Yes, the family room access is from the dining area with three wide steps going up.

MamaGoose has some nice ideas!

I don't have much to add, concerning stairs accessing garage....but maybe you could add a sunroom/porch to the back of the house (off dining room) and make it easier to access the backyard. Maybe some steps down to sunroom, then a few more from sunroom to deck? Just an idea :)

I like what lavender has drawn in. Mama goose also had some good ideas too. We have done an extensive renovation and addition to a split-entry home. We did have access from main level to the backyard and still do after adding out back and over top of the exisiting house. Our garage also walks into to the lower level. Looks like you have lots of property to work with. Do you have a floor plan without the side addition over the garage that you referred to in your opening post? Or that addition just what you are considering building? Also do you have the floor plan of the lower level?

Carol

A sun room would be nice!

Since you need to step up to the new addition, you could have split steps going off the corner of the DR in the plan I posted. The steps outlined in pink would be below the floor of the existing over-the-garage family room. They would take more of the garage floor space, but closet storage could be incorporated into the stairs.

MamaGoose lovely ideas and food for thought! Any idea what the cost of this would be? We're new to Massachusetts (and the US) so no ideas what todays markets rates are. Say, the step down to the family room at the back, or the sunroom with deck.

No particular sense of how much we'd like to add in terms of space. The house has 4 bedrooms - the 4th being in the basement and not really a bedroom in my opinion but it is what it is. The mini kitchenette is a great suggestion too. I don't think we'd want to take space from the garage though although finding a good way of getting from garage to inside the house would be good.

Which, tada! brainstorm! If we had all of the ideas in one, the lower backroom behind the garage, access up to sunroom at dining room level, and a door in to a pantry/store room under the stairs to the sun room, and a door coming in from the garage to the backroom, it would work out great! Summers sould be spent downstairs and when it got to cold, we could use the upstairs family room?

Does that sound like something practical? Appealing for everyday folk? I'm obviously thinking re-sale value here.

At the moment, the basement/4th bedroom area is not great. Its basically everything in the basement under the 3 bedrooms made in to one space. There is a laundry room under the bathroom on the lower level which you access via a door just across from the door coming down from the stairs. to the left of that is a storage room/room with oil tank, furnace, water boiler, sump pump etc. And standing in the door to that, you'd be looking at the wall to the garage which cannot be access as the basement is a half level below it and all the utilities are setup against that wall.

My concern is that spending your day at the back of the house isn't what most people really want. Unless we can really turn this place around we only want to make the kind of improvements that will add value and be sellable in maybe 3-4 years time.

lavendarlass - lovely suggestion. In my mind a sun room is more like a conservatory (all glass) which would actually be wonderful added to the back of the dining room! I might not even mind it being at the upper level at that point if it were not that I have toddler who really needs to be playing outside in the garden and I'd want to keep an eye on her and even keep her company. See, as I write this, I realise I really do want the living space of the house to be at ground level. :-/

Anyways, moving on with what can be done. I love your idea and will give it more thought tonight. I have no idea of costs though which will be a big factor in what we can or cannot do. Deck would work great too. I'd even see if I could re-use the current one to the side of the family room which I'm not a fan of.

Ontariomom - Thanks, I like the suggestions so far too. I think your house is kind of what we'd ideally like to have in terms of splits. Would you be able to advise on costs for your additions?

I did post the upper level plan in the original post - without the addition over the garage but you can see from the photo what its like. The tiny window under the family room on the rear view of the property looks in to the garage from the back. The only access in/out of the garage other than for cars is a side door which leads to the deck stairs, up to the family room. Not a big fan of it.

I have tried to describe the lower level in the post above to mamagoose if you can make any sense of it.

So my other thoughts are... how much would it cost to raise the land up to being about 3 feet short of the upper level? I would do that both front and back and have the garage look like you're driving a bit down in to. or you're stepping up to the lawns.

Then, continue to add a level on top for the bedrooms and additional bathroom, redesign the living level a bit or just reposition the 4th bedroom to first floor, and make one room an office/library. The basement would become dark I realise but at that point, maybe it would be needed as just that, a basement which could be repurposed for anything.That would work for me.

What kind of costs am I looking at for this crazy idea? Help me please! If this could help us stay in this house for 10 years, I'd be willing to make the investment over some time to make it in to the house we want it to be.

