Why don’t British homes have basements?
They recently published data showing that new homes in Britain were smaller than those in France, Australia and the US. Now, it’s not difficult to imagine that houses would be much larger in Australia and the US (room dimensions almost equal), but I was surprised to find that the British homes were smaller than the French ones as well.[ad#ad-1]
I know that immigration and the populaton explosion has led to a housing shortage, so they have to put up a lot of homes quickly and squeeze them all in. But, it’s a disservice to people when they have such cramped spaces. And, they do away with unnecessary space. A typical home has a lounge (sometimes referred to as the living room or the front room), kitchen, bathroom, and the bedrooms. It’s no wonder they have that phrase “two up, two down”.
Not all homes are that cramped, I’m just referring to a lot of new builds. Some may be lucky enough to have a dining room, and if they’re really lucky, they might have another cloakroom (toilet). Most homes we’ve looked at have a small space in the kitchen for a dining table, or if the lounge is big enough, they will put the table there. That’s what we’ve had to do for the past year, even though there’s barely enough room. It’s also one reason why we’ve adopted the minimalist look. We only have the ripped up sofa that was left behind, the piano and the dining table in that room.
We live in a bungalow but it feels like a flat (apartment). It’s as big as the apartments we’ve lived in. Our houses had living rooms, dining rooms, and most also had a family room. Not only that, they all had basements. Not all US homes have basements (some areas are just not good enough for a basement because of drainage issues). However, for the most part, it’s taken for granted that they do.
Here, you will only find basements in older homes and there are not too many of those around. Many of them have been converted, so that a mansion is split into four apartments, with the basement being one of them. I remember reading an article some months ago about rich people renovating their homes rather than buying or building a new one. Because of the lack of space, these people were moving downwards, building multiple underground levels. So, why don’t they do that for new builds? It would make sense that if you don’t have the space above ground, you would try to use the space underground. And I don’t mean for them to use the basement to put the necessary rooms, just as additional space for whatever they might like.
It appears that there are loads of storage facilities that have cropped up. These people must be making a killing because people lack space to store their stuff. There are no attics and no basements. Very few homes even have closets of any kind. You have to buy wardrobes and cabinets.
