The 'best room' in a student house.

What are things to watch out for? I'm going to be living in a house of 6, with 2bedrooms downstairs and 4 upstairs.

Sizewise they're all similar. Downstairs slightly bigger but nearer the kitchen/lounge etc. Upstairs are all within close proximity of each other though which could be equally noisy.

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas of things to generally watch out for (I appreciate it's hard when you haven't seen the house..) before we all state preferences. Thanks!

Reply 1

Cheshire_Cat

I'd go for an upstairs one which is only next to one bedroom, not next to the bathroom, and not above the living room or kitchen. Dunno if you could be that specific though :tongue:

Reply 2

History-Student

If you have a downstairs bathroom snag one of them, never need to deal with stairs (it was all that was missing from my first student house).

Reply 3

Liam 09

Upstairs so you don't have to hear squeaking springs from above.

Reply 4

benjical

If you have lots of stuff and like more space- the bigger room downstairs.... but from personal experience it is quite annoying if drunk housemates come home and knock on the door (or window if you're in a front room) to let them in... or when they pass out in the corridor :/

Reply 5

josh_v

How many bathrooms?

If there is 2 bathrooms, 1 up and 1 down, then i would suggest going for the downstairs bedroom.

Obv depends on the size of the house but the kitchen isnt normally a noisy place and also ive found with student houses that most people dont tend to spend a lot of time in the communal rooms such as living room.

Reply 6

Mr. Orange

the one with the fridge in

Reply 7

Tommyjw

Room for a mini fridge.

How many shelves etc.

Closeness to a bathroom

How are away the desk is to the bed (considering you have a desktop like me, raaaathheerr not have to have my monitor miles away when i wanna watch a film )

Reply 8

caseyhayes

There's one bathroom on each floor. When I say downstairs, it's still up one set of stairs as the house is a maisonette so like an upper floor flat. So the stairs issue is either 1 flight or 2.. :p:

I was thinking being next to the kitchen and lounge etc might be louder.. and when I say downstairs rooms are bigger, we're talking about hardly any bigger than upstairs..

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 9

x-pixie-lottie-x

well... "best room" usually comes back to bite you on the arse.. (red can probably be skipped... its long winded and kind of pointless.. but iv written it now and its more words than my essay has so its there to stay lol)

our house is 4 bed on 3 floors

1st floor bedroom is gorgeous has coving and baywindow, is also the largest room of the house... i would of loved to of had it but one housemate had a drawing desk to fit in so she automatically got it... now im glad i didnt... so far this year she has had water from bathroom seeping through her ceiling, and radiators not working... also very noisy outside, and right next to lounge and kitchen and can hear everyword through the walls and washing machine! aswell as being able to hear every foot step upstairs...plus she always has to answer the door for cuz shes closest :biggrin:

which doesnt sound tooo bad till your realised its 8 am on satdy :P

2nd floor - the rooms noone really voted for... my rooms on this floor at front of house, right next to bathroom which is a pain because again noises travel... i can hear people peeing!!! lol but my room i feel is the best... only 1 set of stairs, double windows :smile:

2 wardrobes!!, other room on this floor... is ok... bit smaller than mine plus of not being by bathroom but is above lounge can hear tv through ceiling and if want to sneak away early from a party (we have friends who do not get the hint to leave!!) good buy any idea of sleep! also... it has a REALLY weird smell... hate it!! and noisey when bins are being collected at 7 am on a tues! x

3rd floor 1 room own bathroom... (well not ensuite but extra flight of stairs no thanks!!).... top of house so boiling hot in summer, but freeeeezing in winter... this is the other bigger room... but 2 flights of stairs... bleh... the number of times my housemate has sat here going oohh want my laptop/slippers/whatever... but its in my room :frown:

.... it sounds lazy but... i dont blame her... lol

anyway that was a long winded way of saying there probably isnt a better room... i think it generally all equals out... before we moved in id of given anything for the nice groundfloor room... now i wouldnt have it if you paid me :smile:

but what i would take into consideration - what rooms its next too.... lounge, kitchen, bathroom.... consider noise levels if your last to bed on a night wont be a bother, but if you like a early night... probably not good
also consider where washing machine is! i had basement room alst year... right below washing machine it was sooooo noisy! and people would come in drunk and put it on at 3 am!! 3 hour cycles.....
do you need a bigger room? or do they have the same storage? im very grateful that i ended up with the extra wardrobe... id be buggered if i didnt i dont have enough storage space as it is!
x

Reply 10

MagicNMedicine

Most students the first time they go for a house, equate "biggest" with "best". Come winter next year they will probably find that "biggest" is also "coldest".

