🇬🇧BRIT Reacts To ARE UK AND USA HOUSES DIFFERENT? *why so much wood???

[@wendysparkman1580]

One important factor in many parts of the US regarding wood vs. brick is if the area earthquake prone, as wood is better because it is less rigid.

[@kabirconsiders]

Yeah I guess that makes sense. But how often to earthquakes happen even in the most prone states?

[@ESUSAMEX]

@@kabirconsiders There are small earthquakes everyday in Alaska. Most people cannot feel them but there is activity. In places where earthquakes are common, like California, brick homes are illegal. This is because brick homes cannot move and sway with the earthquake. A home or building that doesn't move/sway in an earthquake is a deathtrap. Do you want to live in deathtrap?

[@jcarlovitch]

@@kabirconsiders Brick and mortar are so vulnerable to earthquakes that it is not even a legal material to use in western states.

[@wendysparkman1580]

@@kabirconsiders I’m in Alaska, so this is very important here as we are on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a major area of seismic activity. Even if major earthquakes don’t occur that often, it’s prudent to build for it as the death & destruction if you don’t is orders of magnitude greater. Think about the reports generated from earthquakes in places like Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico City, etc.

[@dr_waffle_house]

@@kabirconsiders Each year, California generally gets two or three earthquakes large enough to cause moderate damage to structures (magnitude 5.5 and higher).

[@wendysparkman1580]

American homes generally have entry ways for coats, shoes, etc. Here in Alaska, we have “Arctic Entries” - a double entry system (usually like a small room for winter gear, etc.) with both outside & inside doors to help keep the cold out.

[@SherriLyle80s]

That's cool. We just call them mud rooms down south.

[@tymiller176]

Yeah, it's called mud rooms in most places.

[@Timmycoo]

Yeah I was used to that in Australia but in California I never saw it. See it a little more often here in Oregon

[@tymiller176]

@@Timmycoo that's because it's used in places that get a lot of snow or rain, usually

[@LancerX916]

@@Timmycoo Yeah we don't have those little rooms here in California. We don't get snow or mud.

[@ronhansen9408]

At my house, we hang out on the front porch as do my neighbors. It's good for the neighborhood and keeps us connected. We watch out for each other. Granted, the front porch promotes neighborhood gossip, but then the talk will happen regardless of where you spend your time outside your home. I enjoy sitting on the porch and not knowing who will pass by and then when someone does walk by, you almost always interact with each other.

[@williamlucas4656]

Hanging out on the porch is an old habit in America before air conditioning it was an extra room usually with a swing and a rocker or two. After the dishes got washed and dried, people would hang out on the front porch and listen to the crickets and watch the fireflies or just sit and listen to the rain. Many houses before the 1950s front porches for watching the traffic and visiting with the neighbors and back porches which were screened in to keep the bugs out. In the cold north many of the front porches became enclosed extra space.

[@psychobetha]

i live in a 200 year-old wooden farmhouse between buffalo and rochester, ny. we regularly see 80+ inches of snow per year, plus rains and such. the number of repairs/replacements needed (and the costs) over the years have been nowhere near what a neighbor’s brick house has needed. about 5 years ago we had the house inspected for insurance and 200 years later, it is still 90% original. brick dude 4 houses down has had to replace entire walls because of things like the weight of the brick and the foundation sinking into the ground after a particularly nasty winter. all it takes is a small section of brick being damaged… if you don’t spot it in time, the ripple effect up and out can cost you easily tens of thousands of dollars. edited to add: i have lived in brick houses before, and would never choose to again. also, adobe houses in the southwest are amazing and i miss them sometimes. but i don’t miss 115 degree summers.

[@wiccanlez]

The house I grew up was built of redwood. It doesn't burn and it doesn't get termites. We loved it. It's very sturdy and had survived multiple earthquakes unlike brick houses. They fall down.

[@williamlucas4656]

Don’t tell everyone! There’s not enough to go around as it is.

[@Blue_Star_Child]

Oh yeah, my parents house is sided in redwood, won't hold paint but it lasts!

[@Boodieman72]

The reason you can't remove the walls going into the living room is probably because those walls are structural. If you took those walls down your house would cave in.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

Possible.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

@@mcm0324 While all walls are structural not all walls are structurally integral load bearing. MCM, come on you know this.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

@@mcm0324 As an architect you look at the skeletons of buildings. Not all walls are load bearing or else you could not be an architect. Walls in and of themselves aren't even loading bearing. Walls are how we dress up the not so aesthetic structures that are integral load bearing. As an architect you have a mind that is closed shut without even seeing the plans of the house. I wrote possible as just a man who has built some structures in my life. I never wrote that the walls weren't load bearing. You know that that wall is load bearing?

[@pjschmid2251]

Although possible it’s unlikely that a wall separating hallway from the living room is a structural wall. It’s really down to building styles. If you look at US houses built prior to the 1950s they all had hallways at the main entrance as well; that’s a building style that goes back at least a couple centuries to have hallways with parlors and such built off of those hallways. It has to do with the way people lived having servants, more formal ways of introducing guests to the home as well as preserving heated spaces from the outdoors. Come around to the 1950s and The building boom that came after the war, maximizing living space for given square footage as well as a growing popularity for open floorplans led to the elimination of those hallways they seemed closed in and undesirable. The purpose that they served really was no longer a factor people introduced guests to their own house they weren’t formally announced so having an entryway separate from the living quarters was not a requirement. It’s a simple matter to have a bench and a place to store boots by the front door in the living room of the home. I think that these buildings styles held on in the UK just because they were traditional.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

@@pjschmid2251 I commented on this and wrote possible and was rebutted by an architect. Load bearing is a better way to phrase this discussion. Everything that is built is part of structure. Load bearing is the key. Maybe even loading bearing structural wall. In any event, you can't really know these things if you haven't been inside the house and done some poking around.

[@johnbernstein7887]

Brick houses won't work in Earthquake Country where I live. Won't meet code. Rebar and wood are used here.

