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My grandparents lived in a 4 story house all their adult lives.
My parents have always lived in a 2 story house (although sometimes the 2nd story was upstairs, and sometimes it was a basement).
I've always lived in a single level house.
I'm noticing a trend here. Each generation has to cut the number of stories in half. Yet another reason for me not to have kids. They would have to live in a 1/2 story house. And since my husband is 6'5", I don't think they would be short enough to appreciate 4' ceilings. My grandkids would apparantly have to live in a crawl space.
On a more serious note. Upstairs rooms are too hard to keep cool in the summer when it is 100+ outside. I don't think it is true in general that newer homes have overcome that. Yes, you CAN overcome it, but it takes a decent amount of effort and expense. I can't think of any reason why the average newer home in my area would be any better at keeping the upstairs cool than one built 20 years ago.
That, and the whole stairs thing. For me, my house is my forever house. Not having stairs, and having a small yard help to make that possible.
I enjoyed our 2-story at Albuquerque nearly twenty years ago when we bought it. It gave us a good view of the snow-capped Sandias and the volcanoes although it always worried me that the grandchildren would fall through the railing that surrounds the balcony.
However, when we sell the 2-story, I plan to return to a single story rancher on some acreage. No more 2-story chimneys to clean, no more torn screens or painting 20 feet in the air and no more expensive roof jobs. I plan to also have metal roofing on anything I buy in the future.
My grandparents lived in a 4 story house all their adult lives.
My parents have always lived in a 2 story house (although sometimes the 2nd story was upstairs, and sometimes it was a basement).
I've always lived in a single level house.
I'm noticing a trend here. Each generation has to cut the number of stories in half. Yet another reason for me not to have kids. They would have to live in a 1/2 story house. And since my husband is 6'5", I don't think they would be short enough to appreciate 4' ceilings. My grandkids would apparantly have to live in a crawl space.
On a more serious note. Upstairs rooms are too hard to keep cool in the summer when it is 100+ outside. I don't think it is true in general that newer homes have overcome that. Yes, you CAN overcome it, but it takes a decent amount of effort and expense. I can't think of any reason why the average newer home in my area would be any better at keeping the upstairs cool than one built 20 years ago.
That, and the whole stairs thing. For me, my house is my forever house. Not having stairs, and having a small yard help to make that possible.
I got a kick out of your post. However, I have to disagree about the upstairs rooms. We have an OLD house (I believe many newer houses do not have any problems with this) and the upstairs rooms are NOT uncomfortable in the summer (or winter). There are ways to incorporate energy efficiencies and modulate ductwork, adjust the vents, etc. Ceiling fans also help keep air conditioning costs down. These steps weren't cheap but they weren't outrageous. In our part of the country, where land costs are extremely high, making one story houses rare treasures, it is much easier to make the rooms comfortable if you otherwise like the 2 story house, than to rule out all the 2 story houses in order to buy a 1 story house that would otherwise meet most people's checklists.
I grew up in a new ranch on a slab with fresh painted walls. I've owned two older two-story homes, 1911 and 1875, since with basements and wall paper. Now we're winding down and have purchased a second home that is a newer split plan ranch with fresh painted walls. Love the circle of life.
Having lived in both a one story house growing up, and several two-story houses as a married person with young children, I can definitely say that one story houses work for our family. With young children it means not worrying about them falling down the stairs (we lived in a two story house that had hard tile everywhere even the stairs and I can't count the number of goose-size lumps but daughter had when she was learning to walk), with my son, he would fall down almost everyday but at least it was carpeted. I have tripped over my dog going down the stairs when holding the baby, luckily I held on to her! I've worked in a rehab hospital for four years, long enough to know that accidents and health problems can and do happen to perfectly young people, and the patient has to have a plan of how they are going to live (i.e., how they will navigate the stairs in their two story home) before they can be released. Plus, our parents and older relatives enjoy visiting us because the house is easy to navigate and has a good separation between the master and the other bedrooms. Looking for a one story house did limit our buying options but I feel we made the right choice ( and yes, I agree, heating and cooling the upstairs rooms was also difficult in a two story home.)
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina (But originally from Long Island)
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We will be house hunting in the next few months in NC - and one of the MUST HAVES for us is a Master on the first floor...for a number of reasons. One is that we really do not want to be dealing with having to go up and down stairs everytime we want to go to/from our room - but most importantly, we have big dogs (Newfs and Ger. Shepherd) and they all sleep in the room with us at night - they may be ok with the stairs now that they are young, but as they older (especially the large and giant breeds) stairs can sometimes be an issue....and for US as well.
Ranches have always been my favorite - one floor living! We are in a ranch now and love it - REALLY hoping that we can find another ranch when we start looking! I have seen some beautiful 2 story houses, but the ranch homes always stand out to me.
I got a kick out of your post. However, I have to disagree about the upstairs rooms. We have an OLD house (I believe many newer houses do not have any problems with this) and the upstairs rooms are NOT uncomfortable in the summer (or winter). There are ways to incorporate energy efficiencies and modulate ductwork, adjust the vents, etc. Ceiling fans also help keep air conditioning costs down. These steps weren't cheap but they weren't outrageous. In our part of the country, where land costs are extremely high, making one story houses rare treasures, it is much easier to make the rooms comfortable if you otherwise like the 2 story house, than to rule out all the 2 story houses in order to buy a 1 story house that would otherwise meet most people's checklists.
