Split level house?

[puffkin]

In this area that's a bi-level not a split. I guess they are different everywhere.

I agree, from what the OP described the house is a bi-level. I wouldn't get one of those as you basically lose most of your storage area in the downstairs to living space and garage.

My sister-in-law, and 2 aunts have splits. All are the traditional 3 level split with basement (level 1- family room, bathroom, office/den/bedroom; level 2- living room, dining room, kitchen; level 3- bedrooms and bathrooms). They are very large and have lots of living space. It is easy for their families to spread out and a nice layout for entertaining.

 

[jen0610]

While we don't live in a split level, we have two set of friends that each live in a split level. Ones has the tri-level, the other bi-level. Heres the take on the two houses.

The tri-level. You go in the front door and you are in the living room. Kitchen, dining area, half bath, and laundry room are on this level. You can enter the garage thru the laundry room, which is off the kitchen. The living room and kitchen are open to each other, feels very spacious. When you walk from the front door towards the kitchen, the stairs are to the right, in the middle of the house. Ten stair up, ten down. They have 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths upstairs. Downstair, is a family room, storage area and half bath. The ceiling doesn't feel like it is sitting on top of your head. DH is 6'2" and he has plenty of room. Not sure what they did with the windows, the redid them not long after they moved in, but it isn't "dark" down there.

The bi-level. You go in the front door and you either go up or down stairs. There isn't much room once you get in the door. Once you go up the stairs, you turn and there is a very small landing and a long hall way. The landing, ie living room, can hold a small couch or a love seat and a chair, small coffee table. As you go down the hall way, the first door you hit is the entrance to the eat in kitchen. There is a sliding glass door that opens to a large balcony/patio and a set of out side stairs take you down to the yard. There is no other acess to the back yard area from this floor level. If you continue down the hall you find 3 bedrooms, 2 full, but very small bathrooms.

If you go down stairs, once you get to the bottom of them, there is a door to the right, which is the garage, a door in front of you, which is the storage area, or make a left and you are in a hall way. Go about 2 foot and there is a door way on the left which is the family room. Why there is a wall creating the hall way running the entire length of this lower level, who knows. It just makes the family room smaller and this level very "dark". The ceiling is very low, also helping the "dark" feeling. If you walk the hallway, you find 3 more rooms. One is a half bath, the other is a den/bedroom, and laundry room at the very end. There is a door leading to the back yard in the laundry room. The feel in this house is very closed in. Even though our house is smaller than this one, we do more at our house, then here.

When we were house shopping, we had looked at a bi-level, but just didn't like the flow. Spending time in our friends, confirmed that it isn't our style at all. Now the tri-level, I could live with that.

 

[padams]

Split levels are selling even more slowly than the rest of the houses here in ATL. I'd be very concerned about resale.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Where we are thats called a multi-level.

My head is spinning.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Split levels are selling even more slowly than the rest of the houses here in ATL. I'd be very concerned about resale.

Yes, that is something to consider. We bought a story and a half and while looking for 8 months, we found that they sat longer than a traditional ranch or 2-story.

However this is the house we needed for now, so we took the plunge. Girls are 17 and 12...they are upstairs and we are downstairs!!!

I have to say I love the story & a half. First house DH and I agree on. This is house #4 for us.

So if the split works for you OP, then go for it.

 

[mom2rb]

I have never seen a house like this anywhere. I guess they are not popular in Houston.

 

[jodifla]

We have a really big split level, and are really enjoying it. (Where we live, split level is two levels, and tri-levels have a ground floor, upper floor, and lower floor.)

The downsides...having to immediately decide if you want to go up or down. And the grocery thing. Our garage is at street level, the rest of the house is up or down. The closets in this house are small...but the rooms are really spacious.

But our split level has a full living area upstairs, with a huge kitchen, great room living-dining area, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms.

Downstairs is a huge family room, two more bedrooms, a huge gameroom/storage room, bathroom, big laundry room.

