Do you use the back door to enter/leave your house?

Posted by Queasy_Difference_96@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 215 comments

If so, why? At my grandmas, both grandmas actually, we would only ever use the back door. When I went to my boyfriends house for the first time he explained that they only used the back door. Same at both of his aunties houses. And when we bought our first house, one of his aunties said we’d have to change the locks on the garage doors so we could go through the garage and enter the house through the back door (that’s what she did, even with food shopping! She’d lug it all through the garage and across the back garden). We never did this and just used the front door and we use the front door in our current house. Interestingly enough, his mum and his aunty both eventually converted to using their front doors (no mobility issues). No-one seems to know why they never used to use the front door though, I’ve asked and just get a shrug and a vague “That’s just what you do” in response.

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Impossible_Pie4091@reddit

It might do with keeping the front clean for visitors. We were never allowed near the 1st sitting room as kids. It was kept immaculate all year round

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Flat-Exchange-3688@reddit

Yeah side door on ours. We have a tiny hallway on the front of the house and four lads that walk shit over the carpet if they use the front.

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jiajune3@reddit

In older working class communities, the front door was for company like the vicar, the doctor, funerals. The family used the back door because it led straight into the kitchen/scullery where you could take off muddy boots.

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Jesterstear99@reddit

The front door from the street opened directly into the front room (that was kept for Special Occasions). We used to go in round the back as it went into a small room between the kitchen and the house proper where the coat hooks etc. were. In our house it was turn left for the back room, right for the kitchen, (which was in a single storey annexe with the toilet right at the back, but accessed from outside) but that depended on which "hand" the house was, my Grandparents one was the opposite way around. The stairs were between the back & front rooms, with a door in the wall of the back room, that was covered with a curtain to stop the icy gale that used to blow down them. Crikey, I haven't set foot in one of those for over 40 years! Our old house is still standing, but I doubt if the inside is how I remember it.

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drxc@reddit

You just described the exact layout of my house.

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Jesterstear99@reddit

does yours have a very short corridor from back room to front room past the stairs with a second staircase leading off down to the large cellar? I can't quite remember upstairs. From the landing it was left to the front bedroom, then right to the back one, and I think there was a door from the back bedroom into a third small bedroom. Our house had the entry alongside, and we had a small upstairs room over it at the back, while the neighbours had the one at the front. My father remodelled the scullery into a small bathroom, and knocked through to the toilet so we could walk past the kitchen to the toilet and a bathroom.

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drxc@reddit

Yes exactly, the short corridor with the side door, but instead of a staircase down, I just have an tiled under-stair pantry there because my house is at the bottom of a hill and presumably the water table was too high to dig a cellar. The houses further up the hill do have cellars though.

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Extension_Ad4492@reddit

Ok I have a question. A contact who’s a marchioness contacted me to discuss an event she was hosting and invited me to her stately home. She told me I could use the back door. This surprised her assistant who wondered why I didn’t use the front door. I read this as her not being friendly/realising that I probably wouldn’t be impressed by the (obviously impressive) front entrance. Was she actually just telling me to use the tradesman’s entrance lol?

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MrPogoUK@reddit

Who knows! Could be either the “tradesman’s entrance” or “sign of welcoming familiarity with a friend” in her eyes, and if it is the tradesman’s entrance that could either be a deliberate slight or just the normal way things as you were there in a professional capacity!

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Extension_Ad4492@reddit

Not professional capacity, I ran a cheese business and my family owned the farm next door and she wanted ideas for her food festival - so kind of just networking

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SpinneyWitch@reddit

Definitely you were using the friends entrance then.

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Cow_Launcher@reddit

I don't know this lady (nor how long you and your family had known her and what your past relationship was like) and obviously I have no idea what her tone was, so I don't want to assume too much. But if placed in your situation, my immediate thought was that she was being familiar/friendly and trying not to make a big deal out of your visit, which might make you feel uncomfortable. While at the same time subtly sending you the message, "I don't feel the need to impress you." In other words, I think there *was* some classism there, but it wasn't intended maliciously.

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JennyW93@reddit

I’d have thought she didn’t want him tracking his cheese-caked wellies through the house (I’m assuming cheese is made similarly to wine).

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Fair_Project2332@reddit

Pretty sure there is no slight intendedI I have a close friend who technically lives in a stately home. The front door is 10 feet high, up a fancy flight of steps, and is usually kept shuttered and locked because it is both drafty and a security weak point. It dates from an era where a visitor was greeted by a butler or footman, then ushered to a hall or reception room to wait for the host. No one but the stupidly mega wealthy have a butler. When the front door bell tinkles, it is a long and chilly and unlit walk from the kitchen (which is heated and where the family and dogs hang out and coffee is made) to unbolt the door and open it for the visitor, who will make the same long, chilly and unlit walk through cavernous rooms back to the kitchen or family rooms. So the front door is for Christmas, Tour Groups, and Funerals, while everyone else - from DHL drivers to Duchesses, uses the back door.

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Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

I'm always a bit sad when you visit a stately home (as a paying visitor) and you enter through some underwhelming side entrance.

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Fair_Project2332@reddit

It's purely practical. It's easier to retrofit loos and cloakrooms and level access in an area of the house that was part of the 'offices' (boot room, laundry, storage etc) than in the grand entrance. If you want the grand entrance experience try booking a visit to a privately owned home. Tours are often organised by history or literary groups and include a tea in the original dining room or library.

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

Absolute ditto in wider family

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N4t3ski@reddit

"Use the servant entrance" is the translation here.

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Dry-Crab7998@reddit

Tradesman's entrance for you my girl!

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RokosBallsack@reddit

Maybe she wasn’t talking about her literal back door.

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CaptainParkingspace@reddit

If a lady wants me to use her back door, I’m not questioning it.

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JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit

Could have been a euphemism

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Grand_Equipment5292@reddit

All Catholic probably...

