Is a 1600 sq ft house big enough?

Georga36

We are a family of 2 adults and three kids. Ideally we would like a 2000 sq ft detached house but are finding it difficult to find one in our area on our budget. A new development is coming on the market soon with semi detached 4 bedroom houses at 1600 sq foot. Is this going to be big enough for us to live comfortably without feeling on top of one another? We currently live in a 900 sq foot 3 bedroom semi so I know it would be a big improvement on what we have but I'm just worried that a 1600 sq foot house might not be a big enough improvement. Plus we would be adding £100,000 onto our mortgage (excluding fees etc) to make the move. Any advice or experiences would be much appreciated.

greenface

Are we supposed to know your family wants and needs . simple answer . only you will know what you want .

Ectophile

When I was house hunting a few years ago, I rapidly realised that new-build houses are tiny. One 3-bed house I looked at only had a floor area about 10% larger than my 2-bedroom flat.

In the end, I decided I would rather have an older (1960s or '70s) house. They may need a bit of work to modernise, but you get a lot more house for your money.

PasturesNew

My house is under half that. My next door neighbour's house is 10% smaller than mine. Our combined houses are still not as big as yours. Between the two households there are 3 adults and one teen. They seem to get by OK next door and I only really use 1/4 of my house.

It really comes down to room dimensions and house layout. Size isn't everything - is the space useable?

SailorSam

How many people know the square footage of their houses ?
I don't.

Georga36

The houses haven't been built yet, there are only floor plans available. It's going to be a popular development as houses are scarce in our area at the minute. They are being sold 'off plan'. That's why it's hard for me to imagine what 1600 sq ft will look like and if it will be big enough.

PasturesNew

SailorSam wrote: »

How many people know the square footage of their houses ?
I don't.

It's often on floorplans these days. Not always, but often.

arbrighton

SailorSam wrote: »

How many people know the square footage of their houses ?
I don't.

I can work mine out very approximately from the sq m of floor laid before Christmas. But otherwise wouldn't know or care for that matter

Furts

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's often on floorplans these days. Not always, but often.

It was on floor plans 30 years ago. The national builder I worked for published this, and the information was available from all the other builders that they competed against.

But, the vast majority of people were not were in the least interested. Hence, the builders realised they could build smaller and smaller homes because the consumer had no interest in any facts and figures.

So to an extent, todays tiddly new homes are the result of decades of indifference, and perhaps ignorance, on the part of consumers.

1600 square foot is a big house by todays new build standards, so this gives an answer to OP. This space will no doubt be optimised to give as much usable space as possible, hence making it appear even bigger than 1600 square feet. The downside is that a house of this size will not be cheap, and also may not represent value for money.

thescouselander

Our house is about 1600 square foot and it seems big enough but then we have only got one child - not three. A lot comes down to the design of the house in my opinion. A well designed house will make the space seem bigger where as a badly designed house can make the space much smaller that is actually is.

One thing to watch out for with new houses is that they often have no storage which means when you fill the house with stuff you'll be tripping over everything and the space will seem small. Also there is a tendency these days to put an en suite bathroom off the master bedroom when there isn't really the room for it. Our house hasn't got an en suite bathroom and seems much bigger upstairs for it.

Owain_Moneysaver

How old are the children? No point in spending loads of money if one or two of them will be moving out to their own places in a few years ...

Where are you short of space at the moment - lounge areas, bedrooms, bathrooms?