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I'm not a fan. I also feel like you get cheated on space, since the square footage includes both levels. For example, my ranch house which is listed as 1300 square feet (main floor), but also has another 900 square feet in the basement, for a total potential of 2200 square feet. While a split level in the same foot print is about 1600 square feet total. (you loose extra "basement" space to the garage).
I used to own the style the OP is considering. My primary beef was having to drag the groceries up the stairs from the garage level.
The beauty of owning many style homes in your lifetime is there are pluses and minuses with each. And with each sucessive house you can say, "I'll never have a house that has <insert primary complaint here> again!"
I used to own the style the OP is considering. My primary beef was having to drag the groceries up the stairs from the garage level.
The beauty of owning many style homes in your lifetime is there are pluses and minuses with each. And with each sucessive house you can say, "I'll never have a house that has <insert primary complaint here> again!"
yep! BTDT....my present floorplan is garage under the house. Actually have considered getting a dumb waiter a few times but now have DH trained that when he hears the garage door opening he hightails it down to the garage for grocery schlepping. Tend to shop on weekends when he's home for that reason. He bought this house w/o me so I have a lucky situation of layin' on the fault for this design on him.
^In the quad of my dreams, which is configured front-to-back from the street view, as opposed to a side-to-side layout, you enter from a little covered porch on the ground level, which includes two dens and the garage. Directly ahead of the front door is the half-flight of stairs to the main level, with the kitchen, dining room and living room; the dining and living rooms open onto a covered patio that overlooks the backyard. No doubt the backyard configuration is why the entry is on the ground floor, so that the main level could be toward the back. Then you make a 180 degree turn and go up another half level to the bedrooms.
The stairs to the unfinished basement are on the ground level, via a hallway that goes to the left of the entry, that also gives access to a second den, a half bath, the garage, and another set of stairs that leads to the kitchen. Running around in circles from the ground level to the main level was a great game of ours when we were kids.
^In the quad of my dreams, which is configured front-to-back from the street view, as opposed to a
side-to-side layout, you enter from a little covered porch on the ground level,
which includes two dens and the garage.
I grew up in a neighborhood where half the houses were like that..
and the other half were the 3+1 split level I described above.
They were very nice homes and not cheap... even in 1957 when Dad bought.
Here's that living room (looking down from the bedroom level hall):
Oh, I know that the basement isn't included in the GLA calculation. I just meant that when you buy a 1300 square foot ranch home (in my case) you wind up with a bonus amount of potential living space in terms of the basement. Whereas in the case of the split level, the square footage listed (1600 in my example) is all that there is.
I'd never seen a quad level before. There are a decent number of split levels around me, though.
ETA: I just reread my original post and realized I was unclear. My bad. I thought I had written "potential 2200 square feet of living space" vs the "2200 square feet" that I wrote. That's how everything is listed here in the midwest. Basement space isn't included in square footage, unless it is an atrium ranch, than sometimes it is included. But if there is a finished basement, it will be listed in the listing as "1300 square foot house with 2200 square feet of total living space."
My last house was a split-level. When you walked in the front door, you were in the living room. The only other rooms on that level were the dining room and kitchen. You had to go up 4 steps to get to where the bedrooms/bathrooms were, or go down 4 steps to get to the family room (with it's own half-bath), laundry/utility room, and the garage.
So, stairs were involved if you were in the kitchen or living room and needed to go to the bathroom. At the time, I personally didn't mind it. But, it was tough on my wife when she got hurt at work. Now that we've moved our new house is all one floor, I love that the only steps on the property are in the pool.
I had a house in OH that the front door opened into a large living room. There were steps down from the living room to a level that had the dining room, kitchen, TV room, laundry room and 1/2 bath. Steps up to a level that had 3 bedrooms and a full bath. This was called tri-level. There were 3 levels.
In MA I had a house that when you entered the front door you were confronted with steps up to the main living area or steps down to a lower level that had a laundry, full bath, bedroom, spare room, entry to the garage. This is what was call a split entry. There were two levels.
I grew up in a neighborhood where half the houses were like that..
and the other half were the 3+1 split level I described above.
They were very nice homes and not cheap... even in 1957 when Dad bought.
Here's that living room (looking down from the bedroom level hall):
Brady Bunch house! I love split-levels, esp. if they have that "mid-century/atomic ranch" look
I too have heard Brady Bunch house associated with splits. However, the Brady house had a huge staircase inside. Doesn't that make it a two-story or multi-story house (rather than a split)?
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I thought I had written "potential 2200 square feet of living space" vs the "2200 square feet" that I wrote. That's how everything is listed here in the midwest. Basement space isn't included in square footage, unless it is an atrium ranch, than sometimes it is included. But if there is a finished basement, it will be listed in the listing as "1300 square foot house with 2200 square feet of total living space."
