Building a 9000SF house without 2 story foyer, is that ok?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is so silly. If your HVAC system is working properly, there are no issues with two story space.

The laws of physics beg to differ with you. Hot air rises which means the lower part of the foyer is always chilly with air conditioning or lack of heat, while the upper part of the foyer is overly warm to hot.

You see, the other part of this is the location of cold air returns, heat exchangers and ERV units, all of which regulate the temperature of fresh air and also have something called zone control where you can put more warm air or cool air in different parts of the house, within the zone.

You aren't getting this in a simple two zone system.

I am taking it easy on you because I understand that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Thanks for the condescension, but as a mechanical engineer, I might say the same about you. You are describing a very expensive system that takes endless tinkering for a homeowner who will not take the time to do the work. Ask OP if she ir he will do more than monitor two or three zones and get back to me.

We recently custom built a home with 3 zones (one for each level) with a whole house ERV/HRV for air exchange with the outside. Works great and very comfortable with minimal utility bills. YES..we have a two story rear foyer....and NO temperature control is not an issue. If you have the requisite budget and a good architect/engineer, there are zero issues.

I'd be curious what your "minimal" utility bills are like. Not that I'd believe any number you post, but what your actual bills are like.

10k sq ft home. Max winter gas bill jan-February timeframe, thermostat at 78, three units, plus a bunch of other shit running - $375. Summer, max electric bill , July-August, thermostat at 76, $200. Note that we have gas cooking, 75gal gas water tank, 3 refrigerators, outdoor lighting, septic pumps, etc, etc which are obviously part f the monthly billing. Home is all brick, 2x6 construction, r23 walls, r53 roof, selected areas open cell foam nsulation, Marvin high perm windows, etc. furnace units are high end Trane with 95% AFU. Looked into geothermal but not yet sold on the technology.

LOL at your idea of "minimal." Your math skills must rival mine.

I believe your wealth is minimal and cannot rival his

So? Is wealth the measure of a good person? No, it isn't.

Good person? WTF are you talking about? Stay on topic!

I am. I'm not the one who offered my alleged lack of wealth as a dig.

[Anonymous]

10k sq ft home. Max winter gas bill jan-February timeframe, thermostat at 78, three units, plus a bunch of other shit running - $375. Summer, max electric bill , July-August, thermostat at 76, $200. Note that we have gas cooking, 75gal gas water tank, 3 refrigerators, outdoor lighting, septic pumps, etc, etc which are obviously part f the monthly billing. Home is all brick, 2x6 construction, r23 walls, r53 roof, selected areas open cell foam nsulation, Marvin high perm windows, etc. furnace units are high end Trane with 95% AFU. Looked into geothermal but not yet sold on the technology.

Anonymous wrote:I love that you think an almost $400 gas bill is minimal.

None of the above are gas bills. In fact 375 for summer is pretty darn good. We paid over 450 when we lived in our tiny leaky rambler.

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/20953.page#127039

How can leaky ramblers possibly cost so much to heat?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I love that you think an almost $400 gas bill is minimal.

When you are wealthy, minimal is relative.

$400 may be relatively "nothing" for a wealthy person, but it indicates an enormous amount of energy used. So much for "efficiency."

But it IS efficient for that size of home. Stop thinking total cost and start thinking cost per unit basis. You have to understand that not everyone can handle storing pots and pans inside the oven. Some people just can't deal with that.

Once I was at a kids birthday party at a McMansion. My toddler was in the kitchen opening and closing the empty cabinets. I said, "It's such a good idea to keep the bottom cabinets empty so you don't have to put child proof latches on them." And they were like, "??? We never cook." Nothing in all those cabinets but gotta have 'em, cuz -- other people have 'em.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that you think an almost $400 gas bill is minimal.

When you are wealthy, minimal is relative.

$400 may be relatively "nothing" for a wealthy person, but it indicates an enormous amount of energy used. So much for "efficiency."

But it IS efficient for that size of home. Stop thinking total cost and start thinking cost per unit basis. You have to understand that not everyone can handle storing pots and pans inside the oven. Some people just can't deal with that.

Well, it all depends on what your unit is, doesn't it? If your unit is per person, that might be an incredibly inefficient home.

[Anonymous]

I live in a pretty big house in the suburbs and still store pans in my oven. I cook a lot and have a lot of pans and such, plus I don't use the second oven except for holidays, so it seems like a perfectly practical place to store stuff like pizza stones, broiler pans, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

10k sq ft home. Max winter gas bill jan-February timeframe, thermostat at 78, three units, plus a bunch of other shit running - $375. Summer, max electric bill , July-August, thermostat at 76, $200. Note that we have gas cooking, 75gal gas water tank, 3 refrigerators, outdoor lighting, septic pumps, etc, etc which are obviously part f the monthly billing. Home is all brick, 2x6 construction, r23 walls, r53 roof, selected areas open cell foam nsulation, Marvin high perm windows, etc. furnace units are high end Trane with 95% AFU. Looked into geothermal but not yet sold on the technology.

