ᐅ Single-Family House Design – Future Conversion to a Duplex Possible
Created on: 28 Nov 2016 13:36
P
Paulus16
Hello,
we are a family of five planning to build a single-family house in Lower Saxony next year. The house might be divided in about 15 years so that my wife and I will live on the ground floor and the upper floor could either be sold or stay for the younger generation of the family.
The plot is a gap in the row of buildings, there is no zoning plan.
The plot size is 911 sqm (9,800 sq ft).
The exterior dimensions of the house are 12.5 x 10 m (41 x 33 ft).
Roof type: gable roof
No basement, ground floor and attic with knee wall of 1.5 m (5 ft)
Number of residents: my wife and I, three children aged 7, 10, and 13 years
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed floor plan
Conservative or modern architectural style
Open kitchen: no
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: not decided yet, probably no.
A conservatory is planned on the west side of the living-dining area, facing south and west.
Garage: planned as a prefabricated garage, carport: opposite the north side (next to the utility room side entrance).
House design
Planning by: Do-it-Yourself
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler
Please share your opinions.
we are a family of five planning to build a single-family house in Lower Saxony next year. The house might be divided in about 15 years so that my wife and I will live on the ground floor and the upper floor could either be sold or stay for the younger generation of the family.
The plot is a gap in the row of buildings, there is no zoning plan.
The plot size is 911 sqm (9,800 sq ft).
The exterior dimensions of the house are 12.5 x 10 m (41 x 33 ft).
Roof type: gable roof
No basement, ground floor and attic with knee wall of 1.5 m (5 ft)
Number of residents: my wife and I, three children aged 7, 10, and 13 years
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed floor plan
Conservative or modern architectural style
Open kitchen: no
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: not decided yet, probably no.
A conservatory is planned on the west side of the living-dining area, facing south and west.
Garage: planned as a prefabricated garage, carport: opposite the north side (next to the utility room side entrance).
House design
Planning by: Do-it-Yourself
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler
Please share your opinions.
New ideas, suggestions, and proposals, thank you very much!
@kbt09
-You probably mean a south-facing terrace next to the kitchen, right? The idea is good; we will discuss it.
-Narrow hallway: In your opinion, is this narrow spot caused more by the closet or the walls? We can omit the second closet (the deeper one). Currently, we manage similarly sized space of 1.30m x 1.30m (4 ft 3 in x 4 ft 3 in) next to the front door in our rental, but we want a more elegant solution. Maybe under the stairs?
-I didn’t quite understand the idea of the staircase in the middle of the house. Do you mean the location of the staircase as in the first floor plan before the changes?
-If we move the carport further south toward the property boundary, the driveway will be shorter, but we will still need a paved path to the front door and lose the advantage of a shorter (and sheltered) route from the carport to the entrance. Since we need one (or maybe even two) garden sheds for gardening tools, bicycles, and more, the garden shed could possibly serve as lightning protection. The first 2-3m (6 ft 6 in to 10 ft) at the southeast corner of the property are occupied by a tree we want to keep. Do you have any suggestions where the garden shed could or should be placed?
@Doc.Schnaggls
-How can the issue with the entrance door being close to the staircase be resolved? Personally, we don’t have a problem since the situation in our current house is almost identical and works fine, but suggestions are welcome!
-We would like a second sink, but in the upstairs bathroom since it will probably be used more often. Do you think there’s enough space without making it too tight?
-For the living room, we are considering a sliding door; what do you think? When you mention leaving out a wall, which one exactly do you mean? The section between the office door and the living room door, or the section from the living room door to the kitchen door? Or both? Would that mean there would be no door for the living room?
-We wanted skylights only where there’s no other option. For Child 1’s room, what do you think is better: slightly widening the north-facing window or installing a skylight, whose width is limited by the roof structure?
-Stairs: If the fixed side panel next to the exterior door has a glass section of about 100 cm x 90 cm (39 in x 35 in), wouldn’t that be enough to let in ample light?
@ypg
Which interior walls can we specifically do without? Could you please provide more details? We would like to try this out. It’s much easier on paper or the computer than on site.
@Curly
How will the floor plan look more spacious? Do you have any suggestions?
@kbt09
-You probably mean a south-facing terrace next to the kitchen, right? The idea is good; we will discuss it.
-Narrow hallway: In your opinion, is this narrow spot caused more by the closet or the walls? We can omit the second closet (the deeper one). Currently, we manage similarly sized space of 1.30m x 1.30m (4 ft 3 in x 4 ft 3 in) next to the front door in our rental, but we want a more elegant solution. Maybe under the stairs?
-I didn’t quite understand the idea of the staircase in the middle of the house. Do you mean the location of the staircase as in the first floor plan before the changes?
-If we move the carport further south toward the property boundary, the driveway will be shorter, but we will still need a paved path to the front door and lose the advantage of a shorter (and sheltered) route from the carport to the entrance. Since we need one (or maybe even two) garden sheds for gardening tools, bicycles, and more, the garden shed could possibly serve as lightning protection. The first 2-3m (6 ft 6 in to 10 ft) at the southeast corner of the property are occupied by a tree we want to keep. Do you have any suggestions where the garden shed could or should be placed?
