There is a massive increase in domestic solar systems, and improved insulation. Double glazing has not caught on much, but will eventually, particularly as apartments take over our cities. Their sound proofing is as important as their capacity to conserve heat.

[@helenlecornu1651]

It was more due to the fact of availability and cost of either retrofitting double glazing or insulation and having installed in new builds, now there are more incentives and changes to the BCA that has made it more prevalent.

[@nashd8005]

Ironically, many older homes (100yo+) were built to allow air flow, rather than to seal, as fresh air was highly valued. And yes, those heated light bulbs heat the bathroom. Lovely in winter. My cousin from Ohio says her first Australian winter (Sydney) was the coldest of her life because inside our homes was so much colder than what she was used to.

[@the10th90]

Pools are expensive, so not everyone can afford them. Growing up our pool was definitely more like the UK version!

[@badkitty101]

Sydney isn't the baseline when it comes to housing in Australia. I'm from South Australia and the housing is built so much different. Most of my town is made from limestone as its a good way too keep the warmth in during winter. Please feel free to have a look around on google maps and such. Brisbane is also loads different with housing too they have a house called a Queenslander and its a house on stilts cause of the flooding. Adding on. I grew up country in a rural area and most houses in my home town have fire places. And she is also wring with the air conditioning. Its not commen unless your able to afford to have one put in. She is basing her comments off of Sydney only. Where I grew up in winter the warmest days we got was 15°c and coldest was -14°c in 1993. Only new builds will have air conditioning and older houses well, your outnof luck and get a fan

[@linesydclb8845]

Most of the houses in WA have airconditioning but our house in Victoria had no airconditioning and ducted heating. Really depends where you live, doesn't it.

[@caroleboeder6169]

Adelaides limestone homes are stunningly beautiful. Full of character and I love the ones with the crazy chimneys.

[@neumanmachine3781]

Queenslanders are on stilts mainly for air circulation under the floorboards to keep the house cool in summer. It's generally considered smarter not to build them on floodplains. Also Brisbane is very hilly so a stilted house can achieve a level platform without expensive earthworks.

[@supergran62]

Mount Gambier?

[@bena8121]

Most modern homes built in the last 30 years are very similar from one side of Australia to the other - a single set brick home with a double garage. Many of them are cement rendered.

[@Ainzleeriddell]

In cold parts of working-class Australia I’ve seen people sitting in their car with the newspaper spread out over the dashboard and drinking a coffee. Brilliant as little sunrooms!

[@judithstrachan9399]

I like to sit in the car when it’s cold & sunny.

[@paulwhillas6494]

Our bathroom is small and basic but it does have the 3 switches. Extraction fan removes moist air and reduces mould Used all year round. Heat is an infra red light built into extraction fan. You stand under it, and it keeps you warm and helps you dry your hair etc.Light switch is used when bathroom is dark . In summer I might not use any of the switches. Just have a window open, and shower during daylight hours. In winter I tend to use all 3 as the window is closed, and daylight hours are much shorter.

[@terencemcgeown2358]

I'm in Tassie with the overhanging eeves, double glazed windows, a fire place with venta to each room that can be opened or closed manually, heated floors & bathroom heater. In the summer i open doors & windows as they are all screened. Its an older house with high ceiling to floor lenghth doors that has had a little done to it.

[@joandsarah77]

We do have winter here in Australia Ryan. Our house can be like an ice chest inside while outside in the sunshine is lovely. We have reverse cycle air conditioning, and no I would not survive 42C without it.

[@helendunn9905]

No snow = Not cold. I'm in Sydney and have in snow in UK and USA.

[@kathydurow6814]

As someone who has lived both on Midwest USA (lots of winter snow, central heating inside) and various places in Australia, subjectively my first winter in country Australia (away from the coast) was the coldest. Why? No central heating....our house in the early 70s had the kitchen & lounge heated by wood fires & the bathroom by an electric bar heater on the wall. NO heating elsewhere, and our US winter coats were still on a very slow boat to Australia. Temperatures could be below freezing overnight, so it was uncomfortable. At least in the US everything was toasty warm inside & you bundled up a lot more outside. Now that I live on the coast a bit further north things aren't as bad and I've hardly turned on the heater this year, just lived in the sunniest rooms or added another layer to stay warm.

[@mindi2050]

@@kathydurow6814 You're right. I just don't know why we don't place more importance on making sure homes are properly insulated and heated. We like our homes to look good but we seem to forget about heating. It wasn't until I lived overseas that I realized how cold our homes can be here.