Are you willing and able to DIY any part of the remodel? We added a story-and-a-half addition on one end of our house in 2008. Had it framed by a local contractor, then finished the interior ourselves, to save money. I wouldn't have a guess about cost in your area. Gather all your ideas and make a list of all the requirements, then ask around to find out if anyone you know (neighbors, boss, playgroup parents) has a contractor to recommend, and get some estimates. Check with realtors in your area about selling features and trends--it seems that you might be planning too many sf in living spaces for a 3-4 BR home. Maybe consider building the DR sun room now, then in a few years when your child is old enough to play outside alone--if you decide to stay in the home--add the room at ground level.

You can also ask questions in the buying and selling homes forum, and there might be folks close to your area, posting in the building a home forum, who can advise you on cost.

Good luck!

Thank you MamaGoose. Yes. We've bought and a redone a house in the UK. Laid hardwood floors, taken off wallpaper, resurfaced walls, painted, rebuilt a wardrobe, put up a studwall. We can do that kind of work. So if we get a shell with gas and electrics fitted, we could put up the drywall and paint to finish. Would there be much difference between getting shells with fittings and finished to drywall and we could do paint etc ? What kind of work brings the cost savings?

I agree with you about adding too much living space for a 3/4 bedroom house.

Do you think raising the ground/lawn is possible?

The sunroom would be killer I have to say!

We are not sure of our final costs as we are only partway through the project (but big $$$). Our project is a very major overhaul and the addition doubled the square footage of the house. I would not recommend a project as massive as ours (hardly a single wall remained and we also recladded the house). We feel this will be our forever house, so are not worried about resale anytime soon. Like yours, our lot was large and in a good neighbourhood. If I was to turn back the clock, I would aim for a much smaller addition and keep some of the bedrooms in the basement. I totally agree with your need to have one exit to the back door from your main level and to find a way to enter the house form the garage.

Carol

I'm sorry, I was distracted and forgot to refresh before I submitted my last post. I'm looking at siding above the block foundation--you don't want soil up against the siding or wood framed exterior walls, and take it from someone who lives on soggy clay--if the house has good drainage now, don't mess with it.

Doing finish work saves a lot--if you live in the house and you can spend many hours getting the drywall finish and trim work just the way you want it. (My advice is let a pro take care of the ceilings, though.) DIY painting is another savings. Can you lay tile as well as hardwood flooring? If electrical is in place, you can install light fixtures, and attach switch plates, but it all takes time--always more time than you think it will (at least in my world).

My thoughts, and I could be wrong on this, given your location and other factors, is that the cost of doing this in addition to buying the house would put you at the price point of a house that is more suitable to what you want?

Raised and split level houses of this sort are often priced less than conventional houses in many areas, because they are not currently popular in the US. One of my clients lives in a development of old splits and ranches (1950s) and there has been a lot of renovation and redevelopment in the neighborhood, including teardowns. The splits tend to be torn down more readily than the ranchers, because the ranchers are more flexible to add on to, and when you add onto a split, it's still a split.

My client ended up tearing down her split and building a new house on the lot because at the time, considering how much they wanted to modify it, that made sense. She subsequently sold it and bought another house (but a ranch) in the same neighborhood.

I think you need to really analyze whether Cost split house + cost renovations = cost of more appropriate house.

Here's a plan for a sun room behind the DR--it's all new construction, so might cost more than annexing part of the garage and existing family room, and has no kitchen. Where I have 'door down' can be excavated directly under the upper landing to step down a couple of steps into the lower level/basement. (That might put it in the utility area? What's under the basement window? I'm thinking that the floor should be a step down from the garage level, and a step up to the patio. On the right side the grade could be changed so that there is no step up). The entry that you see on the left comes directly off the garage. The stairs can be open, for an airy feel, or enclosed for storage--I love those pull-outs under stairs. Instead of a deck as LL drew, you could have a patio. I hope this makes sense.

You could also have a covered porch, and at a later time, enclose the porch for more living space.

Well, you see the house has had some water damage previously. I font quite know how but they had water come in to basement. They've put in a dry be system and sump pump. They've also carpeted the basement so we can't see what the condition was like. There is some kind of permanent easy air/clean air system fitted in the basement bedroom. I've never seen one of them before.

So, it wouldn't be a possibility to change the siding or put a waterproofing treatment on and landscape so there was a slight decline away from the house?

I'll be back in a bit, have a little one to get to bed.

Wow, you really can't find anything else? All these other issues will be expensive....but water damage is a HUGE red flag! Maybe think about renting for a few months and find something that is one story and not water damaged. You can always take some of these ideas and incorporate them into another home.

And lots of stairs with toddler....might not be a great idea, either. My brother and ex-SIL had that layout, when my niece was a toddler. She could never go out to the backyard alone, because of all the steps.

