Wish-list for Downsized Home

[Walt34]

At 52 years old, I hate the heat. At what point do older people start loving the heat? Is it universal? Just wondering if Florida is in my future.

I think it's "hardwired" into the individual. Some people like it warmer than others and never change. I've always liked it warmer than most other people. I don't come out of long sleeves until it's 80°F, or maybe a bit more if the humidity is low. And I hate cold weather with a passion, and in the winter only go outside to get food. If I could hibernate from November until May I would.

A very close friend is the opposite. In 90° weather he's "dying from the heat" and I'm just into my element. In 40° weather he's just put on a flannel shirt - I'd be losing consciousness from hypothermia without a heated jacket.

Go figure.

 

[skyking1]

The climate is at least 50% of our planned change. Another large part is the horizon.
" The woods are lovely, dark and deep........."
We have had enough of that!!

 

[folivier]

Concerning heat the real problem is when your wife is the opposite. I keep telling her that she can put on more clothes but you really don't want me to start taking off what little I'm wearing.
At night she sleeps with a sheet, blanket, and down comforter. All pulled up almost covering her head. I start with a sheet and light blanket and usually throw the blanket on her sometime in the night. And the ceiling fan is on medium all night.
I'd much rather be cold than hot.

 

[pb4uski]

...What would you put on the wish-list? Maybe even consider if you were going to build this house - what features would you want? What would the neighbourhood be like, what would be nearby? Thank for your thoughts.

Late to the party... have been out of the country cruising... but assuming this is a long-term hold I would be keen for 1-floor living (no stairs), wide doorways that can easily accomodate a walker or wheelchair if needed, lever-style locksets, possible installing grabrails in the bathtubs/showers, etc. IOW, think ahead to a day when you are less mobile.

If you are in the city, walk to restaurants, grocery stores and other services would be desireable.

 

[Fermion]

The climate is at least 50% of our planned change. Another large part is the horizon.
" The woods are lovely, dark and deep........."
We have had enough of that!!

Skyking, turn around and look behind you, you are building right next to a giant rain forest

 

[skyking1]

behind me, as in 50 miles away and on the other side of Hurricane Ridge?

 

[Fermion]

behind me, as in 50 miles away and on the other side of Hurricane Ridge?

relatively close

 

[OldShooter]

Several people have mentioned selecting lever-type door "knobs." In my post #3 I was just hitting the high spots and didn't mention that for our new house we have installed lever type Brinks "Push Pull Rotate" hardware. Video explains:

We like these a lot. I think we have seven sets. Opening doors is extremely convenient especially with hands full. Truth be told, though, their quality standard is not as high as I would like, We had one exterior (lockset) unit that failed internally. A call to Brinks got a replacement on the way instantly, though. There are another couple of knobs where the operation is a little rough, but I am expecting that to smooth out. Bottom line is I am happy to have these and do recommend them but I would be happier if not for the small hassles.

 

[pb4uski]

^^^ Where were you when I built my place? Those are pretty cool, but since I now have all my exterior doors keyed the same I guess I will pass.

 

[brett]

We looked for a smaller, 1500 sq ft home or less, that was maintenance free. DW wanted to downsize to one level from three, and to two full bathrooms down from four. No carpet, just hardwood and tile.

I wanted an HOA that took care of all gardening and snow removal. Plus we wanted to be near a large city park where could could walk 5-6KM every day.

We decided against a second home. We now spend winters travelling to warmer climates.. Primarily SE Asia, OZ, Mexico, or Costa Rica/Panama. That means no pets or indoor plants for us. Lock and go with a neighbor checking for mail and on our home every week or so.

We found it. Took some time. Five years later no regrets whatsoever.

 

[OldShooter]

^^^ Where were you when I built my place? Those are pretty cool, but since I now have all my exterior doors keyed the same I guess I will pass.

Well, you can do what we did. Buy one and try it for a few months in the city house, then decide. Re keyed alike, that was not a problem when we ordered our Brinks sets from a dealer.

 

[skyking1]

thanks for reposting those, OldShooter.

 

[Out of Steam]

We are upsizing, but are following many of the suggestions above. I would add pocket doors in some places so you can leave them open and out of the way where it makes sense.

