Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > House
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 12-16-2014, 11:22 AM
 
4,538 posts, read 6,404,961 times
Reputation: 3481

Advertisements

Flooding is a big issue no upstairs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-16-2014, 11:27 AM
 
4,538 posts, read 6,404,961 times
Reputation: 3481
I actually have a rare four level split. It actually has a small attic and crawl space which gets it to six levels and since Den is two steps down the garage is on a different level.

I also have florida room one step down from main level so all in all eight different levels to house.

If you pull into garage and want to go to den, you walk up steps to porch, steps to living room and steps down to den.

It is great as it keeps you in shape. Madness if you want to do an extension as hard to connect to the different levels.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 11:33 AM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 11 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,955 posts, read 63,265,686 times
Reputation: 92371
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellmark View Post
I thought bi-levels were really just 2 story houses where the front entrance is between the floors?...
In my area they are more like elevated ranchers, with basements (finished as family rooms) that are only a few feet below grade.

Maybe you are thinking of split level?
We have one now, and love the house (the entire property) but I do agree that we have a lot of twisty steps. hah
To go from Kitchen/DR/FormalLR level... even just to go to bathroom, you are taking steps.
Bedrooms are up the steps (with bath). And large family room is down (with another bathroom).
We have a small basement with laundry and the steps are like a corkscrew... 4 separated segments.
I'm not sure if I mean a split level or bi-level, or what the difference is. Maybe it's a regional thing? The front door is on the main floor, and you do not need to go up or down at the entrance. At one end of the house, you go up to the bedrooms and down to the basement/family room. When I'm there, I feel as if I'm up and down stairs all day long. Especially since the laundry room is on the main level.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 11:51 AM
 
592 posts, read 1,468,280 times
Reputation: 461
Quote:
Originally Posted by gentlearts View Post
I'm not sure if I mean a split level or bi-level, or what the difference is. .
Honestly none of this really matters.. ha.. but I wasn't really clear myself before buying one.
On my lunch so I took some time to make a nice little pictorial (attached)

Attached Thumbnails
The single story home vs two story home game-bi_split.png  
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 12:37 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
6,782 posts, read 9,520,172 times
Reputation: 10245
Quote:
Originally Posted by thatguydownsouth View Post
A couple perks of a two story: Smaller roof squ footage means a cheaper bill when re-roofing. Smaller house footprint means you get more "yard" in your lot compared to a one story of the same lot size.
Also, the foundation is much less per square foot of enclosed space. Even if you take out the area needed for stair and thicker walls downstairs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 12:43 PM
 
Location: Portland, OR
9,858 posts, read 11,866,849 times
Reputation: 10027
I prefer to drive it the other way. Our pets and us will actually age slower because of the daily exercise from negotiating stairs to the upstairs and also stairs down to the basement. Crikey, you can always sell the two story house if you should step on rusty barbecue tongs in the backyard and have to have a leg amputated (keep your tools in good condition). I like the view from the 2nd floor bedroom. Our cat just moped around the one story. He is up and down the stairs of the new place. It will add years to his life as will the lack of truck traffic through our much quieter totally residential setting.

H
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 12:55 PM
 
Location: Colorado
22,633 posts, read 6,385,316 times
Reputation: 7323
I always thought 2 stories were nice because you got a view from upstairs, but I never
owned one...Always a single story...Now, in Colorado, our houses have been over a basement.
If you want exercise there's stairs...Otherwise, at 67, we are glad to have a single story.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Kendall County, TX
340 posts, read 642,112 times
Reputation: 321
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leisesturm View Post
I prefer to drive it the other way. Our pets and us will actually age slower because of the daily exercise from negotiating stairs to the upstairs and also stairs down to the basement. H
Depending on how you ascend and descend the stairs, your weight (knees bear 3x body weight going up and 5x body weight going down), and a myriad of other factors ... could mean the difference in healthy or poor condition knees.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 01:24 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
6,489 posts, read 8,753,281 times
Reputation: 17513
I swore I would buy a single story home when we started looking for a house in Little Rock. Our home in TX was 2 story with all of the bedrooms up. Hubby could not get up the stairs anymore and that was the clincher.

So, what did we do? We bought another two story home in Little Rock. The upstairs is where the den, L/R, dining, master bedroom, guest room, and kitchen are located. Downstairs has two more bedrooms and a huge family room. There are five exits including two sliding doors out to the deck. Now we enter through the front door, which is in between floors. It is only 7 stairs up to the main living area.

We did it for the view of the woods and the river.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-16-2014, 01:32 PM
 
4,676 posts, read 9,930,023 times
Reputation: 4908
Quote:
Originally Posted by EmergencyOps View Post
Depending on how you ascend and descend the stairs, your weight (knees bear 3x body weight going up and 5x body weight going down), and a myriad of other factors ... could mean the difference in healthy or poor condition knees.
There are other reasons people can't do stairs as they age: COPD, coronary issues, and a host of other ailments like Parkinson's, etc.

I went out this past weekend to take a look at some new builds. Every lot was the same size. Two story, 1-1/2 story, single story. From 1525sq feet to 2121 sq ft. All within $40,000 price spread. From low of $435,000 to $475,000. All having the same granite, hardwoods, etc. Though the smaller ranch had upgraded hardwoods, kitchen cabinets, wainscoting and marble counter tops and a walk-out basement. It was the 1525 at $435K (builder's model).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > House

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top