[@kabirconsiders]

Interesting, is that because they have no flex to them?

[@johnbernstein7887]

@@kabirconsiders Wood and Rebar bend, but don't break. Built on a concrete slab rebar is used to 'connect' the wood to steel.The homes are then put up with wood and rebar 'connectors' between floors for security in case of a 'Shake". Been through a few in my life including Loma Prieta in '89. Haven't had an issue with my home which I've owned since 1987.

[@thatoneguy1978]

America homes are not 100% wood. Usually only the framing and walls are wood. There’s a combo of steel and brick as well with the wood. Also wood homes are more easy to renovate if you want to add another room or expand a room. You couldn’t do that with fully brick homes easily.

[@TruthHurts2u]

They usually only use steel on long spans where wood would be impractical. Brick is mostly just a decorative element which is hardly ever used structurally, especially in modern homes. Most structural masonry is either block or concrete.

[@kellymoses8566]

@@TruthHurts2u Steel I-beams are pretty common to make floors stiffer

[@TruthHurts2u]

@@kellymoses8566 Typically only on long spans over 18'+ when they don't want a supporting column in the middle or there will be a heavy load on the floor above. The floor and all the joists are still made of wood. In fact, most modern construction will opt for wood laminate beams in places where steel beams would have been used traditionally.

[@elkins4406]

Oh, and on the topic of house construction material: I live on the west coast, so I don't know if brick or stone construction are even up to code here. Certainly it's not in California. You don't see many brick or stone houses in California, not only because it's no longer legal to build them there, but also because the houses that were built that way before such laws were enacted have all collapsed in one earthquake or another. Back where I used to live, in the northeast, I also would have preferred a wooden home because they're better insulated against extreme temperatures. My grandparents bought a stone house in their later years, and then complained endlessly about how drafty it was in the winter and how miserably hot in the summer. Wooden houses are basically just big inssulation bags -- in some ways, it makes as much sense to define them as 'built of insulation and steel' as it does to describe them as made of wood. They're therefore very well-designed for places that get extreme temperatures (which is, I assume, why you also see them favored in places like Scandinavia and Siberia). Building materials are highly regional. You want to use wood anywhere that gets earthquakes. Where it gets very cold and very hot, you want either wood or the more contemporary type of brick construction (which compensates for brick's relative lack of insulation). In the desert southwest, adobe is a great material for keeping a house's residents cool and moist. In Florida, on the other hand, where they have to worry about hurricanes and incredibly high humidity, people who can afford it build their houses out of concrete.

[@kevinduveneck1504]

I would pick wood frame home because in part in winter when it's very cold a wood frame construction can be much more insulated than a concrete block or brick home. Even better I would like a log home or timber frame because of the way they look inside and out.

[@lone6718]

A lot of the appliances Brits and Europeans assume all American homes have built in are only done so in current homes. So, anything built 2000 forward. Most homes in the US weren’t like that prior. Especially if you live in a historic area of any city. The homes are not open plan, their are hallways, it’s smaller with the larger yards. Edit: small spaces are cheaper to heat and cool.

[@NaS94612]

Oh I wish I could share pictures but my husband and I bought a 1960s time capsule home basically and we gutted the kitchen 😅 it had a tiny original oven on the wall and then the stove top next to it, no dishwasher, tiny cabinets, an old microwave on the counter and the fridge was one of those small white ones with the freezer on the top and the door for the fridge on the bottom and the fridge was just sitting in the corner. We ended up putting in a microwave above new oven, adding a dishwasher and building a cabinet around the refrigerator so it looks built in if that makes sense. We did remove a breakfast bar to make room for the dishwasher so we lost some counter space

[@williamlucas4656]

In reference to real estate listings in the United States the norm is to list the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and the square footage of each combined with a total square footage of the home. This makes it easy to calculate the cost per square foot of a given house which is used to compare throughout neighborhoods to see where the most expensive homes are per square foot. I am sure the same is probably true in the UK that everybody wants to know where the best and most expensive neighborhoods are in order to be able to move either as close to or as far away as possible. Most homes built after the 1960s had washers and dryer’s in the garage or in the basement depending upon the geographical location. Speaking of dryers when I was a kid there was nothing like getting a clean pair of toasty jeans fresh out of the dryer to wear on a cold winter morning.

[@ranger-1214]

Granite countertops are like about anything else - it depends on the stone. Some are very "busy" while others are warm and add to the space. Instead of granite, which needs some maintenance, we used quartz which is impermeable and also harder than granite so more durable. And as far as that hallway and knocking out those walls - this obviously was a two-story home he drew so without those walls you'd need huge, long carry beams to take the load of the rooms above. That's why architects have degrees!

[@lilliputlittle]

Quartz has a lot more colors/patterns available since it is an engineered product. All the design options and the price make it a good choice as a premium countertop. But care must be taken with hot items placed on it. A lot of resin is used in the manufacturing of it and the resins can be prone to scorching if exposed to even moderate heat.

[@natashadavis2959]

Love quartz counters

[@radbunnie2297]

Facts 🤔 no paper.

[@twenty1thirteen]

Kabir, I live in tornado ally in the Midwest, and if one of those would happen to hit a stone house, you would certainly be crushed. That’s one reason why pretty much all of the houses here are constructed of wood.

[@theblackbear211]

People often forget that many home features once had an important function that has been forgotten in modern times. In hot, sunny climates, a porch, especially a "Wrap around" porch extends the eves away from the exterior walls, thus reducing the heating effects of direct sunlight striking the walls and streaming into the windows. Properly designed - the length of the eve will be matched to the latitude of the house, so that sunlight enters the windows during the colder / darker months of the year.