[@FM-qm5xs]

My little fibro shack has no insulation. It might not quite freeze here but waking up in a house that is 3 degrees is bloody cold!

[@gerrymccabe7912]

In Scotland, we also have Tennament buildings that can be 3 or 4 stories high built in the 1800s of sandstone, and are still in use today. the sandstone walls can be 3 feet thick as I often had to drill through them with a large core cutter for fans or gas vents and central heating vents etc.

[@cassieoz1702]

It was minus 6C when i got up this morning and the only heating in my home is a wood fired stove. Not everywhere in Australia is perpetually hot. The bathroom switches are for an overhead light/fan/radiant heater. A 'dooner' is a trade name from the first manufacturer/distributor. US and Australia have more land developed for housing compared to UK, so homes are bigger

[@scottmarshall3963]

@Ryan, to answer your question about the letterbox. That particular style is a hinged/flip-top lid, so the bit you see sticking out is actually some mail that has jammed when the lid was being closed. The hinge is on the mail slot side, so the resident lifts the lid from the opposite side, it hinges forward, and they can the retrieve the mail by "going in from the top". The triangle bit servers two purposes - one, it helps divert rainwater away and reduces the amount of dust that can accumulate on the letterbox. Its second job is to hold home-delivery newspapers. The rolled up newspaper would be stuck into the triangular portion of the letterbox. This is commonly used by delivery "walkers". Most home-delivered newspapers are thrown by the delivery drivers into the customer's driveway or front yard/lawn as the delivery car or van is driving down the street.

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

Yes, that is a very cheap letterbox, so small that most mail doesn’t fit very well. With more people getting packages delivered, the trend is to install a secure parcel and letterbox, with a secure compartment for big packages at the bottom.

[@divahc1]

Our house is 57 years old. It was one of the first built in our street. It was a Govt. built home, built to house immigrants and young families. Basic fibro, front verandah, 4 bedrooms, small diner/kitchen, sitting room, and an outside "dunny". Now, it's an inside toilet. It's now covered in white vinyI cIadding, has an extra room at the back, a covered in back verandah, a large garage, a covered carport and a self-contained living area upstairs. It doesn't look nearly as old as some of the remaining homes. We live on the coast a couple of hours south of Sydney.

[@donnaaussiedch8040]

Let me guess the suburb, unanderra, Berkeley, bellambi, warilla, koonawarra?

[@divahc1]

@donnaaussiedch8040 Close, but not quite 😉

[@evaadams8298]

Omg mine too and I live in Milton on the South coast in a gorgeous “Fibro Majestic”

[@judithstrachan9399]

Ryan! The term “Fibro majestic” is a pun. There’s a hotel in the Blue Mountains, called the Hydro Majestic, that was THE absolute last word in luxury 150+ years ago. Possibly is again but it was quite run down when I lived in Sydney in the 80’s. Fibro was a building material: sheets of asbestos in cement(? My dad called it ‘Fibro cement’) that was popular because it was cheap & fire-resistant. It was also extremely dangerous to the lungs of people who worked with it & is now expensive to remove if you want to do any work on your old house.

[@georgesmith4509]

the fan heat light switch 10.38 is in the bathroom , which is a separate room to the toilet or "Dunee" in Oz. these switches independently operate the exhaust fan, the room heater (in Winter) and of course the light . All three are sometimes combined in single unit mounted on the ceiling, with high wattage light globes providing the heat.

[@bblake5116]

It gets quite cold down in the southern areas of Australia. Easy to get to minus temperatures every winter. Last time I lived in NSW, Armidale, -11 degrees was its coldest day. And it sleeted on Christmas Day there in 2006, December is summer.

[@buchinsku]

I hear (this year excepted) that there is more snow in Australia than Switzerland. Even Sydney gets below freezing some nights in Winter and I agree with the video that houses here are colder than in climates where hoiuse design is for cold weather.

[@eclecticapoetica]

I’ve lived mainly in cold climates - Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Armidale, Canberra, now a cooler part of Melbourne region. We always had open fires.

[@bblake5116]

@@eclecticapoetica I was born in Tenterfield, the schools had radiator heaters. Our homes had fireplaces, which kept you warm if you stood in front of them 😁. I know Armidale doesn’t let new houses have wood burning heating due to smoke pollution in the town, as it sits in a gulley. I live where it is too hot now, near Cairns. Would rather the cold country.

