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Architecture

Valid points, was aware of the radiant heat systems and plumbing issues with a slab homes, along with the windows and roofs. My first house was on a slab, 3 bedroom, 1 bath, two wall heaters, in living room and second in hall by bedrooms. Ceiling had no insulation at all and windows had screened louvers with plywood panels that sat in pockets below the windows or above. You'd pull the knob back to open the panel 1, 2 or 3 stops depending on how much air flow you wanted. Or you could just lift the panels out entirely. First thing I did was insulate the ceiling and what a huge improvement!!! Next was to replace the windows with new sliders and insulate the exterior walls as I worked my way around the house. Had to pull off all the 6" redwood shiplap siding and save as much as I could. The window replacement was done piecemeal on a paycheck to paycheck kind of schedule. Crazy thing was whole house was built from redwood!

Let me rephrase the "Eichler" part. I like the style and have been looking at more newer construction Mid-Century / Eichler-esque than the original '50's - '60's homes. Although, I have seen a couple of originals that have been "remodeled/updated". Things like having the kitchen and bathrooms moved to the exterior walls to facilitate install / maintenance access, insulation added over slab with new flooring, dual and triple pain windows and raised roof profile to incorporate R30+ insulation and new HVAC systems.

Most of the Eichler homes are in small enclaves around the Bay Area - Castro Valley, Concord, San Mateo, Foster City (would never buy a home on 7'-10' of land fill on the bay), Redwood City, San Rafael and Oakland.

Hey, it's fun to look!
 
They are common in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, PaloAlto and Mt View where I grew up. No landfill in those areas. But doing the upgrades you mentioned ruin an Eichler’s appearance.
 
I've always love love love'd the A-Frame like this one:
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never gave much thought to architecture until we bought our current house. it was built in mostly in the tuscan style, but like, 5/8th’s (the bones were there, but no where near enough stone or natural wood). we’re almost done correcting all of that (external is done, and most of the internal - a bit more internal in the spring will finish it all off). love helping her reach her full potential, and if walls could talk, i swear she’s saying she appreciates the attention, and the beautiful new dress we bought her. she deserves it.
 
I lived in 4 Eichlers. Grew up in 2 of those.

Really unique open designs that were great with lots of lights. Yes the roofs were flat in places and yes the radiant heat failed and yes the windows suck for energy, but all can be fixed and some were in those 4.
 
The Eichler I grew up in had a single 100 watt light fixture in the ceiling of each bedroom, one in the hallway, one in each bathroom, one in the kitchen, and no lighting in the living room. Woefully inadequate.
 
My father made it worse in some ways. He installed new fixtures in the three bedrooms and put a 200 watt bulb in each. No dimmers.
 
I shared a rental Eichler in Scabo in the early ‘90s. I would never own one for all the aforementioned reasons. Ours still had working radiant heating. You controlled the temperature level in each room by opening and closing windows and the utilities ate us up.
 
I got to do a modern Eichler for a neighborhood community swim center. You had to live in the hood to go swim there.

It is well insulated. Conventional cooling and heating. Kind of cool going thru the Palo Alto Historical review board for it.

I coached the board leads son in little league.
Palo Alto roots.

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That's the least looking like an Eichler Eichcler house I've ever seen.
 
dravnx said:
I shared a rental Eichler in Scabo in the early ‘90s. I would never own one for all the aforementioned reasons. Ours still had working radiant heating. You controlled the temperature level in each room by opening and closing windows and the utilities ate us up.
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Scabo, as in near the Civic Center in San Rafael?
My old stomping grounds.
I haven't heard that term in quite a while.
(memories come flooding
dravnx said:
That's the least looking like an Eichler Eichcler house I've ever seen.
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Same.
 
I'd call it "Eichler-esque" in design. Today's building standards (codes) will dictate what can actually be built. Things like the building site, orientation on site, building use, window to wall ratios, climate, Energy Code (Title 24 requirements), etc., have to be considered. Would be really difficult to build a "true" 1950's Eichler home now days.
 
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dravnx said:
That's the least looking like an Eichler Eichcler house I've ever seen.
Click to expand...
Well.. it is a community building with kitchen, storage and meeting space so not a home.
All the materials had to match up down to the green door. We were able to vary the new window system.
 
I get it. I'm sure Mr. Eichler designed more then just houses.
And yes, Scabo, the neighborhood behind the Pink Palace, AKA, the Marin Civic Center. Another architectural disaster by none other then Frank Loyd Wrong.
 
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