This should be the busiest time of year for real estate. Think about looking around a little more.....just my two cents :)

I've never seen a house with the garage carved out to part of it that worked well whether it was a split level or not. I have renovated some of them and the solution has always been to move the garage or make it part of the house. I don't recommend buying this kind of inherently flawed house.

Hey renovator8,

By inherently flawed, do you mean the water damage? The garage design?

Lavender Lass - I think I did mention before but this is probably what we can afford in this town. Its a school system issue as well. Not that there aren't good schools in neighbouring towns but the nicer bits in those are just as pricey. The location is a mile from my husband's job making it attractive enough to think about.

I did read that....and it's why I added the sunroom. But then I found out about the water damage. Possible mold and toddler...not a good combination.

Have you had anyone inspect the house? That would be the FIRST thing I would do, before even considering buying it.

transnationalq,

Is the water damage due to poor grading? If you inspect the outside, do you see the grade slopes away from the house, and there are swales on the sides for water flow. I totally agree with the idea of inspecting the house before proceeding. The inspector may be able to tell why there was water damage.

Just so you know Renovator's comments referring to a flawed design likely means he is not a fan of split entry homes. He has commented before on this style of home. Split foyers with their many levels and sets of stairs are not friendly to those with mobility issues and that is likely some of the reason Renovator and other buyers prefer to avoid split foyers.

Furthermore, your potential house seems to have the additional con of no garage to home access, and a lack of back of the house exit. Our home slopes downward from back of property to front of property which is often the way with split foyers and likely avoids the back exit door issue you are having from the main level.

I will say I find our split foyer with it's large windows to offer nice natural light even in the basement. The upper floor is higher off the ground in this style of home so you get great light from the main level as well. I don't like the small entry, but we did expand the size of ours some in our renovation. If you search Google search Houzz/GW for past comments on split-foyer homes you will be able to read a variety of past comments (many negative) on this style of home. Others have posted some of their solutions and new builds with this style of home. It is a tricky style of home to work with .

Best of luck,

Carol

Just wanted to add--I was raised in two different split homes, the first a mirror image of your plan, without the added family room. The first alteration my father made to the home was to add a below-grade access door in the area where you probably have the utilities in the basement. It must have been on the north side of the house because it was always cool on the outside steps in the summer. As a kid, it was my favorite place to take a pillow and read a book. :)

Ontariomom, thank you for your reply. There is actually one door leading to the back garden from the lower level bedroom. That's it.

Feeling pretty bummed at the moment. The open house had a ton of activity today. I'm sure because of price of houses in that town, this one seemed like a steal/good deal. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll have a ton of offers too.

The other house on sale on the same street is on for 775 but it is a very different house!

I took a closer look at the plans and discovered a raised first floor an unoccupied basement and a bonus room added over the garage but no split levels. The only thing that is unusual is that the house is entered at the landing of a switchback stair so its a Split Entry instead of a Split Level house.

the awkwardness of the entry can be corrected by raising the exterior stairs and rebuilding the interior stairs.

As for a connection to the yard you could build a large first floor level deck across the back side of the living room and family rooms and perhaps add some terraced decks to get down to the yard easily. You will find a lot of these in magazines especially in ads for decking systems.

It would be wise to include a ramp at the rear of the house for anyone who cannot climb your entrance stairs.

The example below is at a full upper level which is an even tougher design to pull off. the cost of a deck and planting will be far less than cutting up of adding on to the house.

I think Renovator's option with the terraced deck, might be the best idea yet. It will cost less than a living space addition. I am less sure about the idea of increasing the number of outside steps outside in order to improve the size of the entry. That would lead to more steps down from entry to basement. If you want a larger entry (and with a family you definitely will need one), I would do a bump out at the entry.

Renovator, is there a way for the OP to be able to access the house from the garage?

OP, what style of house is the other house that is for sale on your street. How much of a premium is that house compared to the split entry you have posted about.

It's a cape that has had two extensions, 4 garages with individual entry, same size lot almost but most of it to the front and sides, 5 bed, 4.5 bathrooms, 4380sq. Ft could include finished basement.

I'm sorry renovator8, I've lost you. Which plans are you referring to?

I have no idea about the difference between a split entry vs. Split level. :-/

You posted a plan with your first comments.

A split level has floors at alternating half levels with a stair connecting them (stair parallel to the front face of the house). A split entry has two level floors and the entry door is on a split level (landing) between them(stair perpendicular to the front face of the house).

This house appears to be both a split entry and a separate split level off on the left.

