# European housing - what's with all the doors and corridors? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713 "2019-01-14T01:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/141 "2019-01-17T17:47:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > For starters, everybody who’s ever rented one room. Or anybody who doesn’t have a dressing room. Wanna get even more shocked? In Europe, it’s common for people to share rooms with other people they don’t have sex with! There are families of six living in homes with three bedrooms and one bathroom. > > Wait… aren’t you also the poster who thought any hotel that doesn’t have a kitchenette in every room is a dumpster? > > Your main issue doesn’t seem to be even with “OMG how come Euros do things differently”, you begin by having problems with the concept of “population density”. And yeah, also with understanding that it’s called “abroad” because it’s not your backyard. Huh? You can take off your shoes when you enter your living quarters even if you only have one room. I don’t, but a lot of my friends do. It is nice to have a separate entry foyer to leave the shoes and coat in, but it’s not needed. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/142 "2019-01-17T17:54:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Huh? You can take off your shoes when you enter your living quarters even if you only have one room. I don’t, but a lot of my friends do. It is nice to have a separate entry foyer to leave the shoes and coat in, but it’s not needed. Of course you can take your shoes off even if you only rent one room, but that doesn’t mean there is someplace outside of your room to leave them. The original quote was " Who keeps shoes in the bedroom? Disgusting " and the answer is " lots of people, especially those who rent only a single room". Even people who don’t normally wear their shoes around the house/room/apartment have to store them somewhere and it’s not that uncommon for shoes to be stored in a bedroom closet. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/143 "2019-01-17T18:33:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > For starters, everybody who’s ever rented one room. Or anybody who doesn’t have a dressing room. Wanna get even more shocked? In Europe, it’s common for people to share rooms with other people they don’t have sex with! There are families of six living in homes with three bedrooms and one bathroom. > > Wait… aren’t you also the poster who thought any hotel that doesn’t have a kitchenette in every room is a dumpster? > > Your main issue doesn’t seem to be even with “OMG how come Euros do things differently”, you begin by having problems with the concept of “population density”. And yeah, also with understanding that it’s called “abroad” because it’s not your backyard. Shine on, you crazy diamond. I’m not unfamiliar with the idea of many people sharing living quarters. If there’s no other place to put their shoes, they leave them next to the entrance, not next to their beds. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, what’s disgusting about shoes? > > I keep my underwear in my bedroom, and that goes next to my _butt_. > > (No skid marks, though.) > [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > I have a laundry basket in my bedroom - the horror! Your own underwear and clothes are your own body’s filth. Shoes worn outside represents the filth of the entire world. Shoes belong next to the front door, whether or not there’s a closet there. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/144 "2019-01-17T19:12:25Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Shine on, you crazy diamond. I’m not unfamiliar with the idea of many people sharing living quarters. If there’s no other place to put their shoes, they leave them next to the entrance, not next to their beds. Which entrance? The entrance to the shared area? In many cases, that’s just not a very good idea. Fine if you’re a family sharing a house, but not when the people in the other rooms are borderline strangers. I lived in several shared houses for years; in that time, only one person regularly kept her shoes next to the door; they got kicked out into the street, had stuff spilt in them, dropped on them… Somewhere like that, you keep your stuff in your space, end of. My space was; my cupboard in the kitchen, my shelf in the fridge and my bedroom. Out of those options, I’m pretty sure the ‘bedroom’ option was the best. I often kept them by the entrance to the bedroom, if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/145 "2019-01-17T19:29:25Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Which entrance? The entrance to the shared area? Sure. Near the boundary between “outdoors” and “indoors.” > [@](#): > > In many cases, that’s just not a very good idea. Fine if you’re a family sharing a house, but not when the people in the other rooms are borderline strangers. > > I lived in several shared houses for years; in that time, only one person regularly kept her shoes next to the door; they got kicked out into the street, had stuff spilt in them, dropped on them… Sweet Lemony Lincoln. Let’s exclude circumstances in which you are forced to live with criminals. > [@](#): > > I often kept them by the entrance to the bedroom, if that helps. One makes do. Were I in a prison cell, I might cram my shoes into my asscrack. That’s not really the context I had in mind for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/146 "2019-01-17T19:59:47Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > elmers