Casement windows (windows that open out) almost always have screens in the US. The screens are on the inside and hand operated cranks drive the windows open and closed. They are very energy efficient and the screens can easily be cleaned with a vacuum. They are a great choice.
This kitchen sink faucet shown here is just but one style out of countless others. What someone like her needs to do is to go to a home improvement center store, like Home Depot, Lowe's, or Menards, and show everybody the plethora of different faucets, ceiling fans, and lighting fixtures we have available. Just know that we have a crazy selection of just about everything for our houses. And the technology is constant improving as well.
Regarding window screens to keep the bugs out. Yes, in America, 99% of our windows slide up-and-down. So a screen is installed on the outer frame so that it doesn't interfere with the operation of the window and we get all that wonderful fresh air. But if you have windows that all open outward, what you can do is install your screen from the inside, because if the window is either closed or swung out, and does not swing inward, you still have a screen. So windows that open outward should not deter you from having screens.
At my late parents', now my sister's house where I grew up, there were several windows that cranked out, and we had screens for them as well, no problem.
Screens are always brought up as a big curiosity. Or some people completely misunderstand that we are a country of a great many insects. Britain is very fortunate to have far fewer mosquitos.! Why don't thinking people, consider factual reasons for needing screens. Or A/C is necessary in many of our states . They require A/C to actually stay alive. 112 F. Day and night is a must. We are a large country with many temperature ranges . Look at the weather changes within all of Europe alone .
Easy easy, screens on the inside when you have casement windows! Also, the screens can be removable, so you take them off or slide them up when you don't want them.
When I was living with my parents, we had 3 TVs. One in the living room where the whole family could watch TV, one upstairs in my brothers room for me and my brothers to play video games, and one in the basement for my sisters to play video games. Now that I'm living on my own, I only had 1 TV until recently. I just won a TV from work that I haven't set up yet.
You don't empty garbage disposals. They grind up biodegradable food that's soft or semi soft, but not bones or tough skins like banana peels normally. It prevents animals from getting attracted to your trash cans outside.
You don't need to empty out the garbage disposal. It's made to process certain foods so it can go into the home's wastewater pipes and be carried out with all other sewage. It will not store food. It just needs to be properly maintained like any other kitchen appliance, like a dishwasher, and it should be deodorized and cleaned periodically, like maybe once a week.
We have screens on our windows that swing outward (they are fairly common... we call them "casement" windows, as opposed to the "double hung" style that slide vertically). They're just on the inside instead of the outside. Also, before insulated double/triple pane glass came about, in the colder parts of the US it was very common to seasonally add a separate layer of glass to our windows (aka, a "storm window"). Screens were included with the storm window as an alternative to the extra glass panel and were either seasonally interchanged or had their own sliding panels that could be deployed as needed. LOL...we're empty nesters and we have nine TVs in the house. We don't watch them at the same time but they're available when we're in those rooms. Five of them are used regularly... Family room, kitchen, office, master BR and garage. The others aren't used often, but they're there when needed, such as for guests. We never went out and bought these TVs specifically for these rooms... Virtually all of the them are pass-downs as certain TV locations are upgraded over the years. We also have four cars between the two of us. We each have a primary vehicle (a sedan and a mid-size SUV), but I also have a 29 year old compact pickup that's great for occasional trips to the home center, and my wife has a 21 year old VW Beetle convertible that's more or less a toy for her. None of the vehicles were purchased new except for the '96 pickup. BTW, we are a solidly middle class, middle income family and not even remotely considered as wealthy.
Listen, all due respect to home girl here but I don’t think that 6 TVs in one house is necessarily normal lol. I have one in my home, I don’t like a TV in the bedroom. My parents have two, I think. It’s possible that there might be a TV in the main living space, one in each occupied bedroom, maybe one on the deck or garage for entertaining/sports watching? I also think multiple cars for one person isn’t the norm. My parents have multiple cars but they’re collectors (and upper middle class). I have one car. My partner has one car. I think that’s a pretty typical set up.
I have two vehicles. One a Toyota Camry and a RAM 1500 4x4. I drive the Toyota in the summer and the RAM in the winter. I live in Montana so rather necessary. The truck is more comfortable to drive, but the Toyota is double the gas mileage.
I live in a rural area. Nobody with their own septic system has a garbage disposal. It's not good to fill the septic systems with organic materials. People who live in towns where they have sewer systems sometimes have disposals. Around here, it is mostly city transplant people who have disposals.
You don't see window screens in the UK because there's a window/screen tax that surprisingly no one seems to know about. So I guess they are just so used to not having them they don't question why. And the garbage disposal is for kitchen scraps to use when you rinse off the dishes. It grinds it up and goes down the drain into the sewer line to the treatment plant. You don't want to put things like bones in it. Just what you rinse off the dishes and biodegradable food waste.
Re Window tax, it was abolished in 1851, and had nothing to do with screens. I suggest England does not have screens, we don't really need them, few flying bugs, note this is not true of Scotland, I don't know why they don't have/use screens. In many parts of Europe garbage disposals are illegal for environmental reasons. I'm pretty sure you can have them in UK but they are rare.
The sprayer on the sink..late 60's here. As for the garbage disposal you run water before you turn it on and it grinds the food into nothingness and leaves through an exit pipe to the sewer system
Regarding the AC, you are correct, it often gets quite hot here in the US. When there are heat waves (3+ days over 90 degrees) it can be dangerous, particularly for the elderly and small children if they don't have sufficient cooling available. In my area, free air conditioners are provided for at-risk individuals who need them to prevent heat stroke.
Some clarifications : Large mailboxes are limited to deep suburbs and rural areas where the letter carriers are riding their route in vehicles. In urban areas and inner suburbs the letter carriers walk from door to door. Many older homes still have mail slots [aka letter boxes] but most will have a box or basket on the wall next to the front door. I'm lucky, if I need to mail something, there's an official US Postal Service Drop Box right outside the front door of my apartment building. It should be obvious that her family's home is in an expensive suburb. It's on a large lot, overlooking a lake. We have all types of windows in the US : standard, casement, sliders, windows that open in, or out. Screens can be fitted to ANY style of window. A garbage disposal is similar in design to a food processor. It literally pulverizes food into tiny particles and then flushes it down the drain. Another difference with US kitchens is that the washer and dryer are NOT under the kitchen counter. They're in a separate laundry room. There are refrigerators that have an interactive screen on the door.
I banned having a tv in the living room, dining room and bedroom. We have one in the basement and our computers function as tvs if we need them in the kitchen or wherever. But most people have the tv in the room where they have the most seating so they can have it available to watch. When I redid my kitchen I put in a single bowl stainless sink and absolutely love it. My son persuaded me to put in a garbage disposal because "everyone expects one" so I did get a really good one and had it properly installed by a plumber. You gotta be careful what you send down them, no stringy veggies (celery, swiss chard stalks), no bones, big globs of fats, but it sure makes a difference what goes into the trash. It's really nice in summer, because there's not much in the trash that can start to rot. Ice makers can be tricky but they are nice to have.
Screens are mandated by municipal code in most if not all of the US. Especially since the Nile virus and other mosquito-born diseases showed up. Garbage disposals go directly into the sewage system or the septic system. They're built for it. In NYC garbage disposals are (or were when I moved away in 1989) illegal because the sewage system is too old and not built for it.
