Downsizing the family home

[barkley]

It's truly something that's regional in the US:

interesting-it shows my state as slab but it's got a wealth of basements. what i realy found surprising looking at homes here was the difference in what is considered a 'crawl space' vs. what i grew up with in california. in california a crawl space was literally that-something you had to get on your belly and crawl into, here it can be something akin to what we have which is 6' high (and wired with a light and outlets) so it can't qualify as basement but is sure much more user friendly for anyone needing access below the house (and doubling as spectacular storage).

 

[soccerdad72]

interesting-it shows my state as slab but it's got a wealth of basements. what i realy found surprising looking at homes here was the difference in what is considered a 'crawl space' vs. what i grew up with in california. in california a crawl space was literally that-something you had to get on your belly and crawl into, here it can be something akin to what we have which is 6' high (and wired with a light and outlets) so it can't qualify as basement but is sure much more user friendly for anyone needing access below the house (and doubling as spectacular storage).

We have what’s considered a crawl space in our lake house. It’s one or two courses short of being tall enough to finish it. We use it for storage and I can stand up down there, as long as I’m in between the beams (I’m 5’ 9”). Not sure why they didn’t just build up a little bit more, but I assume they couldn’t dig any lower due to the water table.

We have a full finished basement in our primary home - pretty much all houses around us have basements.

 

[bluezy]

What you show in your picture is called a split level here. When you walk i the front door, you are in the living room and do not go up or down steps. from the living room, you can go ether up to bedrooms or down to bedrums/garage.

Here is a typical split foyer with the entrance opening to a small "foyer" and you immediate have to go up or down to get to anything. Hence, the foyer is split. Usually there are bedrooms and/or rec rooms in the partially submerged basement and kitchen, living space and bedroom(s) are upstairs.

View attachment 993369

My house is this layout except that the entire thing is above grade rather than the lower level being half below grade.

I grew up in a house like the one in this picture and exactly as you described...and here it's called a bi-level.