Many residences have an enclosed porch or two used for storage, drying laundry, and/or growing plants. The term in Korean is 베란다 (beranda) which is a loanword from veranda. Since these are good for storage, they are usually messy and tend to be hidden by a curtain when guests visit. These mini rooms have been the norm in Korea for a long time, especially as they provided two sets of windows which aided in temperature control. The trend is changing as some people want a larger living room and/or bedroom. When a new apartment is set to be constructed, sometimes the first owners are able to pay a premium to get rid of the verandas. Windows are therefore thicker for the same temperature control, and the primary floor space is larger.

Many apartments have a larger veranda connected to the living room

This is the other side of the same veranda. This is a longer one built off the back of the master bedroom. Worth noting is the bubble wrap on the bedroom windows to the left which aids in keeping the winter cold out. A drying rack for laundry can be lowered from the ceiling with the rope or a remote if in a newer apartment. Just out of frame is a water hose for watering plants or doing laundry by hand in this space. It is normal for a floor drain to be installed. Notice the width is smaller than the previous picture. The far wall has a small storage closet with designed weak rear wall. In case of an escapable fire, a resident could enter that room and physically break through the wall in order to escape the fire via the adjoining apartment. An alternative design is more like a mini safe room with concrete walls, nonflammable metal door, and window to provide ventilation.

Here is a smaller veranda accessible from the kitchen and sharing a wall with a bedroom. These rooms are also typically messy and frequently also have bubble wrap on the windows for additional weather proofing. The floor is slightly lower so water cannot enter the living space of a home. If your home has a tankless water heater, it will be located here.

Water hookups are available for a washing machine and sometimes a small space is carved out for it.

The floor drain has a hole in the center so the washing machine’s drainage hose can be directly plugged in. If you see a puddle of water on the floor, check here first as the hose is probably not properly seated. Give the end of the hose a little push and see if it fixes the problem.

If you want to read more about coin washes, washing machines, drying clothes, ironing, and mending or dry cleaning clothes, click the respective links.

In some homes, the veranda next to the kitchen has the gas meter but in other homes the meter is outside. Here is an image of one inside of a home in the enclosed veranda. If you want a closer look, click the image to see a larger size.

Before the mosquito (모기, mogi) season starts in summer, make sure your window screens (방충망, 防蟲網, bangchungmang) don’t have any holes in them. If you do find a tear or a damaged section, you can pick up a small section of screen and fix the hole yourself. The price is reasonable and the process isn't difficult.

Each section of repair mesh has an adhesive on the rear side and is covered by wax paper. To make sure adhesion works well, gently wipe the screen near the hole to remove any dust or grime. Confirm the repair piece is the right size by holding it up to the hole. When you are ready, peel off the wax paper and gently press onto your screen. Be really careful not to push so hard you break the screen further.

There are a few terms for this, usually 방충망 (防蟲網, bangchungmang) and one or more of the following terms; 보수 (補修, bosu) or 수선 (修繕, suseon) to mean “repair” or 패치 (paechi) which is a loanword for “patch”. As different sized tears exist, stores will sell multiple sizes of mesh to fix the majority of tears.

If your home already has some mosquitos, you have several ways to get rid of them. Commonly sold in neighborhood grocery stores is a spray (모기약, 모기藥, mogiyak) but that term can be used to refer to any of the other mosquito repelling options. If you want a plugin version you can pick up 모기 매트형 (모기 매트 型, mogi maeteuhyeong). Mosquito coils (모기향, 모기香, mogihyang) are also sold in some stores but are dropping in usage due to their scent. Electric fly zappers (전기모기채, 電氣모기채, jeongimogichae) also appear in stores on occasion.

Here are several brands of sprays and plugins we found at a pharmacy but don’t expect to see the coils or electric zappers for sale at a pharmacy. If you want to see the images and words more clearly, click the picture to see a larger size of that section.