[@lizetteolsen3218]

In some older homes, there is an entry vestibule. There is a closet for outerwwear and a rug to drop your shoes. The larger microwaves also vent for the stove and provide some lighting. I think the couple were going off on the aesthetic of granite countertops. It is very expensive and does take maintenance---one of the reasons I passed. Closests are always the thing my mom would specifically measure and were deal breakers when we would look for a home. LOL. Front porches are designed to be neighbor friendly. I have a front porch/courtyard as well as a back patio. We also have legal setbacks from the road for most houses--unlike what you were describing. In terms of what kind of house I would prefer, I am a traditionalist. I have a 2 story Cape Cod--those can be made in brick, stone or wood. My basement is cinder and concrete, with steel and wood. Plus, I have a wood fireplace. Lucky, this time of year.

[@beesnort3163]

Sold my 2400 sq ft wood home and moved into a tiny 1200sq foot brick home. Brick home all day long!!! Our heating bill is half, our sound from outside is less. But I would give 1000sq ft up to live in gorgeous England! It looks so beautiful and historic! ❤️ one day I hope I can see your beautiful land! But I did have a sunroom, family room, living room, laundry room, basement and big walk in closet in the first home. Now, laundry room in the basement, no sunroom, family room Downstairs, small living room, and I still love it much more! Big isn’t always better!

[@2HennaHands]

I enjoy your videos so much, Kabir! I usually gravitate towards your reaction videos about tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, as well as the differences between the USA and the UK. After seeing so many of them, I’ve noticed that you often bring up brick houses versus wood. I smile now whenever you do, because I view it as a “Kabir-ism”. 😊 Anyway, as to durability in a strong hurricane or tornado, it’s really not going to matter what your house is made of - a direct hit is going to turn it into a pile of rubble. You might see some brick walls standing after a disaster, but the structure is so badly damaged, it would need to be demolished anyway. As to your question about rot in wood homes, it’s only an issue if it’s constantly exposed to water or wet earth. Newer construction uses specially treated wood that does not rot. My house is a 95 year old wood structure in very good condition. Generally, wood homes are build on a brick or cinder block foundation so the wood does not come into direct contact with the ground. Paint provides further protection against the elements. Some homes are sided with cedar, which doesn’t require paint. Also, a properly insulated wood home is very cozy. I live in Northeast Ohio, so it frequently drops below zero degrees Fahrenheit or -17 degrees Celsius in the winter. Summers range from 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit or 21-32 degrees Celsius with ridiculous humidity. The insulation keeps it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Anyway, keep up the wonderful content and keep those Kabir-isms coming!

[@elkins4406]

It cracks me up because it's the opposite of my grandparents, who bought a stone house and then carped endlessly, right up to the very end of their lives, about how miserable it was to live in, how cold and drafty in the winter and how hot in the summer, and how they should have known it would be awful because the brick house they grew up in was just the same, but they thought that proper natural stone would be better than mad-made bricks, and never again would they buy *anything* but a nice tight wooden home, and on and on and *on*. So naturally, every time I hear Kabir bring up the housing material thing I flash back to my grandparents complaining about brick and stone houses, and it makes me smile.

[@jamesigorreilly979]

Hanky panky depends on if your house is insulated properly… it’s up to the homeowner to insulate interior walls… there’s spray foam insulation, cork , cork for noise reduction especially in homes with intercom speakers or stereo systems built in the walls … speakers in every room used to be a real thing for party type entertainment , other insulation is fiberglass

[@kabirconsiders]

Unfortunately a lot of developers are cutting costs to boost profit margins. I lived in a brand new apartment in Birmingham for a few months earlier this year, aesthetically it looked great but the walls were thin, they spread the paint really thin, build quality on the stickers was poor..

[@spaceshiplewis]

@@kabirconsiders Americans do not tolerate hearing their neighbors, it WILL become an issue, even in the city. We don't just politely ignore the banging as a Brit would do. We will become Bully McGuire and yell about the damn door. We are a people used to detached houses and an expanded personal bubble, hence the boasting of square footage.

[@johnpearson5616]

In America most homes are framed depending on the width of the wood with 24 or 16 in between wood studs. Then that area is filled with insulation which makes them Tighter and warmer than your homes in Britain. Also as a some made understand with the nature of earthquakes in this area in this country wood framed homes that have a good foundation and footings hold up better in earthquakes than do stone or brick. If you look at the homes built in the Middle East out of brick or stone they fall apart very easily and kill people because of it.

[@williamlucas4656]

I think the BRITs discovered insulation a few months ago. Goes very well with heat pumps.

[@Raver_S_Thompson]

wait is it bad to reuse a tea bag for a second brew? I guess I didn't know as Japanese loose leaf green tea can be brewed up to three times and change profiles at least twice. Square Meter is hard to find in japan sometimes as well. they go by often tatami mats. the average for the country is 13.5 tatami mats or about 22.3 sq meters. they also lable the room count by 1k (1 room with kitchen) 1DK (1 room dining and kitchen) 1LDK (1 room, dining, living, and kitchen) edit 2: I also want to point out that the microwave doesn't actually heat a mug. Microwaves work by vibrating moisture. It is the contents, and the steam it gives off, that make the mug hot.

[@kabirconsiders]

You can absolutely re-use a tea bag. I do it all the time

[@LexyThomas134]

Tell you right now, our bedroom in the US is about the size of our whole house back in the UK lol

[@kabirconsiders]

The size difference is staggering, especially when you compare what you can get in london to Texas, Florida etc

[@jwb52z9]

@@kabirconsiders Cities are always more expensive, unfortunately, even in Texas and Florida.

[@shelaughs185]

@@kabirconsiders look at Miami vs London or Washington DC vs London. My daughter's apartment just outside of DC in Arlington, VA is just over $2,400/month for a 2 bedroom. Thank goodness for roommates!

[@stevenj2380]

Your bathroom is probably almost the size of my NY (old and built to be of a size , and regulated) apartment. NYC is a case of have and have not in space of living quarters.