[@bblake5116]

@@buchinsku I live on the Atherton tablelands near cairns, most houses here don’t have aircon or ceiling fans. I have both, I keep my ceiling fans on all year round. Rather cold than the heat and humidity. I miss the snow.

[@claudiag8097]

the bathroom switch with three options - that may be for one of those 3-in-one exhaust fans. Includes a light, a heat lamp and the steam/moisture extractor. They work quite well, and are particularly good for smaller bathrooms where a radiator would take up space, or a good option for people that can't have central heating.

[@JustIn-mu3nl]

"What's that, an iron? I've heard of one" 😄 The triangle bit on the letterbox is for newspapers, junk mail, etc.

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

That’s not an ordinary iron. It’s a steaming iron. The base station has a large water reservoir, and unlike a usual steam iron, the bit you pick up has no water reservoir in it, but a thick cord through which the steam/water travels. Personally, if I want the fabric damp (to make stiff fabrics like linen easier to flatten), I use a spray bottle of water.

[@scottcarr3264]

Ryan, At 11:06 you ask about the Switch in the Bathroom, "Rocker" switches like that are Very common, the 3 different switches are marked "Light" for the Ceiling light, "Heat" for Heat lamps to dry you off when you get out of the shower, (not a lot of homes have it because the lamps are about 300 watts or more) and the "Fan" is for a Ceiling or Wall exhaust fan to get the steam out of the Room.

[@nswinoz3302]

Hey Ryan, having grown up in the UK I understand both electrical systems and home designs as I’ve work for residential builders here in Oz. We tried having no eaves (overhang) in the 90s and they were quickly returned. Pre-80’s home in Sydney have poor insulation as builders didn’t have to do it. Electrical voltage and system are very similar but UK codes are a hangover from pre-RCD (80’s) residual current devices, which I personally physically tested more than once. Switch with the string are British whereas Bathroom in Oz typically have GPO’s (general power outlets) switches are for a combined exhaust fans, light and multiple high intensity radiating lights that warm your body when standing under them. This girl has only resided within 20km of the coast. As older brick homes >1930 in certain part are very similar in build to the UK before we realised what we needed to be changed for our climate which varies greatly in comparison to the UK. .P.S. Manchester term is due the Industrial Revolution period and it stuck. Oz & NZ made and shipped the raw materials to 🇬🇧 they processed it and shipped it back to Australia 🇦🇺 & 🇳🇿 NZ. Its an old term only used by shops. NSW in Oz

[@sandrathompson1277]

In Perth they also have Manchester departments…all bedding…quilts…which were once all made from cotton..I came here from Manchester in England where all the mills were that made the cotton into material..

[@nswinoz3302]

@@sandrathompson1277 So doesn’t it sound weird that someone is selling your home town in a department store? I remember as a child growing up there (UK) that the very best tasting lamb had a circular stamp on it “New Zealand lamb”? Frozen lamb was transported from there since 1886 when commercial refrigerators were Invented through to 1973-74 when the UK joined the Common market (EEC) cutting off supply and devastating that countries economy with its actions! NSW in Oz

[@carmelorourke2051]

The fan in the bathroom is an exhaust fan which sucks the steam up. If the bathroom also has the toilet or loo, the exhaust fan also sucks up any odour and dispels it to the outside. The heated bulb in the bathroom light can be flisket on to warm the person who is wet...used in Winter.

[@56music64]

In Brisbane, I worked with a girl from Canada years ago, she was from the very north and was actually raised in an Eskimo community. She rented a 1930's flat in an old fibro block and she could not get over how cold she felt constantly during winter here. Obviously she was used to central heating. So yes it does get cold even in Brisbane. Also in Queensland, or anywhere north, it is a great idea to have, I believe, is wide eaves and to install full length louvre windows which let in much needed cross breezes.

[@neumanmachine3781]

In 2013 I was living in a rental house in southern Brisbane that was built in the late 1990's and had no insulation to speak of. Brisbane has very low humidity in winter and can get surprisingly cold, and this house had a poor aspect that meant it got very little morning sun in winter. I can remember the mornings were freezing inside and the internal temperature in the living room in the mornings could be as low as 6 degrees Celsius (43 degrees Fahrenheit). Brisbane also has a significant wind chill factor in winter as well so it can feel much colder than the ambient temperature - single digit (Celsius) minimums are not uncommon, which can catch out people who move there from interstate or overseas. My Russian wife was surprised by her first Brisbane winter and how cold the houses were inside. She was living in a Soviet era apartment that had 30cm thick concrete walls and floors, double glazing, central heating and double doors (an outer and inner door) and an airlocked vestibule when entering the apartment from the stairwell landing. They can be very stuffy in summer, but you won't freeze to death when it's -20C outside.

