Hello everyone,
I would appreciate your feedback on our floor plan.
As a young couple, we are currently in the planning phase. We are grateful for any advice. We would also welcome a rough estimate of the costs, if anyone has a sense for that.
Overall, the house should be built solidly and be fairly flexible in use, but also stay within a reasonable budget.
We are particularly interested in your opinions on:
- Living/dining/kitchen layout
- Hallway on the ground floor (the corners seem quite large to us, but we managed to fit a nice wardrobe there)
- Doors in 45-degree intermediate walls — attractive, practical?
- General space allocation — too tight / too much?
Additional details:
No local development plan in the outdoor area
Exterior dimensions planned so far: 11.30m x 10.55m (37.1 ft x 34.6 ft)
Usable living space approximately 180m² (1937 ft²) plus basement
Basement, ground floor, upper floor with 1.75m (5 ft 9 in) knee wall
Gable roof, 28 degrees, ridge oriented east-west
One large dormer facing south, room below with full ceiling height (2.50m / 8 ft 2 in), no bay window
No exposed roof trusses on the upper floor, sloping roof edges, otherwise wooden beam ceiling
No sloping site, no buildings to the south, driveway to garage on the north side
Double garage
Intermediate building for heating system
If feasible: staircase from garage to basement
Number of occupants: 2 adults, 2-3 children
Living room and dining room connected by a large sliding door
Dining room and kitchen in one space, separated by a room divider, large dining table desired
Office on the ground floor — should also be usable as a bedroom later
Bathroom on ground floor with large shower, otherwise small area sufficient
Guest toilet on ground floor
Bedroom on upper floor — later convertible to office
Walk-in closet on upper floor — also connected to hallway, intended to be flexible as a possible child’s room
Fireplace for a small wood-burning stove in the living room
No balcony
Double garage
Intermediate building for wood log heating
Additional requests/special features/daily routine
Floor plan drawn by myself (non-professional)
Preferred heating technology: wood log heating
Thank you very much for taking a look and for any constructive comments!
I would appreciate your feedback on our floor plan.
As a young couple, we are currently in the planning phase. We are grateful for any advice. We would also welcome a rough estimate of the costs, if anyone has a sense for that.
Overall, the house should be built solidly and be fairly flexible in use, but also stay within a reasonable budget.
We are particularly interested in your opinions on:
- Living/dining/kitchen layout
- Hallway on the ground floor (the corners seem quite large to us, but we managed to fit a nice wardrobe there)
- Doors in 45-degree intermediate walls — attractive, practical?
- General space allocation — too tight / too much?
Additional details:
No local development plan in the outdoor area
Exterior dimensions planned so far: 11.30m x 10.55m (37.1 ft x 34.6 ft)
Usable living space approximately 180m² (1937 ft²) plus basement
Basement, ground floor, upper floor with 1.75m (5 ft 9 in) knee wall
Gable roof, 28 degrees, ridge oriented east-west
One large dormer facing south, room below with full ceiling height (2.50m / 8 ft 2 in), no bay window
No exposed roof trusses on the upper floor, sloping roof edges, otherwise wooden beam ceiling
No sloping site, no buildings to the south, driveway to garage on the north side
Double garage
Intermediate building for heating system
If feasible: staircase from garage to basement
Number of occupants: 2 adults, 2-3 children
Living room and dining room connected by a large sliding door
Dining room and kitchen in one space, separated by a room divider, large dining table desired
Office on the ground floor — should also be usable as a bedroom later
Bathroom on ground floor with large shower, otherwise small area sufficient
Guest toilet on ground floor
Bedroom on upper floor — later convertible to office
Walk-in closet on upper floor — also connected to hallway, intended to be flexible as a possible child’s room
Fireplace for a small wood-burning stove in the living room
No balcony
Double garage
Intermediate building for wood log heating
Additional requests/special features/daily routine
Floor plan drawn by myself (non-professional)
Preferred heating technology: wood log heating
Thank you very much for taking a look and for any constructive comments!
As mentioned, everything is still in the planning stage, and we will be consulting an architect soon.
A few more details from me:
The plot of land is already available, with no space constraints.
The intermediate structure is intended because of the bulk goods heating system, which is significantly easier to access there than in the basement.
I could also accept having fewer but larger basement rooms.
The pantry on the ground floor should be retained, ideally with direct access to the kitchen.
Combining the ground floor bathroom with the guest toilet is also a conceivable option for me.
Regarding the doors in the 45-degree walls: these were designed to fit all doors without creating overly long corridors. Any additional opinions on this?
A few more details from me:
The plot of land is already available, with no space constraints.
The intermediate structure is intended because of the bulk goods heating system, which is significantly easier to access there than in the basement.
I could also accept having fewer but larger basement rooms.
The pantry on the ground floor should be retained, ideally with direct access to the kitchen.
Combining the ground floor bathroom with the guest toilet is also a conceivable option for me.
Regarding the doors in the 45-degree walls: these were designed to fit all doors without creating overly long corridors. Any additional opinions on this?
