Ground floor apartments - pros & cons?

tawfeeredux

I'm looking to rent an apartment in the Lucan area, but have been told by a few people that I should stay away from anything on a ground floor. I've heard this concern voiced re ground floor apartments before, but I'm now wondering what exactly is it based on?

How is the security issue any different for, say, the ground floor of a two-storey house. And regarding light & noise, again, how is it much different for a first-floor apartment (ok, the top-floor apartment may have more light), but the few ground floors apts i've seen look to be bright enough.

A ground floor would suit me in a few ways, so i'm just looking for people's thoughts on what advantages/disadvantages there are to living in the ground floor apt over something above it.

gigawatt

whats the difference between a ground floor an a bungalow? at least youd be the first out in a fire lol:pac:

Victor

Houses tend to be set in their own grounds whereas it would be normal to have people wandering past a ground floor window of an apartment. However, this really depends on setting, whether it faces onto a street, its own garden, thorny buses or for security purposes whether its well visible or in a hidden corner.

Comparing one apartment to another ground floor is great for access, good for those with poor mobility, small children, etc. - no need for stairs, lift, etc.

There is a modest risk of rising damp, but roof leaks and wind would affect upper apartments more, all depending on design.

They would likely be subjected to more street noise than upper apartments and indeed some noise from neighbours. Top floor apartments would have the least noise from street and neighbours, but may be subject to more airborne noise, e.g. aircraft or construction. Intermediate storeys would suffer the most noise from neighbours.

Light may be better on upper floors, but again very much depending on design. I know of an apartment that had a view of hte Wicklow Mountains, but you had to stick your head out the window.

Lower storeys tend not to gain heat from their neighbours, but on the flip side, tend not to be expose to the worst of the wind and rain.

Dob74

Noise, light and break-ins.
Stayed in a ground for a few months, the rooms where dark. Never bothered me but my girlfriend didnt like it.
The sound of people parking outside was very annoying.
Wasnt burgled but a ground floor is the easiest target.
But each place is different so good luck.

Treehouse72

The thing that bothered me when I lived in a ground floor apartment was people looking in the window. In a house, usually you have a garden or hedge to shield you a bit. But ground floor apartments tend to be quite exposed in this regard. People gawking in bugged me, as did not being able to get out of the shower and go put the kettle on starkers. My privacy felt compromised a lot of the time and I'm not usually bothered about that kind of thing.

This will not be a problem with all ground floor apartments, just something to consider when viewing them.

n0brain3r

Lived in a ground floor for about a year. Can't say it was the most pleasant experience I ever had. It was in Monasterevin so you’d think it would be reasonably quiet. I’d drunks pi$$ing on my door, couples having full on arguments outside my bedroom window, upstairs cigarette butts blowing in my kitchen window and using my window sills to climb up to their apartment every time they got locked out or had a flaming argument and locked each other out! My advice is get as high as you can!

tawfeeredux

thanks for the replies people, plenty to mull over!

Victor

Treehouse72 wrote: »

The thing that bothered me when I lived in a ground floor apartment was people looking in the window.

Buy curtains.

ztoical

Currently living in ground floor apartment and have no issues. Plenty of light, good blinds on front room facing street stops peeping toms. We have a nice back garden all to ourselves, don't worry when walking around the place that I'm annoying anyone below me and don't have to drag shopping up stairs nor rubbish down stairs. Having lived on both the 7th floor of 9 story walk up and the 14th floor of building with a lift that was always breaking down I prefer staying low to the ground.

jimmycrackcorm

The pro of a ground floor apartment (albeit depending on the specific apartment) is that you might get direct access to the garden / outside area. Handy if you want to have a BBQ in the summer.