Master Bedroom above the garage? (Howe, Celeste: real estate, houses, buyers)

[trayanh]

How bad will it be? I heard it will make your bedroom hot in summer and cold in winter. I inserted a picture, which only shows the bill all year around. I don't know the home owner's life pattern, so just assume their every day is just a repeat of the day before, and AC/heating will be extra. BTW, they use gas heating.

This home is in a very prestigious community, all "10" schools, good builder, all bedrooms up. Don't know if it is still desirable with the masterbedroom above the garage.

[RooCeleste]

Personally, I cannot imagine having a master up bedroom in Texas! I would NOT do it. I know our builder has a plan with a master up (over the garage) and while I don't know if the garage plays into it, I certainly wouldn't want to 1) trek up and down the stairs several times a day to go to my master bedroom and 2) wouldn't want to attempt to keep it cool enough for my liking. No way...someone else can have that house!

[trayanh]

To me, master up is acceptable, but just no idea how about above the garage.

I have a friend in CA, and he said the new single family houses in the community he is building all have master above the garage.

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

Personally, I cannot imagine having a master up bedroom in Texas! I would NOT do it. I know our builder has a plan with a master up (over the garage) and while I don't know if the garage plays into it, I certainly wouldn't want to 1) trek up and down the stairs several times a day to go to my master bedroom and 2) wouldn't want to attempt to keep it cool enough for my liking. No way...someone else can have that house!

[mark311]

One of our bedrooms is above the garage and it doesn't seem to be any different than the other bedrooms that aren't above the garage. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

All four of our bedrooms are on the second floor and we prefer it that way so we are close to the kids' bedrooms. However, as RooCeleste and Real Estate agents on here have suggested in the past, more buyers in Texas tend to prefer the master on the lower level. So it might be a slight negative if you decide to resell it in the future.

[eileenkeeney]

Another disadvantage of having all bedrooms up stairs, is that this design tends to have only a small half bath down stairs.
This eliminates the advantage of using the bathtub as a sort of tornado shelter.
I know I considered this as I was looking at houses.

[trayanh]

so above the garage is not a problem, but all bedrooms up might have some resale issue. probably the best way is to have 2 masterbedrooms, one up and another down.

Originally Posted by mark311

One of our bedrooms is above the garage and it doesn't seem to be any different than the other bedrooms that aren't above the garage. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

All four of our bedrooms are on the second floor and we prefer it that way so we are close to the kids' bedrooms. However, as RooCeleste and Real Estate agents on here have suggested in the past, more buyers in Texas tend to prefer the master on the lower level. So it might be a slight negative if you decide to resell it in the future.

[trayanh]

that's true. there is only a half bath down stairs, but I have never considered tornado shelter...

Originally Posted by eileenkeeney

Another disadvantage of having all bedrooms up stairs, is that this design tends to have only a small half bath down stairs.
This eliminates the advantage of using the bathtub as a sort of tornado shelter.
I know I considered this as I was looking at houses.

[JayBrown80]

The only problem with having any room above a garage is that a garage is usually not connected to the HVAC system in your home. Because of that, you need extra exterior insulation seperating your garage ceiling from your bedroom floor. Your garage is basically an exterior space, and it needs the same insulation that an exterior wall would have. Some sound barrier would be nice as well, because garages are noisy, but, your garage door probably won't be opening and closing all night.

Other than that, it is a non issue.

As far as the asethetic values of having bedrooms/master bedrooms on a 2nd floor, that is purely a personal taste, and you should not consider it while purchasing a house. Half the population likes it, half don't, and you can't cater to them both.

[10scoachrick]

Our 22' x 15' game room is above our garage and adjoins a guest BR(also above the garage) with attached bath. I've often thought of the possibility of a 2nd 'up' master by combining the rooms. This would only make sense if the 'need' arose for a second master(no in-laws or big kids, but there might be some other reason). Since this game room is on the street side of the house, it likely would not work out perfectly, but not because the area is above the garage. I would probably add some insulation to the flooring but otherwise, I wouldn't have a problem because it's over the garage.

[RevMen]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

Some sound barrier would be nice as well, because garages are noisy, but, your garage door probably won't be opening and closing all night.

You'll have better results by mounting the garage door opener and tracks with isolation mounts, rather than just bolting them straight to joists. Most of the noise that garage door openers pass into spaces above them is actually vibration energy that gets into the building structure and radiates as sound from walls and ceilings.