One story or two story? (Miami, Tampa: real estate, houses, crawl space)

[Kirst]

Coming from areas of the country where multi-story houses with basements are the norm, it seems (from real estate listings) that Tampa has a lot of one-story houses without basements. Can anyone explain this? Is it more energy efficient to cool just one level? Do the basements get moldy? If you live in a two-story house, does it get uncomfortably hot upstairs?

Also, can anyone give me an estimate of monthly heating/cooling costs for say, a 3,000 sq ft home?

Thanks!!!

[kbrkr]

Stairs are highly overrated...;-)

[kbrkr]

Both Heat and cooling can jump as high as $450 per PEAK month for a 3k house. Usually 150-200 normal months.

[tjax1000]

Basements in FL are basically the aquifer. The water table here is so high that you can't reasonably have basements unless the earth around the home is artificially raised.

I believe construction style has a lot to do with how hot the upstairs will be in a 2 story house. If you have a true attic over the 2nd story and it is properly insulated I think you are fine. Also, it helps to have a separate HVAC system for the upstairs as well as downstairs. In much older homes that aren't set up in this manner it will not be totally unusual to see window units sticking out- they are sometimes installed as a last ditch effort to keep the upstairs rooms bearable.

[Innertuber]

Single story is cheaper to build per sq ft.

Basements in Florida would generally be indoor swimming pools.

I've seen a couple but the ceilings were kind of low. More like dug out crawl spaces with concrete floor. Some held oil furnaces.

Upstairs gets hotter as the warm air rises. Often there are dual controllers with a "valve" or two separate HVAC zones, one down and one up. Likewise the cold air wants to flow downstairs. It's an obvious issue if you might set the upstairs at 80 during the day. When you go up at night you will feel the difference. Your A/C can cool it quickly.

[starwins]

Cost of A/C for a house about 3K is $175-240. There are mostly no basement because Florida is a giant limestone with water under it.

I would go with the 2 stories, since it much nicer. Most homes in South Florida (Miami area) are two stories, I don't know why. Tampa just built homes that are one store because of the market it carters to. If the top stairs get to hot just open a window and let the breeze come in.

[algia]

Leaving cost aside...we lived in a one floor for 10 years and I am finally DONE. There is no privacy, high ceilings makes for an awful echo around, master is usually off the living room and that creates noise if one wants to go to bed and the other wants to watch TV, my hubby has to use headphones...!
After we move, but even if we were to move here in FL, I would definitely look for a two story, but we're going north and I'm definitely going to find a 2 story with a basement. Not having a basement here SUCKS royally!

[Maggi07]

We pay less in a two story home than we did in a single story with less square footage. It really depends on a lot of factors. We have good insulation here, and a new HVAC system, which makes a very big difference.

I don't know anyone that has a basement. That would be pretty impossible, I would think.

[TampaKaren]

In addition to previous posts, retirees do not want 2-story homes making them (a bit) less marketable. Also, 2-story homes don't have attic space so all local storage must be kept in a garage. Heating and cooling a 2-story home is much easier when there are 2 HVAC systems (one for each level). Another downside IMO to 2-story homes is that many of them will have the laundry room on the first floor when the bedrooms are on the second floor. Sounds like I don't like 2-story homes but that's not the case at all...I'm just making a few points for you to ponder!

[bentlebee]

I love our 2 story home. I wouldn't live in a 1 story with the bedrooms coming of the living room, due to what a previous poster describes....noise and no privacy.

Our energy bill is pretty reasonable and I have heard others who pay double, but I like it on the warmer side and in the winter we don't use the heater unless it is still cold while wearing a sweater. Some people want to wear t-shirts all year around and put the heater onwhen they are cold in a t-shirt. I'm from a country with 4 seasons so we dress accordingly before using energy to change the temp.