8 Typical Features of Homes in the UK That Are Hard to Find in Other Countries

If you ask most people what they know about the British way of life, the most common answer is probably that Brits love tea. And this is completely correct: an estimated 165 million cups are drunk daily in the country and almost everyone drinks it with a little milk. But tea culture is not the only thing that sets the region apart from other countries.

O awesome.club checked out what housing in the UK looks like, and is ready to share the key differences with you. Check out!

By law, it is only permitted to install sockets in UK bathrooms if the distance between the sockets and the bath or shower is more than three metres. And since bathrooms in houses and apartments are usually small, there are practically no outlets. And this is also why the washing machine, for example, is usually installed in the kitchen, and not in the bathroom as in some other European countries.

Ordinary switches pose a great danger when installed in the bathroom because of the high humidity in the room. An ideal solution, from a safety point of view, are ceiling mounted lanyard switches. To turn the light on and off, just pull the cord. Of course, ordinary switches are also used in the country, but they can only be installed outside the bathroom. Interestingly, in the UK they work “in reverse” in many other regions: when you press the switch key up, the light goes off, and when you press it down, it comes on.

In the United Kingdom, as in Brazil, three-pin sockets are used (although, here, many are still two-pin). They are considered the safest in the world. However, there each outlet has its own switch, which ends up causing some inconvenience for people. For example, imagine you put your cell phone on charge, but you forgot to turn the power switch switch to the on position — the device simply won’t charge. Well, at least until you remember to “plug in” the outlet. By the way, the electrical voltage there is not 127 V or 220 V as we are used to in Brazil, but 230 V.

As the local climate does not usually bother the inhabitants with too much heat, air conditioning is practically not necessary. If there is a need to refresh the atmosphere, the British simply open the window. And if that’s not enough, they just use a fan.

bay windows (called in English as bay window) have some rectangular protrusions (usually three) that protrude from the wall of the house. They are considered quite traditional in the UK, and one of their advantages is that they allow more natural light in than regular windows.

In most British houses and apartments, every room—except perhaps the kitchen—has carpeted floors. And if there is a staircase in the house, it will also be covered in carpet. In this case, the floor is synonymous with safety: covered steps offer less risk of slipping, so the possibility of falling down the stairs is much lower.

However, carpet also creates a lot of problems: it gets dirty very quickly, it’s harder to clean, and in bathrooms it absorbs a lot of moisture, which causes even more problems. In addition, many Brits are in the habit of entering a home without taking off their shoes, which can make cleaning the floor even more difficult. But carpet is simply a tradition in the UK.

Traditionally, garages in the UK are small (cars were smaller in the past), and as a result, today’s family vehicles simply don’t fit inside. So, many people use the garages only as a warehouse, storing the most diverse things on site.

There are, of course, different types of mailboxes in the UK: from isolated boxes in front of houses, to mailboxes grouped in buildings and the traditional mailboxes. All these models can also be found in other countries, but the box on the door has, shall we say, a typically British essence.

Those who have this more traditional type of “mailbox” at home, however, note that there are more disadvantages than positives. For example, if you have a dog, it is more likely that the pet eat your newspaper before you even notice that it has, in fact, been delivered.

What features of British homes would you like to implement in your home? And what features do you think would not work in Brazil? Tell us in the comments section.