 TIP #8
What Style/Size Is
That House?
House Styles
Classified ads may mention a wide variety
of house styles, the most common of which include:
- Bi-Level
- The front door is half-way between the main
floor and the basement (also called a
Split-Entry).
- Bungalow
- A house with one main floor and a basement,
usually with the main floor near ground level
(if it's elevated, you have a raised
bungalow).
- Cape Cod
- One and a half storeys with two or
more dormers.
- Century Home
- A home over 100 years old.
- Colonial
- A large house with pillars at the entrance(s).
- Duplex
- Two homes under one roof, either side by side or
one on top of the other, with each one
self-contained and complete.
- Link Home
- A single-family house linked
to another at the foundation.
- Mansard Home
- A one-storey or split-level home
with the lower part of the roof almost
vertical and the upper part almost flat;
often with dormers.
- Ranch Home (Rancher)
- A bungalow with attached garage, set with
a wide side facing the street. Raised
Ranch: the main floor is elevated above grade.
- Semi-bungalow
- Also called 1-1/2 storey: a house with two
floors, but with sloping ceilings in the
upper rooms.
- Semi-Detached
- Two homes built on either side of
a common centre wall.
- Split-Entry
- The front door is half-way between the main
floor and the basement (also called a
Bi-Level).
- Split-Level
- A house having two to four staggered floors
linked by short stairways.
Back Split: the narrow end faces the street,
with the stairs at the back. Side
Split: the longest side faces the street,
with the stairs at the side.
- Townhouse
- Also known as Row House. More than two
houses side-by-side houses, sharing common
walls. The end units may be referred to as
semi-attached.
- Two-Storey Home
- Two complete floors,
with regular ceilings upstairs and a full
attic above.
Taking Measurements
When measuring your home, use the exterior walls; if
you have a row-house or duplex, start from the
center-line of any shared walls, then measure around
the exterior to the middle of the shared wall on the
other side.
Include dormers in your total square footage, but not
basements, decks, patios or attached garages. You
can estimate the top-floor size of a
1-1/2 or 2/1-2 storey house at 1/2 the size of the
ground floor, or measure the inside walls along
the floor and add the thicknesses of the walls.
For a bi-level, count the upper level's area only;
if the lower level is fully developed, mention its
size separately.
To convert feet to meters, multiply by .3048; to
convert from square feet to square meters, multiply
by .0929. To convert in the opposite direction,
multiply by 3.28 and 10.76, respectively. There are
43,560 sq. ft. in an acre.
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