What where 16th century houses like?

Question: What where 16th century houses like!?

Houses for both poor and rich people!. Thanks!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Having lived in one--during the winter they're pretty miserable unless you have cloth covering the walls, in which case they're tolerable!. You still need plenty of clothes, though!.

Smoke from the fireplaces gets everywhere and makes keeping the walls clean impossible!. Dirt floors get covered with rushes or other strewing herbs because you need the fresh smell!. There's no glass in the windows so they're covered with wooden shutters and the bugs get in, or they have glass and they're permanently closed!.

During the summer they can be quite pleasant if you don't mind having to trudge out to the well and the privy!. Going to the privy when it's 20 degrees outside is not a pleasant experience, and I won't go into details to save everyone's sensibilities and appetite!.

Heating water for baths is cumbersome and that's why you have a portable bath set up next to the fireplace!.

Keeping herbs in the rafters will help repel bugs from thatched roofs!. Tiles are much preferable although they make the house extremely hot in the summer as do the candles or lanterns or torches you need to work in the evenings!.

Wooden floors get waxed to keep the dirt from being ground in!. Unless the floor is planed smooth, getting the wax into all the little uneven places kills your hands!.

There's no refrigeration so either your food is freshly prepared daily or you have an icehouse where you keep food but it spoils after a day or two!. Fruits and vegetables are kept in the cellar and will rot if not dried or otherwise preserved after a few months!. You can preserve them in oil or alcohol, or you can cut into thin strips (julienne) and dry them!. The flavour is quite strong so you don't need much to cook!.

Since cooking is done in the fireplace, along with heating bath water, dishwater, and heating the house, you need a big pot for soups and stews, a long fork for toast and sausages!. Think of cooking on a campfire every night!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Rich people had adequate houses - castles were nothing like the popular imagination depicts them - they were built of stone, were cold, drafty and poorly lighted - but they did provide adequate housing!. Houses for poor people were usually hovels or shacks!. They were very small, heated only by a fireplace (which was also used for cooking) had no running water (but castles didn't, either) or plumbing (ditto) and were lit either by the firelight or by candles!. The striking thing about housing for both the rich and the poor was how small the rooms were and, in the case of the poorer people, how many people lived in one room!. Www@QuestionHome@Com