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n3ver3nder88@reddit

Trying not to think about it now u/Extension_Ad4492 has said they run a cheese business.

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nobiscuitsinthesnow@reddit

Of all the potential reasons under the sky, realising you probably wouldn't be impressed by the front entrance is definitely not among them

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Western_Pea_3967@reddit

Could have been friendly as back door is normally just opened from outside whereas front door u need to knock or ring to be let in??? If this was the set up then maybe she was being friendly

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kat_d9152@reddit

Depends. If it's a big old house its COLD and regs often mean the energy efficiency levels aren't really allowed to be improved further than "burn, baby, burn" It may have simply been the fact that the kitchen is usually at the back and the kitchen and rooms adjacent would be heated therefore occupied while the rest of the house literally remains colder than sitting in the garden. Couple that with the size of the house and there's every likelihood that knocking on the front door does not guarantee anyone will actually hear you arrive, as they are all staying warm at the back.

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Cathcart1138@reddit

Fnar!

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Brilliant-Figure-149@reddit

You beat me to it.

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CulturedClub@reddit

I've seen this one on films. Often the stripper is a surprise for the party person so they get sneaked in through the back.

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CapnJager@reddit

"There were only three times in your life when it was proper to come through the front door, and you were carried every time" *Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters*

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crowort@reddit

GNU Sir Terry

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4x6x8@reddit

This. My grandparents

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simonjp@reddit

My old Nana said that as a woman you only crossed the front threshold twice; once in your new husband's arms, and once in a box

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onlysigneduptoreply@reddit

Or every week to scrub the step so Ethel murgrave at 34 didn't call you a dirty cow when speaking to Mrs posthwaite at number 40

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iffyClyro@reddit

Honestly, still the same today in lots of the old mining towns in Scotland.

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No_Scheme5951@reddit

I lived in two of them, and don't know a single person who uses their back door to get into their own house.

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Dimac99@reddit

I live on a hill. Houses going uppy-downy as well as across it. People who have the big set of front steps mostly seem to use their back door, which generally has fewer, especially if they have young kids. Those who only have the "normal" 2 steps at the front generally have a big set of steps at the back so we'll not be using those if we don't have to. I look down on the parallel street here and they're mostly all big front steps and afaik they all use the backdoor. I knew someone who lived in an old house that was *so* old the road was behind instead of in front of it so they actually didn't even use the front door at all. I remember a big pile of bikes being in the hall in front of the door. Probably not great for fire safety, but there's every chance they didn't even have a key handy anyway. When my aunt in Glasgow lived on one side of her road we used to go in the backdoor because it was closer to the train station, rather than walk around. When she moved to the other side of the same street we went in the front door. Three different places in Scotland.

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iffyClyro@reddit

That’s okay mate, our own personal experiences don’t contradict each other. It’s just a normal part of being a human being. Some places are built in such a way that the back door is favoured over the front door. I’ve worked all over Scotland in different roles, criminal justice, family support, digital inclusion, policing and so on and so on. I’ve been in and out of literally thousands of different houses, your experience is no more and no less accurate just because I’ve had a different experience.

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Sad_Cardiologist5388@reddit

This is certainly the case where in am for working class oldies born circa 1920s

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itsfourinthemornin@reddit

I do, mostly in winter though. I've only got a small hall and stairs directly behind the front door that's carpeted. Back door comes into the kitchen and can let any soggy/muddy clothes, shoes and so on dry there that time of year! Same for soggy dogs coming in and out over the years.

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MajorHotLips@reddit

You guys have two doors??

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Scared-Alfalfa37@reddit

I rented a flat as a young adult and used the back door, it was a ground floor flat with communal gardens and French doors. To get round the back you just walked through a large arch where cars could go to get to the rear car park passing the communal gardens. It was a lot easier to walk that way and enter via the back gardens that go through the flats entrance, then through my personal front door, plus the corridor from the front door was so thin and tight that actually if I was coming with shopping the back door allowed for less faffing.

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PrettyInPerfectPinks@reddit

Both. Back, our garage is the plot/street behind and so we walk through from the garage, through the garden and into the house if we use the car. Front: if we walked.

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RememberingTiger1@reddit

It's kind of a thing in the States as well. My grandparents always used the side door instead of the front door. It is especially true in the American South. I remember reading that someone asked their Southern grandmother what she would do if the King of England were to visit. She said something to the effect that he would be well mannered and would know to come around to the back door!

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Stabbykarp@reddit

We had a gate and a side door that was pretty much the main door to enter the house otherwise there was a chance the dog would get out of the front door. Not that it was a bother to get him back in, there was just the risk of a car coming

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DisMyLik18thAccount@reddit

Both myself and my boyfriend used the back door in the last houses we lived in (Separately) For me, well it was actually a mix of front and back door, front if you were walking somewhere and back of you were taking the car. The back garden was the side that let out onto the road, the front lead to a pedestrian path and was the quicker way to reach the main road As for my boyfriend, his family exclusively used the back door at his parents house because there's no gate to the front garden. Seriously that's how the house is built, you go down the hallway and thought what should be the front door, and you're surrounded by wall. So the main entrance to the house has to be through the kitchen. All her other houses next to them are the same. It's like whoever designed the houses wasn't aware of there they were gonna be located

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thomhollyer@reddit

I'm currently renting a room in a Victorian terrace, and the downstairs front room is also being used as a bedroom, so only the housemate living in that room uses the front door. Me and my other housemate (who is the live in landlord) use the back door.

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DreadLindwyrm@reddit

It's bad luck to use the front door unless you're being carried, or carrying someone. So returning from hospital with a baby, carrying a new spouse across the threshold, or being carried out in a coffin are fine (and I'd accept being wheeled out to an ambulance); but day to day living isn't. Also the front door used to lead onto the main living room, and you didn't want random people coming and going there, especially if it opened out onto the main street rather than a nominally contained garden. Pets and children would try to escape.