Aha. I'm not sure I've ever seen a split level house then! So, this being a split entry... is it possible that with moving the front door to the left so it open in to the current living room area and reclaiming that space from the stairs in to the living room, that it could be, over time, converted in to a colonial style house?

palimspet - That room to the left is an addon so to me, it doesn't count as the original house.

The Family room isn't a true split level, it's like a separate bonus room over the garage.

You will never gain space by altering the entry stair. Nothing can be as efficient as a split entry, that's why its there.

It's still not a full flight of stairs up to the room over the garage, or down to the garage from the right side of the house, so that level is still split, no matter what size it is or what room/s it is comprised of. It counts as part of the house as it is now, unless you remove it.

Its 3 steps up to the family room addition from the DR. Not really a 'level' up.

Trans, sorry but no easy way to make this house a colonial house. If the entry is halfway between the upper level and lower level than the house is called a split entry or a split foyer. You can get a larger entry by doing a bump out and increasing the size of the level that is in between the two floors (the entry level). Below, I have linked another Houzz/GW thread where the poster asked about doing a bump out to increase entry/foyer size on her split entry.

I would be interested in seeing a solution for opening the garage to the lower level. How many steps down would you have to take from garage to lower level. Could you spare somoe space on the lower level near the garage house wall for a few steps down and a mudroom. In our split entry, we have a large area on the lower level for our mudroom. This is very valuable space for a large family like we have. Our garage door to house is at walk in level luckily.

Entry bump out discussion on GardenWeb

transnationalq,

Here is an idea book on improving split entries and regular split homes.

Split Visions

There's no practical way of doing the walk in to lower level from the garage since you'd need to borrow some space from the upper level as well to make a decent enough space to walk through. That would eat into the family room and living room space I think. Or, a recessed staircase from the garage might work but would eat in to garage floor space. Hmm. Might be possible if we changed to gas and removed the oil tank...that's where this recessed space could work.

Thank you Ontariomom!! I actually spent the evening reading that earlier today. Some ideas for the foyer seemed appealing but this house doesn't really fit any of the designs!

Did the bit about borrowing some floor space to build recessed steps that'd carry on down to the lower level utility room make sense? I'd say it'd be at least 5 -6 steps from garage floor to lower level floor.

I would definitely consider taking the space from the garage or basement (perhaps where oil tank sits currently) to be able to make the garage connected to the house. Your house is very different if you need 5-6 steps to go from garage to lower level. You might also want to consider a ramp if you have room. Think of what a pain it will be to take the trash to the garage. Or even worse, you arrive home in the car, park it in the garage and then have to go outside again to enter the front door.

For me, those tiny little foyers in split entries are completely useless if you have more than 2 people living in the home. Just think of all the sports equipment, knapsacks, boots, coats etc your children will want to bring into and out of the home. Find some way to make the garage door connect to the basement and even try to add a man door so your children can go through the garage without opening one of the big doors. Then plan on a very decent sized mudroom in the basement. My kids no longer are allowed to use the front door. They all come in the garage man door, walk on one side of the garage (there is a pathway away from cars) and enter the home. Upon entering there is a large space used as mudroom (not finished yet, but still functional). I will never go back to having the family arrive into the tiny entry. In the old house, you usually couldn't open the door without pushing back packs out of the way.

Carol

ontariomom, thank you for that link. It was so interesting to look at plans of the homes I remember from my childhood. When my father built our second split entry home, he incorporated some of the solutions that were mentioned, while using the basic, economical plan. One of my brothers lives in the house and is thinking of remodeling the kitchen--I'll share the link with him.

No problem, mama goose.

Transnationalq, are you still considering purchasing this house? If so can you ask the sellers for a basement plan, or make one from memory so we can help you think through what to do about the garage to house issue.

Carol

Yes Carol. Caught up in negotiations at the moment. You're all amazing! Should know tonight or tomorrow if it's going to work.

Ok, so we're now on to the inspection part of the house buying process. I will take photos of the basement area to share if I can't quite come up with something before then.

Ok, no idea what you guys use but I finally made some edits to the UL floor plan to show you what the LL looks like.

The bathroom is supposed to be the laundry room. The space to the left is where the utilities are, oil tank, furnace etc. The large space to the right is the 4th bedroom.

Where is the garage in this space. Is it included in the area to the left on your plan, or is it not shown?

Carol

Yes Carol. It's to the left of the room with utilities.

It's not shown on the drawing.

I saw a similar house today but with the garage and family room to the right of the house and they'd done the deck additions to the back of mode of the rooms like in one of the drawings posted above.