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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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A relative has a long, thin room, probably 10'x25' off of the kitchen, sharing the back wall of the garage. What happened apparently is that when built in 1990, that was supposed to be a 500 sf family room. The plans had been approved, but when the building inspector came out he decided that it was going to be too close to the property line, so they had to reduce it from 20' to 10' wide.
We have a good-sized side yard on the same side of the house as the garage. No windows look out on this yard. When our kids were little, the only way to watch them playing out in the yard was to go outside.
We also have a nice big sliding glass door on the other side of the house. It looks out on a narrow passageway and the fence between our property and the neighbor's. It's completely useless.
I will never understand why they couldn't build the house with the opposite orientation.
It depends on the state. In Virginia, a bedroom has to have a closet.
My folks wanted to add a bedroom onto their weekend house, but the county wouldn't issue a permit because the septic was too small. So they built a room without a closet and put a wardrobe in it. They use it as a bedroom but by code, it's a den.
It depends on the state. In Virginia, a bedroom has to have a closet.
My folks wanted to add a bedroom onto their weekend house, but the county wouldn't issue a permit because the septic was too small. So they built a room without a closet and put a wardrobe in it. They use it as a bedroom but by code, it's a den.
I couldn't find any VA county code that usurbed the IRC code of a legal bedroom:
IRC code does not mandate a bedroom have a closet.
Legal bedrooms:
--7ft ceiling (R305.1). --2 methods of egress (R310.1). --70sqft and 7ft diagonal (R304.2 / R304.4).
I only looked at counties around DC and Roanoke. I am not familiar w/ the rest of the state.
So I am assuming to circumvent the septic rule that they probably lessened the square footage so it didn't qualify as a legal bedroom, which is the most common method of getting a room classified as a den.
My house has 2 bathrooms and the only way to enter either of them, was to walk through a bedroom. When I remodeled one of the bathrooms, I custom ordered a 22 inch door and squeezed it into one corner of the living room wall. Code requires 24 inches - but I figured on an old house that an appraiser would not spot this and/or let it slide, since this really needed to be done.
A lot of newer home plans have a powder bath right off the kitchen. I'm sorry, but that is a 'no go' in my book! Also, I look at doors and cabinets that might open into each other. Our 1970's home has a bathroom right at the top of the staircase and if you forget to shut the door, everyone coming up the stairs is staring right at you on the loo! lol
Walking through the laundry room from the garage to the house.
We have that (built in 2005). It's very small, just room for the washer and dryer. It's better than having to go to the laundry in the basement like our last house.
We have that (built in 2005). It's very small, just room for the washer and dryer. It's better than having to go to the laundry in the basement like our last house.
Houses in California don't often have basements, but many have the washer and dryer in the garage.
In my next house, i.e. my first "dream house", there will be a spacious laundry room with countertops on which to fold the laundry, room for an ironing board, a sink, and possibly a second refrigerator or freezer.
Some people want a long, curving "bridal" staircase and gold leaf, but I want a snazzy laundry room.
Houses in California don't often have basements, but many have the washer and dryer in the garage.
In my next house, i.e. my first "dream house", there will be a spacious laundry room with countertops on which to fold the laundry, room for an ironing board, a sink, and possibly a second refrigerator or freezer.
Some people want a long, curving "bridal" staircase and gold leaf, but I want a snazzy laundry room.
Great laundry rooms are worth their weight in gold and a solid, good looking stair is almost always better than an overwrought, trying too hard bridal staircase.
I saw a three-story townhouse where each bedroom was on a different floor. The first-floor bedroom seemed more like a den. You had to go through the garage to get to it.
Having three bedrooms is great but I can't imagine this floorplan would work for many families, unless the kids were older. Would probably work better for roommates.
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