 

[binny]

Im looking at a Colonial or a similar again. I love this Colonial that I have now. At least the floorplan.

 

[Micca]

I think if you're going to have very young people, or older people in your house (and sooner or later you'll probably have both) the split level is going to create some pedestrian problems. Somebody's to be running and fall, or someone is not going to be focused on what they're doing and fall. Maybe it will be a minor thing, maybe it won't.

Vacuuming is also kind of a hassle with the split. On the upside: It can give a home a cool visual look and feel.

 

[binny]

I think if you're going to have very young people, or older people in your house (and sooner or later you'll probably have both) the split level is going to create some pedestrian problems. Somebody's to be running and fall, or someone is not going to be focused on what they're doing and fall. Maybe it will be a minor thing, maybe it won't.

Vacuuming is also kind of a hassle with the split. On the upside: It can give a home a cool visual look and feel.

I remember living in a couple of splits. I was about 5 I guess and decided to somersault down the stairs


Come to think of it I think we moved soon after that.....

 

[Chicago526]

It would depend on the type of split. Around here you generally have two types. One is you enter through the front door and you are litterally in the middle of the stair case, you either go up a flight of stairs to the kitchen/living/dinning/bedrooms or downstairs to the family room, half bath, laundry, and garage (around here they're called raised ranches). That I would hate, I'd be spending the whole day running up and down the stairs, especially for groceries, because that would mean going up two flights, not just one. And same for laundry, now that I think about it. And every raised ranch I've ever been in, the carpet on those stairs is all torn up and dirty because it is such a high traffic area. Even really good carpet takes a pounding, and you'd have to vacuum about every day to keep up with the dirt (especially with the front door being right there, wet/snowey days are a nightmare, and there is not much room to remove and store shoes).

The other type, you enter on the main level and it has the living room and eat in kitchen, and the garage. Up a half flight of stairs is the bedrooms and bath, down a half flight of stairs is the family room and laundry. That I wouldn't mind so much, it's only four stairs up or down. The big draw back is that the only bath (at least in the ones I've been in) is up stairs with the bedrooms, which can be awkward for guests if they have mobility issues (plus the bedrooms would need to be either clean or the doors closed!).

My current home is a cape cod, and as you walk in the stairs still smack you in the face, no room for a table or bench, but at least there is a coat closet. You go left into the living room or right into the dinning room leading to the kitchen, so it's not too bad. Plus we have two full baths, one on on each floor, plus a full basement. If I only could move the stairs, it would be perfect!

 

[rt2dz]

I grew up in a split level and much prefer it to the two-story I live in now. When you walked in there was the entry way with a hallway with a large closet and powder room leading to the kitchen to the right. The door to the garage was in the kitchen. Behind the entry was the family room and to the right, behind the kitchen was dining room. To the left of the entry was a short staircase (1/2 the size of a two-story staircase) that went up to four bedrooms and two baths. Also to the left of the entry was the same size staircase going downstairs (the windows were just above ground) that had a family room, a full bath, a bedroom, a spare room (study) and the laundry room. Then you could take another staircase downstairs for the basement (rec room, playroom, and lots of storage closets), which were technically under the entry level floor.

No super low ceilings—9-10 feet, per the standard of any house back when it was built. I think that house was about 3000 sq. feet and felt much larger. It took up less space on the lot than the houses around it that were two-stories.

That house (which burned down last Christmas) is my gold standard of a house. I wish they had houses around here like that. It had way more storage than my current two-story, which thanks to 21 ft. ceilings has zero storage.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I grew up in what we called a "split level"...entered into the living room, with the dining room and kitchen on the same floor. There were stairs up to the bedrooms/bathroom, and stairs down to the finished basement/bathroom/garage. I loved that house.

