Dave, There are a couple good spots in the house, but I'm not going to give them away. Instead I'll give something else away...

I do agree with you that it adds a little bit of pressure and paranoia to the T-side being more physically exposed than the CTs that have some solid cover behind the rocks and whatnot.

However, let me put on a perspective for you that may clear some of that fearfulness out of you Dave!

First of all, due to the design of PCS play and server standards, on any given map the offensive team enjoys having more "cover" than the defending team. This is due to the fact that the defending team (given "tactical" exceptions) hangs back to protect the objective. The offensive team has the luxury of falling back to some degree of safe area away from the defense. Like in Dust 2, the Ts can advance in many midfield areas and if the heat is too hot, fall back, regroup, and even snipe at the defending team and try to make a hole for an offensive movement.

Same concept for Parkhouse. The CTs can take their time and hang back in that "safe" zone and feel out the defense, and quite often engage at range, and this makes the defense team feel that sense of exposure.

Now even narrowing down the scope from the map level to the hot zone itself, the house, sure, there is going to be limitted cover. Again, take for example Dust2. If defense is at either bomb site, how much cover is there? A corner here, a couple boxes there, not a whole lot. If the hostage areas in parkhouse compare, there is way more defensive cover in the hotzone proximity than your typical bombsite on a DE map!

The only difference is the house itself can be surrounded by CTs and make things hard on defense, especially if they are covering a strike team that is going into the hotzone. However, this can be done on any map! It's just a matter of the offense team coordinating ranged cover with a short range strike team to get control of an objective. The thing is, with parkhouse, it's much more intuitive and natural for this to occur because of the map layout.

Now it could be said that the CTs can make life miserable for the Ts on this map, however, the reverse can also be said, and I've seen it done over and over.

I'll go ahead and give away the secret though.

CT's must advance on this map to get the objective. That actually puts the pressure on them. And in order to advance they have to expose themselves (and in many spots the exposure is very very high and risky). If the Ts are dug in defensive positions, they actually have the general advantage of having the ground while the offensive team must risk taking the ground.

To even add to the Ts already inherit defensive advantage, if they were to work as a cohesive team, they can make it pure hell for the CTs to advance. For example, if a CT is advancing and T's are spread out covering areas, if they converge and put back pressure on the advancing CT and they come in from different angles and that CT is gonna get chopped up like baby lamb at a greek barbeque. Poor guy.

Now I'll admit that I see the T's having a tough time in 2 different scenarios.
1) If they go into a long distance sniper type fight it's pretty much a crapshoot of who shoots who and from there who has the greater numbers to win the round has the advantage.
2) If the T's all hidey hole in the house like scared rabbits, they are just making it easy for a well coordinated CT killing spree to come in with smoke and bangs with the outside ranged cover to boot.

The optimal T defense would be to spread out, some outside and a couple inside the house. Make it hard for CTs to advance into unprotected territory. Communicate CT's positions and when appropriate converge and engage him/them from multiple points (a confused enemy is usually a dead one).

The trick that is hardest for the T's is to actually put the "KILL KILL KILL" mentality aside, especially on this map with so much action and openness. If you are a T outside the house, your goal is to not play the crapshoot long distance shootout with the CTs and their cover (sure, shoot if you have a good shot, especially if you see he's not looking at you) but the priority should fall on recon and holding ground from advancing CTs that are exposing themselves and not behind their nice little cover. The problem is that I see most commonly is players that play the outside defense positions engage way too long and too much and against multiple dug in CT's at range, and well, they tend to die. And then it leaves the poor handful of Ts that went into the house to protect the frontal entrances (and relying on the outside players to provide flank security) as just deaths waiting to happen as the CTs surround the house and strike inward.

So the Sloppy lesson of the day is: There is actually a decent amount of physical cover in the house. But don't be drawn to that! If you are paranoid enough and worried about getting shot in the house, especially from outside, it's not due to lack of physical cover, it's because your team allowed the house the be surrounded and that house just turned into a death trap. The CTs actually have the disadvantage outside on ground they have to move forward through. HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS!

And that's what makes this map so cool. The fight isn't just around protecting only a couple entrances to the hostage area like office for example. There is an openness to it that makes for teamwork and communication to really shine on the T side. And when it's there, the CTs are the one's that truly lack the cover.