Siting A House: Where Will The Front Door Go?
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According to the website Don't Buy A Houseplan Until You Read This!, the four "S's" of choosing a building site, otherwise known as siTing (not siDing) a house, are slope, sun, soil, and sewer. This is the "easy" part of siting a house:
- Don't build a house meant for a flat lot on a slope.
- Don't put a lot of windows on the south side.
- Do make sure the soil will adequately support the foundation.
- Do make sure all toilets and drains will be uphill from the sewer line they'll connect to.
These are factors governed by local
building codes and the expertise of the contractor who builds it. But
there's one factor future occupants of a house rarely consider prior to
building: the location of the front door!
This may sound silly in light of the real problems in the world, but one of my pet peeves is the plethora of useless front doors. By "useless", I mean front doors that rarely - if ever - get used for entering or exiting a home. They aren't hard to spot while driving around newer sections of a town, or recently-developed subdivisions beyond the city limits that before the housing bubble burst were sprouting like mushrooms after a spring rain.
At first glance, a house will catch your eye because it's aestheically pleasing. It'll have interesting architectural details. It'll look like it came right out of a house plans book or magazine!
A second look, however, will reveal 1) there's no walkway from the driveway to the front door, or 2) there is a walkway but the front door is so far from the driveway that only a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses will ever knock on it.
It's not rocket science to figure out family members don't use that front door, but routinely enter the house from the attached garage through the kitchen, or perhaps a mud room and then the kitchen. They do so because they've put the car where it lives at night and it'd be silly to go outside and around to the front door when they're only a few steps from the back door.
Or else the groceries they just
purchased need to be unloaded and carried in. Only a ninny would park
in the driveway, haul groceries across the lawn to the front door and
all the way through the house to the kitchen, and then go back out and
put the car in the garage! Get the picture?
As for guests, anyone the family wants to see also enters the house via the garage (or a side door right outside the garage). Only strangers go to the front door.
For
all the use it gets, if fire codes didn't require the front door to be
a door that actually opens, one might as well paint a fake one on the
front of the house and use the entry hall for storage.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
Until the foundation is poured, house plans are only lines on paper. Making modifications then is a lot easier and much less expensive than making changes after the home's footprint is literally set in stone. Okay, concrete - but might as well be stone once it sets.
On paper, rooms are easy to move around or eliminate altogether. Do those who only ever invite people over for BBQ in the back yard, or pizza and movies in the family room, really need a formal entry hall next to a formal living room that'll never be used? Probably not.
Can the front door be placed somewhere more convenient to family members and guests alike? Not a problem...at this point, anything can be moved.
House plans can be "flipped"
....if, say, the garage will be on the wrong side of the lot. Or there's an existing tree (or two) worth keeping.
This garage here is behind the three windows to the right of the tree. The driveway is at the far right, resulting in an "orphan" front door, although this one may get more use than most owing to the rather inviting front porch. The architect does get points for incorporating several Craftsman elements.
However, notice the porch lights - plural - are already on, even though the photo was obviously taken in broad daylight. How much energy is wasted unnecessarily by disguising the garage as a room that blocks daylight to the front porch?
the most useless door of all!
And last but not least...
At right is only one of many similar homes in an exclusive gated community in Topeka, KS. Not sure what look the developer was going for, but if it was "gawdawful" then he was spot on. Notice the total absence of trees and shrubs.
If the current owners bought it as a place to hold large gatherings, they might've put a bit more thought into how female (or elderly) guests would get to the front door after alighting from cars at the bottom of those steps!
(Did I mention it's for sale? Are you surprised?)
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Comments
Good morning, Elena!! I'm about to head off to bed, but *had* to say thank you for your wonderful comments! Obviously I can't write a *totally* serious hub - those bits of humor always sneak in somewhere, even in a hub about cemeteries. ;} You have a GREAT day! 'Nite...
