Houses in Brazil
This is a quick look at "normal" middle class houses in most Brazilian cities. Like I said, it is about "common" houses. Of course there is a wide range of construction types and things can vary greatly from state to state and city to city. Also, the typical apartment, common in large and middle-size cities, is a little different from houses.
Houses in Brazil are pretty much the same as houses throughout the Western hemisphere and Europe. You know, they have all the usual stuff... Living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, dinning room, and so on. I would, howver, like to concentrate on the things that may be a little different. Most houses are made out of red brick, solid or hard perforated or concrete block. This is true for both external and internal walls. Concrete is used extensively for column support and for reinforced slabs in both floors and ceilings, usually molded in wooden forms. Most houses will have red tile roofs, with a gentle slopes. Roof gutters are rare. Floor coverings can be wood, carpet and especially tile. Brazilians use a lot of ceramic tile.
Internal centralized heating and cooling systems, with ductwork and tubing, are very rare. This is not realy a problem in most of Brazil, which is blessed by great weather in most places. Howver the south (Sao Paulo and below) can be cold in the Winter and I have spent some miserable night rapped in blankets. Foor these reasons, electric floor heaters and window air-conditioning units are popular.
Almost all houses in Brazil have their own water tanks, since the public water supply may not be reliable. These water boxes are usually in the attic and hold 1000 liters or more. Water pressure is low, so toilets don't flush as strong as in the US. Paper waste is usually not put in toilet bowl, but in small basket in bathroom. (I am sure you really wanted to know this!). Oh yes, most toilets don't have self-contained, back mounted water tanks, but rely on the reservoir in the water box for flushing. Bidets are common, but probably less than they used to be. If you don't know that a bidet is, look it up.
Also, most houses do not have hot water tanks. Hot water is usually reserved for showers and is produced by an electrical heater attached to the shower head, or sink, always wired at 220 volts. Nobody can consider themselves to have experienced the real Brazil until they get a 220 volt shock while standing naked in a puddle of water in their bare feet. It is very rare, but I know of people actually electricuted in the shower. Most people in Brazil take showers, take more showers and then again, three, four or more times a day, particularly. Brazilians are probably the cleanest people on earth. Bathtubs are less common.
Kitchens are for food and eating and are like those in the US in many ways. Most Brazilians have all the modern appliances that are common in the US and Europe. 90% of cooking is done by propane gas, not piped natural gas or electricity. This is usually sold by trucks that come around the neighborhood every 2 to 3 weeks. Usually there is a small room next to the kitchen called the copa, where many informal meals are eaten. Breakfast is light, continental style, and may be just a french-type bread with some butter and a cup of coffee, or more often, hot milk with a small amount of coffee. This is called a media or pingado. Regular meals are eaten in the Dinning room , called sala de jantar. Lunch and dinner are regular meals and 99% of the time there will be rice and beans served with a meat dish - wither beef (bife), chicken (Galinha), pork (carne de porco) or fish (peixe). Coffee is served after the meal, never with food. Dessert is varied and can be anything: cake, pudding, fruit, iceccream (sorvete) or maybe a Romeo and Juliet (cheese, called quijo, and guava paste, called goiabada).
Bedrooms are for sleeping and other things. Walk-in closets are rare. In fact, until recently most bedrooms were only four walls, and no built-in closets. What people used were armories or free-standing clothes closets and dressers. In the last 20 years most new houses and apartments have some sort of closets. Brazilian beds are unusually low as compared to those in the US. They usually have only a mattress, with no box springs component underneath. Pillows are usually stored in a closet, not put under the bedspread on the bed.
Electricity is usually standard 110-120 volts, as in the US, at least in Sao Paulo and Rio. However, some big cities use 200 volt current. Also be aware that most eletrical plugs are not the two flat-pin American style ones but the two rounded European style, but convertors are readily available. Brazilians have all the usual audio-visual entertainment stuff that is everywhere in the world, including TV, VHS, DVDs, games, stereo equipment of all sorts, satellite dishes, cell phones, etc... The only important detail I can think of is that TV signals use a modified transmission standard called PAL-M, not the usual NTSC standard in the US.
What else? Basements and attics are very, very rare. Most construction does not use any special thermal isolation in the walls or ceilings. Just now, in the last 10 years or so, are modern drywall and isolating materials being incorporated into home and office construction.
Most homes and apartments will have a very small room and tiny bathroom in the back, usually near the service area. When I say small, I mean small: maybe 6 feet by 4 feet. This is the maids room. Enough said. In the service area there will be a washer, a dryer and a tanque. This is a small outside scrub tub, used for soaking and general washing. It is also highly practical.
Security is very important, almost all groundfloor windows have bars. Bedroom windows will usually have shutters. All houses have walls, usually very high walls. Often in poorer areas, or even middle class neighborhoods, one will see broken glass placed on top of the walls and maybe even barbed wire. All this to keep undesired people out.
Page updated: June 2004