[@Rionnagan]

My grandparents house in Hughenden had full length louvre windows all around the house to catch cross-breezes, and ceiling fans and that was their sole source of temperature control.

[@LoveratLoves]

Yep our Qld house was built in 1950 and all the front "sun rooms" which are basically a walled in porch have louvre windows. They are the best for catching the breeze. Also have the old style Queensland windows which open out. We didn't even have screens for the first year and the flies - omg the flies!

[@56music64]

@@neumanmachine3781 How interesting Neuman, so my tale is confirmed. Let's hope we have helped anyone thinking of moving to Brisbane.

[@56music64]

@@LoveratLoves Hi LoveratLoves, yes my grandparents lived in Coorparoo in Brisbane in a 1930 built timber home, where they had closed off the once open verandah with push out casement windows, on top and fibro on the bottom, when the weather was hot they would sleep with the windows pushed out to the max and the front door left wide open to let the breeze from the north east flow in. Perhaps the norm in the 50's and 60's but I doubt many people in Brisbane would be doing that now.

[@jennytmaher]

I'm about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne and we have hot summers and cold winters. I have vents in the ceilings for my ducted cooling, and vents in the floors for my ducted heating.

[@kaseyneville9894]

Most Australian tend to have an air conditioner. Most of the time, it's also the heater as most of us get reverse cycle. Australia still gets pretty cold during winter. Some areas do get snow, other areas are more tropical. Also there is a larger amount of Sydney suburban houses that do not have pools these day. The heated.light build, just makes the bathroom warm in winter. You and the family should visit Aus, I think you would enjoy it 😊

[@dutchroll]

That 3-way switch for an aussie bathroom is very typical for a combo ceiling unit which contains an exhaust fan ("Fan"), two or four heat lamps ("Heat") and a central light in the middle of it all ("Light"). So you can switch on any or all of these depending on what you're doing. We can have socket outlets in our bathrooms because all sockets in a house must be protected by residual current devices under our wiring code, but there is a certain minimum distance it has to be from open sinks, laundry tubs, etc (ie, anywhere water is likely to splash around).

[@trig1900]

Unlike a lot of the Eastern Coast, Western Australia tends to construct Double brick homes. That is, an inner and outer wall of bricks around the entire circumference of the house. This provides for and 'insulative' wall of air between the outer and inner walls. Again, with the walls being built out to the edge of the eaves these days, once the structure heats up in summer it will take a long time to cool down. Insulation in the roof and air-conditioning is pretty much needed now to compensate. The style of housing in Perth I would think equates, in large part, to the bungalow [single story] type of housing you get in California [climates are very similar]. Two story is becoming more common as, again, property land area gets smaller. When I was a kid the quarter acre block [approx 1000 sq. meters] was the norm. Now, you're lucky if you get 400 sq.m! Hence the need for 2 stories.

[@shaun5552]

Older homes in Adelaide were also commonly built this way. Two brick layers with an air gap between them.

[@Sevicify]

7:24 Yeah it can actually get quite cold over here during winter, especially in the southern states and at higher elevations where some places actually get frost or snow. 11:02 It is common, especially in more modern houses. The light is obviously for the main lighting of the room. The fan is an exhaust fan for ventilation to help prevent mould from moisture build-up from the bath or shower steam, ventilation is required by law and windows aren't always possible or adequate. The heat is generally a secondary light that is specifically designed to radiate a lot of heat since bathrooms can get cold, usually you will have two of these lights connected to a single switch and sometimes will have 2 pairs of them. Typically all three of these will be built into a single down-unit and you will want them marked. The one in my bathroom for example has a central LED for the main light with 4 heat lights surrounding it paired diagonally to two heat switches and has an exhaust fan, so my switch has 4 switches on it which we actually have unmarked since we used a generic switch plate. 13:35 The only time I have ever heard Manchester being used is by stores referring to their goods in general, I have never heard anyone refer to their actual bedding or towels as Manchester. If someone wants to refer to their bedding they just say the specific type of bedding, or covers in general referring to what's on their bed in general.

