Cons and Pros of 2 story great room (for sale, renting) - Indianapolis - Indiana (IN) - City-Data Forum

springwinter · 08-16-2007, 08:34 PM

Hi,
The 2 story great room is new to me. I kind of like it. Can anyone tell me the cons and pros of this structure?

Vagus · 08-16-2007, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by springwinter

Hi,
The 2 story great room is new to me. I kind of like it. Can anyone tell me the cons and pros of this structure?

IMHO, it's all cons with no pros.

Huge waste of space . . . with that big high ceiling you could have had another 2nd floor master bedroom suite, rec room, office, etc.

Heat rises . . . all your money is heating the ceiling in winter

Ever try to change a lightbulb 2 stories up in the middle of the room? A 24-foot stepladder is not in most peoples' home armamentarium. Same prob if you ever want to paint.

I never, ever, ever want one of these rooms . . . but thanks for asking so I could vent about one of my pet architectural peeves!

sweetana3 · 08-17-2007, 03:59 AM

Ditto on the heating and cooling.

springwinter · 08-17-2007, 05:35 AM

True.
But I think one of the good thing is it makes your home bright. I like bright homes.

Actually, I family room with cathedral ceiling. But haven't seen many homes with that here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vagus

IMHO, it's all cons with no pros.

Heat rises . . . all your money is heating the ceiling in winter

Ever try to change a lightbulb 2 stories up in the middle of the room? A 24-foot stepladder is not in most peoples' home armamentarium. Same prob if you ever want to paint.

Southside Shrek · 08-17-2007, 10:34 AM

Give me a large great room with a tall ceiling any day and Ill be delighted with that kind of feeling of spaciousness.

Mathguy · 08-17-2007, 11:04 AM

I moved from Chicago to Kansas City about 7 years ago and the neighborhood I liked has 2 houses for sale. The one I liked best has the 2 story great room and I bought it.

Pros:
1) Visually beautiful, very open spacious feel to things....lots of natural lighting a nice ceiling fan and some 10ft. potted plants and it looks *nice*.
Frankly, the room is "impressive" and has a certain wow factor. It's the central room in the house.

2) Yes, heat rises, the room is cooler in the summer than a room with a normal ceiling. To this point, I think they are better in warmer areas.

Cons:
1) I lose maybe 600+ sq. ft. of space....but I already have 3700 + 1700 more in a finished basement so frankly it's not a noticeable loss of space for THIS sized house. If you were going to put in a big high ceilinged room in a smaller home then yes...the space loss would be prohibitive.

2) My heating\cooling bills aren't that bad....I doubt it costs much more if any. Feel free to link to an architectural article etc. describing this.

3) Changing bulbs? $20 for an extender pole with a suction cup and I buy the really long lasting bulbs. This is an absolute non-issue.

4) Painting? I'll hire someone if/when I ever feel it needs it. Again, non-issue unless you are one of those people that constantly like to change their house and paint every 4 years.

belovenow · 08-17-2007, 11:21 AM

Most everything has already been hit upon except two: If you're building new having a great room with cathedral ceiling adds cost to the structure. Additionally, if ever you need to or want to work on the ceiling (been there/done that), you will be stuck renting scaffolding and/or most likely will want to hire a contractor.

I agree with the positives mentioned, but in the future when I build I will not have a great room with cathedral ceiling. Instead I will opt for 9-11 foot ceilings on at least the main floor as you can achieve the desired sense of spaciousness with that height. I love the brightness of my open-floor planned house with great room, but I just cannot help but feel like I have potential square footage which can never be reclaimed, and that fundamentally bothers me.

Mathguy · 08-17-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbuszu

Most everything has already been hit upon except two: If you're building new having a great room with cathedral ceiling adds cost to the structure. Additionally, if ever you need to or want to work on the ceiling (been there/done that), you will be stuck renting scaffolding and/or most likely will want to hire a contractor.

I agree with the positives mentioned, but in the future when I build I will not have a great room with cathedral ceiling. Instead I will opt for 9-11 foot ceilings on at least the main floor as you can achieve the desired sense of spaciousness with that height. I love the brightness of my open-floor planned house with great room, but I just cannot help but feel like I have potential square footage which can never be reclaimed, and that fundamentally bothers me.

Good post.

Southside Shrek · 08-17-2007, 01:15 PM

the key is to buy or build a super large home so you can have a 2 story great room without ever feeling guilty about wasted space.

rrah · 08-17-2007, 07:30 PM

I love the spacious feel of our 2 story great room. The extra high windows allow for lots of extra light. One of my favorite things to do is to get comfy on the couch with a good book, and glance up to see the clouds rolling by through the second story windows, watch the tops of the trees blow in the wind, and glimpse the birds that fly by.

No one has yet mentioned one con: the noise factor, at least in my house.