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adymann@reddit

I used the front door to go to and from work but the back door if im going to the shops or out with the family.

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Equal-Competition930@reddit

I can only use front door in my house my other doors are patio and going in garden which has secure fencing and large iron gate. Even if left gate open they either by locked and dont open other way. My late grandparents only use back door or conservatory door for my nan who was in wheelchair. Only think we use front door for was gathering on stairs to see people of . In fact most of time blocked off by something and only time we access them was for post

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memojo1979@reddit

My parents, and their kids when we lived there, use the back door (which is on the side of the house) because it leads into a utility room, so there's space to store shoes, wet wellies, umbrellas, towels for the dog, e.t.c., whereas the front door literally only has space for 1 person, the living room door and the boots of the stairs. They answer the front door to visitors / deliveries e.t.c. because that's the obvious place to knock / ring the doorbell. My house is exactly the same layout as theirs, but my back gate (also on the side of the house) cannot be locked from the outside, so I leave it locked and don't use it most of the time.

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Free_Ad1658@reddit

You can take your muddy shoes off at back door rather than taking the mud through the hall.

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sarebear1984@reddit

We use our back door, I’ve no idea why, we’ve got a perfectly good front door

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Foxidale3216@reddit

Front door. Using the back door is common.

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wendz1980@reddit

I mainly use my back door, because there’s a lane at the back of my house that takes me to most places I need to go. I live on a main road and only reason to go out the front is if someone is picking me up or I’m getting the bus somewhere.

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Greatgrowler@reddit

Yes. We have lived here for three years and in that time I’ve only used the front door a dozen or so times. Our driveway has a gate into the back garden and then we have wide doors into the house, whereas the front door leads into the hall which had a pale grey carpet which isn’t ideal for pushchair wheels! We’ve just got used to it now.

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So_Gawjus@reddit

Back door. Can’t remember last time I used front tbh. Back door is like on side of house, and leads to utility straight into kitchen, which is where I normally always go first when getting home so just makes sense.

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apologial@reddit

Yeh. The front door has a slight step and my partner uses a wheelchair. The backdoor is straight out onto the main path.

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AmphibianNo8598@reddit

When we first moved we only used the back door because the front door was old and really weird and tricky to lock and unlock. Then we replaced the door though 🤷🏼‍♀️

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NastyMothman@reddit

Depends on the layout of the house I guess. At my dads house the 'backdoor' is closer to the drive so automatically became the most used door. The actual front door was pretty much reserved for the postman.

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WaltzFirm6336@reddit

Same at my parents. They have a side door at the rear of the house directly onto the drive. The front door involves a path wandering through the front garden and up a big set of steps. The only people who ever use their front door are confused salesmen, who get even more confused when my 80 year old parents can’t find the key to the front door (because it’s not been opened in years).

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deadliftbear@reddit

Same. The back door is closer to the driveway so everyone uses that. Only deliveries come to the front. If the plot were laid out differently, I’d probably use the front door more.

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kimlesim@reddit

Same here. Plus the back door only had 1 lock vs 2 on the front door so it was also just a laziness thing of having to unlock more.

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ImpressiveStorm8914@reddit

Efficiency not laziness. :-D

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Conscious-Ball8373@reddit

Same here. Our front door leads to a messy bit of garden that no-one uses much and then to an A road. Our back door leads to the drive, the useable garden, the garage, the log store...

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ImpressiveStorm8914@reddit

Similar here. The front door only goes to the front garden, which then leads to the drive. The back door goes straight on to the drive, with the garage right there too. Plus, when entering the house the back door leads to the kitchen which has a hard surface floor, so much easier to clean/wipe when wet. The front goes to a carpeted hallway so not as ideal.

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Wyldstallyn80@reddit

No, I only use the back door twice a year. My birthday & Xmas.

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Colleen987@reddit

Personally because my back door is next to the drive and I’d have to park the car then walk round the house to get to the front door.

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ciro_the_immortal80@reddit

Victor meldrew does.

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TomL79@reddit

A lot of the time, yes. Simply because if I’m getting the bus then the bus stop is located on the corner of my back lane. Meaning it’s slightly quicker to and from the bus stop using the back door. Similarly, if I’m popping to the local shops on the main road, they’re located slightly nearer if I go out the back door and walking up the back lane than they would be from the front door.

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PrimaryLawfulness@reddit

We use our back door to leave by car (drive is at the back) and front door by foot (road/footpath is out the front).

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Kumquat-May@reddit

I don't in my own house, but I use your mum's back door quite often.

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fredwhoisflatulent@reddit

Of course. What sort of heathen uses the front door?

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shortandfelly@reddit

That more polite than what I say about people who use the front door 😂

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JennyW93@reddit

I can’t close the fence gate if I use the back door! And I haven’t quite mastered the high jump skills I’d need to leap it

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shortandfelly@reddit

I have what was traditionally a 2 up, 2 down terrace. Front door opens straight into the living room. I have a dog, muddy running shoes and bikes (and until last week when I got a new one fitted, my front door didn't even open as at some point, a previous owner had sealed it shut) so hardly want to be tramping that into my nice room!

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helenfirebird@reddit

Front door. We have a locked side gate and the back door is only accessed via that gate. But making the gate (also it's 7ft tall) secure means we can merrily leave the back door open while pottering around and in the garden without worrying.

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XxSianxX@reddit

I live on an estate and the one in front of us is rear facing, so we see their back gardens on the ground floor and everyone else's balconies for that building. I have noticed majority of the ground floor tenants use their back door as a front door too. I have no idea why they do this, but I can only assume its because their front door has a path that leads them around to the back to get out anyway (although im sure they have a gate on their side to let them out but I never bothered to check).

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RadiantSeason9553@reddit

Here in Ireland most people use the back door. It leads straight to the kitchen, which is the social hub

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lovesorangesoda636@reddit

In my old house yes because it was nearest the car/gate. The house was kinda sitting backwards to the street so the front door was... basically useless. My friends house is the same.

