Open to below floorplans (Cibolo: loft, new house, neighborhood)

[franklin9150]

We are thinking about building a house in Cibolo. The foyer and family room are open to the second story. Will this adversely effect the electricity usage as far as cooling the house? Common sense tells me it would, but I don't know for sure. I've also heard that it degrades the structural integrity of the house. Any validity in that?

[AR Newbie]

I am so happy you are looking into this. I personally would have never thought of this! I would think so also, but will it really make the difference if you buy or not?

[pobre]

Originally Posted by franklin9150

We are thinking about building a house in Cibolo. The foyer and family room are open to the second story. Will this adversely effect the electricity usage as far as cooling the house? Common sense tells me it would, but I don't know for sure. I've also heard that it degrades the structural integrity of the house. Any validity in that?

Actually, since heat rises, those rooms could be cooler. You would have the opposite issue in winter, when you want the heat to stay in those rooms. Most likely, there will be a ceiling fan for the family room. Many, many floor plans have at least one area that is open, usually the foyer.

[franklin9150]

Originally Posted by AR Newbie

I am so happy you are looking into this. I personally would have never thought of this! I would think so also, but will it really make the difference if you buy or not?

Honestly, it probably won't make a difference, as we are quite impressed with the floorplan and neighborhood. Now, if the electric bill would be say double, that would probably be a factor to buy or not.

[franklin9150]

Originally Posted by pobre

Actually, since heat rises, those rooms could be cooler. You would have the opposite issue in winter, when you want the heat to stay in those rooms. Most likely, there will be a ceiling fan for the family room. Many, many floor plans have at least one area that is open, usually the foyer.

I was thinking that a little, but just wasn't sure. The builder we are looking into does the ceiling fans standard in the family area. I didn't like the open to below idea at first, as it takes away from 2nd floor sq footage. After looking at many homes with this, it is growing on me.

[sapphire]

We have this in our house but it's 30 years old. The "formal" living room and the foyer have a cathedral ceiling and the 2nd floor is only on the back half of the house. Unfortunately, we only have one A/C unit, so it does get hotter upstairs, but we're never up there anyway. Just at night, and it's cool enough.

We "only" have 1867 sq ft, but honestly I'd be fine with half that. When we're here, we pretty much migrate to the den, which also happens to be the coolest room in the house. If I could get a "do-over" I'd stick with a one-story, but bigger families would probably disagree.

[franklin9150]

Originally Posted by sapphire

We have this in our house but it's 30 years old. The "formal" living room and the foyer have a cathedral ceiling and the 2nd floor is only on the back half of the house. Unfortunately, we only have one A/C unit, so it does get hotter upstairs, but we're never up there anyway. Just at night, and it's cool enough.

We "only" have 1867 sq ft, but honestly I'd be fine with half that. When we're here, we pretty much migrate to the den, which also happens to be the coolest room in the house. If I could get a "do-over" I'd stick with a one-story, but bigger families would probably disagree.

I actually agree with you, less can be more. The only thing for us is we are expecting our family to grow by at least two more, which would make 6 total in the household. We'll see.

[sapphire]

Yes, if I had 6 in the house that would be totally different. As it is, my oldest will be moving out soon so then I'll have a spare room upstairs that I just don't need. Our "offices" are wireless laptops, so there is just not a need to be up there all alone. Which is good, because as I mentioned, it does get warm up there during the daytime. If you have 2 units installed when the house is built, you wouldn't have any issues with the heat of the summer.

Who does the laundry? That's when I curse the 2nd story the most.

[franklin9150]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Yes, if I had 6 in the house that would be totally different. As it is, my oldest will be moving out soon so then I'll have a spare room upstairs that I just don't need. Our "offices" are wireless laptops, so there is just not a need to be up there all alone. Which is good, because as I mentioned, it does get warm up there during the daytime. If you have 2 units installed when the house is built, you wouldn't have any issues with the heat of the summer.

Who does the laundry? That's when I curse the 2nd story the most.

Our "offices" are desktops, so we have them set up in the loft now. New house would have a separate office area.

Wife does the laundry, but the w/d is upstairs with the bedrooms, another plus if we decide to build. Our current house has the w/d in the garage...HOT!!