There are some local that mandate screens be installed, and some local laws require that the owners of rental unites replace screens. Regulations requiring them are more common than I would have imagined, but welcome to the nanny state. NYC lifted the ban on garbage disposals in 1997, though many apartment buildings won't allow them. The fear that they would somehow stress the existing sewer systems was not grounded in reality. They pose zero increased risks to existing sewer systems. If flushing food particles less than 2mm in size down existing sewer lines causes that line to fail than imagine what solid human waste and wads of paper will do. The same hold true for sewer treatment.. If food particles pollute in the sewer pollutes the environment think what it does in a landfill. Besides if it does that municipal waste treatment plant is illegal anyway. In cities, especially densely packed ones like NYC, disposals actually create healthier environments. Less rotting food on the sidewalks and less disease carrying rodents.
Five TVs is rare in the United States, but three are pretty common. Americans probably buy more things on credit which is why they can afford two or three cars and numerous TVs.
No, not every home has a garbage disposal, especially homes with septic systems for the sewage. They aren't that convenient. They are always getting clogged and breaking, having to be replaced. And you have to be very careful not to lose the silverware go down it. Ruins the forks and spoons and also the disposal. All in all, often mire trouble than they are worth.
Also in america we can access our ice Without having to open the freezer door because there is a slot on the outside that you can put a glass into and it will then automatically fill your glass with ice without ever having to open and close your freezer door. Thus, you almost never open up the freezer door to access ice from the internal bucket unless you have a big party or something where you are feeling multiple glasses. At 1 time or possibly filling a large bowl to put on the table, so people can take as much as they want or as little as they want. My wife and I can hardly remember the last time. We ever got our ice anywhere except through the opening in the door.
It's very possible to put a screen on a window that opens out. You have a screen hinged on the side that opens in making it easy to crank the window handle or push or pull the window to open or close it. Or I've also seen screens with small openings where the window handle is. Screens started being used in the US in the early 20 th century, I think, because of the danger of malaria.
Less bugs because they have traveled to the US. Garbage disposals, you have to maintain, but I have one. Lol. I have recliners too. I must have a television in my kitchen. Listen, it depends where you live and your income most of the time to get that big Island. Cabinets cost a fortune. We have two prong and 3 prong outlets. The voltage is different in the US than in the UK I live in Alabama. You would die of heat stroke if you did not have an air conditioner. Seriously, the main transformer in the city I live in needed replacement. The whole city was without electricity during the hottest month in the year which is July or August. Elderly were sitting outside on their porches all night because it was hotter inside. Ambulances were called in some cases.
Regarding the house, it's nice but her parents have likely had it for decades and got it at a reasonable cost due to it being more out in the country. My parents bought their house for less than 10% of what we sold it for after they passed. They had lived in it for nearly 55 years.
I think more Americans have their mailboxes on the front of their house next to the front door. I can put outgoing mail on the front of my mailbox held by a clothespin and the mail carrier picks it up when he/she delivers the mail. I don't have to go anywhere to mail a letter, etc. I buy stamps online from the USPS- US postal service, and they arrive 3-4 days later.
While it's common to have both, and if I had to choose, I'd rather have the garbage disposal than the dishwasher. You don't have to clean out the disposal. It just "magically" gets washed away.
@@wolfe6220 The question was more about cleaning out a trap or something like that. Wasn't it? We don't have to do that. Of course I've freshened the disposal with a cleaner. I've also done it with lemons. I clean that rubbery chute all the time, and clean the rim it snaps into. I'm actually obsessed with cleaning out all sorts of appliances. I am mad about cleaning the dishwasher and washing machine as well. I can't stand a stinky anything.
I think that people need to remember that it gets really hot here in the US especially in the South and in the southwestern part of the country and it is just crazy hot like I live in Colorado and just this past summer we had temperatures in the three digits Fahrenheit having no air conditioning would be terrible
I have a window in the kitchen behind, the sink. It has a crank at the bottom. The glass is 2 vertical sections that open in-ward, the screen is on the outside.
That's a question a lot of Brits ask when they do videos like this and garbage disposals are discussed. If you look below a kitchen sink, you'll see all the drain lines, and a garbage disposal. There's a drain line that runs from the garbage disposal to the main drain. It just forms a T connection so that when you put stuff down the garbage disposal, you need to run your water faucet pushing the button that turns the disposal on. The disposal chews up the material you put in there, and the combination of the drainage water going into the disposal with the solids that you are chewing up. What happens Is it becomes a slushy liquid material that then exits the garbage disposal and enters the drain line. So, you never have to empty a garbage disposal, or check to see if it's full. It's simple, you take your waste material, put it down the disposal, Turn on your water, then push the disposal button thus allowing it to be exited through the main drain. No fuss, no muss. The garbage disposal also eliminates a kitchen from developing any odors. Because anything that rots or decays will have been flushed through the disposal before. It even had a chance to reach that stage.
@@wolfe6220 I'm not sure what you mean about using a cleaner for garbage disposal based on my comment. Because it should be clear from what I wrote that the way garbage disposals work makes sure that there are no odors in the kitchen that would occur. If you threw away any material that we put down the disposal but instead put it in their garbage in the kitchen. And if it's not removed within a day. It ends up having an odor obviously. Anyway, the basic point I was making is that there is no odor in a kitchen from decaying material because it's disposed of through the disposal, so you don't need to clean it. The question most people have from other countries is whether or not there is an odor because they picture us in America, putting it down the drain and then the disposal just holding it and then we have to empty it. They were unaware that it actually runs through your drain out of the house. So Anyway, I'm not sure if I understood you properly but I just wanted to note that I was not saying that a disposal needs cleaner, but rather that the disposal gets rid of the food so fast it doesn't need a cleaner.
Swingout windows are called 'casement' windows and they used to be popular here - in the '40s & '50s. AND they had screens as well. The screens are mounted inside of the window casing vs. the outside, so simple. Here, a building without window and door screens is called a 'barn' and is typically used to house farm animals. ;-) Garbage disposals are sort of a mixed bag. There are things you never want to put in them like egg shells, celery (stringy foods), potato peels usually aren't a good idea either. Those items tend to collect and clog the drain, causing you to have to remove the drain trap below the sink and clear the obstruction. What disposals are predominantly handy for is when you're cleaning pots, pans, serving dishes, plates, bowls, etc. They have a spinning 'flail' blade inside that grinds up the bits and pieces as the water from the tap flushes them down the drain.
Yes, not having fenced or walled front yards is actually the norm. The only time you'd see that here in the US is if the house is a part of a large estate or mansion where the owner wants more privacy. But yeah, seeing everyone's front yard, with all the added greenery is like you said, adding to the aesthetic to the place. A well kept lawn with interesting landscaping "pods" (like flower or rock gardens, water fountains, or rock pathways, with strategic lighting) can really make one's yard pop. For decades we had this two railed wooden post fence in our front yard just on the house side of the drainage ditch line, and it made our yard unique to the rest of the neighborhood, but after about 45 years, it has rotted to the point of ugliness, tbh, and this past Summer, we took it out. My dad put it in back around 1976, or '77, as I was just a little tyke at the time, (I'm 51 now) and so like I said, it was just looking pretty sad. However at each end of this fence we had flower gardens and we left those little sections of fence, for now at least. Might take them down this year though. But anyway...yeah. A good well kept lawn is a source of a bit of pride if you will. The thing with most houses, even in town or cities, is that they come with a pretty decent sized yard. Especially corner lots. And ironically for some reason, corner lot houses tend to go abandoned a lot. I watch a lot of Lawn Care content creators on RUclips, and the ratio of abandoned corner lot properties to middle of the street ones is probably 3 out 5. At least. Don't really know what it is. Maybe because the former occupants couldn't take care of the bigger lawns because you will have sidewalks running along two sides of your property and taking care of all that if you don't have the equipment can get overwhelming. And unlike the UK, the property owner is responsible for the area around the sidewalks, including the sidewalks themselves. Which includes edging them whenever the grass overgrows the pavement, and pressure washing them when they get dirty.