The kitchen with the dining area just doesn’t work. The section extending into the room is about 40 cm (16 inches) deep and is nothing more than an obstacle. The path to the terrace around that section and the table feels like a small slalom course and isn’t enjoyable.
Why have a pantry when you have an entire basement room for food storage?
Almost all rooms have some kind of angled entrance... so while it adds square meters of floor space, it only serves to enter the room and doesn’t fulfill any other purpose.
A site plan of the property would be helpful. If it’s large, you should consider slightly increasing the building footprint and relocating laundry/ironing to the upper floor, and moving technical equipment/storage/food storage to the ground floor or into the heating extension.
be-me schrieb:
The intermediate section is planned because of the batch heating system; it is significantly easier to access there than in the basement.As far as I can see, there is no direct access from the ground floor to the heating room. I would prefer to go down to the basement to reload the stove rather than going outside. But clearly, for handling the wood, it would be more convenient. Could you provide some details about the planned heating system? Will it have a large buffer? Is it enough to reload and stoke it once every two days, or does it require regular refueling? Also, the heating system should or must presumably be located within the building’s thermal envelope.
kbt09 schrieb:
Why have a pantry when you have an entire basement room for food storage?be-me schrieb:
The pantry on the ground floor should be retained, also with direct access to the kitchen. I could also agree to fewer but larger basement rooms. Combining the bathroom on the ground floor with the guest WC is an option I could consider as well.I find that reasonable. I wouldn’t want to have to go down to the basement for every little thing, sometimes multiple times if you forget something. Drinks are also stored well there, so you don’t have to carry them down after shopping and then back up again. Yes, I would definitely reduce the number of basement rooms. Four should be sufficient, maximum five. Combining the bathroom with the guest WC on request is fine too. In my opinion, three toilets per house are somewhat oversized and, of course, more expensive.
Otherwise, I’m not that impressed with the overall layout yet. Too many doors on the ground floor and the design is too convoluted. Does the dormer on the upper floor really have to be there? With a knee wall height of 1.75m (5 ft 9 in), there are surely other solutions and, above all, potential savings. Overall, a budget of 350,000 (currency not specified) might be a bit too low unless you contribute a substantial amount of work yourself.
be-me schrieb:
As a young couple, we are currently in the planning phase. We appreciate any kind of advice.Leave the draft at home when you consult an architect!
Who gave you the figure of 350,000? Where will the house be built? Please update your profile so that the house price can be better assessed!
I don’t want to go into details now. I can only say that this plan contains all the mistakes and slip-ups that have been discussed and criticized here in floor plan discussions over the past year.
It starts with virtual corridor areas in almost every room and ends with a route to the ground-level pantry that is longer than the way down to the basement. Storage rooms also need to be planned and not placed arbitrarily. 😉
be-me schrieb:
- Corridor on the ground floor (the corners seem quite large to us, but we managed to fit a nice cloakroom there)I’m still looking for that!
🙂
Thanks for the input.
Wood heating using logs, large buffer tank, supported by a solar system. The stove only needs to be refilled every 2-3 days and heats the buffer tank. So, the missing connection between the ground floor and the heating system doesn’t bother me.
What do others think? For many wood chip heating systems, this is not the case either.
We do want the dormer for aesthetic reasons and to have windows facing south.
A coat closet is planned right next to the entrance door (about 190cm (75 inches) wide, 45cm (18 inches) deep).
As mentioned before, since we are still at the early planning stage, this is just our own estimate using online calculators.
In a rural area of Lower Bavaria. The house will be built as a solid masonry structure.
jaeger schrieb:
Can you provide some details about the planned heating system?
Wood heating using logs, large buffer tank, supported by a solar system. The stove only needs to be refilled every 2-3 days and heats the buffer tank. So, the missing connection between the ground floor and the heating system doesn’t bother me.
jaeger schrieb:
Also, the heating system should/must probably be located within the building envelope.
What do others think? For many wood chip heating systems, this is not the case either.
jaeger schrieb:
Does the dormer have to be on the upper floor?
We do want the dormer for aesthetic reasons and to have windows facing south.
A coat closet is planned right next to the entrance door (about 190cm (75 inches) wide, 45cm (18 inches) deep).
ypg schrieb:
Who gave you the house cost estimate of 350,000?
As mentioned before, since we are still at the early planning stage, this is just our own estimate using online calculators.
ypg schrieb:
Where will the construction take place?
In a rural area of Lower Bavaria. The house will be built as a solid masonry structure.
be-me schrieb:
As mentioned, we are still at the very beginning of the planning phase, so this is just a rough estimate based on online calculators.This could be something for @Bauexperte: brick-faced single-family house with a dormer, 180m² (1,938 sq ft) plus basement, double garage, extension, wood chip heating system, and plenty of covered areas in Lower Bavaria... I'll leave out the corner surcharges since the design is nonsense 🙂
be-me schrieb:
A cloakroom is planned right next to the front door (about 190cm (75 inches) wide, 45cm (18 inches) deep)P.s. A cloakroom should have a depth of about 60cm (24 inches) to hang coats and jackets on hangers.
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