Evaluating Townhomes In Atlanta

Good morning everyone…

John & Matthew,
I agree with your analysis, except for the garage. At the beginning of the segment you mention that the garage dominates the front of the house. And yet you gave it a point on the Slow Home Test.
It does indeed dominate the house front and blocks light to the 1st floor living spaces. So I would not give the garage the point.

1.Location-0
2.Environmental Performance-0
3.siting-1
4.Organization-0
5.Entry-1
6.Indoor Living-1
7.Outdoor living-1
8.Kitchen-0
9.Dining-1
10.Bedroom-1
11.Bathroom-0
12.Study-1
13.Laundry-1
14.Parking-1

The entry is blocked by hallway and the first thing the people sees the stair. All other rooms are void of that all important line of site, making each room not just closed, but void of interaction. The kitchen has 45angle and got lots of wasting place. On the 2nd floor same problem with hallway and bed geometry of the entry, this organization make the whole house dark/lack of light, and the worst part is the 2nd bedroom/the bathroom entries are adjacent.

Total 7/20

1. 0/3
2. 0/3
3. 2/2
4. 1/2 – I’m not sure if I find the organization here quite as bad you feel it is, John and Matthew. i like the relationship between the kitchen, dining and living spaces and the layout of the second floor looks like it would work, except for the laundry space and the various pockets of wasted space within the walls.
5. 0/1 – no closet and the front entrance looks a little disconnected from the rest of the house
6. 1/1 – living space is nicely defined with a decent amount of natural lighting
7. 1/1 – nice to see a sizeable outdoor patio
8. 0/1 – good amount of counter space and storage in the kitchen and I like how it has a view into the living space, but I have to agree that there is a lot of wasted space in the middle
9. 1/1 – efficient dining space with a good connection to the outdoors
10. 0/1 – everything else about the bedrooms looks alright except for the fact that the windows are tiny!
11. 1/1 – good number of bathrooms
12. 0/1 – no study
13. 0/1 – laundry space opens up right into the second floor circulation
14. 0/1 – it looks like the 2car garage consumes much of the front facade

I think the biggest problem with this home is the amount of wasted space peppered throughout the floorplan. And it was interesting to see how the 45 degree angled doors can affect the bedrooms and bathrooms, but i’m not sure if I entirely agree with the problem in bedroom #2. Yes, the wide doorswing is awkward but the bed can be pushed further towards the window and couldn’t something like shelving or a dresser could be put close to the door as long a door stop was used to prevent the door from crashing into the furniture?

I’m going to award points for the following: Siting, Bedrooms, indoor and outdoor living, Dining, Study, (by default), Laundry. (The points are lost on organization rather than bedroom)

Lost Points:

Kitchen: is odd, my main concern is the distance from the sink to everything else.

Parking: I agree with Molly, the two car garage becomes a problem for the rest of the house. A good alternative might be to chop it down to a single car garage with room for a workshop/storage. This could open up the entry, and possible make space to move the bathroom that lost a point as well and even add a study.

Bathroom: I do dislike the powder room, however my main concern is the odd angle for the door on the main bathroom up stairs.

Then to me the obvious ones: Environment, Location, Organization, Entry.

All in all it gets an 8/20. It’s best attribute is probably the indoor/outdoor living.

The worst element is either the kitchen or the garage, I’m going to say garage, because if it was different then it might help the kitchen as well.