❌. Stayed in a hotel in Kensington for a week in July a few years back. No AC in the whole hotel. It was hell. Don't see how the Brits can do it. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The house I grew up in had casement windows, i.e. crank out. The screens were on the inside. Garbage disposals are more for hand washing dishes or pots and pans. The stuff scraped off can go down the disposal. Using it generally leads to clogged drains.
Yes we have those windows in the us that open out...they put the screen before the window with an area for the crank handle. By 5he way Google UK carries window ac's
If they wanted to, they could revamp the windows to be efficient and to have screens. It's the same with dryers. They have to want to. It can be, and it should be done. I'm odd, I only have one TV and it's never turned on unless the weather gets bad. I don't use ice really, but my fridge does make it, and I will always use my garbage disposal. That is something I won't live without again.
I live in Arizona and I'm seeing more bugs especially in the winter. We technically have 5 TV's in our 2 bedroom apartment. One in our living room but then we also have one that is used as our doorbell monitor when someone comes to the main entrance of our building but that one can also be turned into a TV if needed. Then we have 2 TV's in the master bedroom and one in the spare bedroom.
As a Canadian, the only thing we don't usually see here is the garbage disposal unit in the sink. Many people have TVs in their bedrooms as well as the living room.
And speaking of technology, they make furniture now with all sorts of modern amenities, such as cup holder, mobile device charging ports, LED light sticks for reading, and even built-in speakers for your Surround Sound systems. They'll put the Sub in the separate ottoman.
We have three prong plugs as well especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. AC doesn't blast in my house, it's set at a temperature that makes it comfortable, but not cold, because I don't like the cold. I live in the city and even with screens, flies, mosquitos, no see ums and gnats still get in the house, I couldn't imagine not having screens. Yes, to much ice is possible.
We in UK don't have sockets in bathrooms as they are considered dangerous because of the wet atmosphere. Our voltage is different to USA that may be another reason. I saw a picture online of an outlet on a wall beside the cistern. Danger of being electrocuted.
Canadian here. We desperately need those screens. Even in the few seconds it takes to go through a door and slam it shut behind you, the bugs are faster.
I've got a lot of TVs. Although my office area im in now has a switch so the tv and computer monitors can switch to either screen for gaming or RUclips. Ive been in a house where the family room has several tvs so both children can use their game systems with headphones sitting on the couch playing different games
I can't imagine having no air conditioning. If I am home, I want to be comfortable. Having no screens blows my mind. It is such an easy and inexpensive way to not have bugs in your home. Mosquitoes and ticks carry disease. Spiders are gross. Why would people not block them from their home? We have 11 tvs in our house lol.
@@docsavage8640 I grew up in the south in an older house and we didn't have AC and it was absolute hell in the summers. We eventually got some window units but ironically when I went to college I went to Florida State and lived in one of the last dorms to be renovated so it had no AC. You got to know everyone because we all kept our doors open with fans in the window.
What's peoples' ideas of hot? I've found 83 °F (28.33 °C) is the hottest before where I officially want AC (would probably put it on a little before that, but that's more or less "comfortable enough if you're not moving around"). It's been up to around 104 °F (40 °C) (idk the record here). This is Washington state, USA. (Where it's currently below freezing)
Washingtonian here too (Seattle area) and we have gotten over 110° here. Like you I don’t turn AC on until about 85°. It is very nice to have when it does get above that! Water has to be running while you’re operating the garbage disposal & if you don’t want clogged pipes you don’t put large amounts of pasta, rice down it. It doesn’t do bones. Basically you use it to rinse off your dishes after a meal & what’s left on your plate, minus bones, goes down it. If I’m throwing away leftovers from the fridge, that goes into a bio degradable bag & into our compostable trash bin outside, if you’re in a city that offers that…if not they go into your garbage. The disposal is not for large amounts of food, if you want to avoid a plumber bill to unclog your drains. Great reaction. Looks like the weather is changing there too. I’m not good at sleeping when it’s hot either!
My only problem with UK homes is the lack of closets. I grew up in a 140 yr house with no closets and I could never go back to wardrobes. In SC we called them chifferobes, but I don’t know why
"Bigger houses", outside city environments, suburbia and planned housing subdivisions it is much rarer here in the States to find a multi-storey house. Sprawling single storey buildings in rural areas make the housing feel larger. A/C became more common in widespread use in the 1980's. This house, built in '76 did not originally have central air, instead it had two large fans that drew air from inside the house to outside via the attic. Open the windows (with screens, sash windows like in the video) and ventilate. In summertime, where the night time temperature might drop as low as 26°c with 80% humidity, aircon became a very desirable option to have; cooling and drying the air inside the house. I don't have a garbage disposal, as others state, it clogs up the grease trap and/or septic system. On city sewers it is a viable option, but a lot of American rural municipal areas don't have sewers. She laughed in the video about the kitchen cabinet, but while cable TV had analog signals on it, adding a TV set was an easy venture (no cable company "set-top" box), and a small TV sat on a counter, or later on LCD fold-down panel TV hidden up under the cabinet was a common thing. I still have a cable coming out the bottom of the cabinets in this kitchen. Our area mandates a mailbox at a certain height and distance from the road that the mail carrier can just lean out of their window (mail vehicles are right hand drive for this reason) and place letters and small packages in without getting out. This significantly speeds up the delivery because a lot of rural routes cover many miles for few houses. Depends on the area but most people have no problem with a mailbox at the road, tampering with someone else's mail is a Federal crime and carries quite heavy penalties if discovered and convicted. Most people here don't lock their houses unless they're leaving for several days, some people still leave their keys in their cars. In a lot of small towns that's still quite common. It's a different way of life than a lot of the UK. Mostly down to population density, I think. Outside of town/estates it's fairly common to have an average of more than one vehicle per licensed driver. I have a pick-up truck as a utility vehicle which can also carry 5 people about, but also a 25 year old car that I'll just throw the miles on to keep the average miles on the new vehicle down. There's definitely less of a stigma associated with driving an older car if it's kept in good condition. Cars hold their value better here than in the UK also, this car would be in the £200-500 range there; here it's still valued in the $4000 bracket. Holding on to cars longer also attributes to the "more than one car", as the hand me down will often end up in the hands of any younger members of the family. There's no public transport in this area so a car is a must. Saves being stuck at home when the kids have taken the car someplace. And yes, finally. This house was originally wired without ground (two hole outlets) but was updated- the wiring scheme is disallowed by UK standards, with ground bonded to neutral. Newer builds will have a local ground spike which the ground pin is connected to, however. This house has ground fault flashover protection though. One thing also on that front, the closer you get to the southern coasts, the more likely the house is to have a generator, after a big storm try imagine being without power for a couple of weeks...
This looks to me like a rural area and an older house, perhaps bought by her parents as a vacation home and later when they retired they moved there permanently. It's not as large as many newer homes; the kitchen / living area seems small and the bedrooms cramped, but the kitchen has been updated. If they bought it decades ago it was probably not that expensive, but with that location on the lake it must be appraised pretty high, and I bet they are paying a lot of property tax (depending what state they are in).
