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I lived in a 2 story house most of my adult life. I have lived in a one story the last several years. There are advantages/disadvantages to both.
When I still had kids at home, I loved having a two story house with the master downstairs. I liked having some separation from the kids. They had their space upstairs and we had more quiet downstairs. This worked great.
One story houses are more energy efficient than two story houses. I don't have my master bedroom right off the kitchen. It is on the other side of the house.
Why not have a two story house? Stairs. I don't want stairs. No, I am not obese. But, I do have bad knees and coming down stairs causes me pain. It isn't a matter of not liking to exercise. I exercise regularly. I just don't like knee pain. Neither does DH.
Also, as people get older balance can end up being a problem. It isn't one for me now. But my mom (in her 90s) could not in any way handle stairs. I feel that for the long term it is safer to not have to navigate stairs.
Clutch your pearls: I live in a one-story, 942 square foot condo. Two bedroom, ONE bath. (Heard the thud as somebody just hit the floor.) I can stand in the center hall and turn around in a 360 and see the whole place.
Nothing from the kitchen has ever smelled so bad that I couldn't sleep.
Reminds me of my friend's brother and his wife, who are very wealthy. They moved back to NJ from TX and were going on and on about how they were adjusting from a 4500 s.f. house to their little tiny 3200 s.f. house.
I said, "I live in a 942-s.f. condo." You should have seen their heads swivel toward me and both their mouths drop open in unison. It still cracks me up when I remember it.
How would have they reacted if they knew that we, a family of 5, live in a 1100 s.f. house? And there are smaller houses around here... It's a ranch, so one story for us (plus basement).
The latter part was a response to the idea of two story houses being more impressive than one story ones, and larger houses being more impressive than smaller ones. Some people just have an innate need to size up and compare and then judge. I figured it would be entertaining to mess with that mentality briefly, if only for a moment when the person has to determine "did people REALLY compare poo size, and is it something important enough that we should restart the tradition?" Which reminds me... one of my neighbors once advised "If you want to deter burglars find someone who owns a mastiff, collect their poo, then put it under a "Beware of the Dog!" sign, along with a big-azz steel mixing bowl of water."
Two story was fine once upon a time. But in retirement we went with a ranch style house. Actually, two ranch style houses. One in our home state and one in Arizona for the winter. Both are sized just right for the two of us and can still be managed by one of us. And we can age into either one when snowbirding is no longer desireable or doable. Yes, we can easily climb stairs today, but tomorrow may be different. We're prepared for the day we can't.
Just out of curiosity, what is your home state, AlaskaErik?
They have curb-appeal and look grander. The house is more energy efficient. There is separate living and sleeping space. I would hate to sleep in my master right next to the noisy living room or smelly kitchen.
Am I the odd one here?
Nope, I agree. I like the separation of day and night spaces. And you can get a larger house on a smaller piece of land.
I get that for some people stairs can become a burden and for any of us it could become so because of an injury but come on it seems like half the people over 50 here are borderline terrified of the simple act of going up and down stairs. Folks have been doing it well into their 90s for millennia and are all the healthier and stronger because of it. When did we become so frail and weak that the rest of us can’t even climb stairs?
I’m 56 and make it a point to go up at least 20 flights of stairs a day (or its equivalent by power walking up hills). There will be a time when I can’t go up stairs, it may be tomorrow, but I’m certainly not going to hasten that time but simply being lazy to the act of doing so today.
I love having the bulk of our living space on one floor and a suite of rooms on another, gives a great separation in a compact house on a small lot and makes it feel larger.
This thread has been eye opening. I had no idea so many people are of the opinion that living in a 2 story house requires advanced acrobatic skills. My grandparents lived on the third floor of a walk-up building (built way before the invention of the elevator). Both of them climbed the stairs daily until they passed away in their late 90s. My other grandparents lived in a single level house, but they still had a good 16 or so stairs to climb just to get to grade, as their house was on a hillside.
Of course they all walked and climbed stairs every day of their lives. I can definitely see that if one declines due to a sedentary lifestyle or becomes invalid from injury or disease that such a situation would be impossible, especially with someone with a disability or war wounds as described by Mightyqueen (interesting note about the gov. grant for building a house to accomodate a veterans needs, by the way).
Then again, the country they lived in had recourse for people in that situation whether through age, disease, or injury. In the US, one would simply sell their unsuitable 2-storey house though and buy one more suitable, right?
It's really hard to get a wheelchair up the stairs, that's why we live in a 1 story house. Actually everyone in our subdivision lives in a 1 story house. That's because many here have a handicapped situation.
Our younger son and family have a 2 story house, after 10 years they have decided it's nicer to go back to a one story and eliminate the hassle of up and down the stairs, lugging stuff up and down, cleaning the 2nd floor, extra air conditioning bill, etc etc.
Remember the #1 problem for those over 60 is falling down. Stairs are not where you want to be when you fall.
We had this home built in 2005 on an acre we already had..it's one story (1640 sq ft) with a basement and a 3 car garage. I rarely go down to the basement except for changing the furnace filter or getting decorations, etc. We really like this floor plan (3 bedroom, 2 bath), the kids are grown and don't live nearby so we have plenty of room. We are 70. I like 2 story homes but prefer a one story for us. All 3 of our children have 2 story homes.
Last edited by pekemom; 01-24-2018 at 11:01 PM..
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