Bungalow or house

Please bear in mind that bungalows of any reasonable size are expensive to heat - long hallway/corridor and no heat rising into the bedrooms.

my mum was in a wheelchair with RA and stayed in her cosy semi house. She had a neat stairlift and managed fine until she passed

I have described my home but let me tell you what my actual energy bills are for a nice warm house and lots of home cooking and hot water. I have gas and the total for gas and electricity is £499 pa. Maintenance is not needed apart from painting in the future. All new modern and quality materials have been used in the construction. The windows and doors are all the highest anti-burglary standard and insulated

I am not phased at all by the future in this house

Tartlet, I understand building regulations let you to install window grilles as long as you have one openable accessible window as a fire escape.

craftyone
Your gas and electricity bills sound very reasonable to me.

I moved to my bungalow when I was 65
Still in excellent health thank god and able to cope with the move, the builders and all the financial changes.
I'm so pleased I did it early as I live alone. It gives me peace of mind to know that I have weatherproofed my home fully and had it remodelled to suit my needs in the future
Now I am enjoying life more

I love one floor living, especially as both my knees were dodgy and had to be replaced. It's warmer, cosier, and just altogether easier as we get older.
I was in a house before moving here and had increasing trouble with the stairs. But, yes, I agree they are good exercise.

Bungalows are fine when land is not at a premium, but they are greedy for space and fuel.

The most environmentally friendly places to live are surely terraces or flats where you share walls and therefore heat with your neighbours.

I don't "get" why house builders are still building detached houses, in the countryside with double garages and no public transport or any shops or schools within walking distance. The messages about the climate change emergency are not getting through, obviously.
Hello! Anyone there?

The most environmentally friendly places to live are surely terraces or flats where you share walls and therefore heat with your neighbours.

Forty-odd years of living in a terraced house and listening to my neighbours' radio/TV/arguments/bedsprings (and they to mine) have convinced me that detached is best! Not much shared heat, either; the exceedingly long downstairs hallway was always like Siberia because of the idiotic way the place was built. This more modern, well insulated little bungalow with its neat, square hall is much easier to keep warm.

I do agree that rural developments just plonked in the middle of nowhere with no facilities and services close by are barmy and you couldn't ever pay me enough to make me live in such a location. But how many other places are there where people thought they were future-proof with shops and doctors, dentists, schools, pubs and bus services only to find those facilities gradually closing down and being withdrawn? Many once-thriving villages are now rural prisons with non-drivers virtually trapped at home and yet the planning rules allow ever more of these soulless developments to mushroom around us. Madness!

I appreciate what you are saying Scribbles and I live in a detached house myself so not in a position to preach.

You are also right about the isolation which can happen when facilities close.

I guess I was thinking about the winner of the Stirling prize for architecture this year. Goldsmith St, Norwich which is super well insulated and cheap to run.
"Green" architects are seldom invited to design for the Big Developers.

Just check about flooding .
The only downside to a bungalow is nowhere to go in a flood.
I missed flooding by half an inch seven years ago and now am always checking flood alerts.

We built our bungalow in our early 20's and thought it was just wonderful. I do have to say though bungalows I think may be looked upon as being for the older person, we stay in Scotland and have never given that a thought but watching and listening to various house programmes on the tv bungalows are sort of frowned upon. I wouldn't swap my bungalow for anything. They are so good to maintain inside and out, no high roofs, painting of high eaves outside etc. You run around with the hoover and takes minutes unlike a house where you have downstairs AND upstairs to do. With most things though everyone has different opinions but I would NEVER swap my bungalow and more so now we are in our 60's.

Our best friends were green architects and they lived in a victorian town house on the outskirts of manchester .

New build houses like mine are built with thermalight insulation blocks as the inside skin hence the very high epc, the loft is extremely well insulated and the windows are all double glazed. New building standards are much better wrt insulation and detached is exceedingly warm on very little heat input

There were 2 bed bungalows near to where I used to live and you could tell that it was full of old people. Unfortunately it was also a magnet for scammers and burglars. Out of interest, can any of you say what your square footage of living space is, not counting any garage? Mine is 1200 sq feet and I downsized from a completely different layout with much more storage, both were/are 4 bedroomed but in this house one is used as a study and the second biggest one is a fully fitted crafting room. That leaves on large single and one double