what are the pros and cons of split level homes?

[Anonymous]

Foreigner here. discovered the split level and split foyer options this month while looking for homes. Thought the split levels were interesting, depending on the models: more space, connected space while creating privacy which is nice for family with kids older than 7 or so.. Not good for old people obviously.

For the split foyer I didn't know it was a "classic style" I honestly thought I just entered a home designed by a drunk architect who forgot where his entrance was and adjusted the door at the end..in the middle of the stairs..Very weird.. Pros: it did provide more space, cons: I hated the lack of proper entrance, low ceilings, low windows on lower level.

Someone mentioned feng shui earlier, I am not a feng shui connaisseur but there is def an uncomfortable decision issue when you step in the house..

Once you are in I guess you get used to it

[Anonymous]

Our split is very hard to heat and cool. Someone told us the stairs act like a chimney, taking all the warm air up. The uppermost level (4th level out of basement, main, 3rd and 4th levels) is never comfortable. Always very cold or very warm. I also feel like we don't have many windows, which I think is more the style of that era than the split. I like that if I'm in the kitchen, I can easily see down into our large family room, but I don't like that I have to turn and go down so many stairs to get from bedrooms to laundry. Through 3 baby gates. This is like a townhome in that regard, but it actually has fewer actual steps. We have a really large lot, so I think it's weird that they built a split instead of just a colonial like some of our neighbors, but the ceilings on the uppermost floor aren't quite as cramped as those colonials are, and it's only one of our 3 beds that has that feature (sloping ceilings). We have no bath on the main level, and as my grandmother gets older, it will eventually be impossible for her to stay with us because of all the stairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our split is very hard to heat and cool. Someone told us the stairs act like a chimney, taking all the warm air up. The uppermost level (4th level out of basement, main, 3rd and 4th levels) is never comfortable. Always very cold or very warm. I also feel like we don't have many windows, which I think is more the style of that era than the split. I like that if I'm in the kitchen, I can easily see down into our large family room, but I don't like that I have to turn and go down so many stairs to get from bedrooms to laundry. Through 3 baby gates. This is like a townhome in that regard, but it actually has fewer actual steps. We have a really large lot, so I think it's weird that they built a split instead of just a colonial like some of our neighbors, but the ceilings on the uppermost floor aren't quite as cramped as those colonials are, and it's only one of our 3 beds that has that feature (sloping ceilings). We have no bath on the main level, and as my grandmother gets older, it will eventually be impossible for her to stay with us because of all the stairs.

Forgot to add that I really like that our basement gets a lot of daylight and has 3 windows because it isn't much below grade.

[Anonymous]

I really like the use of space in split levels. My aunt and uncle had a split level when I was a kid and I loved visiting their house so part of it for me is probably nostalgia (we lived in an area with no split levels). I like that the lower level family room tends to be separated but not as separated when it's in a basement. We live in a cape cod and love our neighborhood but were very tempted to move when a friend was selling her large split level. The space arrangement would have been great for us -- top=3 bdr/2 bath, main=kitchen/dining/big living/foyer/screen porch, lower 1=mudroom/bath/2 bedrooms (which we could have used as his/hers offices), lower 2=big family room. It was really, really tempting but we decided to stay in our smaller house that's very close to metro. Still, I sometimes think "what if" about that house.

[Anonymous]

Pros: easy to teardown
Cons: everything

[Anonymous]

I love my split foyer!

In the colonials we looked at the front door opened into the living room...no foyer at all so you end up with a pile of shoes and umbrellas in your living room. I prefer having the separation from the front door that the split provides.

For the same price as a 1500 sq ft box colonial with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a tiny kitchen...we got a 3.000 sq ft split foyer. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a huge bright kitchen. I love all the space! Looking back, the colonials we looked at all had small chopped up rooms. The split is open and sunny.

Our split looks like a wide brick colonial from the outside. The facade is really nice!

PS....it's BS that split foyers have low ceilings. They are the same height as ALL the colonials and ramblers we looked at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love my split foyer!

In the colonials we looked at the front door opened into the living room...no foyer at all so you end up with a pile of shoes and umbrellas in your living room. I prefer having the separation from the front door that the split provides.

For the same price as a 1500 sq ft box colonial with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a tiny kitchen...we got a 3.000 sq ft split foyer. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a huge bright kitchen. I love all the space! Looking back, the colonials we looked at all had small chopped up rooms. The split is open and sunny.

Our split looks like a wide brick colonial from the outside. The facade is really nice!

PS....it's BS that split foyers have low ceilings. They are the same height as ALL the colonials and ramblers we looked at.

I would rather have a mudroom

[Anonymous]

Pro - there are lots of them out there
Con - I have never seen one where the kitchen and a bathroom were on the same level. So if you are on crutches or are incapacitated for awhile, you have to hop upstairs to get to the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

We love our split foyer, but we are big fans of contemporary style decor and architecture and love the cathedral ceilings upstairs. We built a garage on the side that enters into the basement, so that is where we as a family usually enter and take off shoes/coats/etc. We looked at some colonials in the same area and didn't like the small rooms with low ceilings.

[Anonymous]

18:34 again. Oh, and our main level has three bedrooms (and a fourth master suite we built on) and three baths on the same level. Downstairs is rec room, in-law suite, bathroom, and guest room.

[Anonymous]

We just moved into a split level, and I am loving it. We have a bathroom on every floor and nice high ceilings. What really sold us on it was the allocation of space. It just makes so much sense for us. An adult entertaining space on the entry level, a kids entertaining space on the lower level. A master suite separated from the other bedrooms. Three spacious rooms for the kids all on their own level with an additional playroom right above them.

the con, for me, is that the stairs are killing my knees. i do a lot more stairs than i did in our center-hall colonial. The baby gates are annoying, but i am less concerned about the baby on the stairs because no set of stairs is particularly tall.

i do think resale will be harder, but i don't plan to ever move. ever.

[Anonymous]

We live in a split level colonial in brookeville knolls. The only annoyance so far has been safety gates for the baby. Its basically impossible to do because then we have trapped the dogs or our son in another area of the house. And there are just too many stairs to gate off. So far we are just either carrying the baby everywhere or staying right in her vicinity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros: easy to teardown
Cons: everything

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love my split foyer!

In the colonials we looked at the front door opened into the living room...no foyer at all so you end up with a pile of shoes and umbrellas in your living room. I prefer having the separation from the front door that the split provides.

For the same price as a 1500 sq ft box colonial with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a tiny kitchen...we got a 3.000 sq ft split foyer. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and a huge bright kitchen. I love all the space! Looking back, the colonials we looked at all had small chopped up rooms. The split is open and sunny.

Our split looks like a wide brick colonial from the outside. The facade is really nice!

PS....it's BS that split foyers have low ceilings. They are the same height as ALL the colonials and ramblers we looked at.

I would rather have a mudroom

I'm the PP here. My split has a big mud room . You walk in through the garage into a big mud room with lots of storage, great for kids sports equipment, boots, coats, etc. we tend to come and go into the house through the garage a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pro - there are lots of them out there
Con - I have never seen one where the kitchen and a bathroom were on the same level. So if you are on crutches or are incapacitated for awhile, you have to hop upstairs to get to the bathroom.

You're talking about s split level...not a split foyer. My split foyer has 2 bathrooms on the main level.