magical liquid > > these days its referred as a “mud room” because its where ya take all the damp wet stuff off when it rains and snows …here in the southern ca desert it rarely does either so they don’t build em and when it does rain ya either take em off outside or ya get wet and muddy floors …… Bleh it didn’t copy the before part where the quote where the entrance room was discussed that the opportunity responded to ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/147 "2019-01-17T20:12:18Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Sweet Lemony Lincoln. Let’s exclude circumstances in which you are forced to live with criminals. :rolleyes: Not sharing your cultural ideas means ‘criminal’ now? Ironically, the girl who left her shoes there was actually the resident thief, who would ‘borrow’ everyone else’s stuff, until she went too far and got kicked out. No one expected shoes to be by the door, hence the kicking them over (and into the street, in the dark) and dropping things on them. That is not where shoes were left. You kept your stuff in your space; that’s the rule. There is neither space for, nor expectation of, you having anywhere to put your ‘outside’ clothing that isn’t in your room. That’s standard rules in that kind of shared house; the residents often have no say whatsoever in who lives in the other rooms in the house, as they’re all rented out separately. If the outside is genuinely scary or filthy enough that you can’t risk a trace of it coming inside, then you need to pay double the rent for your own 1 bedroom flat. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/148 "2019-01-18T09:00:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > If there’s no other place to put their shoes, they leave them next to the entrance, not next to their beds… Not only do I store my shoes in the bedroom (neatly stacked away in the bottom of my wardrobe), I also wear them indoors, all over the house. Every single room. And I have a dog that walks in his bare feet both in and outside the house, no doubt stepping in poop along the way. And I let guests walk all over the house in their shoes too. And I don’t own slippers, the shame! However, I also don’t eat off or lie on the floor, so have yet to succumb to dysentery. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/149 "2019-01-18T09:35:58Z")
I … have been known to lie _on the grass_. Outside! Amongst the filth of the world! [/oneupmanship] ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/150 "2019-01-18T09:37:31Z")
And I enter my house through the kitchen… if anybody leaves their shoes there while said shoes are not attached to any feet, that someone will eat shoes before being kicked out of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/151 "2019-01-18T12:00:14Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > I think some of these are specific to Germany, but related to the locks requiring a key from the inside. > > Fire codes in the US require egress doors to be usable without a key due to tragic events like the [Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire), [Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire), and the [Iroquois Theater Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Theatre_fire) > > [Except as specifically permitted by this section, egress doors shall be readily openable from the egress side without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort.](https://up.codes/s/door-operations) > > I am betting if/when a similar loss of life is caused by egress doors that require a key happens in Germany they will also enact similar codes. I lived in Germany, and I cannot recall being in a house that did not have a front door with a handle on the inside. In other words, you could get out. BUT, many people lock that front door at night, and even require it in multi-apartment houses. I never liked the idea of that, given the possibility of being trapped inside in a fire. In which case I would have looked for a handy window. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/152 "2019-01-18T12:05:00Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > My cousin lived in Germany in the 80s & 90s and every time she moved to a new apartment, she had to install kitchen cabinets, as the prior tenant took those with him/her. I thought that practice was insane! Yup, the Germans strip their houses when they leave. By unfurnished they REALLY mean unfurnished. Frankly, it is excessive. When I left Germany two years ago. I spent nearly two months getting rid of all furniture and fixtures that we were not taking. Firstly, through the small ads; half the Third World came through the door to take away my things. I gave it all away, such things seldom have any value anyway. What was left over went to the tip. A lot of furniture and appliances that are given away or put out on the street for collection on the Sperrmuell day when bulky items are collected get picked up before the trucks come round and are taken to eastern Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/153 "2019-01-18T12:16:39Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Switzerland is the same way. There are people who actually use the 1000 franc note (roughly the same in USD) for personal transactions. Checks never caught on in Germany. Credit cards were widely used, but cannot be used everywhere. In the past 20 years there was a marked shift to using bank transfers and then EC cards, which are debit cards. Banks transfers in Germany are really easy, not just from a PC at home, but also from ATMs in the banks. They still use cash, a lot, but now it is mainly debit cards and bank transfers. The banks are reducing the number of branches and ATMs., making it harder for people to use cash - and this has attracted furious opposition because it mainly hits older people away from the urban centers. BTW, the Germans want to do away with the high denomination Euro notes (100, 200 and 500) to stop money laundering. The shops don’t like them, usually because they have to give so much change. BTW, bank notes of or over 20 Euro always get run through a checker. