Split level house?

[Cool-Beans]

My "basement" is really like a split level. I call it a basement, but it really isn't.

I like it, but the house is really three levels and the bottom third is used for recreation and office stuff (pool table, big screen, video games, DH's office, etc.)

What I really like is that when the kids come with their friends, they can go down the garage stairs and go in there without coming through the rest of the house. And they can have it as messy as they want because I almost NEVER go down there.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

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

Nope, and one reason is the splits I've been in have at least a partial basement. That doesn't work so well in Houston (there we'd call them indoor pools LOL)

 

[mjantz]

My in-laws have one (4 different levels*) & from being in their house I would not buy one. A few of the reasons:

-the 'clearance' between levels is so tight that, for example, they can't put in an automatic garage door opener. Not great when its icy outside. My parents have a general 2-story & it seems much more open & 'big' than the claustrophobic split-level.
-To get anywhere in that house I have to go up or down stairs. If I get up & want breakfast, down the stairs. If I'm in the living room & need to use the bathroom, up the stairs. There's no way around it.
-The rooms do seem smaller & the kitchen is a nightmare to navigate because its so small
-It wouldn't be a home that DH & I could 'grow old' in. My in-laws are already worried about what they're going to do if their aches & pains get any worse as there is absolutely no way to live on 1 level.


*From the top level to the bottom:

1. 3 bedrooms & bathroom
2. living room & kitchen
3. laundry area, bathroom & garage
4. Den/basement area (partially underground)

 

[shortbun]

I guess I'm just wondering about how awkward the stairs would be. The one we're looking at opens up to a landing and then a set of stairs going up to a living, dining, kitchen, and bedrooms, and then a set going down to a finished basement with game room, bedroom, and bath.

The outside is so nice. It has a huge deck with a wet bar and heated pool (one of those sunken above ground pools) and the huge back yard.

See, I call this type of house a 'bi-level', not a split level. A split level is one that has three half floors. You enter on the main floor with kitchen, dining and living rooms. You can either go up or down Down is the family room, laundry room, bathroom and sometimes a den/office. Up is the bedrooms and bathrooms. I grew up in a large 'split level' home with 3.5 baths and 5 bedrooms with an office, full laundry/utitilty room and a basement in the footprint of the kitchen/living/dining level. My brother has lived in two bi-levels, neither seemed roomy and the entry seemed awkward.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

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.

Well, the one good thing I can say about our old house is that the bedrooms were pretty sizeable. The only thing we thought we could afford at the time was a townhouse, and those tend to have a huge master bedroom and tiny 2nd and 3rd bedrooms. We were happy to find a home with 4 large bedrooms that was in our price range. The downside to that though, is that all the common areas were pretty small. Upstairs we had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a smallish living room and kitchen. Downstairs we had 2 more bedrooms, and another bathroom and living/family room. You exited out the family room through a sliding glass door to the deck and back yard.

I also hated the way you entered the house on a little landing. We generally spent most of our time upstairs, so when people came over, you had to either stand at the top and look down at them or stand awkwardly on a little landing. If you just have other parents dropping off kids, etc. it's just usually a quick hi, confirming plans, etc, and it's not usually a time where you would formally invite someone in. The grocery thing was a royal pain in the butt. There were stairs outside from the driveway to the door, and then more stairs on the inside to go up in the kitchen. After I had the baby, I had groceries delivered for a few months until we moved.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

A split level is one that has three half floors.

I've also heard it called a tri-level.

 

[Laura]

See, I call this type of house a 'bi-level', not a split level. A split level is one that has three half floors. You enter on the main floor with kitchen, dining and living rooms. You can either go up or down Down is the family room, laundry room, bathroom and sometimes a den/office. Up is the bedrooms and bathrooms. I grew up in a large 'split level' home with 3.5 baths and 5 bedrooms with an office, full laundry/utitilty room and a basement in the footprint of the kitchen/living/dining level. My brother has lived in two bi-levels, neither seemed roomy and the entry seemed awkward.

That's what I consider a bi-level split, too. You walk in the front door, and to get to any other room you have to walk upstairs or down. We saw a lot of those kinds when we were looking for our house, and frankly they seemed like a pain.

My dad's house is a regular split level, I lived in it for 18 years. Front door opens to a main level with living room, kitchen, door to the backyard, and dining room. Off the dining room is a three seasons room and the entry to the garage. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Downstairs is the den, laundry area and another bedroom with a half bath, as well as the door to the basement and another door to stairs that lead up to the backyard. That house's layout is just fine.

 

[mamamary]

I've also heard it called a tri-level.

This is what we call our house - a tri-level. We walk into the main floor. Then their is an upstairs and a downstairs plus we have a basement. The only time our house annoyed me was when my son was 8 and had his leg broken in three places. He didn't want to stay in his room but if he was on the main level there was no bathroom. So he basically stayed downstairs where luckily we had a pull-out couch and bathroom access.