Bi-Level? Tri-Level? Contemporary?

[cushie0105]

What do you call the Bi-level homes with an additional level above?

 

[Michigan CG]

Welcome to the forum. You posted in the Ask An Appraiser section. This section is for the general public to ask questions. Additionally it is a "moderated thread" in that all posts have to be approved by a moderator. Since it is the holidays we don't feel like working that hard.

Your thread has been moved to the appropriate area.

 

[Ken B]

Describe the interior stair arrangement, general room description of each level, and which level has the front entrance door.

 

[cushie0105]

Typical Bi-Level...Entrance is between Finished Basement and Main Level (Kitchen Living Room), five steps go up five go down........ however there are dormers and a third level. With a 24x14 bedroom. So calling it a BI-level would be wrong?...Right?

 

[Ken B]

I would call a property with two levels with one of the levels being basement area and having a entrance halfway between the two levels with a landing and stairs to each level a "split-foyer." I understand that terminology may be different in your area.

What you describe sounds more like a Cape COD with a split-foyer entry. Is the floorplan original or did someone raise the roof and add a third level? Maybe call it a contemporary Cape COD?

 

[Jerry Bone Jr]

Split Entry plus finished attic ?

 

[Thomas Fiehler]

A picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[cushie0105]

Guess their not dormers but here is the pic

 

[JTip]

So is it safe to assume, by the photo, that there are no windows on the '3rd' floor? How is the 3rd floor accessed?

Looks like a bi-level to me with a possible finished attic.

 

[Ken B]

If there only two levels, that's what I call a split-foyer. If there are more than two levels, I would call it a split-level.

A builder in a previous area of mine built a split-level based on a basic three-level design which was expandable to a five or six-level design by adding a sub-basements under the living room level, a level below finished areas behind the basement level garage and a level above the living room/kitchen/dining room level.

Split-foyer design:

LV/DR/KT........... BR/BR/BA
..............FOYER
FIN/UNFIN.......... GARAGE



Split-level design:

(OPT LVL)
.........................BR/BR/BA
LV/DR/KT FOYER
.........................GARAGE
(OPT LVL)
.........................(OPT LVL)

Make sense? Which floor plan is most similar to that of the house shown in the pic?