I forgot to say I think you're sooo right that people don't reflect about their real needs in a house, but just go with the flow. Buy a house that doesn't suit them at all. The house in the very first photo is also for sale. Interior photos on the realtor's site show huge rooms with very little or mis-matched furniture in each. Indicating they bought too much house for their needs *and* budget, which left them too little cash to furnish it properly. New and big is not always "better". I'd rather have a tiny house filled with nice furniture than a big one that echos because it's half-empty... Now I'm really off to get a few hours sleep!
Very good hub my dear, as usual. Very important tips here, and nevah leave out your humor my dear Jama. Thanks now.
this makes me wonder, is the front door the last architectural detail that is either planned or drawn? in movies, a newlywed couple (usually) building a nest is depicted as usually discussing where they'd put the kitchen, the bedroom, the living room etx. And come to think of it nobody says "we'll put the front door here" :D
When you're right, you're right! As a veteran of the "Let's design our house the way WE want it" madness, I've gone through reams of paper trying to get the exactly perfect house design for our needs. The very last thing I ever put in place is the Front Door. Mostly it just gets tucked in where ever it will fit. Like you said, stupid law that says there has to be one. Like the idea of a Triomph l'Oil painting that just looks like a real one. Be a riot to see people trying to open a door that isn't there!
Good Hub!
Wise words, C.C. - nevah leave out da humor! Got it! ;}
Cris A, it's either the last detail, or else the very first that's then forgotten as soon as the rest of the house is added to it. Good point!
SF, were I to build a house, the kitchen would be next to the front door. I saw a house the other day that looks like that's exactly what was done. When Spring returns to Flyover Country, I'll have to get a pic of it.
Some of these homes are colossal blunders on the part of the architect, builder...AND buyers! And I've personally seen many others. What were they THINKING??
Well, hello Kscharles! My thought is they *weren't* thinking! That they pick a house plan because that unused front door will look smashing for the two and a half months the Christmas wreath hangs on it (from Thanksgiving to Valentine's). ;}
Ha Ha, Jama!! This was great. Yes, I wondered how you would write a hub about a front door, but here it is, and wonderful, too! Unfortunately, we are the ninnies you elequently illustrated as carrying their groceries across the front lawn to the front door. We didn't design our house very well, and if I had it to do over again, ALOT of things would be different. But alas, as it stands, it is much shorter to carry the groceries through the front door to the kitchen than it is to go through the garage. And you know how I am about carrying my groceries in.
The house with the stairs to the front door was designed for Sylvester Stallone so he doesn't have to leave home to train for Rocky 37, coming out in Spring 2010.
And I'm not sure why you take the Christmas wreath down on Valentine's Day. That just makes the Christmas lights look silly in July.
Apologies for the ninny comment, LM. You seem like such a "together" lady...well, except for keeping fish that look amazingly like children in a tank that looks amazingly like a school bus.....that I never dreamed you'd be one of those ninnies who haul groceries across the lawn. ;}
As for Christmas lights looking silly in July, they won't if you replace every second and third bulb with red and blue ones before the 4th. They'll look so patriotic, nobody will mind that they stay that way until Thanksgiving, when you put all-white bulbs in again. Cousin Cletus says that's how Aunt Eugenia-don't-call-me-Jeannie! does it. If you insist on leaving the wreath up, remember to stick a few of those little flags in it to match the lights! ;}}}
That was so funny Jama - and yet so true! I guess more often than not, people tend to look at the exterior more from an aesthetic angle than a practical angle. Aside from the very pertinent observations, thanks for the laughs!
You wouldn't think Siting a House would be such a funny hub, but this one was a joy to read, JamaGenee. Aside from "great hub," my only comment is that "failure to think" is a common trait that extends far beyond siting houses. A few of my own hubs touch on the fact that most of us try very hard to avoid anything that looks like "thinking." Thumbs up!
Why, thank you, Bill! As I told Elena, I may've lost the ability to write a *totally* serious hub!
But seriously...really...thinking used to be "cool". What happened to change that? Especially when one is making decisions about the #1 most expensive investment in his or her life.
