Apartment on the ground floor: pros and cons. Which floor is best to live on?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A few years ago, when an advertisement for housing was submitted, many would certainly include a clause stating that the first and last floors were not considered for purchase. Today, judging by the statistics of websites of real estate agencies and large portals like Avito, quite a few clients turn to re altors with the exact opposite request - to find an apartment on the ground floor.

Pros and cons of such a purchase have always been and will always be, but there are also enough people with non-standard requests, as well as those who are ready to put up with obvious shortcomings for the sake of some priority advantages. So in this case, not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance.

We will try to understand this issue and outline the main pros and cons of an apartment on the first floor. When compiling the article, information from large (with high traffic) real estate companies and responses from specialized forums and bulletin boards were taken into account. We will start with the pros of an apartment on the ground floor, and we will consider the cons in the second half of the article.

Garden/garden

Quite a few ownerssuch housing is happy to organize a semblance of a summer house under their window. Some even take ownership of the adjacent plot and plant tomatoes, potatoes there with a calm soul or decorate a fragrant garden. So for summer residents and those who like to dig in the ground, the pros and cons of an apartment on the ground floor clearly outweigh in favor of the former.

Even if neighbors object to planting vegetables and fruits, no one will say a word against a pretty flower bed. In addition, in the ennobled area you can put a table and chairs, and take out the radio tape recorder on the windowsill and relax in the fresh air.

Enter/Exit

To use the entrance through the window or a door on the balcony specially equipped for this purpose is much more convenient for some. In addition, bringing in or taking out furniture directly, bypassing the flight of stairs and turns in the apartment itself, is noticeably easier, and more practical. In addition, in emergency situations (fire, earthquake, etc.), the advantages of a ground floor apartment are more than obvious.

It is also worth noting one more nuance. If you are full of energy, an active person, then you, in fact, do not care which floor you settle on. But for the elderly or young mothers, the floor plays one of the critical roles. Even one flight of stairs for some is a serious obstacle. And what can we say about the frequent repairs of elevators, when you have to get out into the street for an hour. So in some cases, the first floor is the best, if not the only option.

Also, many people ask quitea logical question about whether it is possible to attach a balcony on the ground floor with a separate exit. Almost all relevant municipal services are ready to give permission for such re-equipment on the condition that the redevelopment will take place without violations in the supporting structures. So there shouldn't be any serious problems here.

Neighbours

Surely everyone is familiar with the situation when the neighbors downstairs knock on the radiator or even call the police because of a noisy party or your hobbies, like playing the violin or button accordion. And some downstairs have extremely sensitive people who hear your every move.

Besides, you don't have to worry about flooding your neighbors one day, because you simply don't have them. So for many, the answer to the question of which floor is better to live on is quite obvious. Here you can at least breed elephants and no one from below will knock on you and complain about the clatter.

Cost

For a good half of real estate buyers, the advantages of an apartment on the first floor are not so obvious, so the cost of such living space is noticeably less than the second and penultimate floors.

Moreover, the difference in our time of crisis is very noticeable for the domestic consumer, and it should not be discounted. If there is barely enough money for housing, plus mortgages and loans weigh behind you, then the question of which floor is better to live on fades into the background. The main thing here is to just have a place to live.

Heating/water supply

With scientific and technicalpoint of view, the tenants from the first floor have a clear advantage. According to the laws of physics, the water pressure at the bottom of the system is always greater. That is, in the usual way we have a good pressure on the first floor, while on the last - a thin stream, along with a lot of complaints.

The same rule applies to heating. On the first floors, the water is always noticeably hotter than on the last ones, and an ordinary riser is enough to heat the apartment (that is, there is no need for additional radiators).

Savings

Besides the fact that living space on the first floor is cheaper, you can also save more on housing and communal services. Naturally, there is no talk of significant savings, but a couple of hundred rubles will remain in your wallet every month.

Here we are talking about the repair of elevators. For residents on the first floor, this article is simply not provided (it would be useful to check the accruals on your receipt). In addition, you can save on all sorts of deliveries. Furniture, building materials and the ill-fated pianos are paid to movers by floor. Here we have the sum only up to the door, excluding flights of stairs.