Anonymous wrote:I love that you think an almost $400 gas bill is minimal.

None of the above are gas bills. In fact 375 for summer is pretty darn good. We paid over 450 when we lived in our tiny leaky rambler.

You might be rich, but you can't read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in a pretty big house in the suburbs and still store pans in my oven. I cook a lot and have a lot of pans and such, plus I don't use the second oven except for holidays, so it seems like a perfectly practical place to store stuff like pizza stones, broiler pans, etc.

I actually store dishes in the second dishwasher just because it's closer than the uppers. I hate having to walk 15 feet to get extra dishes.

[Anonymous]

We had a friend's house almost burn down because the nanny turned on the wrong double oven which had dishes in it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I luv my 1500sq ft rambler.....

PP, I think you have an autocorrect issue. You did mean 15,000 sq ft rambler, right? If you don't have 5 digit square footage, you should not be competing.

+1 We all know you can't actually enjoy living in a house that small. Anyone who states otherwise is just pretending they aren't jealous of what I have.

I grew up in a 1,800 sq ft house with one sibling, and it worked out just fine. I don't understand why people want big houses, it is not worth it.
This is in the DC area as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I luv my 1500sq ft rambler.....

PP, I think you have an autocorrect issue. You did mean 15,000 sq ft rambler, right? If you don't have 5 digit square footage, you should not be competing.

+1 We all know you can't actually enjoy living in a house that small. Anyone who states otherwise is just pretending they aren't jealous of what I have.

I grew up in a 1,800 sq ft house with one sibling, and it worked out just fine. I don't understand why people want big houses, it is not worth it.
This is in the DC area as well.

It's actually completely worth it - I grew up in a small house too but we love our big house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I luv my 1500sq ft rambler.....

PP, I think you have an autocorrect issue. You did mean 15,000 sq ft rambler, right? If you don't have 5 digit square footage, you should not be competing.

+1 We all know you can't actually enjoy living in a house that small. Anyone who states otherwise is just pretending they aren't jealous of what I have.

I grew up in a 1,800 sq ft house with one sibling, and it worked out just fine. I don't understand why people want big houses, it is not worth it.
This is in the DC area as well.

I think we need more evidence before agreeing that it worked out fine. Judging from your post, it's open to debate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a friend's house almost burn down because the nanny turned on the wrong double oven which had dishes in it.

The dishes caught fire???? I will admit I got pretty pissed at my husband for putting something plastic in the oven once because he was too lazy to put it away. He was like "Who doesn't look in an oven before they turn it on?" I was like "Who does?" But I smelled the toxic smell of overheated plastic pretty much immediately. One would really think the nanny would have noticed something was off before the house almost burnt down. Definitely time for a new nanny!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so silly. If your HVAC system is working properly, there are no issues with two story space.

The laws of physics beg to differ with you. Hot air rises which means the lower part of the foyer is always chilly with air conditioning or lack of heat, while the upper part of the foyer is overly warm to hot.

You see, the other part of this is the location of cold air returns, heat exchangers and ERV units, all of which regulate the temperature of fresh air and also have something called zone control where you can put more warm air or cool air in different parts of the house, within the zone.

You aren't getting this in a simple two zone system.

I am taking it easy on you because I understand that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Thanks for the condescension, but as a mechanical engineer, I might say the same about you. You are describing a very expensive system that takes endless tinkering for a homeowner who will not take the time to do the work. Ask OP if she ir he will do more than monitor two or three zones and get back to me.

My dad's a mechanical engineer and he installed a separate zone in every single room of his house -- I kid you not! It's fabulous when we visit, because they are like the Seinfeld parents that keep the house at sweat lodge temperature, so at least you can bring the guest bedroom down to tolerable. I wish every house I lived in had those separate zones -- I find it very easy to manage (as a non-mechanical engineer). He would shudder at the idea of a two-story foyer, though. He isn't even really sold on the idea of windows -- he sees them as openings of inefficiency. (And, incidentally -- I used to live in a house with a 2-level foyer -- I found that the "hot air rises" law was offset by the fact that the massive window in the 2--story foyer caused the entire foyer to feel like a greenhouse, so there was certainly no "chilly" section of that foyer. I ended up getting UV filter shades, which helped a lot.)