Building a single-storey home: pros and cons

The single-storey house offers day and night spaces on the ground floor, all the rooms being located on one level. She knows a real enthusiasm today and many future owners are very tempted by this style, but some are hesitating between a single storey and a two-storey house. It is first of all a matter of taste, because any house, when it is well designed, can be functional and comfortable. Before finalizing your construction project, it is therefore essential to know the main advantages and disadvantages of the single-storey house.

Advantages of the single-storey house

According to construction specialists, the single-storey house has the following advantages:

  • Easier to heat, it is therefore more economical and ecological because the distribution of heating is more uniform than when there is a second level, especially since if you install large bay windows, you can take advantage of the slightest radius sun to naturally heat your home.
  • Perfectly secure due to the absence of stairs, it is suitable for families with young children, the elderly, people with reduced mobility.
  • Makes indoor circulation more fluid.
  • Facilitates interior maintenance because all parts are on the same level, which saves time.
  • Window washing is less dangerous than in a two-storey house.
  • Facilitates exterior maintenance as well as the repair of the facade and other walls because it is low. It is therefore not necessary to install scaffolding to carry out many small works on a single level, a stepladder being more than sufficient.
  • Offers beautiful openings on the park and the terrace, which allows you to fully enjoy its outdoor environment. This is the type of house that promotes conviviality.
  • Allows a wide choice of customizations which is a serious asset in terms of aesthetics.
  • The cost of labor is lower than for a two-storey house.

Disadvantages of the single-storey house

With its relatively large footprint, the single-storey house requires to be built on a big enough land, whose surface is in line with this particularity. This is not a disadvantage but rather a hindrance if one does not have the necessary budget to become the owner of a large plot of land. Let’s say that on a plot of less than 700 m², you risk feeling cramped very quickly when you are in the outdoor area. For a successful development of your house on one level, it is better to invest in a lot of good size. If you only have 300 or 400 m² of land and you plan to build more than 100 m², it is better to consider a two-storey house.

It is also necessary to take into account the Technical constraints imposed by this type of construction, particularly with regard to the configuration of the land. It must not be too steep if you want to limit your budget. In the opposite case, it is necessary to provide an additional envelope for the backfilling and the foundations since a house on one level implies that all the rooms are on the same plane. Thus, the cost represented by the roof, the earthworks and the foundations is higher than for a house with one floor.

Constraints to take into account before building a single-storey house

This type of dwelling must imperatively be built by a team of building professionals and it may be very useful to refer beforehand to a architect in order to study different plans adapted to the land you own but also to your tastes and meeting the needs of the family.

Before making the decision to build a single-storey dwelling, it is necessary to take into account the constraints that this type of building entails, the main ones of which are as follows:

  • The lay of the land,
  • The area of ​​the plot,
  • The complexity to build,
  • The distribution of rooms, knowing that it is preferable for the well-being and privacy of each occupant to organize a night part and a day part and to ensure that they are well distinct one from the other,
  • The luminosity of the day space which must be put forward, which implies directing South the part of the house intended for daytime living,
  • The toilets, the garage as well as the annexes such as the scullery or the laundry room that do not need optimal light are preferably arranged North,
  • The rooms can be placed in the North (especially in very hot regions so that they retain a little freshness in summer) or even to the East et Westthere also because they do not need to be bathed in bright light as is the case with the day area.

The single-storey house also called intergenerational house popular because it is divinely adapted to all age groups. Refined, elegant, bathed in light, it represents a real hyphen between the interior and the natural space. It fits perfectly into the landscape and also offers the possibility of having larger rooms than a two-storey house. It is also the type of good that resell more easily if it is maintained, functional and furnished with taste.

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