[pjc50]

Yeah, it's swings and roundabouts. We recently modernised my grandmother's terraced house. Positive points:

- high ceilings and windows. Predated Parker-Morris: if you can find one those are absolutely the best. Modern houses are horribly shrunken by comparison, especially when we sell by bedroom count rather than area

- good sound insulation

- solid brick construction (although no cavity wall insulation)

Minus points:

- very leaky of heat

- lead piping embedded in concrete floors

- ancient electrical system (already reworked a few times)

- perilously steep staircase

- bathroom had been retrofitted in the 50s. Yes, the house was built without an inside bathroom, I think it only just had an inside toilet.

[lotsofpulp]

I have the opposite problem in the US. All the houses are too big, with high ceilings and giant 2 story foyers. Other than advertising that you can afford higher heating and cooling costs, I don’t understand the purpose of these high ceilings. And the 2 story foyer means the second floor is constantly too warm and 1st floor is too cold as the heat has no reason to stay at the bottom.

[EADGBE]

> And the 2 story foyer means the second floor is constantly too warm and 1st floor is too cold as the heat has no reason to stay at the bottom.

I understand your nitpicking. It was almost a deal breaker for me when we bought our new home. But we have a zoned system regulating the single unit we would have had regardless. There's no temperature difference now between floors. And with the ability to shut off the upstairs until bedtime, we use about 1/3 more energy to heat/cool 3.5x the space.