Screened Porch Included in Home's Square Footage?
sds333
16 years ago
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cordovamom
16 years agoRelated Discussions
New home square footage and state?
Comments (57)Holy cow some of these home are HUGE!!!! I can't even keep my 2200 sq ft house cleaned! LOL! Sierraeast - we got married up in Lake Tahoe and every time I see your name it makes me think of it :-) By the way I had to read it about three times also before I got the real sq footage!...See MoreSquare footage variance compared to home plan
Comments (17)The variation in the location of the foundation compared to the dimensions on the foundation drawings should not be more than an inch or two. If it is 6" or greater, it is a serious construction error that you should have been notified about at the time. "The deck is specd out at 9 feet wide" sounds like a note on a preliminary drawing. Buildings are not built from preliminary design notes. What you own is what is actually dimensioned on the plans listed in your contract. The actual deck size would be determined by the dimension to the foundations on the foundation drawing and the projection of the framing and the decking would be dimensioned on a structural framing detail. Foundation piers often shift while concrete is being poured so if the discrepancy is not compensated for in the framing the deck size will be different. In bygone times a carpenter would find a way to make the deck the correct size but homeowners press contractors so hard to cut costs these days that few carpenters would even give it a thought. When I inspect a project it is often difficult to find the drawings they are using, and sometimes it is the preliminary or bid set instead of the permit set. It's may not be true that you always get what you pay for but these days you certainly won't get what you didn't pay for....See MoreHow big is your kitchen as a percentage of your home's square footage?
Comments (43)The *percentage* of house that is kitchen will vary depending on the size of the house -- and what you consider 'kitchen'. Our house 'lives' single-level -- for us. Finished stairs lead to a full-height attic that can become a second level with the addition of dormers -- for some future owner. Our 2900 sq ft home can become a 6000 sq ft home -- rooms over our finished space and over our attached garage. We built this way because our acre+ is zoned for the larger house, and most of the neighboring homes are at least that size. The 'working' portion of my kitchen is 320 sq ft. Within the room are also a desk and large buffet -- 'kitchen' becomes 370 sq ft. At one end is an eating area -- another 150 sq ft. Between kitchen and garage is a back hall -- 150 sq ft. Include what you will and get different percentages for the house as it is and as it may become. Texas_Gem -- In my area only above-ground HVAC-ed space is counted -- and taxed; no basements, finished or unfinished -- and no attics....See MoreHow would you increase square footage of this home...
Comments (39)I hear you, mrs pete. How would you change the garage entry/exit not to be through the kitchen. My front door is on the edge of my kitchen right now and I really don't mind. I like that my husband walks right into what we're doing at the end of the day, and we kiss him goodbye as he finishes breakfast. I'm not worried about tracking in mess or dirt from the outside very much. So is there something I'm missing? We might brush shoulders? No big to me. In all seriousness, I'd choose another plan with a better traffic pattern. The problem is that the kitchen is a busy area, and in an ideal situation you'd avoid running traffic through it. Someone walks in while someone else is opening the oven -- an accident occurs. The back door's left open, and it prevents the cook from using the cabinets on the end. The kids hear Dad coming in and run into the kitchen, getting in your way as you cook. It's easy to imagine any number of reasons why you don't want your main entrance funneled through the kitchen. Pictures always help -- first, this is your plan and the red line is the traffic flow -- note that a person coming in through the casual entrance must thread his way through the kitchen, cutting off the cook from the refrigerator and interrupting the cook's work, and even if we're talking momentarily, it's an aggravation that you can avoid: Now, in contrast, here are three kitchens from your plan's "first cousins" -- I'm not saying you should love these kitchens; just look at how much better the traffic pattern is. Note that each of these plans has a casual entrance through the porch, coming by the kitchen, allowing for the same family interactions that you described above -- but in each case, the person entering the house skirts the action /walks by without interrupting /is on the edge of things. No interruption for the cook. Personally, I like the last one best. You caught my attention with fire hazard. I have lived with my washer and dryer this way for a long time now, and I've also lived with a laundry room on the opposite end of the house. I prefer the close by, compact laundry areas. Is it really a fire hazard not to be on the outer wall, though? That's certainly something to consider. Think through it: In an ideal world, your dryer would vent directly to the outside. The connection would be about a foot long and straight. Lint would scoot straight outside. On the other hand, if you have an interior dryer, it must be connected through a longer tube, which means more space for lint to become "hung up"; this means every time you use your dryer, more and more lint is piling up -- and if you don't have it cleaned out every year, that lint can catch a spark as the dryer runs, and it can set your house on fire. The longer tube costs more to install, and you may or may not be able to clean it out yourself. I'm hearing lots of "this is what I've always had" -- I'll echo what CP says: Why go to the trouble of building and moving if you're looking to have what you have now? And beware of confirmation bias. I think you're enamored of this plan; look at it with objective eyes. Breakfast areas are such a joke to me. Why in the world would I want two tables. That's pure opinion. No positive or negative to it. My husband and I are choosing a dining room and a breakfast room because we're planning a retirement home. We want a large space for frequent family dinners, but we don't like the idea of sitting in that big room at a big table with 3/4 of the chairs empty. It would feel unsettling and empty to us. Worse than that, the reality is that I'm younger and in better health than my husband. At some point, I'll be alone in this house, and I really don't want to sit alone in a big dining room to eat my meals....See Morelyfia
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