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I bought my first one story ranch a month ago. I'm was a 2 story lover. Not anymore.
In my house the bedrooms are on opposite side separated by main living area, which gives great privacy.
It is very open to everything. I have a finished basement with bathroom and storgae that is the total length of the upstairs which provides us more space than we need. It's great!
It's a cost saver because 2 story homes that are around 3400 square feet start at $450k here. My ranch is 1700 square feet upstairs and I have a additional 1684 living in the basement and it was almost half the price. No complaints here!
But you really live in a two story home, because you have two levels that you're living in.
See, that's what I don't get about people going on about basements in "one story homes."
We don't have basements in this area of Texas, so I haven't lived in a home with a basement for twenty years, but when I lived on the east coast I lived in several homes with a basement. This involved a flight of stairs and, well, two floors. In both homes we had living space downstairs in the basement and we used that space often.
LOL I can't recall the exact stat, but I do know that it involved people living in two story homes weighing seven pounds less on average.
Gravity decreases the farther you are from the center of the Earth. If you had a tall enough house, you could weight less even if you had the same mass.
Maybe it's just me, but I think it's better to have
more square footage in your home than it is to
have more square footage with a back yard as
is common in two story homes.
The square footage on both floors counts as square footage.
Let me give you an example. This past year I sold a one story home that was 2400 square feet heated and cooled. It had a pretty big footprint.
I bought a two story house. The square footage of the two story house is around 2600 square feet heated and cooled, but the footprint is considerably smaller. More space in the yard, lower heating and cooling bills, great views, and a bigger house! Oh, with less roof to reroof in the future as well, which is nice.
But you really live in a two story home, because you have two levels that you're living in.
See, that's what I don't get about people going on about basements in "one story homes."
We don't have basements in this area of Texas, so I haven't lived in a home with a basement for twenty years, but when I lived on the east coast I lived in several homes with a basement. This involved a flight of stairs and, well, two floors. In both homes we had living space downstairs in the basement and we used that space often.
So it's a two level - ie, two story - home.
Then colonials would be 3 stories............not two stories if they had a basement.
Now, the ranch I looked at last weekend had a walkout basement. Yes, there were stairs going down... however, if you went out side and walked around to the back, you'd enter the basement from ground level because of the sloping lot.
But it's still a one story. High ranches (ground floor "basement" 100% above ground) which do look like two stories obviously.... are still called one story by both assessors and appraisers.
Then colonials would be 3 stories............not two stories if they had a basement.
Now, the ranch I looked at last weekend had a walkout basement. Yes, there were stairs going down... however, if you went out side and walked around to the back, you'd enter the basement from ground level because of the sloping lot.
But it's still a one story. High ranches (ground floor "basement" 100% above ground) which do look like two stories obviously.... are still called one story by both assessors and appraisers.
Crazy isn't it??!!
Depends on where you are. Here in California where basements are exceedingly rare yet because of the varied topography hillside sloping lots are common, there are all sorts of configurations for a house to be designed and built- in extreme cases you might only have a garage at the street level and three living levels going downhill beyond. If a developed level with living space is mostly above ground with a walkout it is almost always counted and assessed as just part of the overall square footage of the house. I know that in many areas a basement- even walkout is not, or discounted.
My house, like some other posters have described theirs, is what I consider the best of both worlds. A handsome, compact one level cottage at front and a full two levels at the back. Basically a complete single level home; bedrooms are "upstairs" at the back of the house without going up one step, and then there is a fully developed lower level den, guest bedroom and bath with French doors to the garden and many large windows for a great get away space. It has always been counted as original square footage and as a two level house since it was built in 1928.
If you live in an expensive city where small lots are the norm, a multi-level house is the only way you are going to achieve some decent square footage and garden area- I'm lucky, I have essentially no driveway and tiny garage (I know some of you just gasped in horror there, haha) so even more of my limited space is able to be devoted to a beautiful, lived in garden. In an area with plenty of land to develop, a well designed ranch house with lots of porches, terraces and a large detached garage/workshop sounds wonderful to me as well.