[@Danny_Mac_Author]

Many cities both small and large have laws making stone buildings mandatory in the crowded downtown area. The law usually followed a fire wiping out a good portion of the city. As America grew, we built our houses with some space between each house where most pictures of England I see rows and rows of houses touching each other. In America there is a small chance of a fire spreading from house to house. In row houses, it is most certain to take out a whole block if they were wood. I offer this not to discount the video but to add to it.

[@carolinagallegos3926]

When I was a little girl I remember seeing from our kitchen window a full street of rowhomes catching fire one right after another, we lived probably 5 miles from the area..my dad was a volunteer firefighter and we didn't see him until the next night!!

[@Danny_Mac_Author]

@@carolinagallegos3926 Was that the one in Philidelphia?

[@carolinagallegos3926]

@@Danny_Mac_Author yes it was!!

[@lewisgrace7777]

One of the amazing things about brick homes in the US is that the brick is simply the outer facade of a wood built house. We had one like that in Tennessee. The brick is actual full size brick, but it is laid on the outer walls of a house instead of wood or other type of siding. In every other way it's the same as a wood house. Of course you won't have to paint it, so that helps.

[@catgirl6803]

I live in a 100 year old 1300 sqft rowhouse and they're designed like terrace homes. They used to have the hallway with the stairs at the end, some of the larger historic ones still have them. But over time the hallway was knocked down for more space. But mine has a little 9sqft vestibule area coming into the front door with another 2nd door. So I have hooks for my coat, my welcome mat to wipe my feet, and I have a mail slot in the door. I love the two door entry because it keeps my cats from getting out. Suburban larger homes, most people don't use their front door. There will be a side door that enters into a utility area and some people have what's called a Mudroom to place their coats and shoes. And other people park in their garage and enter in from there. When I lived in Cleveland and my family in Syracuse, nobody uses their front door.

[@elkins4406]

We use our side kitchen door as the main entry, largely because it has a tiny little enclosed porch that can act as a foyer. We call it "the airlock," because we have cats too. :)

[@ESUSAMEX]

Knocking down the walls does give more room, but you do not need to walk directly into the living room. My home as a kid had the front door next to the living room, but you were not stepping on the carpet. You were standing on hard- carpetless floors so that you could take off your wet/snowy shoes. After removing your shoes and jacket, you took one step to the carpet area.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

I imagine the hallways are there because they didn’t want to have to heat it. They closed off the rooms with a fireplace to be warmer. It would make sense to take out the halls now and maybe have a foyer, then add the rest to the living room.🐝🤗❤️

[@williamlucas4656]

That type of construction existed before American homes typically had central heating. To allow for airflow in the typical home or apartment there were windows above the doorways into the individual rooms that could be opened or closed to allow for air circulation.

[@Ozzy_2014]

@@williamlucas4656 yes, they are called transoms.

[@bethbennett-blesi6908]

Regarding the granite countertops, the shiny glitter type sheen is the quartz in the granite, not anything the manufacturer adds to the surface. In my childhood home built in the late 60s, we had a front entrance that had a closet next to the door. It was made out of stone on the floor for those inclement weather days.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

6:26 My house is 900 sq feet. It's tiny and drab, but it's situated on two regular platted lots in a 2nd ring suburb of a metro. I fenced my entire property a few years ago so it is a doggie paradise. Yeah, my dogs are and were spoiled.

[@protonneutron9046]

nice set up!

[@pamelabranson2265]

Microwave safe mugs usually do not have hot handles.

[@jeanninerash5701]

I was thinking that too. I rarely drink anything hot, but when I do I heat the water in the cup in the microwave.

[@RogCBrand]

Exactly! I think it's the earthenware type of mugs that will heat all the way through the handle. My glass mug's handle NEVER gets hot. I have an electric kettle to make my tea, but I've used a microwave at times, especially at work, and it brings water to a boil, then you put your tea in... I really don't get the "horror" of these people about boiling your water in a microwave, as if it makes inferior water???

[@judyhuurman1237]

You'll find a lot of brick home on the east coast of the US. Not so much on the west coast. Brick homes are not conducive to earthquakes.

[@Aj66602]

The 2 main reasons for wood construction are cost and speed. Suburbs mostly often consist of only 3-4 different house types for the entire neighborhood, so a buyer chooses which floor plan they prefer and the builder will order a ‘kit’ basically of the lumber that already includes pre-assembled trusses to make the construction quick. Masonry is more labor intensive than carpentry. Also, wood is a very consistent material. From an engineering standpoint it is easier to design with wood, it might not be intuitive but wood is ‘tough’. Brick is similar to concrete in that it is very strong in compression but otherwise requires expensive reinforcement or post-tensioning if used where it will experience flexure or tension.

[@TracySmith-xy9tq]

I live in a brick home, built in 1968, in South Carolina. Brick homes are common in the South. It is 925 square feet, which is considered a small home here. My home would be also considered to be a starter home - for a newlywed couple without children or one child. It is considered a typical home for a single person.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

14:59 Yeah. When I was being an individual in my tiny crappy house remodeling with a sabre saw I remembered the codes of bedrooms and closets.

[@georgedykes5533]

I am surprised that garbage disposals were not mentioned.

[@lewisgrace7777]

I liked your explanation of the reason for the hallway. That makes sense. Many American houses have a covered area outside the door or people enter through the garage and are not exposed to the elements.

[@joseph1150]

Hallways make sense when you want to keep areas that would be exposed to weather separate from the other rooms. Additionally American homes with detached garages are the normal entry for the residents. So there is already separation. I spent like 2 years never opening my front door except for guests.

[@ltkell2028]

Here in the States we have rooms called "mud rooms". These are off the garage, side door or a back entry of the house. In this area to one side is a small bathroom with a sink, toilet & sometimes with a stand up shower & to the other side is the laundry room with the area for coats etc. Either in the winter or summer they're great especially after doing yardwork you can get washed up without getting dirt in the rest of the home. We also have "pool baths" these are bathrooms just inside the house off the pool area & helps to keep the main part of the house from getting wet if someone needs to use the RR. These areas have either tile, wood or linoleum for easier cleaning.