Did any other American (used to garbage disposals) cringe when she turned that on with no water running in it? Is it just me? Lol And for Kabir (like some others might have said), you don’t have to empty your garbage disposal, it’s attached to the main drain from the sink and just grinds the appropriate stuff down small enough to go into your normal wastewater sink drains.
We were a family of 4 growing up. My parents, and me and my sister. When all of us were of driving age, in 1993, we had 5 vehicles. Our own personal vehicle, and an old beater backup in case one of ours broke down. Now, since I'm the only one left in the household...(mom died in 2014, dad in 2024, sister is living elsewhere) I only have one vehicle....a brand new 2025 Honda Odyssey mini-van, that I bought back on Dec. 10th. I had to trade in my 2016 Ford F150 which I hated to do, because I could no longer get into it to drive it. 😢 And the new van is actually replacing our old 2008 Odyssey.
I forget...what was it last summer by you...I should check 92! Last September on the 9th. Yep ac weather. I do remember parts of the Uk crying because it was 70 too
I don't know the full reasoning, but i think no fences in the front yard adds to the "curbside value" of a home. Basically if it looks good from the street you might be able to sell it for a higher price versus if the street view is entirely blocked by a fence. Granted, if you live in a busy place that might actually be a selling point if you want privacy
It's called a refrigerator or fridge. Not fridge freezer because every fridge comes with a freezer no matter the size. So save a breath or two for later on in life
By the way, those faucets are really useful, and not that much. I got mine recently on amazon, and even going for a better one and being picky about it, it was only like $60-80 (I was also looking for lead free, I don't know why that's not mandatory, and even ones that say "lead free" may legally have small amounts. Apparently the lead is used on purpose to make certain alloys easier to work as far as metalworking.) It's often made in China anyways, so I would imagine they're pretty widely available. (I also have a showerhead that uses European threadsize, it just needed a little adapter, so maybe something like that might work if it's not already fitting as is.)
I’ve always believed that the stone and brick construction commonly found in Europe is likely the reason air conditioning isn’t as prevalent. Their houses stay cooler in the summer. As for garbage disposals, they seem like more of a trend from the 1980s or 1990s and appear to be falling out of favour. I removed mine several years ago because I got tired of dealing with clogged pipes.
Garbage disposals are common, but normally they are installed where you are connected to the local sewer system. When you have a septic tank, it's not as common due to the fact that the debris must be able to decompose fairly fast or the tank will back-up. I didn't have one installed in my home, only because I just compost the organic waste and give the meat scraps to the wildlife. I'm sure that will trigger a Karen or a Chad, but that doesn't affect me. lol
Not all of us have more than one car or have air conditioning, a garbage disposal, an ice maker, a recliner, more than one tv, or live in such a large home. This is not typical, this is her family’s normal.
Why do Brits keep saying the U.S. uses two pronged plugs, as if we don’t have grounded outlets? Not all appliances require a ground circuit, but for those that do the, plug has three prongs. The primary difference is U.K. and European houses are wired for 240 volts and houses in North America are wired for 120 volts, which is why the plugs are different.
Everyone has screens on the widows but everyone doesn't have central air, garbage disposals aren't for throwing away food waste just scrape from a scaped plate, it goes in the sewer, not everyone has ice maker, most people have the handled recliner, she is correct about all the t,v,'s.
Garbage disposals are between the sink drain and the pipes leaving the house that connect to the sewage system. If you are outside of town and don't connect to a central sewage system and have a septic system then garbage disposals shouldn't be used.
I thought she would mention closets. I've heard that you're more likely to have armoires and dressers than a built-in closet in Europe. I live in a tiny 750 sq. ft. 2- bedroom place with a full bath, garage, and mud room/laundry room, and I have 3 TVs.😂 The one in my living room in 50". The one in my bedroom that swings so that I can see it on my treadmill or stationary bike, or on the top bunk of my queen-sized adult bunk bed is 32", and I have a small 26" flip-down TV installed on the bottom bunk with a sound bar. I'm so particular about having the right entertainment environment that I custom-build most of my furniture.😂 This American likes to make what I can't buy.
I think the houses in the UK are very quaint. No we have the 3 prong outlets. My home having been built in 1832 I don't have the more modern ammentities because it's on the Preservation Society protection. It's beautiful but I wish I could have a dishwasher. I couldn't live without my central air conditioning.
I'm about to build a smaller home for retirement. I won't put in air conditioning, I haven't needed it in Montana. The crank out windows have the screens on the inside. I'm not a big ice fan. I was in Germany at 18 and just got used to no ice. I want it cold though. We had 6 tvs in my house when the kids were here and my mother in law was here. Now we have 2 everyone just watches on devices now.
I'm probably stating the obvious here, but this woman's mother is affluent. This is a *very* high-end house. Most Americans may have certain things, like window screens or air-conditioning (even if it's only a window unit) but most other things seem over-the-top to me. I've never lived in a house like that.
Nope, the garbage disposals just grind up the food debris and sends it straight thru the regular plumbing into the regular sewer lines and to the sewage treatment plants. The reason why garbage disposals aren't really a thing in Europe is because y'all don't apparently have the infrastructure to deal with the food waste in your sewage systems.
Bro, my first house i owned was built in 1955. The widows swung outwards by turning a crank handle so the screen was on the inside.
Casement windows (windows that open out) almost always have screens in the US. The screens are on the inside and hand operated cranks drive the windows open and closed. They are very energy efficient and the screens can easily be cleaned with a vacuum. They are a great choice.
This kitchen sink faucet shown here is just but one style out of countless others. What someone like her needs to do is to go to a home improvement center store, like Home Depot, Lowe's, or Menards, and show everybody the plethora of different faucets, ceiling fans, and lighting fixtures we have available. Just know that we have a crazy selection of just about everything for our houses. And the technology is constant improving as well.
Regarding window screens to keep the bugs out. Yes, in America, 99% of our windows slide up-and-down. So a screen is installed on the outer frame so that it doesn't interfere with the operation of the window and we get all that wonderful fresh air. But if you have windows that all open outward, what you can do is install your screen from the inside, because if the window is either closed or swung out, and does not swing inward, you still have a screen. So windows that open outward should not deter you from having screens.
At my late parents', now my sister's house where I grew up, there were several windows that cranked out, and we had screens for them as well, no problem.
Screens are always brought up as a big curiosity. Or some people completely misunderstand that we are a country of a great many insects. Britain is very fortunate to have far fewer mosquitos.! Why don't thinking people, consider factual reasons for needing screens. Or A/C is necessary in many of our states . They require A/C to actually stay alive. 112 F. Day and night is a must. We are a large country with many temperature ranges . Look at the weather changes within all of Europe alone .
Too bad the rest of the world haven’t smartened up
Easy easy, screens on the inside when you have casement windows! Also, the screens can be removable, so you take them off or slide them up when you don't want them.
That is a big house with some upscale features.
Finding out they didn't have a window screen in my Airbnb over the pond was an unpleasant wake-up call. So many bugs that morning. Horrifying.
When I was living with my parents, we had 3 TVs. One in the living room where the whole family could watch TV, one upstairs in my brothers room for me and my brothers to play video games, and one in the basement for my sisters to play video games. Now that I'm living on my own, I only had 1 TV until recently. I just won a TV from work that I haven't set up yet.
You don't empty garbage disposals. They grind up biodegradable food that's soft or semi soft, but not bones or tough skins like banana peels normally. It prevents animals from getting attracted to your trash cans outside.