One story vs two story is a big beef between me and my husband.
I grew up in a two story with basement. He grew up in a one story. I have seen what has happened to his mother living all these years (almost 50) in a one story. She can't do stairs. When we went to my brother's house for Thanksgiving, it was sad to see how she struggled to navigate 3 or 4 steps, and a single step down into the family room. It's like she has lost the ability to pick either of her legs up at all.
I vowed I will never be like her.
While my parents are younger than her, by over 15 years, they live in a 2 story house and a condo on the 2nd floor with no elevator.
We have lived in a condo on the 2nd floor, a townhouse rental with 3 stories, a house with 2 stories, and a 1 story in FL. After dealing with putting up hurricane shutters up on a 2 story in FL, my husband said never again will we get a 2 story in FL. Hence the 1 story.
Now we are in CA. I wanted a 2 story, figuring no more hurricanes. Husband insisted on a bedroom downstairs for his mother to visit. (Pro: don't have to clean upstairs when I know she wont' go up there!) I love having our bedroom upstairs again, and I like being away from the entertainment part of the house. Yes, it gets bloody hot in the summer upstairs, but I think it's also because the insulation in this house stinks. But I love our view from upstairs!
I do admit that after 8 years of living in our 1 story house, then going to a 2 story, my knees really felt it in the beginning. My husband still complains about it, but I enjoy the exercise I get going up and down the stairs.
When we were raising four kids, having a two story home was wonderful. I liked having the bedrooms upstairs, and once they were in bed my husband and I could have quiet, private time to talk and watch TV together. Now that we are down to one teen at home, I love the ranch style arrangement. I truly appreciate having a master bedroom on the main floor. If the kids want to hang out, there is a smaller rec room in the basement.
It's air. Pushing it a foot up isn't that much different that pushing it a foot across. You have much less of a horizontal run.
You are also pushing less air with a two story. Most heat is lost through the roof and with less roof, the furnace runs less.
Or get a couple of ceiling fans and run them on low. It's really never been a problem for us. We have a single, unzoned central AC and a single unzoned furnace. Our upstairs is about two degrees warmer than our downstairs if we run the fans and about four degrees warmer if we don't.
Steep roofs can be a problem, 6/12 isn't steep. If you can't walk on a 6/12 roof, you probably aren't able to move well enough to do many repairs on the ground.
Pushing air up and maintaining your ideal 350-400 CFM is not an easy task. They even make booster fans for such reasons. You're trying to push that air up 10', 15' or 20'+ feet..... You need no such gadgets for a typical ranch single story. If I had a dollar for every airflow or inability to maintain even temperature complaint I've heard and have to deal with, I'd be rich....
The scary part is I have been on 12/12 in the middle of winter with snow and ice on it. I tied off and anchored a rope to the gas meter or nearby tree. You have to pull yourself up more than walk it.
Pushing air up and maintaining your ideal 350-400 CFM is not an easy task. They even make booster fans for such reasons. You're trying to push that air up 10', 15' or 20'+ feet..... You need no such gadgets for a typical ranch single story. If I had a dollar for every airflow or inability to maintain even temperature complaint I've heard and have to deal with, I'd be rich....
For a typical one, sure. But a typical ranch is smaller than a typical two-story house in terms of enclosed square feet. My parents had a large ranch house, one with a total floor area equivalent to what you see in a two story house. Because of the length of the runs, they had to have two furnaces, two ACs, and two water heaters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Wilson C.
6/12 isn't that steep huh? Over 20' feet up with snow and ice on it is....even then, it's still pretty steep dry.
How high off the ground you are doesn't affect how steep the roof is. And falling 10' feet is still a very serious problem. When I was working on the crew framing houses, 6/12 was the lowest slope we every built. Everybody with money was getting 8/12 or higher. It was the style, I guess. Everybody said it was better for snow but I think 4/12 will get you that.
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