We moved to a "raised ranch"...walked in the front door and either went up to the living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, bathroom...or down to family room, office, bedroom, bathroom, a "summer kitchen", and an added on 2 car garage. Once Dad built the "summer" kitchen a year after we moved in, we never used the upstairs kitchen again, except for holidays when we used the dining room. But that setup came in very handy once my father got sick 12 years ago (passed away 10 years ago), and mom 5 years ago, having the kitchen and a bedroom on the ground floor, because they were unable to use stairs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of having bedrooms on the same floor as the living areas, esp a raised ranch. When my parents entertained in LR/K/DR in the early years when I was a teen, I couldn't get from my room to the bathroom without having to say hello to guests.

 

[AristocatFan]

Another thing to consider, if you practice Feng Shui, is having stairs right at the front door is something to avoid. It's bad for money and health flow. All the positive energy's from the house is believed to flow right out the front door. We're house hunting and I practice Feng Shui, this has been a big issue as so many homes are built having stairs as soon as you enter.

 

[suzimar57]

i'd always wanted to live in a split level - that's my dream house! - but all i've ever lived in have been apartments or condos - so i keep keep dreaming...

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We just moved out of one- lived there for 5 years. The hatred we had for the design grew bigger every year. I will NEVER buy a split foyer again.

 

[ckret01]

That style isn't called a split level around here it's called a Raised Ranch and we loved ours and miss it so much.

That's what we call it too around here a Raised Ranch. I actually live in a raised ranch house and I love it. Our house is a bit different of a raised ranch that the living room faces the back of the house and the kitchen faces the front where most other raised ranches it is reversed. The 5/6 stairs walking from the front door upstairs to the kitchen doesn't bother me at all but for some people it might. I like to decorate the railing during Christmas

My parents live in a split level house where when you walk in you walk right into the living room with a kitchen and dining room on the same floor then you take 5/6 stairs up to the bedrooms and bathroom. I actually like those too.

 

[elgerber]

We moved out of a split 6 years ago. When we bought it, we loved it! I was tired of it by the time we moved out. The stairs did not bother me (except carrying in groceries). What bothered me was the front door and the garage door entering right at the same place in the middle of the stairs. So when you came in all your shoes went right there, in the middle of everything. Now we have a mud room off the garage, so shoes are in there, and the front door that you can see from the living room is clear. But that was my only issue with it.

 

[MontanaZoo]

I have a tri-level house, about 1400 sq feet. It had everything I was looking for when I bought it. You enter into the living room or kitchen (door on front, door on side), dining area is on that floor too, then there's about a half staircase downstairs to finished daylight basement (grew up in a house with a regular basement and knew I'd use a daylight one much more) and it has a fireplace, bathroom, laundry room and an exit to outside. From the living room up a different half staircase is where the 3 bedrooms and the main bathroom is. My bedroom is bigger than my parent's master bedroom in the house I grew up in (a 2000 sq ft ranch), the other two rooms are probably the same size or a little bigger.

I wanted the fireplace, exit to outside from daylight basement, daylight basement, bedrooms above ground level, no back neighbors (there's a park), and at least 3 bedrooms so it works for me.

I do wish it had a bathroom on the main level but it's not far to either the up or down ones. My dad has arthritis so the short staircases work well for him. Most of my entertaining is done in the daylight basement area.

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

We just moved out of one- lived there for 5 years. The hatred we had for the design grew bigger every year. I will NEVER buy a split foyer again.

That's us. At first I thought I'd love it. Upstairs is the kitchen/living room/3bedrooms and 2 full baths. Downstairs a den, bedroom/office and another bath.
Then I realized I can't stand tromping my groceries up stairs every time I got to the store. I can't stand when people come to my house the first thing they see when they open the door is stairs. I can't stand that DS4's bedroom shares a wall with my stove/microwave and most of my kitchen counter space. I can't stand that my living room is just a few steps from my kids bedrooms.

Geez, it sounds like I hate my house, huh.

We do have a great backyard, and a creek that the boys love. And we're zoned for a great school. So I'll just keep silently grumbling when I bring in grocerys and make sure my stairs are vacumed when guests come over.