I call it a garburator.. don’t put celery in it. Too stringy.
I've been told by a plumber not to put things like egg shell the in it either cuz it'll eventually do you garbage disposal in
Garbage disposals empty direct to outflow line (waste//sewage), but are not normally made to handle egg shells or bones.
You really shouldn't put rice or pasta down it either.
You can put eggshells in the disposal.
@@Merlinherk they take egg shells. They help sharpen the blades as do ice cubes
@@jpack85 cause....
Also, never put anything starchy like potato peels or rice down there. They will clog your pipes for sure.
Kabir, a garbage disposer is basically a heavy-duty blender that empties into the sewage pipe.
You don't need to empty out the garbage disposal. It's made to process certain foods so it can go into the home's wastewater pipes and be carried out with all other sewage. It will not store food. It just needs to be properly maintained like any other kitchen appliance, like a dishwasher, and it should be deodorized and cleaned periodically, like maybe once a week.
We have screens on our windows that swing outward (they are fairly common... we call them "casement" windows, as opposed to the "double hung" style that slide vertically). They're just on the inside instead of the outside. Also, before insulated double/triple pane glass came about, in the colder parts of the US it was very common to seasonally add a separate layer of glass to our windows (aka, a "storm window"). Screens were included with the storm window as an alternative to the extra glass panel and were either seasonally interchanged or had their own sliding panels that could be deployed as needed.
LOL...we're empty nesters and we have nine TVs in the house. We don't watch them at the same time but they're available when we're in those rooms. Five of them are used regularly... Family room, kitchen, office, master BR and garage. The others aren't used often, but they're there when needed, such as for guests. We never went out and bought these TVs specifically for these rooms... Virtually all of the them are pass-downs as certain TV locations are upgraded over the years.
We also have four cars between the two of us. We each have a primary vehicle (a sedan and a mid-size SUV), but I also have a 29 year old compact pickup that's great for occasional trips to the home center, and my wife has a 21 year old VW Beetle convertible that's more or less a toy for her. None of the vehicles were purchased new
except for the '96 pickup.
BTW, we are a solidly middle class, middle income family and not even remotely considered as wealthy.
Listen, all due respect to home girl here but I don’t think that 6 TVs in one house is necessarily normal lol. I have one in my home, I don’t like a TV in the bedroom. My parents have two, I think. It’s possible that there might be a TV in the main living space, one in each occupied bedroom, maybe one on the deck or garage for entertaining/sports watching?
I also think multiple cars for one person isn’t the norm. My parents have multiple cars but they’re collectors (and upper middle class). I have one car. My partner has one car. I think that’s a pretty typical set up.
I have two vehicles. One a Toyota Camry and a RAM 1500 4x4. I drive the Toyota in the summer and the RAM in the winter. I live in Montana so rather necessary. The truck is more comfortable to drive, but the Toyota is double the gas mileage.
I live in a rural area. Nobody with their own septic system has a garbage disposal. It's not good to fill the septic systems with organic materials. People who live in towns where they have sewer systems sometimes have disposals. Around here, it is mostly city transplant people who have disposals.
Not necessarily. t my late parents', now my sister's house where I grew up, there's a septic system and we always had a garbage disposal.
@@pamelabennett9057Doesn't mean they should have. It's bad for the septic system and against most county codes.
You don't see window screens in the UK because there's a window/screen tax that surprisingly no one seems to know about. So I guess they are just so used to not having them they don't question why.
And the garbage disposal is for kitchen scraps to use when you rinse off the dishes. It grinds it up and goes down the drain into the sewer line to the treatment plant. You don't want to put things like bones in it. Just what you rinse off the dishes and biodegradable food waste.
Re Window tax, it was abolished in 1851, and had nothing to do with screens.
I suggest England does not have screens, we don't really need them, few flying bugs, note this is not true of Scotland, I don't know why they don't have/use screens.
In many parts of Europe garbage disposals are illegal for environmental reasons.
I'm pretty sure you can have them in UK but they are rare.
I live in NYC and air conditioning in your car and house is a necessity! Humid and hot in the summer in NYC!
It’s so uncomfortable here in NYC without AC
Notice that she used the word "autumn."
Although "fall" MAY be the default choice in the US "autumn" is very, very commonly heard.
100% another myth perpetrated online, people use autumn and fall interchangeably
The sprayer on the sink..late 60's here. As for the garbage disposal you run water before you turn it on and it grinds the food into nothingness and leaves through an exit pipe to the sewer system
Kabir, get you a window AC unit . Great for small apartments .
Regarding the AC, you are correct, it often gets quite hot here in the US. When there are heat waves (3+ days over 90 degrees) it can be dangerous, particularly for the elderly and small children if they don't have sufficient cooling available. In my area, free air conditioners are provided for at-risk individuals who need them to prevent heat stroke.
Some clarifications : Large mailboxes are limited to deep suburbs and rural areas where the letter carriers are riding their route in vehicles. In urban areas and inner suburbs the letter carriers walk from door to door. Many older homes still have mail slots [aka letter boxes] but most will have a box or basket on the wall next to the front door. I'm lucky, if I need to mail something, there's an official US Postal Service Drop Box right outside the front door of my apartment building.
It should be obvious that her family's home is in an expensive suburb. It's on a large lot, overlooking a lake.
We have all types of windows in the US : standard, casement, sliders, windows that open in, or out. Screens can be fitted to ANY style of window.
A garbage disposal is similar in design to a food processor. It literally pulverizes food into tiny particles and then flushes it down the drain.
Another difference with US kitchens is that the washer and dryer are NOT under the kitchen counter. They're in a separate laundry room.
There are refrigerators that have an interactive screen on the door.
I banned having a tv in the living room, dining room and bedroom. We have one in the basement and our computers function as tvs if we need them in the kitchen or wherever. But most people have the tv in the room where they have the most seating so they can have it available to watch.
When I redid my kitchen I put in a single bowl stainless sink and absolutely love it. My son persuaded me to put in a garbage disposal because "everyone expects one" so I did get a really good one and had it properly installed by a plumber. You gotta be careful what you send down them, no stringy veggies (celery, swiss chard stalks), no bones, big globs of fats, but it sure makes a difference what goes into the trash. It's really nice in summer, because there's not much in the trash that can start to rot.
Ice makers can be tricky but they are nice to have.
Screens are mandated by municipal code in most if not all of the US. Especially since the Nile virus and other mosquito-born diseases showed up. Garbage disposals go directly into the sewage system or the septic system. They're built for it. In NYC garbage disposals are (or were when I moved away in 1989) illegal because the sewage system is too old and not built for it.
There are some local that mandate screens be installed, and some local laws require that the owners of rental unites replace screens. Regulations requiring them are more common than I would have imagined, but welcome to the nanny state.
NYC lifted the ban on garbage disposals in 1997, though many apartment buildings won't allow them.
The fear that they would somehow stress the existing sewer systems was not grounded in reality. They pose zero increased risks to existing sewer systems. If flushing food particles less than 2mm in size down existing sewer lines causes that line to fail than imagine what solid human waste and wads of paper will do. The same hold true for sewer treatment.. If food particles pollute in the sewer pollutes the environment think what it does in a landfill. Besides if it does that municipal waste treatment plant is illegal anyway.
In cities, especially densely packed ones like NYC, disposals actually create healthier environments. Less rotting food on the sidewalks and less disease carrying rodents.
Five TVs is rare in the United States, but three are pretty common. Americans probably buy more things on credit which is why they can afford two or three cars and numerous TVs.