[@ruthrunyon5515]

My husband and I are in our 70s and recently moved to Utah from California. We love it here and have a home that is 1500 square feet. We have an indoor laundry room. In California our washer and dryer were in the garage. Our house is mainly wood and very well insulated which is good because the temperature here this evening is 17 degrees Fahrenheit. I enjoy your videos, thank you.

[@scumonkey]

I Live in a well insulated, wooden, cedar shake shingle house on the coast- you can keep the brick. The entry opens to a vestibule- keeps the weather out...microwaves (2) built into the wall. Two dishwashers, a detached 3 car garage, with a separate one bedroom apt above. A temp controlled wine room (which we just use as a closet) in the pantry, and a small sauna in the master bath. Also a giant screened in back porch that acts as an extension to the living room in the summer, plus a stone fireplace. All on two acres of wooded land.

[@LisaCSwain]

The hallway thing is interesting. Here in the US, I have seen them in older homes (80-100 years or more). Part of it is certainly weather here as well. But the more important thing to consider, especially if you want to do remodeling is structural support. Usually that wall provides support to the foundation and carries part of the weight of the second story. If you have a basement or crawl space, it's often easy to tell there. Sometimes you can tell in the attic too based on how the joists are running. I would definitely have a structural engineer or proper contractor look at it before removing a wall that could be load bearing. There are ways to still do it with steel beams; but your loads are going to be heavier in the UK than in the US because of brick vs wood construction.

[@MrHolven2012]

We live in a townhouse on stilts on Galveston island, Texas. Our entry is essentially like your hallway entry but it is open to the living room. We have a column in the middle and beams because it is a load bearing area. I imagine it's the same in your homes. I would like some sort of a wall so you don't open the front door right into the room. I was surprised by the folks doing the video making reference to 'dens and offices' and not family rooms.

[@Cricket2731]

Family rooms tend to be bigger. We had one when I was younger--it was the width of the attached 2-car garage, but half as deep. An aunt lived in a converted duplex; the bdrm was the family room! The other "apt" was the family living quarters.

[@paultiki9968]

An odd thing I have found In American homes, especially older houses, some of the anomalies are there by design,. My house is 100 years old, but odd door placement makes more sense in the summer when you find you can open windows based on which way the wind is blowing and cool the house a lot, or in winter where opening and closing doors creates heat paths. Strange but true

[@andrearay5134]

I live in a ground floor apartment and I hear my neighbors a lot. When I first moved here, my neighbor above me sounded like she was constantly arguing with herself and BOWLING!!! I was working night shift and was incredibly sleep deprived! More recently I have had an issue with termites. LOL I put my hand on the wall and it just caved in!

[@kabirconsiders]

that must be really annoying right? Maybe leave her an anonymous note to keep the noise down

[@LisaMarshall0]

We live in a (what you would call) detached house but we also own a townshouse that we used to live in. The townhouse was made completely of wood and we did not hear anything from our neighbors. They use good quality soundproofing materials in newer constuction.

[@NaS94612]

I love reading all the comments of people describing their houses! My husband and I recently bought a 2500 square foot home with 1 1/2 attached car garage, 3 bedrooms (we use one as an office), 2 1/2 bathrooms, half finished basement which we use as a second living room because it has a wood burning fireplace, we have a kitchen with a dining room, living room upstairs… our laundry room is on the unfinished side of the basement so it has cement walls and floor but we plan to add insulation and walls and carpet etc. my husband is also in the process of making his music studio on the other part of the unfinished basement. Our house was built in 1958 so the layout is semi open. Our dining room is open to the kitchen but the rest of the rooms are not attached and we have a full bath in the basement with a full bath off the hall upstairs, it isn’t attached to the master bedroom. We also have a half bath upstairs

[@rich7447]

8:35 The # of bedrooms and # of baths filter has been applied (at the top). Our real estate websites let you filter on just about anything.

[@mariapereira8803]

We just moved to the UK from the states and it was definitely a bit of an adjustment. Bedrooms not having built in closets was probably the hardest thing to adjust to. That and our furniture just being too big to comfortably make it up the stairs.

[@appygoluckie]

duplex and detached house are very common terms in the US. They misused townhouse, what we call a terraced house is a row home. A townhouse is a bit different and is more dictated by the HOA where things like trash, snow removal, and other things are contracted out on the owner's behalf. The average size for a home in the US is useless information, from region to region, this changes drastically.

[@katherinetepper-marsden38]

Not everywhere. They are not often like that in the south

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

The house my parents bought and I grew up in as well was made of sandstone and it was built in 1836, carved in the stone above the front door. Very thick walls, windowsills are about two feet thick, and my mother sat plants in them. It had a coal furnace, but for the most part we burned wood, since we had 150 acres and a lot of trees, that is what we used. It was such a warm house, I can remember opening the front door on Christmas day because it got so hot.

[@kokomo9764]

I would not switch from my wood home to a brick or stone home. A comment that you made at the beginning of the video about hearing your neighbors was interesting. I cannot hear any noise from people living next door. This is because of the very thick insulation in my walls, ceilings, and floors. I cannot hear anything outside, even cars or trucks driving by. Removing a non-structural ( load bearing) wall is easy. But, if the wall carries a load it is much more difficult and would require a beam, either visible or hidden. But is certainly doable.

[@katw3070]

I live in a well insulated brick house and don’t hear cars, trucks or neighbors.

[@theblackbear211]

That wall question - might be a style philosophy, giving the living room some sense of separateness / privacy, or, as Kabir stated it creates an "Entryway", a "Foyer" as you enter the house. tThen again, it may be a structural issue with the length of floor spans being limited, and thus requiring structural support.

[@cthulhuhalloween5956]

Also the name or purpose of rooms may change depending on who lives there. Like ours was listed as having two livings rooms, three bedrooms, a potential bedroom or office space. Now we have, also including what was already there. A living room, pool room, laundry room, kitchen, butler's pantry, 2 full bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, central heating and cooling, front and backyard, garden, entryway closet, hall closet and cupboards. Of course I've lived in houses with different configurations.

