Those of you with Splits

specifically a "side by side"(?)

what are the plusses and minuses of that home layout?

another post to follow about house layouts...

Re: Those of you with Splits

im not sure what a side by side one is. but our neighbor has a split and is an electrician and was complaining to DH about how the split was annoying to wire becuase of the different levels.

hth

Re: Those of you with Splits

I grew up in a side by side split
cons-
-Lots of stairs
-hard to add things like Central Air
-harder to add on to
-can not really have an open floor plan

Generally, I liked growing up in the house but it does present certain issues and would not choose one for my own home.

My house had 3 flights of stairs with rooms on 4 levels

Re: Those of you with Splits

i have a split and love it! i have an open floor plan on my first floor (we opened it up when we redid our kithen).The bedrooms are separate from the main level which is a plus and I have a spacious den in the lower level. I haven't extended yet, but many of my neighbors have. The third bedroom which is on a level of its own, they have blown out to make a either a gorgeous master suite or 2 bedrooms. Plus you can extend over the garage. There is also the option of extending out. HTH

Re: Those of you with Splits

We have a side by side split and I really like it. The only thing I wish we had is a half bath on the main floor. I like that the bedrooms are separated from the rest of the house, yet the house feels open so I can hear what's going on in the whole house. We also have central air.

IMO, there are not a lot of stairs. 5 going up to the bedroom, 5 going down to the den.

The previous owners expanded the main level so I have a huge fornal dining room and a really nice size kitchen. They also opened up the Formal living room by adding cathedral ceilings and dug out a basement in the back of the house.

Kristin616 recently bought in my neighborhood and did a ton of work to her spilt - I believe she made the main level totally open.

Message edited 8/22/2009 11:40:18 AM.

Re: Those of you with Splits

I think what I have is a side by side split. You come in the front door and if you walk straight in you hit the kitchen. If you make a left turn 1/2 way in, you go up the stairs. You can see the windows of 2 of the 3 bedrooms from the front of the house. Anyway if that is a side by side, the thing I dislike most is how the sound travels right up the stairs from the LR to the bedrooms. Luckily my kids are good sleepers but I have been up in our BR while my DH is watching TV in the LR and the noise comes right in. I sometimes like/sometimes dislike the half staircases all over. I was glad I didn't have a full flight when my kids were still new stair climbers but I like the idea of bedrooms a full flight up, more private. Also our bathrooms are up stairs and downstairs, when my DH's Godmother was visiting with a hip problem and when I was potty training my kids, I wished I had a bathroom on the same floor. I generally like a split though, you can do a lot with one. We have an apt for my mother downstairs. A split is ideal for an apt like hers bc she is above ground, not a basement apt. And it doesn't have to be in a dormered upstairs like a cape. We could build up over our kitchen & DR and add a master suite much easier than you can with other style houses (or so my contractor told me when we were doing renovations). We have a partial basement but it's pretty big and could be finished and it's not way down underground. I think there is flexibility with a split. I'm sure the noise up the stairs problem I have had could be helped somewhat if we moved the furniture around but it's not an option with our furniture.

HTH

Re: Those of you with Splits

Re: Those of you with Splits

I have a side by side. I didn't want a split but I loved the neighborhood so we took what we can get. I think if I had a colonial on the same plot of land it would be huge. The layout is not ideal in my opinion, but it's perfect for us at this time. We did a lot of work and opened up our kitchen. I wish we had a bath on the first floor. It's a pain in the butt. My grandfather is elderly and can't do that stairs at the house - which is why he can't come over.

Re: Those of you with Splits

What is a side by side split??
I have a split and as Tine73 said we opened up the entire first floor. I love the layout of splits. We only have 4 stairs going up to the bedrooms and 4 going down to the den. All of our rooms are very spacious too. I will try to upload pictures tomorrow of the open floor plan for you

EDT: Nevermind. I read what a PP wrote about a side by side split. I can see where the noise travels, but my parents have a colonial and you can hear noise from downstairs up in the bedrooms also. I dont mind b/c our tv is in the den which is two flights down. We have a formal living room when you walk into the house so the noise really is not an issue.

Message edited 8/26/2009 11:21:54 PM.