How hot does it get there in the summertime? In my area, there are usually about 20 days above 100 each summer and 3 months at or above 90. Ceiling fans help a little bit, and you can close downstairs vents to force the A/C air upstairs, but it is still uncomfortable in upstairs rooms here in the summer, even with the A/C running pretty much all day every day. In my parents current house, they put the upstairs on a different zone, which helps some, and used a new type of heat reflective coating (I think it went on the underside of the roof), and it is pretty tolerable up there even on hot days, but it was fairly expensive to do.
My parents build custom homes, and to say that new homes in general "do not have any problems with this" is inaccurate. I'm not arguing that the technology and techniques don't exist to keep this problem under control. I'm arguing that they aren't being used regularly. At least in my area. Most newer houses have this problem nearly as much as the older houses.
How hot does it get there in the summertime? In my area, there are usually about 20 days above 100 each summer and 3 months at or above 90. Ceiling fans help a little bit, and you can close downstairs vents to force the A/C air upstairs, but it is still uncomfortable in upstairs rooms here in the summer, even with the A/C running pretty much all day every day. In my parents current house, they put the upstairs on a different zone, which helps some, and used a new type of heat reflective coating (I think it went on the underside of the roof), and it is pretty tolerable up there even on hot days, but it was fairly expensive to do.
My parents build custom homes, and to say that new homes in general "do not have any problems with this" is inaccurate. I'm not arguing that the technology and techniques don't exist to keep this problem under control. I'm arguing that they aren't being used regularly. At least in my area. Most newer houses have this problem nearly as much as the older houses.
Most newer houses are built with the cheapest materials possible unless it is a custom home. They put a single 4 or 5 ton unit on 3000 square feet and pay absolutely no attention whatsoever to the orientation of the home in regards to N/S or E/W or what type of heat load is actually incurred.
Im in the process of building a custom home now...at 6,000 square feet the whole house is air-conditioned and insulated with spray in foam. It will have 4 AC units - 1 that is considered a "party unit" and is an additional unit that is only kicked on when having a large number of guests over. Houston has high heat/humidity and what is considered acceptable to most parts of the country can't keep up under heavy in/out loads like during a party.
The other 3 units are fully capable of cooling under normal circumstances. All are 4 ton 19 seer units, zoned and dampered, with insulated hard ducts (not flex duct). The entire house is air conditioned, including the attic (foam is sprayed on underside of the rafters in the attic) The AC will be completely sealed and each room is guaranteed by a third party LEED inspector to be within 1 degree of all the other rooms on that AC unit. The home also uses a series of whole home dehumidifiers to control humidity which is important in Texas with our high humidity and the use of foam insulation.
Each room actually has a thermostat/humidistat sensor that talks wirelessly with with the control thermostat....While this is not the most cost effective unit to install - it is the most energy efficient and the most comfortable.
I expect very cheap bills though, and have a calculated payback of 6 years... - I have a N/S orientation to the house, large established trees on my lot, Patios on the N/S orientations and the west side of the house is the garage which means I will have very little heat load from afternoon sun. My LEED calculations show an expected average utility bill to heat/cool the house to be around $250-$300/month with a constant setting of 72F. We will see how accurate this comes out - but I've spent alot of time studying AC and insulation and any good builder can easily install/balance a good system. Its whether or not they can get the customer to pay for it. This is my forever home, so I am paying for it.
The most important part of the whole system is not one story vs two story - its your sun orientation, the window loads, and how much shade you have (either from trees or porches). After that insulation is #2, design #3, and equipment/installation a distant 4.
Unfortuantely for the average American - they are forced to buy master builder homes, which basically use the same calculations for every home regardless of the actual heat load.
In a 2 story, whatever it is that you need is sure to be on a different floor, so you are going up and down stairs all day.
I was definitely skinnier when I had a two-story!
One-story/two-story has never been a deciding factor for me, but after seeing my 75-year-old father slip on the way down my stairs in my former house, my next empty-nester house will definitely be one story.
I have a 1.5 story now, with the second story being a "bonus room" with a full bath. The only people who have used it are my son and his friends and houseguests.
One-story/two-story has never been a deciding factor for me, but after seeing my 75-year-old father slip on the way down my stairs in my former house, my next empty-nester house will definitely be one story.
I have a 1.5 story now, with the second story being a "bonus room" with a full bath. The only people who have used it are my son and his friends and houseguests.
That configuration is just about ideal in my opinion; a mostly one level home with a couple of good sized rooms available on another. Ours is like that, 1350 s.f. main level, 2br/2ba, very comfortable every day "formal" rooms, kitchen and laundry and then a 550 s.f. lower level with den, (wet bar and fridge) guest room and bath. I love the separation for guests who can come and go through the french doors to the garden or just to have a different area in the house to be with or without the S.O.
I guess stairs are a problem for some but I am of the camp that you gotta use it or loose it. Americans are just plain lazy about walking or even climbing stairs. I'm 51 and will almost always choose stairs at four levels or less when I'm out and about. There may be some time when I can't do stairs, but I'm not going to hasten that time by not climbing them while I can.
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