[@gokaury]

I lived in southern Texas growing up that had a hall as you entered the front door, so it isn't too uncommon a thing in the US to have an entryway hall. The house I grew up in, after you came in the front door, had a foyer hall with a living room and a family room off to either side of it, with a staircase leading up to the top floor on the right side and the kitchen straight down the foyer hall. Mudrooms are also a common room to have in detached houses that acts as a barrier between the garage and the main part of the house. I had that in the same house where I grew up. The mudroom is where you'd take off and store your shoes so as not to track in mud (hence the name of the room) which also acted as a laundry, utiility and storage room. So yeah, there is a ton of variations here in the US, especially depending on what weather/climate/natural disaster conditions each region can experience.

[@theblackbear211]

One of key factors driving European masonry construction was the growth a large, crowded cities, and the risk of fire among crowded wood structures. The "Great Fire of London" (in 1666) being an excellent example of why London is primarily a masonry city today.

[@danahickman5716]

In America they started creating ceramic cups, plates, etc., that don't get hot in the microwave. As for removing the wall, if not structural, in the U.S. we will sometimes have a tiled entryway and closet for hanging coats, umbrellas, etc., that you would remove before stepping into the living room proper.

[@vickiemace1238]

The Hall is probably helping support the second story floor.., so perhaps leave a support post..etc. Just leave enough space inside the front door.. to place those things..boots, coats., open living. if you can handle seeing your shoes sometimes. merry christmas everyone be safe

[@Indigolily80]

Even in dense cities or neighborhoods with walkups, row houses and townhouses it's nice to have a small porch to sit and talk to neighbors or greet passerbyers as they walk down the sidewalk. We like to have both front and back space. It fosters community engagement. My mom's townhouse here in Virginia is built with a hallway/stairs at the front door just as he drew. To the right is a door to the eat in kitchen. Opposite to the front door at the other end of the hallway is the living room. The front hallway has a closet for washer/dryer and a half bath (underneath the stairwell) on the other side. So, American homes have all kinds of designs.

[@elkins4406]

Yeah, when I lived in an apartment in a dubious neighborhood in NYC (now utterly gentrified, of course), we still sat out on the front steps ("the stoop") on pleasant evenings. All the neighborhood drug dealers would come past and say hello. Even in a somewhat rough neighborhood, it's good to get to know your neighbors. I sometimes felt unsafe walking home from the subway at night that year, but once I was back on my own block, I felt safe again.

[@melaniethompson6275]

I believe the rooms with doors off the hallway is to keep the heat from the fireplace in the room. I am an American that lived in the Cotwolds and every room had a door...even the kitchen!! Love watching your channel ❤️

[@seantlewis376]

Another room that is pretty common in US homes is the "mud room", especially popular in wetter, colder northern states. It is a room led to by a door that is not the front door -- maybe side or back -- where you shake off the wet, take off your coat and shoes, and change into house-slippers (or just socks). It is very often incorporated into the utility room with the washer/dryer/water heater.

[@cynthiahaun9269]

The west shoes etc. We have general a mud room just outside the laundry room...however if a guest comes through in wet or muddy gear...most US homes have a foyer...a small wall no longer than 2 ft. That usually has someplace to hang wet coats etc. But will open up right away.

[@ClaireRader]

I like having extra storage space. I would just put things that I don't get into very often up in the area that's inconvenient to get to. I personally do the opposite with the storage units. We do loft beds with closet space beneath them in the bedrooms that don't have much closet space.

[@jwb52z9]

There's a UK young couple who do reaction videos like this. They said that the thing about the hallway is that a lot of UK citizens, especially older ones, don't want anyone to be able to see directly into their homes when they come to your door. They specifically mentioned delivery people or workmen, but delivery people in the US don't come into your home unless you're dealing with something like a large furniture piece being delivered.

[@natashadavis2959]

I'm wondering is a lack of porch has something to do with that.

[@jwb52z9]

@@natashadavis2959 That very well could be as almost no UK homes have a front porch unless they are more rural, and not always even then.

[@Timmycoo]

I went from owning my own home to moving north to Seattle and Portland now, feels kinda weird because renting an apartment with 2 bedrooms is so much smaller lol and my wife and I had to adjust to not having extra bedrooms to store our stuff. Granted my apartment is1100 square feet so it's not tiny by any means. I dunno the typical size of a flat in the UK so I am curious. That was crazy avg is under 500 sq feet? Wow. Also yeah, we enter usually into the living room/kitchen but every place I have lived in usually has some sort of flooring in the front where you can take off shows/hang up your coat - even sometimes a separate room just for that. I saw some comments saying they call it a mudroom whereas we've always just called it an entry room. I wonder if he hates marble countertops too lol.

[@BlueDebut]

Wood makes sense because of the woodlands around here. Same with the stucco here in the southwest and mesquite beams used as the roof frame.

[@ClaireRader]

Houses that don't have the space for a laundry room usually have it in the bathroom or in a closet. My sister owned a home where the washer was in her kitchen and she liked it, but a lot of her company thought that was weird. We also tend to do a lot of adding on to our smaller homes. So sometimes the laundry room is added on to what used to be a back patio or just all together added on. They also might end up in the garage. Just very seldom ever the kitchen. Makes sense to have them in the kitchen though.

[@livingthegoodlifechannel]

Historically, all but the poorest of houses had guests enter a hall or foyer vs. directly into a reception room. It was a layout for etiquette and hospitality rather than room function--although some houses had hallways that function as a weather break in cold weather or long hallways that served to funnel air from one end of the house to the other in hot climates.

[@theblackbear211]

Stone Cottages are lovely until you have to try to heat one, somewhere that actually freezes all winter long.

[@cindymatthewsarrowdalearts6449]

I think all those British hallways predate central heating. You could close rooms off and not have to worry about heating them. Some of our older homes are built that way, too.