Cons

Next, consider the main, and for some owners, critical disadvantages that may await you when buying a living space on the ground floor. Some points are not so significant in new and / or well-maintained houses with good security, but such precedents are very, very few in the general mass.

Crime

This is the first hope of those who oppose living on the ground floor. In this case,it is much easier for intruders to enter the apartment and the above-described plus turns into a minus.

In such cases, well-installed grilles on the windows help well, but they are not a panacea if the robbers have advanced gas-cutting equipment in their arsenal. So security systems were and remain the best option.

Mud

Again, physical laws come into play here. Almost all of the particles that pollute our cities are much heavier than oxygen, which means they are closer to the surface. Therefore, those who live on the first floors have to put up with dust and dirt.

This also includes rats, cockroaches and bad smell. Even with the slightest flooding of the basement, these stubborn pests tend to move much higher, which means to you. In addition, the garbage chute located next door is full of non-vanilla flavors. It is also worth noting that smokers at the entrance, and on neighboring balconies, will provide your house with unpleasant smoke.

Cold/moisture

Such housing is located close to the ground and in all cases we have a basement in an apartment building. In the winter season, this is more than ever fraught with cold floors, and in the summer, with increased dampness. Mineral insulation and similar solutions save, but this is again an additional investment of money, and in some cases almost an annual one.

So for allergy sufferers and those who have a weakened immune system, it is not worth considering the first floor. Minerals will not help here.heaters, let alone permanently closed windows. Even with a normal climate in the apartment, the temperature of the floors will still be several degrees below normal. Of course, you can properly insulate an apartment on the ground floor by hiring a smart team of builders and paying for advanced materials, but it will fly into a very good penny that could be paid for a higher floor.

Noise

Many residents complain about the constant noise from the street. Moreover, plastic windows with three or even five double-glazed windows do not always save from this. Moreover, no windows will protect you from the entrance door that is always rumbling in the entrance. This also includes a noisy elevator, which most often opens on the first floor.

The best solution in this case would be soundproofing the walls and ceiling, but normal materials require a lot of money, and quality work has never been cheap.

Privacy

Life on the first floors is an object for gossip. If you do not want to put up with passers-by who are always looking at you, then you will need to get used to the eternal twilight from the drawn curtains and artificial lighting.

You will also need the latter due to the rare occurrence of sunlight due to nearby trees, tall shrubs or some buildings. So those who are used to opening the curtains and windows in the morning and enjoying the sun will have to come to terms with the "basement" life.

View

The owners of apartments on the ground floor will not be able to enjoy at least some more or less pleasant view from the window. All you canto contemplate, it is either a small self-ennobled front garden, or the ubiquitous acacias with wild roses.

If no vegetation is provided in principle, then spontaneous car parking, pensioners on a bench teaching "drug addicts" and "prostitutes", as well as an evening playground with tipsy students and other local flavor are at your service.

Summing up

Judging by the responses of residents and the statistics of reviews and wishes collected by re altors, it is best to live on floors 3-7 (of a 9-storey building), but all of the above points can be called general, because in some cases there are exceptions. For example, if we are talking about a well-maintained apartment building, where the contractor adequately carried out repairs with sensible noise and sound insulation, and also laid good insulation, then you can worry about noise, dirt and dust to a much lesser extent.

Many homes are equipped with 24/7 surveillance cameras, advanced security systems and licensed watch stations. In these cases, even the bars on the windows will be superfluous, because reliable systems will not only call for police help, but also root out a possible encroachment on your property.

Some people even buy housing of such a plan for parallel business. It is very convenient to live in a house, and nearby to have, for example, your own hairdresser or a small shop. It is also worth noting that many houses are equipped with wheelchairs, associated with one-room apartments. Moreover, such premisesin a good half of the cases they are not used at all for their intended purpose. They can be easily converted into another room, of course, with the permission of the relevant services.

So, as they say, the devil is not as bad as he is painted, and buying an apartment on the first floor still has its undeniable pluses and quite solvable minuses. And if it so happened that you got such housing, then you should not look headlong for options on the floors above, and it’s not worth it financially. It is much easier to spend this money on the arrangement of existing meters and live happily ever after.