Fantastic hub... I will be using some of your advice.
-Nicki B.
What interesting ideas. You are right about the door placement, especially in these new homes they are building now.
I remember when I was looking for my current home, I visited a home that had a step-way like the one in the photo. I took one look at that and said, forget it. The realitor wanted me to go in, and I said, no, that there was no way I was putting up with that type of entrance construction. She didn't seem to understand, but maybe that's because she was a lot younger than me.
Thanks, Nikki. Glad to be of help!
Cindy, good for you! If more people did that, architects and builders might take the hint. The bottom line is...well.. the bottom line. Realtors, despite the fancy title, are salespeople whose income depends on making a sale, whether a house "fits" you or not. If you already know from simply looking at it that you don't like it, why would you waste your time going inside??? Never made sense to me either.
uh-oh! **hollers** Jamaaaaaa!!!! Teresaaaaaa!!!
Cris, it doesn't matter how many times you knock on that gorgeous front door, we're not going to answer. (The doorbell doesn't work, either - like the door, it's only for show.) :D
I never truly thought about the placement of a door , but 9 out of 10 times it is rarely used. I love the home that is for sale, but climbing those steps and not even a plant out front is to sterile for me. :)
I'd like to join the soon-to-be aesthetic/philosophical thread on the front door placement, but sadly I have seen this so many times as well. As someone into real estate, I've had my share of scratching my head at 'orphan' doors, as you mentioned, and other less than stellar door positions. Good hub.
realestateuk, don't those "orphan" doors kinda remind you of people in weird clothing that make you wonder if they ever look in a mirror? I think architects who design homes with orphan doors need to have a "functionality mirror" for their work!
I'm into property auctions and sadly I've seen many houses with ill-placed front doors auctioned off. At some point it would seem to make sense that the contractors and architects may have felt obligated to put in a 'door' on the plans, and only later call it 'front'. What do you think? :D
property, I sooo agree! The door is only deignated "front" as an afterthought. As I said in the hub, if it weren't for building codes, many homes could have a fake "front door" painted on the front of the house for all the real door ever gets used! ;D
Great hub, Jama. Now how do we get the idiot builders (rarely are trained architects involved any more) to read it?
I've been appalled for years at what has happened to neighborhoods. When I was growing up, homes were lovely and simple if small or lovely and grand if big. They were not ugly. Architects in those days were educated in both sound and aesthetic building techniques, as well as the history of architecture through the ages.
Builders today are simpletons who have all the design ability of a one-year-old with an Etch-a-Sketch. They haven't got the first idea of what does or doesn't work. When my mother was well, we used to drive through new neighborhoods here in Fresno. Almost every time, Mom, whose father (my beloved grandfather) was a highly respected architect in Portland, Oregon, would say to me, "Thank heavens Grandpa didn't live to see this. It would have killed him."
Some of the front doors and their absurd surrounds look like portaloos. Other times, they remind me of nothing so much as concrete mausoleums. Many homes look as if the elements had been blown in place by a cyclone. I have literally seen Spanish roofs paired with Japanese doors and Alpine A-frames rising above ramblers and ranches. Most of the time you can't even put a name to the mess. Perhaps it should be called Fresno Freak or Central Valley Violence. Except that it's everywhere these days.
We need a great aesthetic renewal in this country. There really is no excuse for allowing the building of monstrosities, no matter how large or small, to continue.
I couldn't agree more! What happened to aesthetics? Or a sense of functionality? I certainly find it lacking around here too, the last photo here being a prime example. What could possibly be pleasing to the eye *or* functional about those steps? They're just plain ugly, and I can't imagine anyone actually uses them.
Too many times, I think, for custom-built homes, the size of the owner's bank account trumps beauty and function. A Spanish tile roof over a Japanese doorway? Sure, no prob. The house in the last photo, however, wasn't a custom-built but only one of dozens just like it in the same subdivision. Scary, to say the least.