[@protonneutron9046]

bingo Cindy

[@williamjordan5554]

The hallway wall helps to support the ceiling. Granite counter tops hide stains.

[@cynthiahaun9269]

As a matter of fact you can find several apps in searching for a house that actually lists the price per square foot...just to ensure you are getting a great price. They take similar homes that are both listed, and have been sold in the area.

[@cheryla7480]

Hi Kabir, being Canadian, our homes are more like the American ones. When visiting my Gran in Wembley. She had the hallway thing too. I noticed also she would always close the door to a room when going in and out. I think it was something to do with keeping the room warm. Here without a hallway, when you walk in….the cold air follows you into the house and directly into the living room. When I was a kid a lot of our houses had a small enclosed porch. You would go into a small area closed off from the house by another door. This saved a lot of cold air from following you into the house. Today however they wouldn’t look “fashionable”.

[@George-ux6zz]

Kaberle, you have to make sure it's not a load bearing wall before knocking down a wall. If it is a load bearing wall you would have to install a beam to hold the weight of the 2nd floor or attic.

[@gbat6727]

the reason for a wall in the hallway is that it reduces the heating costs. Many UK homes don't use forced air heating like they do in North America. So having doors to close keeps the rooms warmer. The UK also rarely has central AC either

[@datmanydocris]

A lot of older houses in the US also have you entering into a hallway when entering the house instead of immediately into a room which makes me think that was necessary due to structural limitations prior to modern building materials being developed.

[@amandagraham4254]

Hi from Canada 🇨🇦. Our houses basically mirror the US. I live in a townhouse in the suburbs of my city. Surrounded by parks, the woods and through the woods, a golf course.

[@jayneliberty3429]

In the states we were always told that brick makes the house cold in the winter and hot in the summer so not to buy the homes with brick. Although most of us prefer the look of brick.

[@katw3070]

We live in a brick home and it’s well insulated, so it’s warm in winter and cool in summer. Both our furnace (gas) and central air work well. I love the older houses with big front porches. Nice to sit outside on a covered porch when it rains.

[@robertcartier5088]

17:58 The mug itself does NOT heat up from the microwave... The microwave radiation excites water molecules, not ceramic. The mug is hot because the water in it is hot, and has had time to radiate its heat toward the outside of the mug. Same as pouring from a kettle and waiting a bit for the mug to get hot from the water. Also contributing to the mug feeling quite hot when in the microwave is that we often have a tendency to heat things longer than necessary in the microwave -- we forget how efficient it really is. It's odd that these people seem to have no idea that a microwave is not just for reheating stuff... you can cook a whole meal in a microwave. How? Well, it's as simple as reading the damn instruction manual, isn't it! lol

[@GalaxyFur]

I have a large 1,200-watt Panasonic Microwave. I really like it. It cooks food very fast! But I can also heat up a large 12oz mug to boiling in just under 2 minutes.

[@Moongirl12121]

A thing with the extra walls in houses, is that it helps contain fire, a larger room means the fire can spread faster. If the fire is more contained, it can cause less damage.

[@kishab6759]

In America we have large refrigerators. I always see on UK TV shows tiny under cabinet fridges. Always thought that was odd.

[@ashmituk]

Some people don’t require a large refrigerator and others don’t have the space for one, but large, expensive refrigerators (French & American style) are available to buy in the UK should you want one and have the space for it.

[@Melissa-wx4lu]

Honest to god question... Brits seem a bit obsessed with "Wood is not as strong as bricks." And I always feel like, do ya'll have cars or some such things flying into your house? What goes on in the UK that you want a mini fort for a home? Is it just feeling like you want your house to last for the next 500 years? Are terminates a major issue?

[@claregale9011]

Yes we do , there are houses in my area that were built in the late 1600s still being used and lived in . Why knock something down when it's perfectly liveable and the history behind them is there in the buildings too . I like the fact we preserve and keep our older buildings .

[@themourningstar338]

😂😂 This comment made me laugh really hard for some reason LOL. I think it's more because that is what they know and are familiar with, and so seem to have huge misconceptions about other building materials and how they function. Plus Brits seem to have a hard time accepting the fact that brick is a terrible building material in places with natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados. Brick works well for them in their country and environmental conditions, so it's hard to believe that it is a very poor building material in other places under other environmental conditions. It's not like we have a clay shortage in the US like the Brits do with trees LOL. If brick was the best thing to use in all parts of our country, then we would do that... but it's not. They also seem to think wood houses are cold, yet other places with cold harsh winters like Canada and Scandinavia also primarily use timber frame construction with plenty of insulation for homes that are much warmer than masonry buildings. It's more a matter of not thinking outside of their own frame of reference.

[@Melissa-wx4lu]

@@claregale9011 I can understand that. Americans don't really associate history with their homes and I think because a large % of our homes are built in cookie cutter suburban hell scapes after WWII. If we had beautiful historical homes I'm sure we would feel different

[@michelef88063]

I live in the south and our home is made of wood. I have lived since the early 80's and have noticed that the brick houses tend to get demolished during hurricanes because there is no so called breathing room for the wind SI bricks collapse. My parents house is 3500 sq ft while my 2 bedroom apartment above the garage is 1250 sq ft. The property is on 1.5 acres and when bought in 2001 cost us $140,000....we got a lot of space for a good price. Also the main house has 4 walk-in closets and 7 regular closets and the apartment has 1 walk-in closet and 5 regular closets.

[@Allaiya.]

I would love to live in a brick house or townhouse. Atm, I live in a partial brick condo/quadplex. And yes, my microwave is installed above the stove, though I have another one upstairs. I replaced my countertops from the cheaper laminate to grainite. It just looks better imo. The old stuff was quite stained & didn't hold up that well. Grainte also isn't as expensive as quartz so it's a good in the middle option. My sis & her fiancé live in a 3 bedroom house. They literally took their third bedroom and converted the whole thing to a closet. A bit ridiculous imo, but to each their own.