@Doc.Schnaggls
-How can the issue with the entrance door being close to the staircase be resolved? Personally, we don’t have a problem since the situation in our current house is almost identical and works fine, but suggestions are welcome!
-We would like a second sink, but in the upstairs bathroom since it will probably be used more often. Do you think there’s enough space without making it too tight?
-For the living room, we are considering a sliding door; what do you think? When you mention leaving out a wall, which one exactly do you mean? The section between the office door and the living room door, or the section from the living room door to the kitchen door? Or both? Would that mean there would be no door for the living room?
-We wanted skylights only where there’s no other option. For Child 1’s room, what do you think is better: slightly widening the north-facing window or installing a skylight, whose width is limited by the roof structure?
-Stairs: If the fixed side panel next to the exterior door has a glass section of about 100 cm x 90 cm (39 in x 35 in), wouldn’t that be enough to let in ample light?
@ypg
Which interior walls can we specifically do without? Could you please provide more details? We would like to try this out. It’s much easier on paper or the computer than on site.
@Curly
How will the floor plan look more spacious? Do you have any suggestions?
It is difficult to adjust individual elements separately.
What about the conservatory? What is its intended purpose?
Also, perhaps measure the plot, mark the building boundary, and roughly indicate the position of any trees that should remain. Maybe this will inspire some good ideas.
What about the conservatory? What is its intended purpose?
Also, perhaps measure the plot, mark the building boundary, and roughly indicate the position of any trees that should remain. Maybe this will inspire some good ideas.
Hello Paulus,
may I ask how long you have known that you want to build a house?
Have you already been in contact with a company?
Most of them won’t just hand you a design and say: let’s build this for you.
They have their houses with structural engineering already prepared. These designs can be modified, but only with some consultation.
To create a design, you need to know every centimeter (inch) to get the most out of the floor plan.
Have you visited any model home communities yet? NDS doesn’t have that many...
Regards
may I ask how long you have known that you want to build a house?
Have you already been in contact with a company?
Most of them won’t just hand you a design and say: let’s build this for you.
They have their houses with structural engineering already prepared. These designs can be modified, but only with some consultation.
To create a design, you need to know every centimeter (inch) to get the most out of the floor plan.
Have you visited any model home communities yet? NDS doesn’t have that many...
Regards
Hello kbt09,
A conservatory is the brightest and sunniest place in the house. In autumn, spring, mild winter days, and summer evenings, it’s a very nice spot for both children and parents. We have something similar in our home now, and we wouldn’t want to do without it.
You can find the dimensions of the plot in the new site plan.
Hello ypg,
Since we live in the same town where we bought the plot, we know from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances how things generally work.
Good friends of ours built their house last year. They also had a custom floor plan created, then contacted 3-4 construction companies, received and compared offers, negotiated, and signed a contract.
We are still in the exploratory phase, gathering information, ideas, and suggestions through discussions (like here with you). This helps us understand what we really want, what we like, and what we don’t. We appreciate your input.
I have now removed the wall between the hallway and the dining/living room and rearranged the coat closet. What do you think?
A conservatory is the brightest and sunniest place in the house. In autumn, spring, mild winter days, and summer evenings, it’s a very nice spot for both children and parents. We have something similar in our home now, and we wouldn’t want to do without it.
You can find the dimensions of the plot in the new site plan.
Hello ypg,
Since we live in the same town where we bought the plot, we know from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances how things generally work.
Good friends of ours built their house last year. They also had a custom floor plan created, then contacted 3-4 construction companies, received and compared offers, negotiated, and signed a contract.
We are still in the exploratory phase, gathering information, ideas, and suggestions through discussions (like here with you). This helps us understand what we really want, what we like, and what we don’t. We appreciate your input.
I have now removed the wall between the hallway and the dining/living room and rearranged the coat closet. What do you think?
Paulus16 schrieb:
Hello kbt09,
a conservatory is the brightest and sunniest place in the house. In autumn, spring, mild winter days, and summer evenings, it’s a very nice spot for both children and parents. We have something similar now, and we wouldn’t want to do without it.
...
What do you think?If you want a bright and sunny space, you don’t necessarily need a conservatory nowadays. Conservatories have been typically added (I believe since the 1990s) to older houses that were not designed to maximize sunlight, where living areas were dark and small. With a new build, you can design more openly and use larger windows (more than 1/8 of the living area) to bring in more natural light. The advantage is that you don’t need an expensive conservatory to benefit from the sun.
Which model homes have you looked at?
In my opinion, your design is moving in the right direction* – at least for me. However, going from a classical design to an open plan means you should reflect on your preferred living style and what type of home suits you best. I mentioned before that it seems you are leaning more toward conservative homes rather than contemporary ones.
Take some time to reflect and visit model homes… and try to leave your children’s opinions out of those discussions—they have different interests than debating contemporary versus traditional architecture. I also believe that you may be taking on too much with the planning – we can help, but we are not architects. And building companies that build solely based on amateur drawings can’t necessarily be trusted 100% to get everything right and well executed.
*of course, still subject to change
Regards
Paulus16 schrieb:
A conservatory is the brightest and sunniest place in the house. In autumn, spring, mild winter days, and summer evenings, it is a very nice spot for both children and parents. Then I don’t understand why you also have a relatively dark living room of over 30 m² (320 sq ft). I would rather combine those spaces.
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