None of those I mentioned were custom-built either. These hideous piles are poured from the local 'Lacking-All-Artistry-and-Functionality' builders' kits. (LAAF for short - if you are prone to laugh while crying.)
To attempt to make them look 'custom,' a word that is now synonymous with bad taste, one will be covered in a cheap rock face and sporting an Italianate fountain; another has windows cut in bizarre shapes and sizes in every wall; and a third boasts a Southern plantation portico which dwarfs the front door of a home otherwise lacking any plantation features whatsoever.
As I say, building by cyclone. Wherever it lands, it sticks, and no one - not builders, buyers, or city planners - notices or cares. Your example above fits right in. Apparently 'form follows function' has followed the dodo into oblivion.
LAAF - I like it. Excuse me, I have to get a tissue.
My parents' house has a completely useless front door. It's a gorgeous door, with a lovely porch, and opens into a small hall with the kitchen on the right and the sitting room on the left. But the door weighs ten tons (a guess) and the key alone must weigh a good couple of pounds (it's HUGE) so it's never, ever used.
They didn't have the choice of moving the door, which is about 700 years old (-:
A 700-yr-old door? Oh my! Aside from the fact that its size and the weight of the key make it unusable, I can't help but think of the reason such a heavy door was necessary back then, and how many generations did go in and out of it.
Personally, I'm glad moving it isn't an option for the same reason I was glad the doors at the 350+ yo farm I stayed at in Somerset had never been replaced. They were a tad short of 6 ft tall and at least 4 ft wide - to accommodate the wide skirts of the ladies who came calling there in the 1600s. The circular drive in front of the massive front door (still used) had been grassed over long ago, but I had no problem imagining carriages arriving and ladies in grand gowns alighting from them.
Let's see?!? Front doors should be on the front. With new construction the garage is the point of entry for the owner as you have stated. If you have a detached garage you should incorporate a breeze way for entry through the rear at the kitchen and/or breakfast room. The front door is for the look. Have you not driven down a street and been impressed with double 8 foot doors? Granted not all front doors have easy access, but that is because the buying public wants communities with no driveways in the front of the home, which forces the construction of alleys - which are very unsafe. Builders and developers want to sell homes and lots and try to produce what the buying public wants in most cases. You do make some legitimate points, and I like your writing. You can design a foundation for most soil conditions with a post tension foundation. It is almost impossible to redesign most homes after the foundation is poured because the plumbing is already in place and you do not want to jack hammer a lot of your foundation. You do want windows faceing north and south because the sun rises and sets east and west. This will minimize the amount of direct sun light.
Some of us builders do care about quality of life and we do talk to our buyers about how they plan on living in their home and about how they might live in them in the future. Thanks
I once knew a man who had a natural talent for siting a house on a lot. He worked for a custom-builder, in a developer of "cookie cutter" subdivisions. Before the hole was ever dug for the foundation, he'd go to the site with the blueprint and "see" the completed house. Many times just turning the foundation a few degrees, for instance, would prevent having to take out a tree that would be where the patio would be in the original configuration. Or he'd "see" how moving a wall a few feet would give the future owners a better view from the breakfast room. I always wondered why he didn't go into business for himself as a siting consultant. For a fee of a few hundred dollars, one could have a more livable house, as opposed to one that look good on paper but isn't suited to the lot.
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Elena. says:
8 months ago
Jama, sweetheart, you're quickly becoming my favorite real state rep round here in Hubpages. Laugh! I swear, you had me guffawing like a hyena with your front door recount. Paint a fake one, indeed!
In a less joking mode: I'm of the opinion that many people don't reflect about their real needs when buying or building a house, they just "go with the flow". I mean, they reproduce the supposedly "acceptable" house concept, but don't give any thought to whether they actually need a front door hall or not, and whether that space wouldn't be better used for, say, a storage room. Oh well, I have strong opinions on all of this but I'll get off my soapbox now :-) Besos!