We have three pocket doors in our current house, two to close off the kitchen and one to separate the hall to the bedrooms from the family room. We like them a lot.

 

[Out of Steam]

At 52 years old, I hate the heat. At what point do older people start loving the heat? Is it universal? Just wondering if Florida is in my future.

It's certainly not universal.

I'm more than 10 years older, and have wondered whether Virginia is too far south for me.

 

[Out of Steam]

If you must have stairs make sure they are wide enough and configured so you can install a stairlift at some point.

Stairs also vary in their steepness. Typical stairs in the US have a 7 inch rise and an 11 inch tread depth, but it is possible to make them less steep. This might be a good choice in a house for older people.

A European standard for stairs in public places suggests an optimum of a 150 mm (5.9 inch) rise, and a 300 mm (11.8 inch) tread depth. Since conforming to a reasonable stride length means that lower steps get longer quickly, it's probably impractical to make a residential staircase less steep than that. The longer staircase length is less of a problem for a set of 3 to 6 entry stairs.

 

[W2R]

At 52 years old, I hate the heat. At what point do older people start loving the heat? Is it universal? Just wondering if Florida is in my future.

I've loved the heat since I was a very little girl. At 74 years old, I still love it. At what point do older people start dressing like they are headed to the North Pole, while whining about the heat? Is it universal? Just wondering if Alaska is in my future.
(just joking around, no offense intended!)

 

[6miths]

We have three pocket doors in our current house, two to close off the kitchen and one to separate the hall to the bedrooms from the family room. We like them a lot.

Love pocket doors and have put them in wherever during renos. Have 7 now and would put them in where possible in a new build.

We both enjoy hot weather but also like having seasons and even fresh, dry snow. Wet not so much whether it is hot and humid or cold and damp or slush and sleet. But hey we can avoid going out in bad weather if we have to and travel to warm weather in our few cold months.

Definitely down-sizing. Place is waaaaay too big as is the lot.

Thanks again for all the thoughts.

 

[Badger]

Don't forget the humidity and not just focus on heat. The difference between dry air in Arizona and the thick hard to breath Florida humidity in the summer that makes your clothes stick to your skin.

Cheers!

 

[Fermion]

I've loved the heat since I was a very little girl. At 74 years old, I still love it. At what point do older people start dressing like they are headed to the North Pole, while whining about the heat? Is it universal? Just wondering if Alaska is in my future.
(just joking around, no offense intended!)

No offense taken! I spent Christmas a few years back in your neck of the woods. I loved the beignets but didn't care for 85 degree sleigh rides. I like a colder Christmas than that lol.

 

[W2R]

No offense taken! I spent Christmas a few years back in your neck of the woods. I loved the beignets but didn't care for 85 degree sleigh rides. I like a colder Christmas than that lol.

 

[pb4uski]

Love pocket doors and have put them in wherever during renos. Have 7 now and would put them in where possible in a new build. ...

We have three pocket doors in our current house, two to close off the kitchen and one to separate the hall to the bedrooms from the family room. We like them a lot.

We like pocket doors a lot too.

Since we were on the water we were limited to our footprint of ~1,000 sf, so for efficient use of space almost all of our interior doors are 6-panel solid pine pocket doors. 6 pocket doors and 3 swing doors where we could not install pocket doors.

The house that I grew up in had luan pocket doors that frequently came off track but today's pocket door mechanisms are flawless in our experience.

 

[skyking1]

since the inception of this thread I have changed one more door in the house design to a pocket, the powder room. It makes the room bigger.

 

[gayl]

Something that's important to me is location. I like walking to restaurants, stores, parks, and having a large lot. I barely use my car

 

[cyber888]

Bidet

 

[Jeb-NY]

Something that's important to me is location. I like walking to restaurants, stores, parks, and having a large lot. I barely use my car

Problem is what is a big lot? My minimum when we were looking was 5 acres. We ended up with 7.5 acres of woods. I don't need a public park, I have my own right outside the door. As for the rest, yes we need to drive to them but we can go the full week and only use the car 2 or 3 times. Don't need restaurants & stores that much and when we do it isn't likely we would live close to the ones we wanted anyway. Now delivery trucks do make regular deliveries.