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BIatherskite@reddit

Parking is at the rear in our housing estate so, yea the back door is now the front door.

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egg_for_breakfast@reddit

I've known a few people who do this but apart from one case, where their garage was at the back of their house, I've never really understood the concept of it.

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CR1SBO@reddit

Almost exclusively, but that's because it's where we park. To use the front door would require a walk around the house. I don't even think I have a key for the front

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Puzzleheaded_Drink76@reddit

Various reasons. The drive is down the side of the house. You park in a lane at the back of the house. The back door opens onto the cul-de-sac where you walk up/park naturally. My flat it's as easy to walk round the side so depends on my mood/the mud. Mostly it's about layout/access rather than etiquette.

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KingkLou@reddit

Back door when coming from the car because that's where our driveway is. Front door if walking.

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UpsetMarsupial@reddit

My ex preferred me to use her back door. I miss those days.

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Outrageous_Solid_700@reddit

My view to this, growing up all of my family & friends all go straight to the back door. As it is open or unlocked to knock & enter. The kitchen is closer & the kettle has just boiled. Plus, why walk through the house, when the kitchen table is the hub/heart of our homes. Well, as the saying goes really. I use my back door as my main door, the road is behind me. In front is the next row of houses. So it's either walk past 12 houses, from the road to enter through the front door or drive down the next street & walk through my garden (back yard) into my home. Anyone knocking on my front door are strangers. Usually shout, "Come round the back, I'm in the garden". As my back door is open & I can hear someone knocking at my front door. Peace

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PerditaNicolette76@reddit

Come to think of it my Great Nanny Polly and Great Auntie Beryl we used to go through the side alleyway that took you to the back door in their pantry. My other Greats, Great Grandad Arthur, Great Nanna Dolly and Great Uncle Bob their house again went down the side alley to the back door that was in their kitchen. Great Nanny Polly's house in all the years they were alive, Nanny passed 1982, Auntie 2005, I only ever saw their kitchen/pantry/downstairs loo and front room. Only once I saw the hallway which was a very dark imposing Edwardian hallway. The house was untouched and was literally Edwardian throughout if the downstairs rooms I was allowed in were anything to go by. It was a huge 3 bedroom Edwardian era built house. The outside pathway to the front door had the original tiles. I went past it a few years after Auntie had passed. A builder had brought it by the looks of it and I was shocked it wasn't the same house I loved. They kept nothing of the Edwardian features, all the beautiful tile work gone 😒. My other set of Greats again I only ever saw their kitchen and backroom/lounge. There was a front room you weren't allowed in and I never saw it. Great Nanny passed 1984 and Grandad Arthur 2001. He had moved to a retirement home some years prior. Their house was a typical 2 up 2 down Pre WWII house. They spent all their time in the back downstairs rooms. It was cramped with a dining table, armchairs and a 3 seater sofa for guests. Again it had all original features, again ripped out by the builders who eventually built it. Two beautiful houses which had their very essence ripped out for the sake of modernisation 😢 It was a travesty that they couldn't modernise but keep some of the features

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2c0@reddit

If I take the car I use the back door. If I'm walking I take the front.

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dwair@reddit

Always the back door. Even though I live in the middle of nowhere without any neighbours for miles I use the back door as there is less chance of being seen.

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

I know quite a few middle class houses (nice rambling former farmhouses out in the country) where the back door is the main door. It’s more casual and people tend to have muddy shoes. And I know some castles and Manor Houses where the family usually use the back door outside of formal events. I would base it on context. If she seemed friendly and informal then she was doing this in a nice way because it’s easier, that’s the usual way for family, no one wants to fight with the front door because the bolt is stiff etc. If she seemed aloof or snobby and very you vs us, then maybe she was putting you in your place.

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CreativeAdeptness477@reddit

Your gran always took things in the back entrance

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xxkxxaxx@reddit

We only use the back door as the drive way is in the back garden. There is a massive bit of grass at the front with a path leading up to the street but I never park on the street so never end up using the front door.

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Dense_Concentrate_51@reddit

When I was a kid the front door was always on the snib but the back door was always unlocked for letting the dog out so I just used that exclusively.

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Mummifiedsu@reddit

My Yorkshire hubby and his family all do this and it drives me mad. Literally we have to drag suitcases past their cars, up the drive, through a tiny back gate into the conservatory then dragged right through the house to the front door where the bottom of the stairs are! So if it’s a cleanliness thing our suitcase wheels are dragged all over their downstairs carpets rather than just over the front door mat and straight up the stairs! I’m from Kent and have never used anyone’s back door unless we were playing in the back garden or had put my bike in the shed and someone was home and back door was unlocked. Otherwise my key was the front door one.

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Ant138@reddit

Yes I use my back door as a front door. From where I park my car in my drive I feel my back door is closer and easier to get to than my front door. A few neighbors have realized this and come round the back now instead of using the front door. They still knock.

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unclelumbago1@reddit

I just use the window.

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77Gaia@reddit

The ex once thought it would be a great idea for both of us, steaming drunk, to climb in through next door’s front window on the way back from the pub. They were watching TV, and, completely unbaffled, asked if we wanted a coffee. Wasn’t a case of ‘forgotten keys, wrong house’, he just noticed they’d left the window open, and thought it would be funny.

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Cow_Launcher@reddit

My first thought was that could've ended really badly. But then I realised that, steaming drunk, you were probably very noisy and doing that loud whisper-and-giggle that drunks do, meaning your neighbour already knew exactly who was up to shenanigans.

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77Gaia@reddit

Also, they were as daft as us. The he-neighbour once ripped a hole in one of my nighties proving he could fit in our ferret-hutch. He’d put one of my night-shirts on because he didn’t want to ruin the rented fancy dress police costume he was wearing. He did fit in the hutch.

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Cow_Launcher@reddit

I am trying (and failing) to imagine the conversation that led up to these events. And what did the ferrets think of all this?!

