When we are about to rent or buy a house, we often come across different names to refer to different types of housing: terraced house, house, semi-detached house, villa, mansion, etc.
If anything made us understand the confinement caused by the recent covid-19 pandemic, it is how important it is to feel good about the space where we live.
You may have wondered what is a villa and how is it different from a mansion or a house. Well, here we tell you what the differences are between the different types of homes that you can find in Spain.
Types of houses or dwellings in Spain
The first major division that we can establish between homes today is that between single-family homes and multi-family homes.
Types of Single-Family Houses
Houses or single-family houses are those made up of a single family. The single-family house in turn can be an individual or isolated house, a semi-detached house, a quadruped house or a semi-detached house.
A chalet-type house is a house with one to three floors that functions as a single-family home. Originally, it was a type of house located in rural areas, independent and surrounded by a lot of land.
Today a chalet is defined as a compact single-family house that can be in the city and be surrounded by a garden, or be a semi-detached house, or a semi-detached house.
Although the traditional chalet was made of wood, and with a gable, today a chalet house is understood to be a single-family gabled house that can be built with wood, stone or brick.
When they are semi-detached, or semi-detached house type (several equal chalets built in a row on the same street), they can be prefabricated constructions. Although the semi-detached houses, like the isolated house, may be the result of an original architectural design.
Individual house or chalet
An isolated house or individual chalet is a home whose perimeter walls do not adjoin any other house, and it is normally surrounded on all four sides by land or plot of the same owner.
In this type of housing there are normally no common areas with any other owner.
Semi-detached or quadruped chalet
A semi-detached house is a type of dwelling that has a single construction but with two independent and differentiated spaces, even though it appears to be a single dwelling.
The semi-detached house has a common wall or partition, normally in the center, and both houses are distributed symmetrically to this common wall.
The case of the quadruped house is similar but with 2 common walls for 4 dwellings, houses 2 to 2 being symmetrical.
Terraced house
A terraced house is part of a series of row houses, with shared walls on both sides of the house, usually having separate plots to the front and back, and sharing some elements such as common areas, such as garages, swimming pools, entrances, etc…
The usual thing is that a terraced house is attached to other houses that share the same design.
Most commonly, a chalet home is described using these categories.
Types of multi-family dwellings
Multi-family homes are those structures where several families live independently, with common areas, and which can be of various types and sizes:
Apartment or flat
Type of dwelling with a single floor integrated into a building with several floors and normally, with several apartments on each floor. They can be spaces from a single room to several. It has an independent entrance.
Study
They are the same style as the apartments but smaller, in which the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom are part of the same space.
Duplex
They are houses with two floors, usually with the living room and kitchen on the first level and the bedroom and bathroom on the second, but they can have very varied layouts. They are like 2 apartments or flats connected by a staircase to go up and down the floor with a single access, normally through the lower floor.
Attic
They correspond to the top floor of a building, and often have a terrace.
Loft
It is a single-family home designed in a space that was previously for industrial use.
Ground floor with garden
They are flats on the first floor or ground floor of a building that have a garden or private outdoor plot.
Luxury real estate, villas or mansions
Luxury properties are usually individual chalet-type houses, but they generally have several levels and rooms, surrounded by large gardens and built with expensive, top-quality materials.
Generally, they are located in high-income areas where modern constructions can alternate with older, more traditional-style constructions.
What is a luxury villa, for example, but a luxury property, with all the comforts and normally in contact with natural spaces.
You can understand what a villa is if you imagine a spacious country house, since since Roman times the term has had the connotation of a second home, the summer house .
What a villa is today may not have much to do with Roman villas, but it is still closely associated with gardens and green spaces.
A mansion, on the other hand, can be a single-family home of high standing. In general, they are multi-storey buildings, with large green areas, regardless of whether it is located in a rural or urban space, which may have environments that do not exist elsewhere< strong>os types of homes, such as games room, sauna, party room, etc.
A house or chalet can be a luxury property, depending on the location, dimensions and materials used in its construction, and even be very close to what a villa is, or be a less sumptuous dwelling, such as when it has the design of a terraced or semi-detached house.
How to choose the type of home that best suits you
What kind of home to choose will depend on several factors, starting naturally with purchasing power, but also on your expectations, your tastes and the number of occupants.
For a couple who wants to have social contact, a semi-detached house can be a good choice, since they will surely have to be part of the community of neighbors and common problems and plans will be discussed.
For singles or a young couple, multi-family homes are an excellent option, they offer several alternatives and are spaces that require less attention and resources than an isolated house.
For families with one or two children, an apartment or a semi-detached house may be a good choice.
The flats may have common areas where children can play safely, and the semi-detached houses may have< strong> gardens, and the presence of another family, which can be a support for the new family.
When choosing a home, in addition to the dimensions and cost, other aspects must be considered, such as security, proximity to schools and commercial spaces, distance from work, proximity to green areas, hospital, etc.
Once you are clear about the home you need, it is worth relying on professionals, real estate agents who can find that space as important as your home, or the dream of your home.
Site and Field, Spanish international construction company, can build the house of your dreams, contact us and we will give you a budget without any commitment.