[@bblake5116]

Our houses in far north qld have to be cyclone rated, but my house is an old timber one on stumps, it was built before cyclone Tracey, so isn’t cyclone rated. But it’s been through quite a few cyclones.

[@aaronleverton4221]

The triangle roof on the mailbox is for your newspaper to be put in if you have it delivered. It won't fit in the letter slot, so the top triangle was created for the rolled-up newspaper to be put in.

[@todjo929]

Built my place 4 years ago. Definitely have central heating and cooling (I live in regional Victoria, and it gets cold). We have double glazed windows too. Our outdoor area is covered (and has fans), and we have a small portico at the front which is big enough for a 2 person table and a couple of chairs. The heated lightbulbs are super high wattage, and when you get out of the shower it's quite warm.

[@FM-qm5xs]

Here are the main common things with Australian homes. 1. Often not very well insulated compared to countries that actually freeze. 2. Mostly have a metal roof except for a few that have tiles. 3. Often designed in a way to merge indoors and outdoors rather than cutting it off. Such as large windows and glass doors that connect indoor living areas directly to outdoor living areas.

[@fionapaterson-wiebe3108]

Ryan, check out the Queenslander style home for a Northern perspective. My family home is over 120 years old. They are raised on posts to allow airflow for cooling. These posts are capped with tin, to prevent termites from accessing the building itself, protecting the structure, and are designed to be individually replaced. I have been through tropical cyclones in my childhood. Being raised on posts, the building moves, rather than being rigid, which also protects the building. Think of a large, old tree, blown down in the storm, whilst the saplings move with the wind and survive. Inside, the ceilings are high, and there are windows above the doors (fanlights), which can be pulled open with a cord. These control airflow, for passive cooling. As for the famous veranda; it wraps around the house, and provides shade in the summer, and a sunny place to warm up in the winter. On the hottest nights, it wasn’t uncommon for people to sleep on the veranda, in the days before electricity provided reliable cooling.

[@sunisbest1234]

I love the old Queenslander homes. So practical for the north. ❤

[@rossawood5075]

The Australian 'Queenslander' house is an iconic design copied and modified from British colonial times in India. Featuring a raised house on high level posts with large covered verandahs on 3 or 4 sides allowing large airflow underneath and shade from our very regular and intense sun, designed for generally warmer northern coastal areas, ie the state of Queensland. Exposed windows often have an ornate shade over them sloping down to prevent sun entry from high overhead levels, also high sloping rooflines and 9 - 12 feet tall stud walls and insect screened entry doors and windows, slatted louvres often on windows. Most Australian more recent houses utilise 2 -3 efficient reverse cycle inverter type airconditioners that in cooler periods will heat also. Sadly excellent designs for Australian conditions are overlooked (ie the wonderful Australian architect Glenn Murcutt and others) with more American and European designs in many newer houses, due to some perverted colonial overhang I suspect, also maybe due to the fact that around 50% of Australia's current population is born overseas and or has a parent born overseas and old habits die hard. My family have 7 generations on this side of the world however are still very aware of our Scottish, Irish and British origins however embrace local adoptions and generally more laid back culture to our mostly originally British origins. Heat lamps in bathrooms are for warming the room after a shower in cool periods and fans to draw off condensation from hot showers/baths. Manchester is a very common term in many ex British colony's to describe linen beware and towelling, not uncommon in the United Kingdom either, maybe an older term this young lady has missed. Due to the great cotton/linen mills of the industrial revolution of which centered around the English city of Manchester. Power outlet styles and pin configurations vary greatly from country to country and Australia and New Zealand use an ANZ design standard for electrical wiring and appliances with mandatory 3rd earth pin unlike many early USA 2 pin non earthed outlets. British or UK plugs feature a different size earth pin and are often internally fused where in A/NZ fusing is done at the main power box. A/NZ uses a 230 volt AC standard, previously 240 vac similar to the UK whereas except for larger amperage fixed appliances, (ie central heating, airconditioning) the USA uses 120 volt power outlets for smaller appliances and lighting. The complaint about cold houses in winter is interesting, I found European and American houses overheated by comparison to here however we don't generally utilise dual or triple glazing for Wwindows due to generally milder winters in coastal regions although in more central and inland areas winter temps can be a lot colder at night, some areas will have almost a 25 degree Celsius variation between day and night time temps. Far western NSW in mid winter for example may reach 20 degrees Celcuius in daytime but 4 - 5 degrees sometimes down to minus 5 with wind chill factor. Once when travelling in the Simpson Desert I experienced a 27 degree noon with an early morning minus 6 Celsius a 33 degree variation. Australia is the largest island continent on the planet and the equivalent landmass to the continental USA therefore has a very wide range of climactic variables, ie Wisconsin to Texas/Louisiana to New Mexico/Arizona variations, therefore this blog only really takes in one aspect of the city of Sydney NSW (population around 6 million) and geographic variations are manifold. To generalise here is somewhat wayward. Jus sayin'