[@williamjordan5554]

Here on the gulf coast of the US in the suburbs of a medium-sized city, you can get a 2000 square foot house for around $300,000 with something like 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

12:54 A house framed in dimensional lumber is more energy efficient. The R value of brick is negligible.

[@harrystinefelt8765]

Who calls it a laundry machine or drying machine? Did the terms washer and dryer get canceled and no one told the rest of the world?

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

Hey Kabir, two lots (the platting made it difficult to make a profit) next to my home had been undeveloped for 15 years. No longer. A new home is going up. Just one that I can see. One house on two platted lots! Would like you as my neighbor. You could have a doggie.

[@Dan_Gyros]

I grew up in a wooden house, and rented a brick one for a few years. Really the only difference I noticed was that it was slightly colder in the brick house. Nice during the summers, but it was a bit of a drain on my wallet during the winter

[@pleasestopputtingmynamehere]

I prefer a wood home to brick. I live in earthquake country, and rigid structures don't hold up well to large quakes.

[@JonS0107]

I know my old brick tutor home that I owned in Detroit was separated with a vestibule, entry hall and stairs or living room. Since the home was built in 1929, and had radiator heat, it was done this way for better zone control. Especially during Detroit’s cold winters. Currently I live in a wood, framed, stucco home in the Arizona desert. While the home has wood framing, the thick stucco walls are actually almost as hard as stone, and insulate very well against the high summer temperatures, and low winter temperatures of the Sonoran desert.

[@maruka1716]

The granite countertop fad only started 20-25 years ago. I don't recall ever seeing them before the late 90s. If you move into a place where the kitchen hasn't been renovated in the last 25 years, it won't have them. I don't like them. The house where I grew up (northeastern USA) had a front door at the center of the street side. You'd walk into a small area with a flagstone floor where you could take off wet or snowy things. The stairs to the second floor were directly in front of that. To the left was the formal living room where the adults would sit and talk to any grown-up guests. There was no door blocking that... you could see it as soon as you got inside. To the right was a "den" or playroom where the kids could make noise and leave Legos everywhere. That room had a door. Seems like a rational design to me!

[@protonneutron9046]

They were all over the place by 1990.

[@maruka1716]

@@protonneutron9046 Perhaps in high-end new construction. They started as a luxury option, but they became common in more modest homes during the 2000s housing boom. And people started adding them to older houses to boost the resale price. I still dislike them.

[@protonneutron9046]

@@maruka1716 middle class homes. My wife was a RE agent so I saw a representative sampling at that time.

[@maruka1716]

@@protonneutron9046 I don't doubt they existed in 1990, but not like now. They weren't in every single kitchen renovation in a 1950s house, or in every new condo building. It took time (and cheaper overseas suppliers) for them to work their way through the American market.

[@protonneutron9046]

@@maruka1716 I didn't say were in every single 1950's home renovation. Quit being a m0r0n and creating straw man arguments.

[@lauracorriss9538]

I personally prefer a hallway and separate rooms. Not a fan of "open concept", where there are no walls between living room, dining room, kitchen, family room. If not walls, at least something to make them defined spaces and provide some privacy.

[@sherrymillerable]

I live in Florida and most houses here are made out of cinderblock and stucco. Houses prior to the 50s are mostly wood but it is not good to have wood in a hurricane prone area plus you have termites in the tropical climate. My house is pretty small, 1250 sq ft, and it is cinderblock and stucco.

[@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344]

9:41 Location is important. My house ain't pretty on the outside, but it's cozy on the inside because I'm a woodworker. More importantly my house and the lots are in one of the best school districts in the USA-196.

[@tm2bee]

The enclosed living area in the UK could be for heat containment in the winter....heating a smaller area and also preventing cold air from an opened front door from blowing directly into the room. It makes a lot of sense and I predict it'll make a come back here. I've heard several from the younger generation lament open floor plans.

[@winec00ler]

My family is Mexican American , we make tamales at Christmas time. We just got together with extended family last weekend and had our annual tamale making party.

[@nocentii]

Eight reasons for the hallway/living room wall: 1. An extra wall to put a sofa against. People often don't like people walking right behind them. Call it a survival mechanism I guess. 2. UK weather is often cold. Extra wall = reduced draft when the front door is open (for deliveries, what have you). 3. At night, someone can close the living room door if they're watching TV while others are sleeping. Without the wall and door, the TV might be heard upstairs, and with more space, acoustics could make it worse. 4. Fireplace. In the UK, there are usually two smoke alarm locations: One in the hallway, and one on the upstairs landing. Without the wall and door, the fireplace could trigger the smoke alarm. 5. Cats. No one wants to have their cat's litter tray in the living room or kitchen. Put that in the hallway, landing, or under the stairs with a cat flap. 6. It's one more door you can slam in your family's face. 7. Phone calls. In the past, and for houses that still use them, it was common to have the landline in the hallway for easy access and so that someone wouldn't disturb others who were talking/watching TV, etc. Most UK homes used wired landlines, so we couldn't exile them to other parts of the house. 8. They're often load-bearing, but that's not important if you want to have the house spontaneously convert into a bungalow in your later years.

[@jeffking4176]

My house is Block, on a concrete slab, built in 1959. My neighborhood is a big mix of houses [ block and wood], old trailers and dew trailers [ single and double-wide] new and old houses. 📻🙂

[@littleredwritinghead3781]

Also, I always have a microwave, but I only use it as a timer! 🤣 I don't even heat water in the thing. I love to cook, and I do everything on the stove top (which is often faster) or the oven.

[@emmef7970]

We have had many kettles, both stove top & electric. The microwave is faster to heat water. We use it regularly to heat water. They do make microwaveable cups & mugs of all sizes, lol. When I just need 1-4 cups of water while I am cooking, I place the water in a measuring cup and heat it faster than it wood on the stovetop. More convenient in my opinion. Many American homes have foyers & entryways. Mudrooms are not usually at the front door.