Dear husband & I are considering a move in the next year or so. We currently live in a ranch style house, but it is what can charitably be called a “starter” house & we don’t like it anymore. We are leaning toward a two story, because we like the idea of having the bedrooms upstairs, but then there is the drawback of having trouble getting up the stairs as one gets older. Does anybody have any other factors we should consider?
Moderator’s Note: Moving to IMHO.
There’s also
lugging the vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs
the annoyance of vacuuming the stairs themselves
having to gate the stairs when you have kids and worry about them learning to climb the gates(which my older son did)
more chance of falls down the stairs if you have stairs–don’t have to be old to take a spill, I did.
you could become disabled before old age, or need to care for a disabled relative.
much easier and safer to escape from a one-story in case of fire, etc.
much easier and safer to do stuff like clean gutters and put up Christmas lights on a one-story
I say go with a one-story. It’s much safer and easier to maintain.
We live in a two-story house, which at the time we bought it (1986) seemed like a good deal because it had more room. Now, were it not for the fact that it would mean packing up The Library Without End[sup]TM[/sup] I would be seriously considering looking for a single-story house to replace it.
carlotta covered most of my reasons. I would also add that it seems like it’s impossible to walk up or down the stairs without remembering that there was something you meant to take with you.
Chez-Lucwarm is a ranch.
Other advantages:
Plumbing, electrical, a/c, etc. are typically more accessible and easier to repair.
Lot is large.
Basement is big.
We moved from a ranch style to an old-fashioned two-story and we like it. We think we made the right move.
To be sure, everything carlotta said is true. And add such things as upkeep being harder too (washing those second story windows can be a pain, phew!).
But all that being said, this place is more of a, I don’t know, home, I guess, than any of the ranch styles we ever lived in. Certainly, it is an intangible, but there is something about hearing family members clunking around upstairs and knowing their right above your head. It makes you feel good. And saying “I’ll be right up,” sounds right in the evening when you are about finished paying bills and your wife calls down to you. And coming downstairs to officially start the day. That’s a nice feeling, too.
Yes, there is the danger in a disability or old age, but I had knee surgery last year and was confined to the downstairs for a while and it was indeed a pain. But you want to know what? The day that I made it upstairs to go to bed in my wife’s and my bedroom, there was a cheer from the whole family. That felt very special. Little impediments can make neat accomplishments. And the lady we bought this place from lived in it from birth to age 96 (She didn’t have to go down to the gym to use a stairmaster).
As I said, we think we made the right decision.
TV