[@rossawood5075]

Quite unusual for most housing in Sydney not to have air conditioning in my experience! Heat lamps are very common and located in a cluster of lights and fans in the bathroom ceiling, designed to keep one warm during winter when showering or bathing as most bathrooms are not air conditioned.🎉 Lounge for "lounging" not fancy, Cotton mills did exist in Australia from about the 1920,s therefore prior and later much of our sheets , linen, curtain and dress materials were imported from Britain. Australia was first settled by Europeans in 1788, not to be confused with original first nations inhabitants who have existed here continuously for 65 - 70,000 years the oldest contining culture on the planet. Cotton is grown in Australia in large scale highly mechanised laser levelled irrigated western NSW and Queensland farms, (controversially due to the mass extraction of water from local rivers causing environmental problems) since the 1960's, and now more recently in the Ord River area of the Kimberly region of Western Australia utilising tropicalized Brazillian cotton. Australia produces 1.2 million tons of high grade cotton with 62% exported to China with an export value of around $3 billion dollars. We still import most of our 'Manchester' cotton goods from China now however Hemp is also a developing industry here.

[@deannatroy8113]

The letter box can sometimes have two places for mail. The smaller slot is for letters and the top triangle is for bigger rolled up junk mail which doesn't matter so much if it is rained on. A fun video would be looking at all the different mail boxes maybe? There are some really interesting/creative ones, especially in rural areas.

[@westaussie965]

the only thing I miss about Oz, are the houses. We live in a semi in England, and we are having to get soundproofing as we can hear our neighbours

[@pippasmith4813]

How do you survive in Australia without air-con? Firstly, build a north-facing house, sarking and roof insulation, wide eaves, whirlybirds on roof, solar roof panels (will take the brunt of the sun's heat), light roof tiles for refraction, high ceilings, garden with mature trees for shade - did not use air-con for 40 years in Sydney. In the far north, the Queenslander style, is an elevated build allowing for air flow

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

I don’t have air conditioning in Sydney. But then I live near the water and get sea breezes. I’ve retrofitted some insulation (what I can) and better window glazing, plus a shade sail outside to the north, but it can still get quite hot on some days. I use fans a lot.

[@paulwhillas6494]

Bedding is usually just sheet, pillowcase, blanket quilt/ doona. Sheets/ pillowcases often called linen and kept in the linen cupboard.

[@helendunn9905]

No one calls it "manchester" wtf!

[@carokat1111]

I do!

[@mamajojo70]

The only time I’ve seen / heard it called Manchester is in a catalogue or department store like Myers. It’s called Bedding everywhere else

[@vtbn53]

@@helendunn9905 Yes we do, when it's in the shop (a Manchester shop normally) it's called Manchester, when you get it home and unpack it etc, and put it in the linen closet, it magically becomes linen. That's ok.

[@Pucknuckle]

I've always seen it as Manchester being a catch-all term for sheets, pillowcases, blankets, doonas, towels, teatowels, bathrobes, tablecloths, floormats etc. It's a term that isn't really used in conversation because you'll usually only be discussing certain items within that overall group. Same with linen, which to me means just sheets pillowcases and tablecloths. Basically, the things made out of thin flat cloth. And bedding means sheets, pillowcases, blankets and doonas. Obviously, the stuff that actually goes on the bed.

[@podlettte]

The light switch with light heat fan is for a bathroom, we have a brand of heat lamp with a light and fan (exhaust fan so sucks the humid air out) in them called IXLtastic. Yes, it's a heated lamp bulb, usually 2 for an unsuited and 4 for a main bathroom. The exhaust fan helps with condensation from hot water of the shower.

