Townhouses

waipui

Was just wondering what are peoples views on townhouses?
Would you buy one? Does living on 1st floor bother you?

vacheron

I loved the idea of them and we rented one for almost a year.

One of the major problems we had was that ours has the kitchen on the ground floor and lounge on the first. Though probably fine if you're on your own, as a couple we found that we were always shouting up and down stairs to each other and the social aspect was limited (i.e. one of us cooking on one floor, the oher watching TV on another). In the end we got a set of 3 DECT phones with an intercom feature so we could call each other on different floors as we could be 2 floors apart if I was in the study!
I accept that for some people, this could be a positive benefit!

The other thing we noticed was that if you liked to leave doors open (which you had too otherwise we might as well have lived in different houses!) the heat was then incined to shoot up the stairwell like a chimney and heat the house from the upstairs downwards which was a pain if you spent most of your time on the ground floor.

My ideal scenario would to have been to put the social rooms at the top and the bedrooms at the bottom (I believe a lot of scandinavian houses are configured like this.)

greenmoneysaver_2

I haven't lived in one, but viewed and sold lots during my time with F*xtons!

I like the idea - it means in London you get garden, driveway and garage and usually 3+ bedrooms.

However most people converted the garage to living space within the first few years adn so would suggest people still prefer a more conventional layout.

People also likened them to the old Georgian houses which aren't that family friendly, with 1-2 rooms on each floor.

Browntoa

found getting furniture up and down stairs was a nightmare , would'nt buy one (luckily it was a 6 month rent)

scarletjim

I have a similar dilemma - after living in a 5th floor flat for the last 10 years, where living room, kitchen and bedrooms are all on one floor, I'm now thinking about moving into a 4 storey town house, one extreme to the other!

I thought carefully about this and thought what movement I make regularly in my flat that would suffer. I concluded that the only important things are to ensure that I have a toilet on each floor (obvious) and I have my kitchen, dining area and main living area all on the same floor. The latter is less obvious and probably wouldn't be an issue for many people, but me and my flatmate spend so much time moving between kitchen and living room, either to grab a beer, or when watching TV whilst making dinner etc, that I wouldn't want to have these on different floors.

It's different things for different people I guess.

By the way, I assume you mean you would have the entire townhouse, and your main living room would be on the first floor? If you actualy mean buying and sharing a townhouse with others, and your room is on the first floor, then that's something completely different...

savemoney

Lived in one for 17 years. Main problems I got where noise from traffic and parking. Mind you have a car now can be a pain.

BeauBelle

I currently live in one and find the space is great. We have 3 floors and had an integral garage and kitchen downstairs and found the same shouting up and down stairs as another poster. Since we bought it we have converted the garage into the lounge area and knocked walls down to change the space so that it works better for us.

We now have a large kitchen diner with fully opening doors onto the garden and a really good size lounge on the ground floor, bathroom and 2 other entertaining rooms on the middle floor and 3 good sized bedrooms on the top floor.

It takes some getting used to, we moved from a 2 bed flat, the only annoyance I have with ours is transporting all the laundry up to the top to be put away!

Good Luck
BB

Grimbal

I sold my townhouse last month, in order to buy with my husband. We've both said that we personally wouldn't want to go back to another one. We found that having the living space spread over two floors made life that little bit more difficult than it needed to be.

However, you do get so much more space in a town house than in a conventional one - in that respect it's good value for money ! We're moving to a detached that is/will be costing over 50% more than I sold for & it's 2/3 the size ! For us, we wanted a conventional layout more than space. If I were in a family, a town house may be a cost-effective option to buying more housing space. It's really down to deciding what is the most important factor for your own situation

hazyjo

I've been obsessed with townhouses since I was in primary school. Some of my friends lived in them. I'm now living in a four storey townhouse and LOVE it. Hubby and I were trying to buy a townhouse before this one but the purchase fell through. Managed to find another even better one. Actually nearly bought a few over the years but deals fell through or I couldn't sell in time.

I think the key thing is to find one that suits the way you live. There were a few we discarded because of layout. Our ground floor comprises kitchen/diner, a separate dining room, and a loo. Great for us. Next floor up is the lounge and study. Haven't got a loo on that first floor because we can go upstairs to one in the main bathroom, or downstairs to the other. Certainly wouldn't want four loos/bathrooms to clean so that's absolutely fine for us. Two beds and a bathroom on floor 2, and main bedroom and ensuite on top floor 3.

My hubby only listens to punk music. A lot of his friends who stay over are into it too. It suits us to have the kitchen/diner for them to sit in until the early hours - and I can be three floors up in bed and not hear a thing! When hubby cooks (yes, I'm lucky!), it means I can sit in there with him and not have to sit upstairs in the lounge. We definitely wanted some sort of reception space on the ground floor or cooking would be too anti-social. Our garages are behind our house so not integral.

You do have to think ahead or double up on things. Our main bedroom is on the top floor with a shower in the ensuite - but for a bath, I go down a floor to the main bathroom. My clothes are all on that floor, and I now have toothbrushes in both bathrooms as I kept having to go up for it as I'd forget it if I was having a bath in the morning. Still always forgetting my towel so might have to have one in each bathroom too! Before we moved, I was forever wondering if I've left my straighteners on and would have to run back up to check before leaving for work. I have to double and triple check now as I wouldn't want to have to run up a few flights! My jackets and coats are all on Floor 2 and I did have to leave without one the other morning as I was running late and had forgotten we'd moved them upstairs when tidying up as we had family over.

I think they're marmite houses and I wouldn't rave about them telling everyone they have to have one. I absolutely love the idea of living on separate floors - and luckily so does my hubby. It suits us, but I wouldn't say it would suit me and anyone else, or other people in general.

We're lucky... we found our perfect house

Jx

evansmummy

We live in a 'townhouse' but not a usual new build one a grade II listed mill conversion so really a large terrace.
We love ours as we have our living room and kitchen on the ground floor and bedrooms/bathrooms on the second and third.
It means our bedrooms are massive as is our living room and kitchen.
Comparing it to a new build town house, well it's just now the same. The layout of having kitchen and living room on a seperate floor sounds like a complete pain in the a*s. As would having a bedroom on the same floor as your living room. Trying to put a child to bed next door to the living room sounds nigh on impossible.
It seems like they are just trying to fit things in no matter what. The other layout with a bedroom on the ground floor is silly too. I would have a fear or someone breaking in and coming face to face with my child.
In short new build townhouses are a complete no no for our family!

silvercar

Town houses tend to have narrow gardens and you have to be careful that the direction the back garden faces doesn't mean the garden is permenantly in the shadow of the house.