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/154 "2019-01-18T12:20:07Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Interesting how these things vary around the world. As you say Sweden is becoming cashless. Contrast that with Japan and China, which I visited recently, where you still need cash for almost everything. For example: In Japan, the machines to add money to the subway tickets take only cash. In China, the luggage storage at the airport takes only cash. China is certainly moving towards payments with Smartphones, and I’m sure the Japanese will too. Not so evident in Europe yet, but I think it will come in a few years. This is already being done with things like train and flight tickets. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/155 "2019-01-18T12:24:24Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I’d say many of us do. When I make a pot roast or spaghetti sauce or adobo, for instance, I’ll sit in my comfy chair[sup]TM[/sup] happily smelling my dinner cooking for hours (the first two require low-and-slow cooking, the adobe requires a long marinade so it’s mostly in the fridge but it sure smells good when I open the door!). Many Americans enjoy smelling holiday meals as they cook all day. It’s the wipe-the-drool-off-your-chin anticipatory prelude to a delicious meal. (I’d probably draw the line at fish, myself, but I’m not a big fish eater.) > > And, of course, nothing beats the scent of cookies baking. > > In any case, the scents generally clear within a couple of hours after eating and doing the dishes. I’ve never lived anyplace where they stuck around for days on end or permeated the paint or fabric in the dwelling to the point that the scent never went away. Things like the smell of curry or fish do permeate fabrics. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/156 "2019-01-18T23:10:03Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Not only do I store my shoes in the bedroom (neatly stacked away in the bottom of my wardrobe), I also wear them indoors, all over the house. Every single room. And I have a dog that walks in his bare feet both in and outside the house, no doubt stepping in poop along the way. And I let guests walk all over the house in their shoes too. And I don’t own slippers, the shame! > > However, I also don’t eat off or lie on the floor, so have yet to succumb to dysentery. Yeah, this. Everywhere I’ve ever lived you kept your shoes in your room. I don’t get this apparent phobia about shoes. And people own more than one pair, you know. So if you have roommates, everyone is supposed to leave every pair of shoes by the front door? Jeez, it would be nothing but shoes! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/157 "2019-01-19T02:09:42Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > China is certainly moving towards payments with Smartphones, and I’m sure the Japanese will too. Not so evident in Europe yet, but I think it will come in a few years. This is already being done with things like train and flight tickets. A lot of the vending machines in Barcelona’s subways already take phone payments; if you have an app they take, just approach it to the same spot used by contactless debit cards. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/158 "2019-01-19T02:24:34Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > On the other hand, I suspect that surfaces are much smaller. One bedroom means 15-20 square meters (160-220 square feet, apparently). Eh, it depends on where and how old the apartment or house is. Our house is in a working-class Chicago neighborhood and is about 100 years old; the bedrooms are about 100 square feet. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/159 "2019-01-19T02:32:26Z")
That size mentioned by **clairobscur** is also quite large by Spanish standards; it would be more of a studio apartment in the few cities which have those, or a “double bedroom” in places where people make that distinction. Bedrooms in my mother’s house are 6, 9, 12 and 17 square meters; mine range between 6 and 9. The one I used when I lived at my grandparents’ is too small to be considered a bedroom legally (4.8 square meters) but there used to be a family of 3 subletting it, back when it was my great-grandparents’ place; the largest bedroom (the “double bedroom”) in the same flat is exactly 9 square meters. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/160 "2019-01-19T12:37:36Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > So if you have roommates, everyone is supposed to leave every pair of shoes by the front door? Jeez, it would be nothing but shoes! The Japanese do [just that](https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/housing/q1.html) and now you’ve got me wondering how many pairs of shoes they own. Maybe it’s permissible to carry shoes into the home and put them on a piece of paper in a closet or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713.md?page=9)