[@margm4]

I’ve lived in Australia all my life and never use the term Manchester. It’s sheets, or pillow cases, towels, etc….whatever it’s used for. Also, it gets very cold in my house, in winter. Timber floors, timber walls, etc…that’s in Queensland. But further north in the tropics, it’s mainly ceramic tiling on floors and sometimes on walls. We have reverse cycle aircon, and a gas heater in the colder months. All the rooms will have a ceiling fan nowadays. 🇦🇺

[@noonan3280]

No I call Manchester -sheets, the area in the shop that sells them is called the Manchester department, but I buy sheets and doona covers from the Manchester or bedding shop. Most of us have some sort of air conditioning, and they are usually dual purpose reverse cycle heating and cooling. I also have wood fire place in the lounge room

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Happy Arvo Ryan! 😁 Architecture, which city? Convict built/Victorian or European migration, Australian Federation or Modern? You can do some housesitting here, or house swap, with character references! 😀 Front verandahs are normal, sloped roofs, and overhanging eaves! We increasingly have double glazing, as more people live in constricted City units, provides more privacy and peace! Separate laundries, yes! Newspapers go in the Post Box triangle! We mostly use standing fans and mobile heaters, fireplaces are more homey! Private or public swimming pools are common in most suburbs! We have underfloor and overhead heating, and fans, in bathrooms! "Sofie"! 😂 British housing? 🤔

[@veeng4228]

The bathroom switches operate three functions in your bathroom. Light is just for standard lighting, this is used all year round of course. Heat is for Heated lights and are for winter, when your bathroom in the mornings getting ready for school or work is basically like a walk in freezer (sydney homes are generally very cold inside in winter). They provide a radiant type warmth when you stand under them, kinda like standing in the sun, and is usually positioned where you would stand at the sink. The fan is there typically to slow/prevent mold, and suck up steam as you'll generally be generating a lot of it in winter specially after a shower. This is typically for a bathroom that gets little to no sunlight and will also prevent/slow fogged up mirrors. It's also there to suck up the odour of a poop should your toilet be the same room as your bathroom, in all cases this is practical to allow anyone else living with you to use the bathroom comfortably after. Newer units/flats don't have this as a separate switch and automatically turn on/off with the lights. This is for Sydney weather, so I don't know if the other places have similar things.

[@kitgoodyear9270]

I'm from Melbourne. We call Units flats and apartments here as well. The heat switch you were puzzled by is a heat lamp that is a multi light bulb unit in the bathroom cealing consisting of your normal lighting and the heat bulbs. Sometimes the fan can be part of the unit as well or seperate. Generally (Melbourne) our houses and apartments are larger than UK and we have bigger front and back yards in our outer suburbs as well. That is beginning to diminish now however, with population growth and property owners pulling down the old house and replacing it with two Townhouse style 2 story homes or ground floor unit style because our lot sizes are spacious enough. This is called Dual Occupancy where the two house addresses share the same street number, one house will have an "A" attached to it .. ie 1 and 1a or 23 and 23a, etc

[@DpMario11]

Unit, flat and apartment are all different. Flats have multiple dwellings on a single title. Units and apartments are their own individual dwellings part of a strata, but if their is communal entrance into a multi story block that's an apartment. Unit is a standalone thing without shared entry

[@dosdan]

Legally, a bkock of say 3 flats is different from a block of 3 units. The flats (aka "Multi-Unit Dwelling") are all under 1 title (they can't be sold separately) and are all owned by the same person who then rents them out, whereas the units (aka "Single-Unit Dwelling") are on separate titles and can have different owners.

[@renatewest6366]

Also in Victoria a unit is a small house on a small block and often have several on one block of land.Flats.amd apartments are an interchangeable word.Also we don't use term bungalow for.stand.alone single story.A bungalow on Australia is a Granny Flat, In law suite or an Annex as they say in UK.

[@judithstrachan9399]

Thanks, everyone. I always thought the only difference was: Flat - old-fashioned term Unit - more modern term. Apartment - seen too many US movies.

[@sharonthompson6293]

We do have central heating in southern states of Australia . not needed in the north where its warmer. The fan light heat outlets are for lights that have a heat light and fan built in . helps with humidity / mold control . We call a sofa a lounge SUIT

[@Mrs_Hartz]

Our house in Melbourne has fully ducted reverse cycle air conditioning, a combustion wood fire heater and a open fire place (which we are too scared to use) and a pool for summer. Lots of different heating and cooling options depending on where you live in aus. Never had a fireplace in sydney,where i grew up. Heated lightbulbs in the bathrooms are common here

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

The light bulbs heat the room, via infra red. This means they heat surfaces directly, not the air.

