2 story homes in AZ

[nevercoldcall]

I'm from the northeast and never understood AZ's obsession with 1-story houses. I hate single-story homes. I think they're unattractive and when I lived in one I hated it. 2- and 3-story all the way for me. (3-story is common in Arrowhead Lakes which incidentally is AZ's wealthiest community.)

[chocolaterie]

I grew up in Toronto, Canada in a 3 story home. I think it's personal preference. After visiting 10+ communities in the west valley, single stories just seem more open.

I also believe because of AZ's natural flat desert characteristics, 2+ stories just don't look right.

If you're looking for major resell value (in the future) I would recommend looking at what some of the high dollar homes consist of (eg. Houses in Paradise Valley and Scottsdale). You will see many of them share the same characteristics...

[mortimer]

It is an old wives tale that 2-stories homes cost more to cool
than a 1-story. 1-story homes have a lot more roof area that
gets heated up by the sun and 2-stories homes have less
surface area exposed to the outside, but more wall space that
is an outside wall as a percent of total area.

2-story homes have problems with air stratification. When the
air is not circulating (a/c is off for an extended time), my upper
floor is between 2-3 degrees warmer than the lower floor.

The cost to cool a home is determined by total square feet given
the same efficiency of a/c equipment and insulation. It doesn't
matter if you have one or two units since it takes a given amount
of energy to lower a given amount of air.

All of the 1-story homes in my neighborhood have two a/c units
as does mine since for the same capacity it is cheaper to build
if you supply two small units instead of one big one.