Nah. That's just your peer group.
No, not every home has a garbage disposal, especially homes with septic systems for the sewage. They aren't that convenient. They are always getting clogged and breaking, having to be replaced. And you have to be very careful not to lose the silverware go down it. Ruins the forks and spoons and also the disposal. All in all, often mire trouble than they are worth.
Native New Yorker here. Never had a garbage disposal and never knew anyone who had one.
Also in america we can access our ice Without having to open the freezer door because there is a slot on the outside that you can put a glass into and it will then automatically fill your glass with ice without ever having to open and close your freezer door. Thus, you almost never open up the freezer door to access ice from the internal bucket unless you have a big party or something where you are feeling multiple glasses. At 1 time or possibly filling a large bowl to put on the table, so people can take as much as they want or as little as they want. My wife and I can hardly remember the last time. We ever got our ice anywhere except through the opening in the door.
Yes many of us in the UK have that too, not just rich people.
@@charlottehardy822
Excellent comment. Good to know. Thank you.
It's very possible to put a screen on a window that opens out. You have a screen hinged on the side that opens in making it easy to crank the window handle or push or pull the window to open or close it. Or I've also seen screens with small openings where the window handle is. Screens started being used in the US in the early 20 th century, I think, because of the danger of malaria.
There is nothing such as to much ice!!!!!
Less bugs because they have traveled to the US. Garbage disposals, you have to maintain, but I have one. Lol. I have recliners too. I must have a television in my kitchen.
Listen, it depends where you live and your income most of the time to get that big Island. Cabinets cost a fortune. We have two prong and 3 prong outlets. The voltage is different in the US than in the UK
I live in Alabama. You would die of heat stroke if you did not have an air conditioner. Seriously, the main transformer in the city I live in needed replacement. The whole city was without electricity during the hottest month in the year which is July or August. Elderly were sitting outside on their porches all night because it was hotter inside. Ambulances were called in some cases.
Regarding the house, it's nice but her parents have likely had it for decades and got it at a reasonable cost due to it being more out in the country. My parents bought their house for less than 10% of what we sold it for after they passed. They had lived in it for nearly 55 years.
I think more Americans have their mailboxes on the front of their house next to the front door. I can put outgoing mail on the front of my
mailbox held by a clothespin and the mail carrier picks it up when he/she delivers the mail. I don't have to go anywhere to mail a letter, etc.
I buy stamps online from the USPS- US postal service, and they arrive 3-4 days later.
While it's common to have both, and if I had to choose, I'd rather have the garbage disposal than the dishwasher.
You don't have to clean out the disposal. It just "magically" gets washed away.
You've never used disposal cleaner???
@@wolfe6220 The question was more about cleaning out a trap or something like that. Wasn't it? We don't have to do that. Of course I've freshened the disposal with a cleaner. I've also done it with lemons. I clean that rubbery chute all the time, and clean the rim it snaps into. I'm actually obsessed with cleaning out all sorts of appliances. I am mad about cleaning the dishwasher and washing machine as well. I can't stand a stinky anything.
6:58 - If your weather is warming up, you'll start seeing more bugs as the years go on.
1960 - Deddington England staying at a hotel. They had ONE tray of ice for the entire hotel.
I have AC but even in the Summer I only use it maybe 50% of days. A fan works for the rest. I like fresh air but good to have AC when you need it.
I think that people need to remember that it gets really hot here in the US especially in the South and in the southwestern part of the country and it is just crazy hot like I live in Colorado and just this past summer we had temperatures in the three digits Fahrenheit having no air conditioning would be terrible
Growing up we had a TV in: living room, kitchen, family room, my parents bedroom, my bedroom, 2 guest rooms, and garage.
I have a window in the kitchen behind, the sink. It has a crank at the bottom. The glass is 2 vertical sections that open in-ward, the screen is on the outside.
That's a question a lot of Brits ask when they do videos like this and garbage disposals are discussed. If you look below a kitchen sink, you'll see all the drain lines, and a garbage disposal. There's a drain line that runs from the garbage disposal to the main drain. It just forms a T connection so that when you put stuff down the garbage disposal, you need to run your water faucet pushing the button that turns the disposal on. The disposal chews up the material you put in there, and the combination of the drainage water going into the disposal with the solids that you are chewing up. What happens Is it becomes a slushy liquid material that then exits the garbage disposal and enters the drain line. So, you never have to empty a garbage disposal, or check to see if it's full.
It's simple, you take your waste material, put it down the disposal, Turn on your water, then push the disposal button thus allowing it to be exited through the main drain. No fuss, no muss.
The garbage disposal also eliminates a kitchen from developing any odors. Because anything that rots or decays will have been flushed through the disposal before. It even had a chance to reach that stage.
You've never used garbage disposal cleaner??
@@wolfe6220
I'm not sure what you mean about using a cleaner for garbage disposal based on my comment. Because it should be clear from what I wrote that the way garbage disposals work makes sure that there are no odors in the kitchen that would occur. If you threw away any material that we put down the disposal but instead put it in their garbage in the kitchen. And if it's not removed within a day. It ends up having an odor obviously. Anyway, the basic point I was making is that there is no odor in a kitchen from decaying material because it's disposed of through the disposal, so you don't need to clean it. The question most people have from other countries is whether or not there is an odor because they picture us in America, putting it down the drain and then the disposal just holding it and then we have to empty it. They were unaware that it actually runs through your drain out of the house. So
Anyway, I'm not sure if I understood you properly but I just wanted to note that I was not saying that a disposal needs cleaner, but rather that the disposal gets rid of the food so fast it doesn't need a cleaner.
Swingout windows are called 'casement' windows and they used to be popular here - in the '40s & '50s. AND they had screens as well. The screens are mounted inside of the window casing vs. the outside, so simple. Here, a building without window and door screens is called a 'barn' and is typically used to house farm animals. ;-)
Garbage disposals are sort of a mixed bag. There are things you never want to put in them like egg shells, celery (stringy foods), potato peels usually aren't a good idea either. Those items tend to collect and clog the drain, causing you to have to remove the drain trap below the sink and clear the obstruction. What disposals are predominantly handy for is when you're cleaning pots, pans, serving dishes, plates, bowls, etc. They have a spinning 'flail' blade inside that grinds up the bits and pieces as the water from the tap flushes them down the drain.
Yes, not having fenced or walled front yards is actually the norm. The only time you'd see that here in the US is if the house is a part of a large estate or mansion where the owner wants more privacy. But yeah, seeing everyone's front yard, with all the added greenery is like you said, adding to the aesthetic to the place. A well kept lawn with interesting landscaping "pods" (like flower or rock gardens, water fountains, or rock pathways, with strategic lighting) can really make one's yard pop. For decades we had this two railed wooden post fence in our front yard just on the house side of the drainage ditch line, and it made our yard unique to the rest of the neighborhood, but after about 45 years, it has rotted to the point of ugliness, tbh, and this past Summer, we took it out. My dad put it in back around 1976, or '77, as I was just a little tyke at the time, (I'm 51 now) and so like I said, it was just looking pretty sad. However at each end of this fence we had flower gardens and we left those little sections of fence, for now at least. Might take them down this year though. But anyway...yeah. A good well kept lawn is a source of a bit of pride if you will. The thing with most houses, even in town or cities, is that they come with a pretty decent sized yard. Especially corner lots. And ironically for some reason, corner lot houses tend to go abandoned a lot. I watch a lot of Lawn Care content creators on RUclips, and the ratio of abandoned corner lot properties to middle of the street ones is probably 3 out 5. At least. Don't really know what it is. Maybe because the former occupants couldn't take care of the bigger lawns because you will have sidewalks running along two sides of your property and taking care of all that if you don't have the equipment can get overwhelming. And unlike the UK, the property owner is responsible for the area around the sidewalks, including the sidewalks themselves. Which includes edging them whenever the grass overgrows the pavement, and pressure washing them when they get dirty.