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77Gaia@reddit

They stayed in the bed-end of the hutch, luckily. They’re tough little critters, but I wouldn’t fancy trying to pull a whole man out of there if he’d squashed one. (He would’ve known about it pretty sharpish.) I can’t remember the conversation, but it probably included the phrase “If you don’t, you daren’t!”. We would’ve been in our 30s at the time. Top door of the hutch, not the front.

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Cow_Launcher@reddit

My assumption is that if he did squish one, you would not be removing an *entirely* whole man, if you see what I mean.

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Imtryingforheckssake@reddit

I don't think anyone I know has a house that could even be easily accessed by the back door. My family once lived in a house that could easily be accessed by either, but visitors would always use the front door. Back door's to bring in your bike then make your way into the house. Often that means you need to use 2 keys. So anyway no, never known any backdoor users!

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Ravo93@reddit

I live mid terrace and don't fancy jumping 15 gardens to get to mine so it's a no from me.

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jesussays51@reddit

Growing up we only ever used the back door, but that was because we had an open driveway on the back (live on a corner). Once my dad went self employed and got his own van he put gates up and we started to use the front door. Thinking about it now we even had a doorbell on the back door even though you would have to have walked past the car, through a gate and across the garden. You would only do it if you knew us well.

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DrH1983@reddit

I currently live in a terrace so just use the front door exclusively But at my dad's, where I grew up, the back door was actually at the side, and we'd use that regularly when taking dogs for walks etc as it meant muddy shoes could be taken off in the back passage. My sister has a small alley that leads to the back of the house and we'd use that for similar reasons. I have a friend who use their side entrance by default, so muddy shoes can be taken off in kitchen. So it's not uncommon .

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Interesting_Tea_6041@reddit

Most grandmas prefer to use the back door

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Gauntlets28@reddit

Not yet, but since we're on a corner and back on to another road where the bus stop is, my dream is to eventually install a gate at the back so I can do that and save the journey around the horn.

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icastfist1@reddit

The front, although technically it's actually the back door. At some point when my house (including all the houses on my side of the street) was being built the road plan was changed.

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OkTechnician4610@reddit

I rarely use the front door myself. My drive is at the side so i use that door, not really a back door as such. When I lived at home with parents used front door always - back door was only accessible from a lane down back of houses.

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Polar-Snow@reddit

Our previous house we all use back door and very very rarely use front door. We have to go through our garden and garden gate when use back door. Main reason use it cos car park spaces is at back door and everyone in that area use back door. Front door go to pavement only area and you need walk all way down street then turn and walk all way down then turn again walk to car park. Too much effort so back up becomes main door. Front door only for postman. Everyone and visitors use back door. Now we moved current house many years ago just normal layout so use front door like normal.

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Successful_Buy3825@reddit

Never been a thing. I currently live in a flat, and my parents live in a terraced house with no access from the back garden.

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Substantial_Ball7991@reddit

i think it only applies to people in detached/semi detached houses as i live in a terrace and avoid using my back door if possible lol

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Outrageous_Shake2926@reddit

From 1987 to 2007 my late parents used to rent a cottage in Wiltshire for a week. They used the back door because it was closer to where their car was parked ( Side of property). Everywhere else they, and I, use the front door.

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Rhubarb-Eater@reddit

The people in the Edwardian terraced houses round here do because the front door opens into the living room, and if you use it as an actual door you can’t have as much furniture

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Digital_Palpitation@reddit

Yeah I'm in an Edwardian terrace. Cars park half up on the pavement and there's no space between my front door and the pavement, so I'd have to squeeze in in front of a car, unlock the door and then not be able to use that corner of my living room. We've lived here almost 3 years and we've opened that door twice just to get furniture in. I literally don't even know HOW to open that door, it has some weird upper and lower locks in addition to the normal Yale lock but you have to pull both at the same time and my arms aren't actually long enough to do that. We had a delivery driver pass us a week's groceries through the front window once because he refused to go around and we refused to move the furniture we had against the door just to get groceries in. (And no, I don't know why we didn't go outside to grab it, we opened the window to ask him to go to the back and I guess somehow this seemed like the answer ) I've had other deliveries where they knock at the front but are fine going to the back, usually they default to the back because it's really common in at least this part of the city.

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National-Raspberry32@reddit

Yeah I lived in a student house where the front door opened into my bedroom!

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Jacktheforkie@reddit

Front door exclusively, except big stuff that goes in the side door, weirdly my front door is on the side of the house and the side door on a front facing wall

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MrCowabs@reddit

An ex of mine and her whole family did when we were younger. One of the first times I went over by myself, I knocked on the front door and waited. Stood there like a pleb for a few minutes then I heard the “back” door (that was actually on the side of the house) open and heard her brother shout “we use this door you dick” I never got an explanation as to why this went the way it did so I didn’t question it.

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IcyPuffin@reddit

No (well, i dont really have the choice as i luve in a flat and have no back door). But if i had a house with a back door i would use the front door. To me a back door is the door you use to go into a garden and not the door you use for general use.

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Byeah207@reddit

Yes because the front door opens into the living room whereas the backdoor opens into the kitchen. A lot of people I knew growing up had furniture completely blocking the front door. We use ours probably 10% of the time.

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anotheraccount999999@reddit

Yes! We're on the end of a terrace on a corner and the driveway is at the back. Also means we can take off shoes in the conservatory and not walk into the livingroom with shoes on if we cane through the front.

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onlyoneofmetoday@reddit

We always used the back door when I was younger, I'm 54 now, and I used the front door because it's easier. When we were young I lived with grandparents, and they would bolt the back gate when they went out and exit via the front door so that when family or close friends tried to get to the back door they knew she wasn't in. Only strangers etc knocked on the front door, if she was home and the gate was unlocked most people didn't even knock they would just come straight in and shout for her.