I used to like attic rooms in student houses, they were usually smaller but warmer and you got a bit more privacy in them. When you are downstairs you are in the zone where everybody walks past and easy for people to be wanting to come and talk to all the time, it also gives you less privacy if you have a partner round and are within earshot of everybody milling around downstairs. The other problem with downstairs rooms is you are the unofficial receptionist for the house, if its the type of house where you have lots of people coming round then every time the doorbell rings you have to go and answer it and answer "is so and so in". Very annoying when people on the top floor have invited their mates round and they are coming in one by one, with you having to let each one in.

Never go in a converted basement room. A mate of mine lived in Sheffield in a converted basement and when they had floods a few years back he went back to his house and realised when he couldn't see the last couple of stairs at the bottom, for water, that he had a problem. He then found his laptop and x box submerged. Even if you don't get floods, you will end up with a chesty cough and also these rooms tend to have spiders, beetles and slugs in them.

If there's a noisy flatmate try and put yourself two floors away from them. Better still stop them being noisy from the start. If you have a noisy flatmate who annoys the neighbours then the neighbours will sometimes retaliate and you all suffer from it. Sometimes students who have lived in big detached houses back at home and have drum kits/PA systems bring these up to uni and don't realise that they cause problems in terraced houses.

Also in a terraced house be wary how thin the walls are, its not just shagging you have to watch out for, girls have a tendency to get carried away on the phone and you hear them bitching about other flatmates, with it echoing through the house.....

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 11

xoxAngel_Kxox

I know some people have said if there's a bathroom downstairs, go for a downstairs one, but I'd say the opposite! More people are likely to use the bathroom downstairs when they're in during the day, just judging from my past experiences.

Reply 12

metalthrashin'mad

Go for an upstairs one, because that way its less noisy outside (I find this anyway) meaning you can have the window open a bit at night

Reply 13

Arekkusu

Go as high up as you can, then, basically.

Reply 14

josh_v

I think it really depends on the individual house.

i.e. my gfs current house she is downstairs with one other guy. hes got the front room and shes got the second in the corridor. She does have a large window although it doesnt let in a huge amount of light. This said there is a staircase, store room and bathroom on the corridor between her room and the kitchen and living room.

Personally i think its the best room and would opt for something similar.

In this case, 4 people sharing 1 bathroom on the top floor would deffo make me want the downstairs room.

Reply 15

bestie

Attic rooms or as high as you can get!

We had this problem when we moved in, I fought for first choice though and got it due to having done all the running around to get the house. It does depend on what you want from a room though.

In our house:

I have the attic which is the second biggest with good views, a king sized bed, large storage closet, quiet and lots of privacy. This is great for me as my boyfriend visits every other weekend and I am the only one who has to get up at 6am for work so need my sleep.

Most people wanted the basement room which has an ensuite and patio doors. However, we now know it has slugs and spiders, is damp and dark, the paint is pealing and as it is under the living room and kitchen you can hear everything. The guy in it though is hardly ever in so it suits him.

There is a large downstairs room which is noisy because it is next to the lounge, and also has the boxes for electricity/gas and near the front door, so you constantly get disturbed. The guy in it loves it though, he plays lots of music, but as there are no other bedrooms no one minds, he also doesn't own a tv so being near the lounge is a bonus.

The 4th room is lovely and very big, no problems and the 5th room is really small and next to the bathroom, the girl in it isn't happy.

Reply 16

dance-to-the-music

DAMP. What I watched out for was damp patches on the walls (no innuendo intended...) cos that shows where condensation is getting in, and damp will give you problems, mould etc. I went with the downstairs room in my house and LOVE it cos its close the lounge and kitchen and stuff, best place ever :smile:

Reply 17

Blueflare

Upper floor, less noise from people coming and going, having to let people in, etc. Also if people hang out together downstairs, and you're in the next room, you can't escape it and have no privacy.
In my student house I had the smallest (and therefore warmest :biggrin:

) room upstairs at the back of the house, and it was awesome. Even considering that there was no bathroom up there so I had to go downstairs to pee, it was still the best. I would have hated the downstairs one which was right next to the lounge and the front door, never any peace or privacy.