[@heyitsevie]

Born and raised in Australia, can say I've never heard it be called manchester before normally just "sheets", or other individual items. a "bed set" is also another name lounge room seems right, lounge/couch is interchangable also, a common misconception: it DOES get cold here. don't forget we get those antartic winds, its not all heat and desert :V

[@overworlder]

It depends where you are. It gets cold in southern Australia and at higher elevations. Sydney’s by the sea and has mild winters compared to further south or inland. I agree with the poms that Australian houses are often built too lightly to easily heat and many people seem to tolerate cold homes which is bizarre to me. My place is at 500m (1640f), there’s subzero mornings in winter so my place is well insulted, sealed and heated and I use the heating in winter.

[@jpbaley2016]

I grew up in a house built in 1920 in New Jersey. It was built for upper middle class and actually had a servant’s bedroom and bath on the 3rd floor. The full baths on the 2nd floor (3 bedrooms and a master bedroom with ensuite) had inserts in the wall covered with a ceramic grating. Inside of which were 2 incandescent bulbs approx. 18-in tall, when turned on produced a lot of infrared heat. My parents kept the thermostat at 62 deg during the winter and these heat lamps warmed the bathroom up pretty quickly. We didn’t use them often so I’m not sure if they still worked when my parents sold the house 27 yrs later. I don’t know if the bulbs could have been replaced if they had burned out.

[@lesmor2969]

Our Aussie houses are very similar to your American houses Except we very rarely have a basement.

[@kathydurow6814]

My guess is the difference has to do with space availability. UK is more densely populated; US & Australia settled over a shorter period. US cities are also designed for cars (in the suburbs) and large flat parking lots are still an efficient use of space compared to Australia where most large shopping centres stack the parking on multiple levels.

[@sallyariad4623]

Or an Attic.

[@Austtube]

In Eastern Suburbs Sydney, we usually have some kind of breeze off the harbour, ocean or Botany Bay. And if the streets have leafy trees, the temp of the whole area is cooler in general, the leafy areas are like natural coolers for summer. The terrace houses can open up, the veranda doors can open up. We generally use fans before we'd consider Air Con. And our power bills are not funny.

[@CQuinnLady]

A federation house, i think named because it was built in the time of australian federation, early 1900s. These homes were double brick, they have fireplaces and mantels. These homes are very secure and warm as well as cool in summer. When affordable housing hit the market they were made of fibro and had no insulation. I grew up in a house like this, we called them paper houses because thats pretty much what they were. Stinking hot n freezing cold. Most often in winter it was warmer outside than in the house.

[@FM-qm5xs]

I've spent most of my adult life in a fibro shacks with no insulation. I open all the windows and doors from 11am in winter because it is warmer outside by then.

[@gilbertbloomer586]

In Tasmania most homes have fireplaces- we have both a wood stove in the kitchen as well as an electric oven and a gas stove top. In our second lounge room we have a wood fire and we also have heat pumps in some rooms. However we don't have air conditioning just some small fans for the summer.

[@andrewhall9175]

One thing she missed is that in Australia (and USA) houses are built to last about 20 minutes and in UK they’re built to last about 30000 years

[@cbjones2212]

😅

[@7GodIsLoveAndTruth7]

Excellent comment - and true!!!

[@overworlder]

Pre-WW2 houses were built solidly and pretty much identical to UK houses. But after WW2 houses were thrown up as cheaply as possible to house the ongoing waves of migrants.

[@mindi2050]

Pre-WW2 homes were definitely built more solidly in Australia with double brick etc. Although they weren't identical to UK homes. Britain had a lot of two story semi-dethatched (duplex) homes. I don't know what it's like now though in the UK. Things change.

[@dickiesdocos]

People living in Grenfell Tower might argue that.

[@TheElvander]

What the? This woman clearly hasn't seen many Aussie homes. Central heating is very common in Australia...certainly where I am from in Victoria. I've also lived in houses with fireplaces. Most of us DO have air conditioning. Our bathrooms often have a light that has a built-in heat lamp that you can choose to have on or off. The fan is an extraction fan to clear steam out. We call a sofa a couch, and the lounge is an actual room. No, we use terms bedding and linen as well - I've never heard anyone use the term manchester - except maybe signs in stores that sell bedding. she was right about having a separate laundry. We also tend to have separate toilets, rather than having the loo in the bathroom.