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slightleee@reddit

Growing up in the 70s/80s. Always used the back door at our house and friends. Key was always under the mat! Because you wouldn't look their for it would you! 😄

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No_Needleworker6786@reddit

I don’t have a back door as I’m in a flat. My parents & grandparents are in houses though & we use the front door. I’m sure at some point we’ve used the back doors to enter but generally always the front

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bobbyboythebreeder@reddit

I really dislike house who have blocked up their front door. It really winds me up

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carsndogs420@reddit

I currently use the back door as it allows my dogs to go out into the enclosed back garden when I get home when living at home we used the back door as parking was to the rear of the house so this is just kinda normal for me

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mattcannon2@reddit

My back door goes to the car, garages and the road, my front door goes to the shops, park and bus stop - I live in a pedestrianised housing estate

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sarahlovesjourney@reddit

We've got steps up to the front door and we live on a hill. We used to use it but the back door is easier. A sudden gust of wind can be quite unnerving.

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

This is strange, now I think about it I only have one door now and it's on the side, (which worries me for safety reasons) however: At my previous two houses, only ever used the front door (exception being at my last one, I'd use the backdoor for feeding the dogs as their kennels were right next to it) At my family home, we only ever used the backdoor, even now my mum will walk the extra yards to the back than go in through the front, same as both grandparents houses when they were there I'm wondering then why I used the front door at my own...I'd guess that I didn't want muddy feet straight into my kitchen and preferred the hallway but no conscious idea really 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Chillerby@reddit

Family and friends use the back door. The landlord, vicar, doctor and undertaker the front. You knew if someone came in the back, it was safe. The rent man could be avoided as he knocked on the front door 😉

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dannydrama@reddit

Yes because there's the conservatory between the kitchen door and garden, so the cat can't escape.

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insertitherenow@reddit

Always the side door. Front door hasn’t been opened in years.

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4321zxcvb@reddit

Friends and family back door. Visitors front door.

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drplokta@reddit

My house doesn’t really have a front or back door, just a door. It’s set back from and well below the road, and what you might think of as the front of the house is the side that faces away from the road.

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mark35435@reddit

I do as I then leave the key on a fence post nail!

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ThatBandicoot4769@reddit

Not in my current home, because our back garden is secure and we'd have to unlock a door just to get into the garden. In the house I grew up in we only used the back door. It was a terraced house where the front door was directly from the street (no front garden) straight into the living room. We usually had furniture blocking the way too. In 25 years in that house I think I only saw the front door open twice.

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Da5ren@reddit

We use the front door mainly, but the dogs always get taken out and brought back in through the back door into the utility room. Way too dirty to be walking through the whole house.

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Percypocket@reddit

My front door is through a gate and then the front door, whereas the back door is directly accessible and goes straight into the kitchen, but easier!

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barbieshell75@reddit

Yes it's more convenient as it's on the back yard where people pull up or if I want to go out to the shops (it's all in that direction). Front door barely gets used, and it's normally only if I need to get out to the garden to hang out washing.

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durkbot@reddit

At my aunt's house growing up we always used the side door into the kitchen and the front door area was mainly a dumping ground for stuff.

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rageofa1000suns@reddit

Used to be like this at my Grandma's house. Don't think we ever went through the front, but instead opened the side gate, then through the conservatory. Probably didn't want footprints on the hall carpet. We never even used to be allowed in the living room which had immaculate cream carpet with a sofa that probably has never been sat on with the only TV they had in the house. We used to have to sit on old dusty chairs in the backrooms/kitchen area where my brother and I would lose our minds due to sheer bordem whilst my granddad's homemade wine brewing would make bubbling sounds every 30 seconds.

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RoutineCloud5993@reddit

The conservatory is there and makes it easier to deal with dogs coming in and out without muddying up the house. Also it's a lot easier getting a pram in and out of the back. Prams are huge, I had no idea bust how big they were before

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Swimming-Lie5369@reddit

Used to in my old house, the front door opened into a tiny living room, the back door was connected to an alley between two terraced houses and led to the kitchen. Had more living room space by blocking the front door, and meant shoes could be taken off on the kitchen on the laminate flooring. And shout out to everyone in the Midlands who knows what I'm talking about

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CharieRarie@reddit

It depends which direction I’m coming from. Whichever is closer!

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dinkidoo7693@reddit

I used to when my daughter was younger and needed to use a buggy, theres only one step at the back but 3 at the front so it made things loads easier.

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Responsible_Bird3384@reddit

Always use the back door, but that’s because it’s where I park my car.

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TheNinjaPixie@reddit

Front door is formal and usually locked, back door is fam and friends and always unlocked

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rustynoodle3891@reddit

My mum tried to persuade me several times that I should use the back door at my house. For which I would have to walk directly past the front door, down the passageway, through the back gate(which I would then have to leave unlocked) and then unlock the conservatory door followed by the kitchen door. Sod that.

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Snoo_said_no@reddit

Yep .. not all the time but if walking the dog. Returning with the kids bikes/scooters/muddy boots, if we've been caught out in the rain or if I'm returning with shopping, the babies buggies (when they were babies) we went to the 'back' (which in my case is sort of the side), as it opens into a weird lean to/utility area/shoddily built extension. With tile floor and place to put muddy stuff/wet coats. The frigefrezers also there so easy to use when bringing back shopping. My house weirdly has 4 external doors. (It's just a weird layout, not a mansion or anything). Front door opens to a carpeted hallway/lounge - we come in this was with guests or just coming back when not covered in mud. The aforementioned 'side' door, that you access from front of the house. Opens to not carpet and therefore better when muddy. The 'back' door of the lean to. You can only access this from the garden at the rear of the house. My partner uses this if coming home on his motorbike - he drives through an allyway at the rear of the house, puts his bike in the garage and comes in the back. A patio door that is rarely used as an entrance. It's basically used only in the height of summer when you want the garden 'open' - again opens to carpet. Nice in the summer when you want to leave the doors wide open for the kids to come in/out of the enclosed garden. But a bit of a pain to use as a main entrance as you have to walk a street over, unlock the garage, go in the garage, come through a second door in the garage to the garden, walk through the garden... Then it's just easier to use the lean to door.