❌. Stayed in a hotel in Kensington for a week in July a few years back. No AC in the whole hotel. It was hell. Don't see how the Brits can do it. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The house I grew up in had casement windows, i.e. crank out. The screens were on the inside.
Garbage disposals are more for hand washing dishes or pots and pans. The stuff
scraped off can go down the disposal. Using it generally leads to clogged drains.
Yes we have those windows in the us that open out...they put the screen before the window with an area for the crank handle. By 5he way Google UK carries window ac's
Hi,Kabir! I enjoy your videos a lot.The ones on word differences,tv shows and things in American houses are my favorites.
If they wanted to, they could revamp the windows to be efficient and to have screens. It's the same with dryers. They have to want to. It can be, and it should be done. I'm odd, I only have one TV and it's never turned on unless the weather gets bad. I don't use ice really, but my fridge does make it, and I will always use my garbage disposal. That is something I won't live without again.
I live in Arizona and I'm seeing more bugs especially in the winter. We technically have 5 TV's in our 2 bedroom apartment. One in our living room but then we also have one that is used as our doorbell monitor when someone comes to the main entrance of our building but that one can also be turned into a TV if needed. Then we have 2 TV's in the master bedroom and one in the spare bedroom.
As a Canadian, the only thing we don't usually see here is the garbage disposal unit in the sink. Many people have TVs in their bedrooms as well as the living room.
And speaking of technology, they make furniture now with all sorts of modern amenities, such as cup holder, mobile device charging ports, LED light sticks for reading, and even built-in speakers for your Surround Sound systems. They'll put the Sub in the separate ottoman.
The garbage disposal drains to the sewer system. She should have had the water running to show how the bits are flushed down the drain.
We have three prong plugs as well especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. AC doesn't blast in my house, it's set at a temperature that makes it comfortable, but not cold, because I don't like the cold. I live in the city and even with screens, flies, mosquitos, no see ums and gnats still get in the house, I couldn't imagine not having screens. Yes, to much ice is possible.
We in UK don't have sockets in bathrooms as they are considered dangerous because of the wet atmosphere. Our voltage is different to USA that may be another reason. I saw a picture online of an outlet on a wall beside the cistern. Danger of being electrocuted.
Canadian here. We desperately need those screens. Even in the few seconds it takes to go through a door and slam it shut behind you, the bugs are faster.
Electrical outlets have 3 holes. Some plugs have 2 prongs. Others have 3.
That number of TVs is not typical :)
Correct. Neither is the number of cars.
I've got a lot of TVs. Although my office area im in now has a switch so the tv and computer monitors can switch to either screen for gaming or RUclips. Ive been in a house where the family room has several tvs so both children can use their game systems with headphones sitting on the couch playing different games
I can't imagine having no air conditioning. If I am home, I want to be comfortable. Having no screens blows my mind. It is such an easy and inexpensive way to not have bugs in your home. Mosquitoes and ticks carry disease. Spiders are gross. Why would people not block them from their home? We have 11 tvs in our house lol.
Lots of Americans have no AC. It's a total myth that it's everywhere. Where I live we have no need for it.
@@docsavage8640 I grew up in the south in an older house and we didn't have AC and it was absolute hell in the summers. We eventually got some window units but ironically when I went to college I went to Florida State and lived in one of the last dorms to be renovated so it had no AC. You got to know everyone because we all kept our doors open with fans in the window.
What's peoples' ideas of hot? I've found 83 °F (28.33 °C) is the hottest before where I officially want AC (would probably put it on a little before that, but that's more or less "comfortable enough if you're not moving around"). It's been up to around 104 °F (40 °C) (idk the record here). This is Washington state, USA. (Where it's currently below freezing)
Washingtonian here too (Seattle area) and we have gotten over 110° here. Like you I don’t turn AC on until about 85°. It is very nice to have when it does get above that!
Water has to be running while you’re operating the garbage disposal & if you don’t want clogged pipes you don’t put large amounts of pasta, rice down it. It doesn’t do bones. Basically you use it to rinse off your dishes after a meal & what’s left on your plate, minus bones, goes down it. If I’m throwing away leftovers from the fridge, that goes into a bio degradable bag & into our compostable trash bin outside, if you’re in a city that offers that…if not they go into your garbage. The disposal is not for large amounts of food, if you want to avoid a plumber bill to unclog your drains.
Great reaction. Looks like the weather is changing there too. I’m not good at sleeping when it’s hot either!
Any type of window can be can have the frame design to handle a screen.
My only problem with UK homes is the lack of closets. I grew up in a 140 yr house with no closets and I could never go back to wardrobes. In SC we called them chifferobes, but I don’t know why
I found the lack of fluoride toothpaste a bigger issue.
We only have four TV's for the three of us in our small home, one in the living room and one in each of our three bedrooms.
"Bigger houses", outside city environments, suburbia and planned housing subdivisions it is much rarer here in the States to find a multi-storey house. Sprawling single storey buildings in rural areas make the housing feel larger. A/C became more common in widespread use in the 1980's. This house, built in '76 did not originally have central air, instead it had two large fans that drew air from inside the house to outside via the attic. Open the windows (with screens, sash windows like in the video) and ventilate. In summertime, where the night time temperature might drop as low as 26°c with 80% humidity, aircon became a very desirable option to have; cooling and drying the air inside the house.
I don't have a garbage disposal, as others state, it clogs up the grease trap and/or septic system. On city sewers it is a viable option, but a lot of American rural municipal areas don't have sewers.
She laughed in the video about the kitchen cabinet, but while cable TV had analog signals on it, adding a TV set was an easy venture (no cable company "set-top" box), and a small TV sat on a counter, or later on LCD fold-down panel TV hidden up under the cabinet was a common thing. I still have a cable coming out the bottom of the cabinets in this kitchen.
Our area mandates a mailbox at a certain height and distance from the road that the mail carrier can just lean out of their window (mail vehicles are right hand drive for this reason) and place letters and small packages in without getting out. This significantly speeds up the delivery because a lot of rural routes cover many miles for few houses. Depends on the area but most people have no problem with a mailbox at the road, tampering with someone else's mail is a Federal crime and carries quite heavy penalties if discovered and convicted. Most people here don't lock their houses unless they're leaving for several days, some people still leave their keys in their cars. In a lot of small towns that's still quite common. It's a different way of life than a lot of the UK. Mostly down to population density, I think.
Outside of town/estates it's fairly common to have an average of more than one vehicle per licensed driver. I have a pick-up truck as a utility vehicle which can also carry 5 people about, but also a 25 year old car that I'll just throw the miles on to keep the average miles on the new vehicle down. There's definitely less of a stigma associated with driving an older car if it's kept in good condition. Cars hold their value better here than in the UK also, this car would be in the £200-500 range there; here it's still valued in the $4000 bracket. Holding on to cars longer also attributes to the "more than one car", as the hand me down will often end up in the hands of any younger members of the family. There's no public transport in this area so a car is a must. Saves being stuck at home when the kids have taken the car someplace.