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jilljd38@reddit

Use the back door because my front door is broke and landlord won't fix it

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username_not_clear@reddit

Yes, front door has a massive semi circle door step thats a nightmare with shopping etc, where as the back door opens into the kitchen and is right by the driveway.

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MrPogoUK@reddit

Almost exclusively front door. The back is behind a tall garden gate with a bolt you can’t reach from the outside.

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doctorsontaran1@reddit

We used the back door for a year and a half and all of a sudden we both just started using the front door, I’m not sure what caused the switch but here we are now 😂

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BarryIslandIdiot@reddit

No, we can't really. Its for getting to the garden only. We live in a 1700s terraced cottage. Although we technically have access to our back garden through a neighbours, that is sealed off. I did know lots of people in my younger days that used the back door mostly.

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MrBoggles123@reddit

It depends on the situation. The back door opens straight into the kitchen so when I've got the shopping and stuff it's easier to go straight in rather than carry it through the lounge. The front door is straight onto the stairs so getting in from work I can go straight in and up to wash and change.

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Pixiebel81@reddit

My back door is at the side of the house and under a carport so it's more convenient than the front door

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PM_ME_VEG_PICS@reddit

Yes but we live in the countryside and pretty much everyone uses the back door because it leads into a utility room or kitchen so have more space to remove muddy / wet boots.

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Temporary-Zebra97@reddit

Parking is at the back of the house, also useful to know that anyone who knocks on the front door is a stranger.

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Plane_Ask_6123@reddit

I totally agree with this, although, some, actually knocking on my back door as its the first door you come to

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PrestigiousTrick8375@reddit

The back door is closer to where the car is. Makes more sense to use the back door, than to walk around the entire outside of the house to get to the same place.

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Significant-Glove521@reddit

My house is at an odd angle on the plot. When I park on the drive the back door is more convenient to get to. All our other houses we have used the front door, it's just logistically the back door works better here.

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Redgrapefruitrage@reddit

Yes, because we have a pram/buggy and it only fits out the back door. Our front door is accessed by steep steps so no good when we’re heading out with the baby.

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iffyClyro@reddit

From time to time I’ve been known to engage in some backdoor action.

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OccidentalTouriste@reddit

Yea, almost exclusively. It's where the shoe rack is and I'm militantly shoes off in the house.

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Affectionate_Ad6864@reddit

We tend to use the side door as it takes you straight into the utility room to take muddy shoes and coats off. In the summer we use the front door more but this time of year it remains locked and we haven’t used it for months

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Plane_Ask_6123@reddit

Yes as its the first door i come to once i get out of my car, our street used to be a back alley and they must of thought "hey we can stick some houses back here, also theres only 10 houses which means for a quieter street, plus it goes straight into the kitchen which is great when doing the shopping

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Think_Money_6919@reddit

- My driveway is slightly closer to the back door entrance - It’s what I’ve always done since I was a kid, - It goes directly to the kitchen - My front porch is a bit narrow to enter For me mostly habit, I suspect when I move out of my childhood home it might not continue

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Imaginary-Quiet-7465@reddit

We use the side door because it goes into the utility room and is situated right by the driveway where we park our cars.

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Peppy_Tomato@reddit

I have both doors keyed alike. I use whichever is most convenient for the route I took back home.

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ramapyjamadingdong@reddit

My dad's parents used the back door, because the garage and parking was out back. You could walk the 10-15metres through the garden or a half mile round the terraces to the village to get round to the front door. If you arrived on foot, the front door was there though. My mum's parents used front door. Where we live now, we use the front door. To come in the back would be inconvenient. At my old house however, if I used the front door more than 10 times in 5 years I'd be surprised. The side door opened into the kitchen from the drive. I could get the shopping in so easily. If a delivery driver knocked at the front, I'd come out the side door to meet them. The front door was just not used.

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robbeech@reddit

The back door to my house leads straight into the kitchen which is a tiled floor and has a bit of space to keep our shoes. The front door leads into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs which amongst other things doesn’t have room to store our shoes. There’s just me and the wife there and we try and avoid visitors at all costs but would let them in either door. I’ve also been there 40 years and it has certainly just been a case of “how we do it”.

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simonannitsford@reddit

We use both, but as a kid it was almost always rhe back door.

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lysergic13@reddit

Yes. I have no other way as I park my car next to the garden door that leads to the back door. No way i am walking all the way around to reach the front 😅

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hyper-casual@reddit

We did this when I was a kid, never really understood why, especially as that house had 3 doors in, front, side, and back, so we'd walk past 2 functional doors to get in. I do it at my current house because the driveway is at the back of the house. It's actually really annoying because the shoe rack etc is all at the front door and can't really go near the back door.

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NoResort4867@reddit

The back door doesn’t get used at my house but when growing up at my dads the only door used was the back door

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--mate@reddit

To use my back door I'd have to go down a grim back lane full of bins, and then climb over a 2 metre high wall into my back yard because my gate is embedded into said wall and only locks from the inside for some reason, so fuck that

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AndromedaDependency@reddit

"There's only 2 times in her life she used the front door and she was carried both of them" We use the front but it was traditional to use the back when coming home from work in dirty overalls and boots so the front could be kept clean for "official" visitors. It's a working class thing but only if you could afford a house with 2 doors, people in back to back houses didn't have a choice of doors

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bedlam_styx@reddit

Depends on the house we’ve been living in.

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_deathrattle@reddit

I do, the back door (or side door i suppose) leads to the sun room, then into kitchen, where as the front is straight into the dining room. So we go through the back so we can take shoes/coats/bags off before going in the house

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Paulstan67@reddit

My car is parked at the back, so I usually use the back however if I'm walking into town I use the front as it's nearer.

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budapest_budapest@reddit

We do, because it’s where the drive is. That’s the case for most people I know who don’t use the front door. It’s also the door we reach first when walking home from anywhere. Other reasons it’s nice are not walking muddy shoes or dogs through the hallway. We do go in one at a time and wipe our feet, but some mud still gets in and it’s nicer to wait in the garden than on the street. It’s also nearer the washing machine for muddy clothes.

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CarolDanversFangurl@reddit

I make my kid go to the back door after he's been at football, otherwise there's a trail of mud all over the house.

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Alert_Mine7067@reddit

In one house I lived in when I was younger, I would have used the back door, I was a kid and got dirty and messy out playing.I wouldn't dirty the carpet using the back door, and getting the kitchen floor dirty was a simple mop up, there was also the fact we had a Yale lock on the front door and someone had to turn the lever to open it everytime, but the back door was a standard chubb lock so it could be left unlocked and me and my siblings would come and go without having to knock the front door. I noticed growing up, a couple of my mum's friends lived in council estates and the layout of their houses meant that it was easier to come in the back door as there were normally big parking areas at the rear, and the front door was down a walkway with no direct road access, so you could park at the back and come in the back, where as to come in the front it would have taken a bit more walking.

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new_moon_on_monday@reddit

Yes, my car is parked round the back.

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hughesyg@reddit

My car is parked on the back drive so I use the back door…

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UniquePotato@reddit

On parents old house yes, as it was much closer to the driveway. Our house, front only as you can’t get out of the back garden without fence hopping.

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fluffy_samoyed@reddit

Older home design the front door opened to space in your house intended to impress, while the side or back door opened to easier to clean spaces. It was etiquette that only important guests were welcomed through the front, while everyone more common to your circle respectfully used the other entrance. I think over time, furniture and trimmings have been less expensive and therefore less precious to the later generations and the custom was lost, but the older generation still practices it either out of habit or preference.

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clearici@reddit

Back door because front door is stuck and can't afford to fix it. However, when it's fixed, may still continue to use the back as it's easier to get to the car.

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SuperHansDunYourMum@reddit

Yes, but only because, for some weird reason, the front door is at the back of the house.

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PityPartySommelier@reddit

Back door. For whatever reason I can't put a mat behind the front door but I can at the back, so I can either tromp rain through the hallway or I can drip onto the big mat I have in the kitchen.

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TheODPsupreme@reddit

There used to be a tradition/ superstition that the front door was only used for carrying people in or out: ie newborns, newlyweds, and coffins.

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MacaronSea6953@reddit

Yes. Our back garden leads to our drive

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Rifled_Through@reddit

I use the backdoor as it goes onto our driveway

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Matrixblackhole@reddit

Backdoor = tradesman entrance. Jokes aside my dad's a plumber and mostly uses the back door bc he drops his tools and some things back in the garage on the way in. The rest of tend to use the front door, unless it's been raining heavy and the front ways gets a little flooded.

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Geordana@reddit

Back door was unlocked always and kids didn't have keys. Adults would use the front door. This is really weird now that I'm typing it out. When you were 16 you got a front door key. I moved back into that house as an adult and got really confused when my now husband started locking the back door.

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JuniorJedi@reddit

I live in a 1960s ex council house. The front of the house faces on to a paved square with no vehicle access. Parking is at the rear of the house so we use the back door as the ‘main’ door.

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IansGotNothingLeft@reddit

We use both, but mostly use the back. This is because of the layout of the property and our land. The driveway runs along the side of the house, the back door is the first door you come to on the driveway. That's all it is for us.

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anonoaw@reddit

My granny always used her back door just because parking on the street at the back was easier than parking round the front. Also she spent most of her time in her conservatory and dining room at the back so it was easier. In our current house we used the back door until recently. We have indoor cats and it was too easy for them to dart out the front door so we just used the back. But we recently had a little porch put in so now we use our front door.

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JennyW93@reddit

Front door, but I live on a street almost entirely consisting of OAPs who all seem to use their back (side, really) door, for whatever that’s worth.

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Iamascifiaddict@reddit

Back door into the kitchen. We only use the front door if we need to take something large straight to the car, as it is closer.

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bnnyrabbit@reddit

no it just goes into my garden, we do have two front doors tho (kitchen to front, and bottom of stairs to the front) we mostly use the kitchen door

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_David_London-@reddit

I use my backdoor because it is easier to use than my front door, as it opens into a small vestibule and there is then another locked door leading into the house. It's too much faff, so it stays locked permanently. If someone rings the door bell, it's easier for me to walk around the side of to receive a delivery by opening an adjacent window.

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Beartato4772@reddit

No, although if I had to pick a reason for that it’s “because I would then be trapped in the back garden”.

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RegretEasy8846@reddit

I have a back fence so no, my neighbours do but they have dogs and keep them in the back after a walk, and I assume the kitchens the other side of their back doors have more muddy paw friendly kitchen flooring.

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Forsaken-Yogurt-@reddit

My hallway is ludicrously narrow.. add some coats and it's a hassle to use. Back door is much easier

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Pistolpete1983@reddit

Back door, my neighbours are cool but I don’t always want to chat.

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OkGrapefruit7174@reddit

I use both doors, if I walk I use the front door, if I take my bike I use the back door as my bike is in a shed in the garden (no car). No one in my family aside from my aunt and uncle use the back door.

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wrongfully-banned@reddit

I have indoor cats with a cat proof garden so entering through the garden/backdoor makes it impossible for my cats to escape.

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tryst1234@reddit

The back door goes straight to the kitchen which makes it so much easier for going in and out with shopping. We do use the front door too, but it's generally easier if we just stick to the one door

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Strong_Roll5639@reddit

I do when I'm going to work but only because my bike is on the shed and its easier than taking the bike through the house.

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CareyHickey@reddit

A lot of families did this, especially in the UK and Ireland, and it usually comes down to practical habits rather than a strict rule

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