And yes, finally. This house was originally wired without ground (two hole outlets) but was updated- the wiring scheme is disallowed by UK standards, with ground bonded to neutral. Newer builds will have a local ground spike which the ground pin is connected to, however. This house has ground fault flashover protection though.
One thing also on that front, the closer you get to the southern coasts, the more likely the house is to have a generator, after a big storm try imagine being without power for a couple of weeks...
This looks to me like a rural area and an older house, perhaps bought by her parents as a vacation home and later when they retired they moved there permanently. It's not as large as many newer homes; the kitchen / living area seems small and the bedrooms cramped, but the kitchen has been updated. If they bought it decades ago it was probably not that expensive, but with that location on the lake it must be appraised pretty high, and I bet they are paying a lot of property tax (depending what state they are in).
Did any other American (used to garbage disposals) cringe when she turned that on with no water running in it? Is it just me? Lol
And for Kabir (like some others might have said), you don’t have to empty your garbage disposal, it’s attached to the main drain from the sink and just grinds the appropriate stuff down small enough to go into your normal wastewater sink drains.
Yes! I was thinking if you’re going to show them how it turns on at least do it properly! Water running is essential!
Yes we have a huge theater room and in addition 3 more TVs in the rest of the house.
Tricks we used in the south before ac: place a bowl of ice in front of the fan, spritz your sleepwear with ice water or sleep naked etc
We were a family of 4 growing up. My parents, and me and my sister. When all of us were of driving age, in 1993, we had 5 vehicles. Our own personal vehicle, and an old beater backup in case one of ours broke down. Now, since I'm the only one left in the household...(mom died in 2014, dad in 2024, sister is living elsewhere) I only have one vehicle....a brand new 2025 Honda Odyssey mini-van, that I bought back on Dec. 10th. I had to trade in my 2016 Ford F150 which I hated to do, because I could no longer get into it to drive it. 😢 And the new van is actually replacing our old 2008 Odyssey.
I forget...what was it last summer by you...I should check 92! Last September on the 9th. Yep ac weather. I do remember parts of the Uk crying because it was 70 too
I have three TVs in my apartment. One for the living room, and one for each bedroom.
I don't know the full reasoning, but i think no fences in the front yard adds to the "curbside value" of a home. Basically if it looks good from the street you might be able to sell it for a higher price versus if the street view is entirely blocked by a fence.
Granted, if you live in a busy place that might actually be a selling point if you want privacy
It's called a refrigerator or fridge. Not fridge freezer because every fridge comes with a freezer no matter the size. So save a breath or two for later on in life
The garbage disposal just washes garbage bits down the drain to the waste water plant
In a lot of neighborhoods you're not allowed to put fences in the front yard.
By the way, those faucets are really useful, and not that much. I got mine recently on amazon, and even going for a better one and being picky about it, it was only like $60-80 (I was also looking for lead free, I don't know why that's not mandatory, and even ones that say "lead free" may legally have small amounts. Apparently the lead is used on purpose to make certain alloys easier to work as far as metalworking.) It's often made in China anyways, so I would imagine they're pretty widely available. (I also have a showerhead that uses European threadsize, it just needed a little adapter, so maybe something like that might work if it's not already fitting as is.)
we have 2 and 3 prong plugs
Sink water goes to the waste water with toilet and shower/bath water. We have 3 people and 5 TVs.
Kabir,n most American houses the says have three prongs. The third is a grounding wire.
You can buy a Air-conditioning unit from the U.S. it's the same 220 plug. It will fit right in. Cheap if you want i can mail you one
I’ve always believed that the stone and brick construction commonly found in Europe is likely the reason air conditioning isn’t as prevalent. Their houses stay cooler in the summer.
As for garbage disposals, they seem like more of a trend from the 1980s or 1990s and appear to be falling out of favour. I removed mine several years ago because I got tired of dealing with clogged pipes.
Garbage disposals are common, but normally they are installed where you are connected to the local sewer system. When you have a septic tank, it's not as common due to the fact that the debris must be able to decompose fairly fast or the tank will back-up. I didn't have one installed in my home, only because I just compost the organic waste and give the meat scraps to the wildlife. I'm sure that will trigger a Karen or a Chad, but that doesn't affect me. lol
I have 3 tvs and there's only me and I actually only watch tv on my phone. The tvs are for when the grandkids come over.
Not all of us have more than one car or have air conditioning, a garbage disposal, an ice maker, a recliner, more than one tv, or live in such a large home. This is not typical, this is her family’s normal.
To be clear ... there is no air conditioning AND no screens on the windows?
Why do Brits keep saying the U.S. uses two pronged plugs, as if we don’t have grounded outlets? Not all appliances require a ground circuit, but for those that do the, plug has three prongs. The primary difference is U.K. and European houses are wired for 240 volts and houses in North America are wired for 120 volts, which is why the plugs are different.
Everyone has screens on the widows but everyone doesn't have central air, garbage disposals aren't for throwing away food waste just scrape from a scaped plate, it goes in the sewer, not everyone has ice maker, most people have the handled recliner, she is correct about all the t,v,'s.
Garbage disposals are between the sink drain and the pipes leaving the house that connect to the sewage system. If you are outside of town and don't connect to a central sewage system and have a septic system then garbage disposals shouldn't be used.
I have 5 TVs. 1 in each bedroom, which is 4, and 1 in the living room.
I thought she would mention closets. I've heard that you're more likely to have armoires and dressers than a built-in closet in Europe. I live in a tiny 750 sq. ft. 2- bedroom place with a full bath, garage, and mud room/laundry room, and I have 3 TVs.😂 The one in my living room in 50". The one in my bedroom that swings so that I can see it on my treadmill or stationary bike, or on the top bunk of my queen-sized adult bunk bed is 32", and I have a small 26" flip-down TV installed on the bottom bunk with a sound bar. I'm so particular about having the right entertainment environment that I custom-build most of my furniture.😂 This American likes to make what I can't buy.
I am 78 years alone and I have 5 TVs in my main home and 2 TVs in my vacation home.
I think the houses in the UK are very quaint. No we have the 3 prong outlets. My home having been built in 1832 I don't have the more modern ammentities because it's on the Preservation Society protection. It's beautiful but I wish I could have a dishwasher. I couldn't live without my central air conditioning.
My Lazy Boy still has a handle
Old Skool 👍
I'm about to build a smaller home for retirement. I won't put in air conditioning, I haven't needed it in Montana. The crank out windows have the screens on the inside. I'm not a big ice fan. I was in Germany at 18 and just got used to no ice. I want it cold though. We had 6 tvs in my house when the kids were here and my mother in law was here. Now we have 2 everyone just watches on devices now.
I have 3 TV’s in Texas and I live alone. Living room, master bedroom, guest bedroom.
New American homes have three-prong outlets.
I'm probably stating the obvious here, but this woman's mother is affluent. This is a *very* high-end house. Most Americans may have certain things, like window screens or air-conditioning (even if it's only a window unit) but most other things seem over-the-top to me. I've never lived in a house like that.
‘Every house has a garbage disposal “…..very misleading
Way more bugs in the US. Screens are a must.
It's not hard to achieve at all. We've had window screens and screen doors since 1860?
Nope, the garbage disposals just grind up the food debris and sends it straight thru the regular plumbing into the regular sewer lines and to the sewage treatment plants. The reason why garbage disposals aren't really a thing in Europe is because y'all don't apparently have the infrastructure to deal with the food waste in your sewage systems.
I have three pronged sockets. Have for years.